My second day as a new patient at MD Anderson was on Thursday, Sept 2nd and was much like the first. We were up around 4am so we could get to the hospital for my 6am pet scan. Unfortunately, the hotel shuttle service didn't start until 6:30am so we had to park in the garage at MD Anderson. After my pet scan, I had back to back appointments scheduled: Radiation oncology at 9:30am, oral oncology at 10:30am, pre-op anesthesia at 11:00am and lastly, medical oncology at 2pm. The radiation doctor took so long, it pushed all the other appointments back at least an hour. I think I was done with them about 1:15pm which gave us just enough time to eat something at the cafeteria and make it in time for the medical oncologist. We met many people and talked about past medical records, current symptoms and what possible treatment might look like assuming the cancer was indeed olfactory neuroblastoma. Obviously all the information we got was based on what the biopsy scheduled for the next day might say and was subject to change based on those results. It was a very long, exhausting day. We also walked a lot! We went the wrong way to get to the garage we parked in and didn't realize it until we were almost to the other side of the hospital. That's my "great" directional sense. After we got back to the hotel, we rested a little and then got ready to go to a nice dinner. Everything we mapped was going to take so long to get to because Houston traffic is terrible! We decided on Longhorn Steakhouse in Pearland because it said it was going to take the shortest time, not realizing it was because it was taking us the express lanes. But we got there quickly and had nice dinner with a wonderful 19 year old server. Then we ran into JC Penney's so I could find some comfortable pants to wear the next day to my surgical biopsy. I spent the rest of the night getting all my medical papers organized and put away. And then took a shower with my special soap before bed and again, the next morning.
My biopsy surgery was scheduled for a check in time of 12pm the following day. We decided to take the hotel shuttle this time because parking the day before cost almost $20 since we had been there over 12 hours. The ride there was fine and we got there very early. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat so we just hung out and waited until it was time to check in. The way it works is you check in and then you sit and wait in the waiting area until they are ready for you. Some of the people sitting in the waiting area were there for an hour before us and still were not called back while we were there. I think they called me back around 1:30pm. Once I was back in a room, they got me prepped pretty quickly and got me into surgery. From my understanding, it only took about 30 minutes for the procedure, but they had a hard time waking me up so I was in recovery for a while. They had to go and talk to my sister and tell her the information because they said I kept falling asleep. Haha. I'm not sure what anesthesia they used but it clearly wasn't the right one. Once I was finally awake in recovery, I got really nauseous and threw up. This never happens to me after surgery! But my sister was able to get the nausea meds they prescribed picked up and then once I was stable, they released me. Then came the worse ride of my life. We had to take the hotel shuttle back to the hotel. Only the van was quite full and they had to actually turn a couple people away and come back for them. I was still groggy and nauseous. And instead of going straight to the hotel, people on the van were going to Walgreens, Target and then finally the hotel. The roads in Houston are so bad and bumpy and I was so nauseous the whole time. It was awful! But finally we got back to the hotel and decided to order in for dinner. We had pizza from a local restaurant delivered and it was good. Of course, I was so hungry I ate way too much and wound up throwing up again. But after that, I was able to rest and go to sleep for the night. I felt much better in the morning. We were able to have breakfast at the hotel and then get our stuff packed up for our drive back to my house in Irving. The drive was mostly uneventful, the only interesting thing was Buc-ees in Madisonville was closed due to losing power so we were a little disappointed. But we were able to stop at the one in Ennis so all was right again. 😀
The pet scan showed only the nasal cavity as possibly being malignant so that was reassuring that there isn't more going on, at least. We should hear about the biopsy this week. Since Monday (today) is a holiday, it is going to delay the results a little and then all the doctors get together every Thursday for big meetings where they discuss their cases. They will be discussing my case this Thursday and will call me with the biopsy results and the plan they have come up with for me. It is hard waiting. But based on all my conversations throughout the week, I already have a good idea of what the plan will be. First, I will have surgery in the next month, then 6 weeks later, I will need to go down to Houston for 6 weeks for radiation, Monday-Friday. Depending on the results, I may have to have chemo at this time, as well, but I am praying this is not the case. Obviously, this will be a hard time since I will have to move down there for those 6 weeks and we will have to figure all that. But for now, it's back to real life until I hear what's next.





