09/27/11

      Well, today was the appointment with my oncologist. I went to the MD Anderson Cancer Center. They are the premier group in this part of the country for cancer treatment. My doctor specializes in head and neck cancers.
     Dorean went with me because I don't remember things as well as I used to. All you "older" people may know what I am talking about. Dorean is very helpful with things like that. I have always said we share a brain, some days she has it, some days I have it. Lately she has it more than I do, especially the memory part.
     I had a lot of paperwork to fill out then went to an office and signed a lot of permission papers. I told the lady it was like buying a car. Then we waited and waited to be called to the back offices. Finally, they called my name and we got to go through the maze that took us to the examination room. I did the blood pressure, temperature and weight (ugh!) thing and we waited and waited some more. Another nurse came in and asked more questions, which took awhile. We waited and waited some more, by this time we had been there almost 2 hours. At last, Dr. Shellenburger came in. (See how I am building the suspense for you, because I am putting the information you have read this far to find out and really want to know, at the end.)
     Right away I liked Dr. Shellenburger. As he talked he looked at both Dorean and me. He was cautiously optimistic. He said it looked like we had caught it early, which was a good thing. He told us what Merkel Cell Carcinoma was (which we had already done a ton of research on the internet) and did tell us a few things we didn't know. We had a list of questions we were going to ask but he covered them all before we needed to ask them. What all this amounts to is, I will go in this Thursday for an ultrasound on the lymph nodes in my neck and a chest x-ray. (I could get that done by taking a plane somewhere.) The following Tuesday I go in for consultation on what the tests showed. If the lymph nodes look okay I will be going to the hospital for surgery on my face where the tumor was. He said it would extend the scar I already have and I told him it would be a shame to mess up this beautiful face, but if it had to be done go ahead.
Overall it was a good report. This is all a miracle to me. I can't believe how gracious my God is. I don't deserve His goodness but He gives it anyway. So much prayer has gone into this situation and I am very thankful to everyone that has remembered all of us in their prayers. It isn't over yet but things are looking much better than they did. One of my prayers was that I would like the doctor and I really do. I didn't dare ask for things to go this well but I feel so undeserving of it. Thank you, God. You are truly awesome!