Ambiguous Update

Hey warriors,

Once again, for a second time and in what is really feeling like cancer groundhog day, I am writing from the air! This time isn’t as fun. The plane is trash. I’m basically riding in the equivalent of a 1999 Jeep Cheroke that somebody’s uncle’s cousin keeps running for the teenager in the family. There is also a bit of turbulence and the flight attendant was rude to me when I first boarded. I’m trying to not take on her emotions so I’ve got on a favorite podcast of mine, Smartless. It’s hosted by a few of grandma’s favorites: Jason Bateman and Will Arnett. We would have really enjoyed talking about this podcast over lunch. This episode has Matthew McConaughey as a guest, which felt a bit perfect as a choice to leave Texas listening to.

As Mr. McConaughey would say, “Alright, alright, alright…” Let’s get into what you’re all here for—an update on the MD Anderson appointment I had on Monday. It sure was something!!! For those of you reading from Omaha, the clinic I was going to was the Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic. It’s located inside the Breast Center, which is inside the Mays Clinic, which is just one building on a huge compound of MD Anderson buildings.

All the MD Anderson buildings are scattered about a bunch of other buildings in the area that make up an actual neighborhood called the Texas Medical Center. The neighborhood has a bunch of different health systems and colleges in it, along with a few hotels and apartments—so it’s huge! Navigating around a whole new huge health system is hard for me. I’m just not skilled at navigation or geography; maybe it uses a part of my brain I’ve never developed and truly have no interest in developing. I don’t have the time, but alternatively it makes it more fun to think of it all as an adventure and not a burden.

My appointment was scheduled for 1:30 pm. I arrived at the clinic at 1:15 pm, because I anticipated a long check-in process and getting lost in this huge compound. Lucky for me, my friend Olivia had shown me where I needed to go (while we were at the Ultimate IBC Meet-Up), so I was able to navigate pretty well. 

I wasn’t called back to a room until almost 2:00 pm. Then it was meeting loads of new people. New nurse, new Fellow, and new doctor. Having to tell my story over and over. I enjoy telling my story, but my way, with a lot of flare. I tried my best to keep it on track and medical. It helped that I had Mitch on the phone, as sort of a visual reminder to keep things on track. 

At the appointment, I met Dr. Layman. She will be my Medical Oncologist in Houston. Mitch said that we’re going to grieve losing Dr. Wells, but to me we aren’t losing her. To me, it’s similar to moving through the healthcare system from primary care to specialist. Sort of, “If mom says no, go ask dad.” Dr. Wells is and will continue to be a star player and doctor on my ever-growing medical team. Mitch is right, though, that there are a lot of feelings involved with adding a new provider to the team. 

MD Anderson Thoughts on My Brain

Dr. Layman and her Fellow were concerned about my “brain lesion,” as they called it. They aren’t sure what it is. I want to believe they said they don’t think it’s cancer, but I can’t remember for certain. They did say they wanted something called an MRA (magnetic resonance angiography). That is like an MRI, but of the arteries. I’ve never heard of an MRA, so I’ll have to learn about it before heading back for one. They want this scan, because of the lesion. They want to make sure that I didn’t have a wee little baby stroke and/or have some sort of brain abnormality that is causing my brain issues. Trust, I know how wild it sounds to think I had a stroke at age 34. But cancer treatments and COVID all increase the likelihood. It’s a slim chance that I’ve had a stroke, but like MD Anderson I’d like an answer to what is going on.

She also ordered a PET scan. Which is going to really put my mind at ease if it comes back clear. Of course there’s a chance it won’t. There’s a chance it’ll pick up something weird that I’ll have to get biopsied. Which is always the concern with any imaging after being a cancer patient. Everybody has weird things in their body that they’ve just lived with forever, even before cancer. At what point do you accept life and at what point do you get more scans? That’s a question for each individual and medical oncologist. Imaging is great because science is great, but sometimes it can confuse us even more.

She also put in a referral to neurology. I’ll see them after all the scans. The good news is I get to go home and wait for those appointments. The bad news is that I’m going to have to take more time off work to make it back down here for those appointments. In my mind, it’s better to make a little bit of money while meeting my contractual agreements than just hanging out in Texas blowing money on extra housing, away from my family and loved ones. Plus, the last Farmer’s Market of the season is this coming weekend and I simply can not miss that!

So back to slowmaha it is for me. I hear the weather has finally turned to fall. I’m excited to return to work for homecoming week and themed dress-up days at work. I’m hopeful I’ll be in Omaha for Halloween, to give out full-size candy bars like we do. I can’t wait to decompress a bit in my hammock and then write about the Ultimate IBC Meet-Up, because I sure learned a lot and had so much fun! Maybe I’ll do that on the next flight down to Texas in two weeks.

Until next time warriors….have a magical day. 🙂