Rollercoaster Rides

After a weekend of purposefully trying not to worry, we head back to the good doctor’s office this morning expecting a look of concern and the needle biopsy.  Mondays must be the main chemo day because the same sweet folks with little hats and good attitudes were there again.  Or rather, I was back on their day. 

It’s a longer wait on Monday mornings, but I read an excellent article about Texas A&M and t.u. and the coming change in the one hundred plus year rival tradition.  Finally, it was my turn for my regular finger prick, vitals check, and to see the good doctor.  He came in as positive as always, copies of reports in hand, and explained the results from Friday’s ultrasound.  Yes, the lymph gland is enlarged.  We expected that.  Yes, there are some additional abnormal nodes, but this is also not unusual for the disease.  No, there is no need to do a needle biopsy.  We already know that you have cancer!  We’re not going to order unnecessary tests, risk unnecessary exposure, and spend unnecessary money.  Radiologists tend to be…a bit over zealous.  Tests are what they do.  And in as short a time as we were alarmed, we were granted the gift of relaxing just a bit.  How many more twists and turns is this CLL rollercoaster going to have?  Quite a few, I suppose.

The rest of the visit was spent discussing the various front line treatment options, a couple clinical trials, and what we all thought (with our vast two months of knowledge) would be the best option.  Remarkably, we all agree.  But as was originally planned, we will wait for Dr. O’Brien, the MD Anderson expert, to make the final call.  Our good doctor has already had me pre-screened for the trials and is going to give the PA a heads up about my lymph nodes and ask about a CAT scan.  No need to do one now when MD Anderson would just do it again.

So we will stand in line until next Monday when we board our rollercoaster car, buckle up, and head upwards with the sound of gears beneath us, and look forward to the exhilarating ride before us.  Think I’ll take a Dramamine.  :)