Good morning,
Well, I had a wonderful day at Duke yesterday. I made myself sleep on it, but this morning I am still just as impressed and happy with the day I had. In particular, the oncologist Dr. Shaw was so fabulous; I can’t even begin to describe her. By the end of our appointment I was totally in LOVE (if I could draw pink hearts around that word I would!) with her. She feels like a perfect fit for me. In particular she not only believes in integrated medicine, but knows a lot about it. It’s not just an idea that sounds good; she actually completely encourages it and has participated in studies about it. When she read on my notes that I went to Oriental Health Solutions she raved about them, and knew the doctor I saw on Monday. She is the first doctor I have talked to that has this attitude. She was completely pleased that I was pursuing that already. The surgeon I met with, Dr. Scheri was also awesome; much nicer, gentler, positive, personal and friendly than the surgeon at UNC. The radiologist, Dr. Prosnitz felt a little old school to me; but that is probably because he has been treating for 40 years, has been at Duke for 25 and he was a chancellor or something for awhile. Dr. Shaw said there is a giant picture of him somewhere in the facility because of that. All in all, everyone down to the check in folks at the clinic made me feel confident that I was in the right place for me. Plus, Duke is closer to my home, has better parking, and has an incredibly beautiful campus surrounding it. It feels right, which feels really good to me.
The other thing that was encouraging yesterday is that everyone at Duke had a very similar approach to how my treatment should go as to those at UNC. It confirmed for me that it is the best course of action, for many good reasons. Like at UNC, they recommend doing chemo first. I can’t wiggle out of chemo…even if I did a surgery option first, b/c the cancer is in my lymph nodes they want to do chemo to treat me systemically. By starting with chemo they can watch the tumor and see how it responds and know 100% if it is the right treatment for me individually. Dr. Shaw’s goal is to shrink the tumor down to nothing before surgery.
I went ahead and scheduled all the rest of my tests at Duke: bone scan, catscan, echo-cardiogram, blood work etc. I am scheduled to begin chemo on Sept 4th.
Someone at UNC did get me an appointment with a fertility specialist; she made it sound like this was a real feat on her part so I plan to keep that appointment. Dr. Shaw also recommends (as did UNC) this injection that essentially hibernates your ovaries during treatment, which increases the likelihood of menstruation returning afterwards. My concerns about this are being addressed.
The other cool experience yesterday was a woman named Tina that they have on staff who teaches patients about positive visualization, and other mind/body approaches to wellness. She was this very hippy/crunchy/cool woman and she gave me a cd to listen to at home and lots of info on resources at the hospital and in the area. She is a big believer in yoga and meditation, and was thrilled that I already do those things and think they are valuable. She also gave me a list of foods that they have done studies on at Duke that have shown to be beneficial to cancer patients. Things like garlic, ginger, green tea etc. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome I think it is that this approach is taken to the clinical trial level at this facility. It totally rocks.
I am going to make a list of all my known upcoming appointments and put that out to everyone I know locally. If anyone is able to attend one of them with me please contact me. I have been repeatedly encouraged not to go to any appointments alone if possible. My co-worker T.H.'s wife (a cancer survivor herself) has offered to go to my chemo appointments with me, which is really awesome of her.
I can’t appreciate everyone’s loving gestures of support enough.
Much Love,
M.J.
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