September 1, 2026
Even though we hit a lot of morning traffic in Houston, which really just seems to be because whoever designed the roadways there was on drugs at the time or just really hates people, we made pretty good time. We pulled up to MD Anderson at around 8:45am. I think it was at this point we learned about the storm heading towards us, that could possibly turn in to a hurricane and honestly we thought that sounds about right. LOL
My first and main appointment of the day was to meet a doctor, Dr. Ehab Hanna, that is a specialist in my suspected cancer, olfactory neuroblastoma. After getting checked in (early), we had some waiting to do. But then they called me first to get my vitals and go over some history with a nurse. After being brought into another room, I gave my many pages of documents I brought including those from my thyroid cancer, breast cancer, genetic testing, other scans I had in the last two years and an overall timeline of my health through all these things. They took them to have them scanned in. Then, we met one of his PA's. She was very sweet and patient to answer any questions we had. She did an endoscopy into each of my sinuses, and she videoed it for the doctors to see later. After doing this, she told us that I was in the right place and commended my decision to come to them first and to have them be with me throughout the entire process. While I know she meant it to be comforting, it made my stomach sink. Because I got the sense she had seen this before and knew that it looked like cancer. She spent a lot of time with us answering any questions. Because I feel like this took a long time, I think they must have swapped my appointment time with someone after me, because then we had to wait about 45 minutes or so for the doctor to come in the room. He came in and said, "3 cancers? You are an overachiever!" It made me laugh and also made feel a little sad. But he had a friendly demeanor. He explained that he feels that it is most likely olfactory neuroblastoma but of course it will have to be confirmed with a biopsy. He said they could have done a biopsy in the office with just some numbing but most likely it would just make me bleed and they would not get all the tissue that he would like to test. So, it is set up for me to be put under and do the biopsy in an operating room on Thursday 9/3 where they can have more control over the bleeding and the amount of tissue they can get. He said it is also possible it could be breast cancer that has spread and that would be a more challenging prognosis. After we asked if it was possible at all if it could be benign, he said it's not impossible but I could tell he didn't think this was the case. After this, I asked him if he had seen the MRI of the neck I had and the finding that there was a lesion on my spine at the back of my neck. He said he did and that he recommends I have a full body pet scan which they will get scheduled while I am here this week. He also explained that they have set up all my appointments to meet all the doctors I might possibly need in my possible treatment while I am here. Depending on the results, I may need to see them again and I may not. But if it turns out I don't need them, I would have just met some "nice guys". Haha.
After meeting with the doctor, we were taken to patient education. There they explained how I would prepare for the biopsy since it would in essence be a surgery type biopsy since I would be put under anesthesia. She also told me that they will be scheduling a pet scan and you have to fast for 6 hours before so not to eat until this test is scheduled in case they want me to come back this evening to have it done. Based on when I ate last, the earliest they could do it is at 5pm tonight.
After this, I went to the lab to do bloodwork. They tested for my blood type (B+) and did a CBC and lots of other tests I have never had done, most having to do with hormone levels. I was getting notifications of these results coming in over the next hours. I'm not sure when someone will go over them with me. After labs, we sat and waited to see if I might get a notification about the pet scan. But eventually decided to leave so we could check into the hotel and get some rest before I may have to come back. At this point, I am feeling so tired and overwhelmed.
Once we got into the hotel room, I got notification about my pet scan was scheduled for Friday morning. Ugh, we were planning to drive home Friday, but since it was early in the morning, we would still do that afterwards. We decided to get something to eat because I am getting hangry. As we are driving there, I get a notification that the pet scan has been moved to tomorrow at 6am! This is before my already full day of appointments meeting 3 new doctors and a pre-surgical appointment for my biopsy. At this point we are so overwhelmed and overtired, that we just bust out into a fit of hysterical laughing. I am definitely feeling the silly kind of tired where everything is funny. Of course, this means that we won't be able to take the shuttle the hotel offers to my appointments tomorrow because they don't start until 6:30am. So now we will be paying for parking at MD Anderson. Not a huge deal I guess, but just another stressor. We wonder, why isn't the parking for cancer patients free??
Now, lets talk about notifications. I would say one of MD Andersons strengths is communication, which truly I do appreciate. It's one of the things that has severely been lacking in my previous treatments. But I would also say that it can also be so stressful to be getting so many messages and updates throughout a day. Since I called MDA to become a new patient there has not been a day that I have not received some sort of message, reminder or communication. I gave them the information and they took my test results and history and decided on who I should see and when. Sometimes they would make an appointment and then it would get changed so sometimes it's hard to keep up! For example they scheduled one for me to see the medical oncologist next week because it was the soonest she had an opening, I assume. I was bummed but what could I do? Then today, I got a message that they were able to move it to tomorrow so I don't have to come back next week, which I appreciated. But the sheer volume of messages and notifications I am getting, especially today while they were trying to work to get all my tests and appointments set AND all my blood test results were coming in can definitely be overwhelming! But I would much rather that be the case than the alternative. And they truly are working to get everything set for me in a way that is most efficient and to not waste too much time.
Tomorrow will be an even more full and exhausting day, with a pet scan at 6am, then appointments at 9:30am (radiation), 10:30am (oral oncologist), 11am (pre-op appt), and 2pm (medical oncologist). I was already so tired and we have another early morning, needing to wake up about 4am tomorrow. I tried to go to sleep at 5:30pm (ridiculous, I know) but woke up a little over and hour later and have been writing this ever since. I am so overwhelmed and and anxious and my stomach hurts. We laughed a lot today, which was nice. But when all is said and done, I am scared and not looking forward to all the things I may have have to do not just this week, but in the future. I am definitely struggling with the weight of it all. But tomorrow is a long day so I need to get back to sleep. I am thankful for all the prayers and messages I have received in the last few days.
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