Tuesday, July 13, Jessica and I took a marathon trip to New Orleans for my follow-up appointment. We left the house at 4:45 a.m. and returned that evening at about 10:40. Was I ever tired, but we had a fun day!! We arrived in New Orleans a little after 10:00 and took a taxi to the French Quarter. We strolled through the area for nearly two hours, then had lunch in an outdoor cafe', complete with pigeons begging for food. After lunch we hailed a taxi to take us to the clinic (a first for me) for my 2:00 appointment. We weren't sure what we were going to do after my appointment to kill time until our 7:00 p.m. flight, but it turned out we didn't need to concern ourselves with that minor detail...we didn't leave the clinic until after 4:30, so we went straight to the airport. As we were walking into Subway for supper, we heard someone call Jessica's name. I couldn't imagine who in the world have known her in New Orleans, but it turned out that four of her sorority sisters were headed to OKC from a convention in Orlando and they were on our flight home. It's a small world!
One thing I really like about Dr. Boudreaux is that he doesn't get in a hurry when he sees his patients. He takes his time and makes sure that all questions are answered. I have to admit, though, that it's not much fun having to wait your turn. I received a good report, though, so it was worth the wait. My incision is healing very well, and the markers for tumor growth were all very low (which is a good thing). Apparently the tumors were "treated" in the lab with a variety of substances, one of which was black raspberry. The results indicated that black raspberry had a postive effect on my tumors, so Dr. Boudreaux suggested that I eat them to hopefully keep any tumors from growing. They are not available locally, and to ship a five pound bag of frozen berries costs almost as much as the berries themselves. I guess you can't put a price tag on health, though, so I will get them ordered today. (This is my last "free" week, so I'm kicking into gear and trying to get a lot of things done.)
My next visit to New Orleans will be in October, but I won't get to see Dr. Boudreaux. He's a surgeon and is basically finished with me, for now at least, so I will be seeing Dr. Woltering. I have a list of scans and tests that have to be completed in September to check my progress, so not much fun there. Of course, I was hoping to make the trip over fall break, but Dr. Woltering isn't in the office on Thursdays and Fridays, so I have to go earlier in the week. I'm not crazy about having to miss school, but I really have no choice in the matter.
I have been in the process of acquiring a new oncologist since my surgery, and finally accomplished that this past week. His name is Dr. Qubaiah, and he's at the OU Medical Center. I will meet him on Monday, August 2.
Friday, July 16 was my seven-month milestone.
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