Not so Much Light...

As quickly as my hopes appeared with the news that my MIBG I scan was being scheduled, they were quickly dashed two days later when the scheduler called to let me know that nuclear medicine would not allow them to schedule the scan until the results of my octreotide scan were in...(the octreotide scan was done on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the 22nd and 23rd of Sept.).

Danny and I went to my oncologist appointment on Monday morning, the 27th, and not expecting much, that's pretty much what I got:

• My octreotide scan showed nothing...no tumors...so I asked about the tumor at my mesentery and he reiterated that there were no tumors showing up in the scan.  I joyously shared with him that the procedure in which the doctor soaked some type of foam in chemo and packed it around the tumor must have worked.  His quick response was that chemo doesn't work on carcinoid (so why did I have two chemoembolization treatments on my liver earlier this year which really DID kill tumors, and how is it that the tumor at my mesentery is "gone"?).
• He brought up the MIBG I scan and said that he had spoken with Dr. Boudreaux in New Orleans, whose reason for wanting the scan did not convince him to order it...data doesn't support having it done.  MIBG is another option for treating carcinoid,  but since OU Medical Center doesn't offer it as a treatment, heaven forbid we should do the scan as a precautionary method to make sure nothing is hiding somewhere!  Danny and I have both researched MIBG and it is used a lot in children, is less expensive than other scans, and detects "stuff" in bone marrow.  Qubaiah said he would order the scan if I really wanted it, but in the same breath pretty much said he wouldn't.  He asked if we understood his reasoning for not ordering it, and Danny told him that Dr. Boudreaux would not have ordered it if it were not important, and mentioned that the doctors in New Orleans are specialists in carcinoid (Qubaiah has only a handful of carcinoid patients).  I simply smiled and shook my head in understanding...I have plan B to fall back on.
• He alluded to the surgery I had in May as having been much too aggressive and said that the surgeons at OU Med Center would never be that aggressive.  Guess who won't be having any surgeries there!!!???  He said that I will always have carcinoid, (which I knew) and as long as the tumors aren't bothering me there's no need to be aggressive.  That comment still floors me!  It's bad enough to have cancer...I sure don't want to be told "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!
• He ordered a battery of blood tests (6 vials) at the drop of a hat, so between that in one arm and the 2" bruise I have on my other from the octreotide injection last week, I'm in great shape.

And so, in conclusion, I think he's an idiot and since I need an oncologist who is aggressive about treating my cancer and who will work with my doctors in New Orleans, he will most likely be replaced.