Phoebe's Oncologist...

By -
...scared the shit out of us back when this all started. Scroll down if you like, I know I posted about it at the time. It wasn't his fault - he answered our questions which, in hindsight, were the wrong ones. That interaction led to a couple minor and at least one major meltdown on my part.

Today the same oncologist performed Phoebe's six-month post-treatment checkup (he will be her doctor in this regard for many years). In the course of doing the exam he said something that I'm pretty sure he thought was a trivial point, but it totally shut down some of my ongoing anxiety...

He said "you are taking hormone replacement, right?" (yes, she is) "you will have to take those until you are 50, that is about when most women get menopause naturally".

Suddenly the guy who sent us spiraling into panic mode (however unintentionally) is talking about my wife turning 50 like it's no big deal. At that moment a tiny little wound-up angry man who has been drinking himself silly for the last eight months in some lonely outpost on the outskirts of my consciousness suddenly stood up, put on his hat, and went the fuck home.

It's funny the things that matter sometimes. We really love this guy now, he really is a very sweet guy. I'm glad we ended up with such a great team. It was meant to be somehow.

Ryan

Comments

jim nelson said…
Ryan... I LOVE your comments! There is no question in my mind the love you two share with each other. Thanks for being a TERRIFIC son in law! Love you...tat father in law
July 13, 2012 at 8:29 AM
Anonymous said…
A man who calls another man "sweet" is truly a sweet man - one who would love my Phoebe so much. Thank you for the sweetest post ever! Congratulations to both of you for surviving this journey ... together!
Mum
July 13, 2012 at 9:44 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Postponing Today's Planned Post...

By phoebe marie -
...because something else really got under my skin today and I clearly need to vent about it or I won't be able to focus enough to do the things I need to do today. So... let's go back in time, shall we, to late last summer.   One of my best friends ' first child was born with some issues.  Lil Spencer spent many a day in the NICU.  While he was there, his terrified mother and my dear friend repeatedly made requests on facebook and the like that if people were so inclined to pray for her newborn son.  Or if not the praying type, to send positive thoughts, good juju, whatever was right for them to send.  I liked that.  I liked the way she did that.  "Please do what makes sense for you and within your beliefs to send some hope to my child." Now jump ahead a few months to when I was sick.  From day one, people were praying for me.  To a god (or gods) I don't believe in - not even in the slightest.  But those prayers made sense for them ...
Read more

Wow!

By phoebe marie -
Image
So, let me tell you WHY I received this photo from knitting dad today: That's my mum. That's two glasses of champagne. And I received this at around noon their time. So why were my parents, who barely drink at all, swigging champagne for lunch today? Because of the news I got at today's follow-up appointment with my brachytherapy oncologist, Dr. Fleming. As I laid on the exam table, feet in the stirrups, he looked in there and announced "What a beautiful cervix." The nurse nodded in agreement. It was such an odd exchange, it took me a minute to register what they were saying... See, when Ryan booked this appointment for me last month (on the day of my final brachy) he asked them if they would be able to tell by today if the tumor was gone. And the answer was NO - that what they would see would be a necrotic, dying, sloughing away tumor. So really, we went in there today with no real expectations. So, when I finally wrapped my head around...
Read more

This is really happening, isn't it?

By phoebe marie -
When I first started this blog, I said something about feeling like this wasn't even happening to me.  I began this journey detached, not to mention completely unaware of what I was in for.  Well, at this point, there is no denying that this is 100% happening to me.  For the last two nights, I haven't even been able to separate from it all enough to just... sleep.  Every bit of "that area" feels like it is either on fire or just, like, disintegrating.  Literally.  My skin seems to just be falling off.  The blisters I've written about look almost gray in color.  At yesterday's appointment, the nurse examined me and decided that what it may be, rather than blisters, is a yeast infection.  Not in the traditional location, but just there in the folds of my skin.  Gross.  So, now I've added Monistat to the list of seemingly useless goops that I am smearing around my groin, none of which have helped in the slightest.  I als...
Read more