Herceptin #12 & Panwalker Appointment

Today my Herceptin drip was accompanied by a 3 month checkup with Dr Panwalker. Brett agreed to come with me. Guess he figured that he should be there as a witness so that I would kept my bad attitude in check (or I didn't hit the doctor- maybe he just came to avoid a medical abuse lawsuit?). It mostly worked. I had made a decision to be very cordial. I promised myself that I would keep my mouth shut and my opinions to myself as much as possible. However, it didn't start off as smoothly as it could have. He came in and asked how I was. I replied a short, "Fine". Then he paused and looked at me and said- "Really? Are you ok? Is there a problem?" LOL Guess I'm not really good at the "pretend everything is fine" thing. I assured him I was "fine" and so he started the normal questions. It went well until he brought up the "when are you moving?" question.  Urrrrrrrg! Luckily, Brett came to the rescue. He informed Panwalker that we were no longer moving. The doctor acted shocked and said, "Because of this?" um....Well.... duh! [See!!! Exactly why I did NOT go alone today!] Brett explained how the State Department had denied us clearance because of the Herceptin treatment. You could tell he felt bad but not that he would have done anything different about it. He actually admitted to us that days before (isn't that convenient or coincidence or just dumb luck?) he got our call to ask if we could have him sign off on a smaller Herceptin regimen, new study information came out saying that 1 year of Herceptin was definitely better than 6 months. Because of that, he had to recommend that I continue the full treatment. WHATEVER!!! Big, fat W on my forehead! [I promise that I will eventually get over it!] We did talk about a few other interesting facts about Cancer drugs & the State Department while we finished the exam. We did share a couple laughs which I think made him feel better about things. {You see, he's used to us making joke and being really upbeat} It wasn't my favorite doctor's appointment but we survived so that was good.
Oh except that during the physical exam, he found a lump next to my right non-breast. He recommended that I get an Ultrasound today to check it out. If it looks suspicious they'll get me in for a biopsy today as well. Oh joy! More time at the hospital. Merry Christmas to me!

Thanks, Brett for coming with me and fielding the hard questions. Sure appreciate you! And thanks to McKenzie for keeping Glory way longer than you bargained for.
Brett headed back to work after our meeting with Panwalker. Then I headed back to the Infusion Center. Today, I hardly recognized anyone. All my past ladies/nurses must be out for the Holidays already. BUT some us are still here.... FOREVER!!!! (see how my bitterness has completely melted away? LOL )
Today, Lexi was my Herceptin Nurse. She got the IV in on the 1st try! Can you believe it? Way to go, Lexi! However, the Drug Mixers must already be on vacation because I seriously IV-ed a gallon of saline before they got my Herceptin mixed or verified or whatever they do back there. Let's just say, whether I get poked once or twice or three times or.... you get the idea, I am always there a VERY long time! I ended up just barely finishing in time to go get my Ultrasound at 1:00 PM. {and that's a different story} Crazy! But... it's just another day at the Roger Maris Cancer Center. Lucky me!

P.S. As a happy note- I did get to see Carrie for a minute afterwards. I even got to meet her Hubby. I just luv her!