Monday...December 29th...2008

The doctor saga today.....

Linda got up promptly before 8 am and started her calls....she couldn't get the medical oncologist so she did get the radiation oncologist nurses...they indicated no help there (their expertise is radiation)....we then got hold of the nurses in the medical oncologist office....when they heard "heart" concerns, they said "Immediate Care"....

The "gold" was in a call to Linda's regular physician...an internist....a 4:20 pm office visit was quickly scheduled.

The visit...Linda's doctor is a "hoot"....no hand holding....just the bare facts....but transmitted in a way that we can handle and act on it (that's all we wanted....what is going on and how do we deal with it). Anyway the doctor first said no pity for the face cancer as that was too common but some pity for the lung cancer....it seems harsh on paper but was actually very funny.

To sum it all up....she said no heart problems....no bone problems....the heart was impacted by the coughing and lung problem in a way because of the location of all of this in the chest area....and the pain in the arm was a result of this.....so no bone cancer....no heart problems.

She described Linda's lung as full of "dirt" (from the radiation killing cancer cells in the lung, etc.)....she also said it was like having "hair balls in the plumbing". So it seems the lung, with all of this, cannot easily rid itself of the bronchitis/pneumonia ....so what Linda is experiencing is an extended version of what a normal individual can get rid of in a week or two....and we all know this round of bronchitis is lasting as long as three weeks. Linda is finishing her 5th week.

What now....Linda got a big nasty shot of antibiotics....half in the right cheek and the other half in the other cheek....and "them ain't" the facial cheeks. Tomorrow she starts on another round of antibiotics by pill form....she also is taking medication to break up the "plugs". The doctor wants her to continue with the coughing to rid herself of the mucus.

Linda feels much better knowing all this....it was clear her level of concern was increasing....as she said tonight, " I didn't go through all of that stuff last year to die of something else this year".

Tomorrow the dentist checkups and then dental cleanings and Wednesday.....on to Portland for a few days prior to a flight to warmer weather.

Thanks for your good energy to assist Linda through the past couple of days.