Sorry, no photo today either.
When I woke up this morning I had one goal. That was to make it so Nathaniel is not born at 37 weeks, but born at 38 weeks. I thought that would be my big challenge for the day… well that and rush hour traffic to get to said doctor to do this fight.
I came with prepared. I brought Tony and thought with his ability to rattle off facts and stats that it would help me get my way.
Sadly at the end of the appointment I felt like I had been hit by a truck, only Nathaniel seems fine.
I guess my OB talked to my Oncologist on Friday and she is concerned about some wording that some radiologist reading my PET/CT scan from October, and my ultrasound in February wrote. This isn’t her field and she doesn’t deal with those types of scans or anything at all really. I mean I am sure she sees ultrasound reports but it is likely on babies not on cancer.
I learned way back when I first got cancer not to read the report myself. They are terrifying! Seriously, you read them and someone who doesn’t know you just tries to interpret the data they are given. I have had ALL sorts of strange things show up or be interpreted into my scans. One of my scans since I have been in remission, said that I had a condition called endometrious. This is where your body produces a uterine lining outside the uterus. That is well and good, but I have NEVER had that condition even before I had cancer! Trust me my RE would have looked! Turns out that was their impression of my ovaries being attached to my uterus. They couldn’t make sense of it because they don’t read my WHOLE chart so therefore this is their best guess. Yeah I hope all of you are laughing as hard as I am about that one!
So today my OB starts talking to me about needing an MRI before my delivery date. I am a bit shocked by this because my oncologist (who is anything but shy) didn’t say a word about this to me. She also said that she wanted a CT scan after delivery. This I am VERY confused about because I asked my oncologist specifically about that (in relation to a PET/CT scan) and she said “no”. That it “wouldn’t show her that much because I would be swollen because of the surgery.” So that is why she ordered the CT scan at the end of August (some 6 weeks past the delivery).
My OB gives me and Tony the impression that I have come out of remission and that for some reason my oncologist was keeping me in the dark about this. Now all any of you need to do is to read back through my posts from when I had cancer (Larry) to realize how much my oncologist speaks her mind. She deals with life and death all the time. You have to speak your mind when you deal with that day in and day out. She also deals with people that get diagnosed with lymphoma while pregnant. That is part of the reason why I was told to go to her. I wanted to have more children and she has expertise with that. Why would she beat around the bush with me now all of a sudden? It didn’t make sense.
Tony and I are able to switch gears though and talk about the delivery. We said that because Max was born with premature lungs and so were Alexander, Christopher and Emily, that we wanted to move my c-section back to 38 weeks from 37 weeks. This didn’t seem like a big issue for her.
Then we talked about the Anesthesiologist. I am suppose to go in for a face to face consult between 34 and 36 weeks. Okay, whatever. I just want to make sure that this port is used as my IV when the time comes. It is a central line and therefore I (and my oncologist) see it as better then a IV access that one would typically get.
Okay so I leave there with my head in the clouds and trying to figure out what exactly just happened. Tony is shocked about as much as I am but he is still thinking something doesn’t add up with the whole oncologist thing. We both know my oncologist to speak her mind and do it well. She isn’t shy.
I decide that while Tony zooms off to work, I will call my oncologist and get an answer today. The email system isn’t going to work this time.
So that is what I do, and I also call the anesthesiologist to set up an appointment. I can’t get either of them on the line when I call so I wait.
My oncologist is the first to call me back. She says (among other things) that this is my OB not her. She was fine with the plan we had in place with my appointment a month ago. That was for me to get a CT scan at the end of August and to see her afterwards. Some time after that I would get my port removed and I wouldn’t likely see her again for 6 months! YAY!!! However, she couldn’t tell my OB with 100% certainty that my cancer hadn’t come back. The ultrasound couldn’t see all of the lymph nodes because I am pregnant at the time of the scan (albeit 16 weeks pregnant at the time, so not a huge belly!!). She said if my OB wanted that assurance that I am still 100% in remission she would need an MRI. Then the discussion was that I would need to get contrast in order to see the lymph nodes in question. This could be hard on Nathaniel for his renal function. However I guess my OB talked to someone in radiology and they said they could do the test without the contrast and therefore it would be safe for all involved. My oncologist said that I should do the MRI, to make it so my OB would be happy so then I could get as far as humanly possible with my pregnancy. Which made me think that this is a bargain chip for me to get to 38 weeks. Whatever. As long as I can have it safe for Nathaniel that is all that matters to me.
The good news with this is I will not have to go in and do a CT scan at the end of August with this plan. So I will get the scan done and that will be it. I will still see my oncologist in August but without the scan. Not sure when the next scan will be after that. Guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I will get my port removed sometime in August though ideally.
Then I hear from anesthesiology. They don’t do “face to face” consults. She told me to call in the time frame that my OB wanted me to talk to them and they would call me back. Okay. She then tells me that they have NO way of knowing who would do my c-section even though it is planned. She said that the schedules are made up the DAY before they are done. I am in shock over that one. So I said, “does that mean that even if I get the yes from the anesthesiologist that I consult with, I could still get a no from the one on that day?” And she didn’t really have an answer for me. I didn’t get that. So I have an uphill battle on that one.
So this is why I am feeling like I have a scarlet letter tattooed on me. The scarlet C. I can’t run from it, and all doctors that see it ASSUME that I still have cancer! I wish I could have the C removed. I am fine, now I just need to make sure they don’t freak out and make my son not fine, because they are chasing a ghost.