Amos Meets the Docs

  Well, a lots been going on.  Saturday night we finally went to our favorite MV restaurant Le Grenier, classic French with lots of rich sauces.  I had a lot of trepidation.  They are discontinuing (due to lack of orders) our favorite appetizer Feiullete (?), snails in puff pastry with a great sauce, but still made it for me.  (The first time I had this, 15 or 20 years ago, I made a reservation for the next night as soon as I finished eating it but then had to cancel after being so stuffed from the whole meal.)  We skipped desert as I was concerned about too much rich food.
  Our trip home on Monday was smooth and uneventful except for an hour delay leaving Providence just because Philly is too crowded around 7 p.m. and can't handle all the air traffic.
  Tuesday was a big medical day all in the same Perelman Building at HUP.  First up was the blood letting for comprehensive lab tests.  Then came the CT scan which unlike my earlier and simpler chest scan, now also included a stomach scan.  Therefore, I had to drink a large container of a chalk like substance in a half hour and also be hooked up for an IV solution during the scan.  Next on our way to the surgeons, we ran into the famous Ostomy nurse Ave Maria in the lobby and got to ask her a few questions.  I even pulled up my shirt so she could see Amos's environment.  Lastly, we saw two surgeons, David Morris who was a Fellow and extremely nice, and Dan Holena, my surgeon and also quite nice.  (Rachel had said the handsome Holena was from central casting.)  They both thought the wound was healing well and that Amos looked great.  Holena removed about 5 or 6 stitches, not an altogether pleasant experience.  The good news was that I can re-start chemo and the bad news was that I can re-start chemo.  The Docs didn't have any advice on the pain other than that it takes time and that having a second operation in the same spot as the first is likely the complicating factor.  Because everything at HUP was one after the other regardless of appointments, we were there for only about 3 1/2 hours for everything.
  Today Linda reached the NP (nurse practitioner) for Dr. Littman at Jefferson who does the GTX protocol that I'm using.  We have an appointment with the Doc for August 8 and hopefully will be able to switch over to Jefferson at an appropriate time.  Of course, like all the other female NP's except for the one at Hopkins (male), the NP was very helpful and friendly.
  We probably won't be going to Hopkins tomorrow as we now expect the chemo to start next week because the pill (the "X") version starts 3 days before the IV versions (the "G" and "T").  We're waiting for more Hopkins info.
  By the way, from what we've heard so far, the tests did not have any new negative items and maybe a little positive. 
  Enjoy the heat. 
Elkan - Wed. afternoon