What we learned at the surgeon’s:
- I’m not a candidate for surgery, at least, not right now. Maybe, way down the road, that might be an option, but not right now.
- I’m being referred to radiation oncology and medical oncology.
- Medical oncologist consult tomorrow, for about 90 minutes, to develop next steps
- My PD-L1 level is 40%, considered moderate, which does not guarantee that they will immediately reach for an immunologic treatment. But it’ll be interesting to talk about.
- Radiology consult is next week, on the 25th, to develop a treatment plan.
- Medical oncologist consult tomorrow, for about 90 minutes, to develop next steps
- Pulmonologist on Thursday, to talk about bronchoscopy results. Poor guy won’t know what hit him – the whole team is going to sit in on the call, i.e., patient, husband, daughter, mother.
- Lung function tests next Wednesday.
Now it’s just a matter of getting started. Ready or not, here I come.
Image by Jonas Hasselqvist from Pixabay
I'll let you know if I notice anything, such as running from the room…. 🤪😉
I imagine many doctors in a wide variety of specialities learn to school their features fairly early on, and develop a pretty solid poker face. The goal wouldn’t be to show no emotion, but perhaps a smaller range when working with patients.* They have to be a point of calm when the rest of the world may be falling apart.
I’m amusing myself by visualizing the pulmonologist’s eyes getting ever so slightly wider, as they register the number of people in the call on Thursday. Perhaps just a nearly imperceptible dilation of the pupils, or flare of the nostrils. But then I’m easily amused.