The Merits of the Case

I went to see a radiation oncologist on Friday. The visit went well, but was very long. My appointment was at 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon and I didn’t leave the office until 4:15 p.m. Once again, I am just going to give the highlights here. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

I thought when I started these rounds of appointments that everyone would agree on my treatment and that we would just go ahead and get it started. As it turns out, however, every appointment has added new information to the situation and nothing is straightforward or simple. The radiation oncologist I met with was recommended by Oncologist #1. He is nothing if not thorough, and explained everything to me in great detail. He spent a lot of time answering all my questions and making sure that everything that he was telling me was very clear.

He said that he would agree with the recommendations of the other oncologists, except that he questions whether or not Taxol is indicated given my diagnosis. He also suggested that I might be eligible for a shorter, more intense and localized form of radiation that would take place before the chemo. (This is called MammoSite and is a partial-breast radiation technique as opposed to a whole-breast treatment.) Several things have to fall into place for that to work, and we have to figure those things out soon. Otherwise, his recommendation is the standard 6-8 week radiation treatment which will begin 3-4 weeks after my chemo treatment ends.

The radiation treatments are five days a week, Monday through Friday, at the same time each day. One of the major side-effects of the radiation is fatigue. This concerns me, and I wonder how in the world I’m going to be able to fit daily radiation treatments into my schedule once the fall semester begins and how I’m going to be able to handle law school classes if I’m exhausted. I don’t know the treatment schedule for sure yet, but it looks like finals will fall right in the middle of radiation treatments to top it all off. I have to admit that I am getting more and more worried about how I’m going to be able to handle school and cancer treatments. I’m trying not to worry about it too much until I know exactly how this is all going to fall into place.

Tomorrow I meet with Oncologist #1 again. I originally thought that I would come away from that meeting with a pretty definite schedule and treatment plan. Now I’m not so sure that will happen. I’ll update when I can to let you know what I find out.