News from Unexpected Places

Still have not received results from my biopsy. I do have a call in to my primary care physician about it.

I went to the orthopaedic surgeon today, to follow up on my bone scan. I really like this doctor. He is no Dr. Hartman (my orthopod in Minnesota), however he is more personable than the typical orthopod.

Regarding the bionic hip, the bone scan turns up nothing. In other words everything LOOKS good. But because I am in pain so much, he is sending me to a pain management specialist. He said he could do an exploratory operation to try and determine if there is anything going wrong in there, but because my "rebuilding" is so extensive, and I have lost so much bone, he is concerned that he would make things worse. Believe it or not, it was a relief to hear him say that. Last time I saw Dr. G. (the new orthopod) I was able to take a photo of my x-ray on the computer monitor. Here it is:



As you can see I have screws holding me together, because when I broke the first artificial hip, I also shattered that side of my pelvis. As far as I am concerned, the less surgery on the hip, the better. But I also need to start functioning better, and my current pain levels are not allowing me to function well.

Dr. G. had also ordered some bloodwork. Basically a CBC and a Sedimentation Rate. The sed. rate was good, not so much good with the CBC though. I have an elevated platelet count with a slightly elevated WBC count. Dr. G. gave me the names of three haematologists. Most haematologists also specialize in oncology, so if this is a malignant process, at least I will be seeing the right kind of specialist. All three of the doctors are also oncologists. I am currently pretending everything is OK. Pretending is the operative word here.

I have made a decision not to call the haematologists' offices until tomorrow. One, because it is now after 4:30, and also because I just do not have the mental energy to do it. One day is not going to make much of a difference. I will be calling tomorrow morning after I drop K off at school. I made the mistake of looking on WebMD a few minutes ago. I really need to put a nuclear block on WebMD for my own sanity.

I have not shaved my head yet. I won't until I know that I will for sure be going through chemotherapy. I plan on embracing the bald head. Annie Lennox rocked a bald head really well, maybe I can too.

Again, twenty two years is a hell of a run.