A Nice Chat With My Oncologist

My oncologist called me Sunday afternoon to talk about the CT scan and how the wound was healing and, I guess, just to assess where I'm at in all of my treatments.

He asked how the wound was healing and whether or not I saw any signs of cancer in the skin. I reported that the wound was healing pretty well and I didn't see any signs of cancer (I double-checked this morning).

I then asked if he'd had a chance to compare the CT scan from Feb and the one from Aug and he said he did and there was definitely no signs of any new spots on my bones. He mentioned again that a couple of them were bigger, but that it could be because they are healing. I need to ask him more about what that means- the biological process behind it.

I told him about the Zometa side effects I experienced (only a few hours of fever/flu-like symptoms) and he said that that was typical, but shouldn't be quite as bad the next time. He said that Zometa should certainly help the bones.

I asked where the rib fractures were and he mentioned that they were in the 4th, 5th and 6th ribs.

Then, I asked his opinion on how he thought I was doing. He said that he was actually quite pleased. He admitted that he'd been afraid that while we were busy trying to eradicate the cancer in my skin, that the cancer would crop out somewhere else. So, the fact that it didn't made him happy.

So, overall, it was a good report and a good chat. I promised him that I would not dive for any more volleyballs for awhile! He chuckled at that.

I figured it's always a good thing for an oncologist to laugh.