"He has multiple questions today.......

....about length of treatment and anticipated outcomes." I thought I would take some quotes right out of the oncologist's report of 9/14. Anyhow, the doctor says you have an "incurable disease" from which you won't recover. Who in the hell would not have "multiple questions"?

The oncologist doesn't send me these reports altho they are my personal record and I guess I could get them there. However, my family doctor gets a copy and I get it there. They have lots of interesting facts about me which I wanted to share today. Let's start with General Appearance: "Well-developed and well-nourished. Alert, cooperative, appears stated age" (like I might be lying about my age?).

then, "Assessment and Plan"-- "...is a pleasant 66 y.o. gentleman what a history of advanced stage NSCLC.....we discussed that maintence therapy is designed to delay progression. Unfortunately, in most patients there is eventual progression requiring a change of therapy."
I wish he had explained it just like that!

Finally, "Interestingly, that patient asks similar questions everytime we see him-he interprets my frustration with his repeated questions as defensiveness, however, I am just a little puzzled about his repeated questions (how long will I be on this, why do people stay on this, should I continue this--all of which are questions that he has asked essentially every time he comes in)."

I guess what we have here is "a failure to communicate" as they said in the movie "Cool Hand Luke." I ask similar questions because I do not get good answers. Among the things not mentioned in this report is the Dr telling me that there is no great evidence that Avistan (bevacizumab) which I receive every 3 weeks really works! He also is unwilling to give (or help me to get) any info on the few people who survive with this cancer. Stating that, "Well over 95% of my patients die within 5 years."

I did find some stats from 2002 or so that say that 90% of those with "my" cancer are gone within 5 years (Yikes, I have a year in already.) Well, I am going to be a "survivor" and I hope to somehow find out what that 10% did to keep alive!!

Enough of that depressing stuff, I am back in travel mode. We are off to Maryland today for a few days and then Key West on the 18th. I am enclosing some pics of my "Realtor education" trip to Columbus a little while ago. One can easily note two things: first, it was all hard work (...and believe it or not, the rock band was really good) and, two, I still haven't learned how to put pics where I want them on this blog! I guess I am concerned with other bigger problems in life!

"Your Daily Life is Your Temple and Your Religion." Kahlil Gibran