They did the CT scan in the early afternoon; Bob said it was done and over in about 10 minutes. It's not as detailed as an MRI, but evidently gives the docs what they need. They got the results from the scan a few hours later. I received a text message from him that the results came back with good news and bad news. I had a few minutes between clients and called him. The good news is that there is only one tumor and that it's relatively small (3.5 cm). The tough news is that it is fused to his sacrum and that the affected nerve pierces the tumor, that it appears the tumor may have grown around the nerve, which makes the treatment plan complicated. Dr. Howe said the surgery and treatment involved is a highly specialized process one that United does not specialize in. But he said we're lucky to live in a state with two of the best hospitals in the world, the U of M and Mayo, and that he highly recommended the U, because there is an orthopedic oncologist who is well-versed in these rare types of cancer.
During these past few days, Dr. Shafiq has been popping into Bob's room, to see how he was doing and to let him know that he's doing everything he can to get things moving in the right direction for Bob. What an awesome man that doc is!
Dr. Howe scheduled a preliminary appointment for Bob at the U with this Mystery Doctor of Highly Specialized Skills for next Thursday. He's also on a waiting list, in case they get a cancellation sooner. So, he will be discharged tomorrow, with a new pain regiment, and hopefully can get through the next week with some semblance of pain management.
I stopped by for an hour or so tonight after work and was amazed to see Bob lying on his back. Haven't seen him do that in at least two months . . . the different pain regiment seems to be helping more than what they were doing before. He said he got a shower in before the scan, then had the scan, and has been on the phone all afternoon, with family, friends, etc., and answered a few e-mails, as well as played a few rounds of "golf" on his Crackberry and was pretty tired now. He seemed in pretty good spirits, though, maybe because now things feel like they're starting to move, now that a plan is in place.
We sat in the dim light of his cozy little room and talked some. He said that even though my life has been put on hold for a little while because of all of this, to please not give up on him yet. "Give up on you?" I looked at him in disbelief. "Good god, Bob! What—as if you did this on purpose?! I mean, don't get me wrong, if you were some kind of deadbeat gambler who's been out of work for months, doing nothing but trying to hit it big with internet poker, I'd have been long gone . . . but, god . . . please don't ever say anything like that again. It's gonna take more than this to get rid of me . . ." He choked up a little when he said he'd like to think he's got a few good years left in him. Most people think they'll live into their 80's; he'd be ecstatic if he made it to 65. "I just wanna live long enough to be a parasite on the government for at least a few years," was his reason.
His discharge is supposed to start around 9 a.m. tomorrow. Even though Dr. Shafiq wasn't the staff doctor on Bob's floor, it sounds like he will be the one doing the discharging orders. I want to try to get there in time so I can thank him personally for all he's done for Bob.
Kinda tired right now, so maybe will embellish this one later.
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