Another update

Things change by the moment around here. I guess someone is trying to keep me on my toes. At 11:25 p.m. Friday, I received a call from the same doctor I spoke with earlier in the day. She informed me that the neurosurgery department did want a special MRI, but not the one that was going to be performed on Saturday. Therefore, I shouldn't go to Sloan on Saturday at all and someone would get in touch with me on Monday to schedule a different MRI.

One of Dr. Yamada's nurses, Joan, has taken a special interest in me -- I don't know why, but I'm very appreciative. She was out on Thursday and Friday and so didn't know anything about this situation. I called to tease her this morning ("You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille!") and she had just heard the news from Theresa, the other nurse. I told her about the MRI being cancelled (they didn't know about that) and that I was still waiting to hear from Dr. Gutin's office (the neurosurgeon). She informed me that Dr. Gutin's nurse is her best friend and that she would call her and call me back. A few minutes later she provided me the nurse's name and phone number. The outcome of the call is that I have an appointment to see Dr. Gutin today at 2:15. Because I'm by myself, Joan is going to join me at the appointment so if I miss something, she'll have heard everything.

Dr. Gutin's nurse kept referring to the tumor in the cerebellum as "the big tumor." I asked her if we could refer to it as "the tumor in the cerebellum" instead. That sounds less frightening. I'll find out when the MRI will be scheduled and when surgery will take place. I won't be able to have radiation on the other two tumors until I recover from the surgery, and Joan also informed me that Dr. Yamada is going to be away and the machines are going to be recalibrated and therefore will be out of use sometime soon. I don't know how that will impact the schedule, but we'll see.

On a side note: I just want to clarify that these tumors are leiomyosarcoma metastases. I do not now have brain cancer, which is a different type of cancer. These are cells from my original tumor that traveled to my brain -- like they traveled to my lungs, skull, pelvic bone, clivus, and chest -- and grew. When they send the tumors to pathology, they are classified as LMS tumors, not lung cancer tumors or brain cancer tumors. It's LMS traveling through my body and taking up residence in new places. I just wanted to make sure that no one thinks I'm developing new forms of cancer. It's the same damned one.

So, I should know more by late this afternoon. Look for another update here sometime tomorrow. And thanks, as always, for caring enough to follow along.