Oncologist Appointment

We met with the oncologist today.

Kevin is going to do the chemotherapy. He feels strong about doing it here where we are closer to family and friends for support. I know he thinks I will be too alone in Ohio.

We'll make it work. I tell myself that it's not important whether or not we like the doctor or the nurse practitioner or the facility. What matters is that they be able to stop this cancer, to give him a long and productive life after the treatment is over.

I'm kidding myself though. It does matter; how he feels about his doctors and where he's being treated. It does matter, it does impact how he reponds to the treatment. If he doesn't have a confident connection with someone in the office--the doctor, the nurse practitioner or some other key person--he's not going to communicate things that may be important. If walking in the door makes him feel sick now, it may make him actually be sick later.

I'm hoping some of this is just disappointment/frustration/whatever with the whole reality of having cancer and will pass. But I'm not hopeful.

He has to have a port implanted in his chest at least a few days before chemotherapy. They can use it immediately but that's not going to be what happens. I'm making certain he has that port in and a couple of weeks to heal before he starts treatment. He needs a little time to wrap his mine around all of this.

Chemotherapy begins October 8. He returns on October 10 to have the pump removed. Then it repeats again in two weeks.

Here we go.