No shot for you!

So far so good for this chemo session. The only side effect is a tender tummy and a wee bit more tired than usual. I was supposed to go in for a shot yesterday, but since they didn't give me one of the chemo drugs, they felt the shot wasn't necessary. It's supposed to help your body build up white blood cells after the drugs eliminate them from your bod. The good news is that Mayo gave me a prescription for the shot and said that I could have it done up here in the cities. The bad news was the week long effort to get the clinic to agree to give me the shot. The nursing supervisor was all freaked out that they were giving oncological treatments at the clinic, until my primary care Dr. had to finally step in and tell her "ITS JUST A SHOT". He agreed to be responsible for all legal ramifications should I spill a drop of cancer blood on the clinic floor - or whatever she was worried about. Then I had to call and tell them "just kidding"! Maybe next month.

I love my Dr. - Aaron Timmerman. He's great. I went in asking if my shoulder was ok to train for a triathlon, and mentioned that I had passed out a couple times and that my leg still hurt after a 10k 3 weeks ago. He LISTENED and ordered an x-ray of the leg - who does that after you just said you were in a race?? and an MRI of the brain. There was a sledding accident in January when a tree got in the way of my sled and ended up winning a very short right of way contest which left me unconscious at the bottom of the hill - but too stubborn to be seen at the time. The x-ray showed a spot on the leg, so we added a leg MRI to the brain test. The brain MRI showed nothing - that's actually how they phrased it - but there was a nice bright spot still showing on my leg. At that point I was referred to the University cancer clinic for numerous other tests and pokings. The blood work never showed cancer, the CT scan showed another tumor on the spine, but the U still wasn't convinced of cancer. Three surgeries later, everyone is now convinced it's cancer (see Dr. Doom and Gloom below). Dr. Timmerman still checks up on me and follows the case - he gets updates from the Mayo and the U. He's the only one that calls back the same day I call him - most of the time personally. In this day and age of incredibly busy health care professionals I think its commendable. My neighbor is also a Dr. and was phenomenally helpful in getting answers out of my surgeon and getting me into the Mayo in a very timely manner. Some of these Dr.s are just really good guys. Who would have thunk it?