We're heading out in a couple of hours for Ellen and Allyson's apartment in Somerville near Boston, so we can make a 9:30 appointment with an oncologist at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston tomorrow morning. That's the same place I had the surgery done four weeks ago tomorrow.
After tomorrow's doc visit, we're going to a resort in New Hampshire for the weekend, since we have more doc visits in Boston next Mon and Tues. Doc says I can't yet submerge myself above the incision, so I'll be wading and feet-dangling, if the weather cooperates.
This just in: We're also going to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore a week from Tuesday to attend an all-day clinic they have for pancreatic cancer victims there. Idea is they do tests and interviews in the morning, consult among themselves mid-day and have a course of treatment to suggest to us by the end of the day. They have been dragging their feet about letting me into this, but Janice eventually prevailed, as she usually does.
After some consultation among ourselves, we decided to fly (direct Southwest) rather than do the five-and- a-half-hour drive to Baltimore because time seems more important than money at this stage of the game.
Then two weeks from today it's another meeting with a doc we trust and like here to help us weigh what could be as many as four distinct options (Albany, Beth Israel, Dana Farber and Johns Hopkins) for treatment. Then it will be critical to start a course of treatment ASAP since cancer seldom gets better by just letting a tumor sit there.
Knowledge is power, someone once said. Hope they're right.
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ReplyDelete1. I totally agree that time is more important than money. It has taken me most of my adult life to figure that out, but in the end, it's so true. We can mostly do without a whole lot of money. It's nice, and it helps, but time is invaluable.
2. Knowledge is power. Absolutely. There are so many choices out there, and maybe it's a crap shoot, but at least you'll be making an informed decision.
3. Thank you, Janice. You are quite a woman!
4. Best of luck on the road trip. With hope that there are not a lot of bumps thereon.
Cheers-
Buff
Jay and family,
ReplyDeleteBravo Janice! Going to John Hopkins is great news, not that Boston and Albany aren't wonderful facilities too, but you will now have most of the best research on the East coast to pull from. Turning over every rock, so to speak, is the best way to make informed decisions.
Flying Southwest to BWI is easy and with the airport shuttle, it is quick and easy to take Amtrac right into Baltimore. Have done it several times.
Enjoy New Hamshire, our love and thoughts go with you.
Barb