So things have been pretty quit around my household lately. I went back to Dallas on Wednesday and visited with both my neuro-surgeon and radiation oncologist. I had it set in my mind that I was going to go down there and accomplish 2 things. One, set up my radiation treatments to begin within the next week and two, convince my Doctor to allow me to drive again. Well...... the long and the short of it is I accomplished neither of my goals. Because of the severe infection I had Dr. Mickey wants to wait 4 weeks before I begin radiation treatments. The good news is, I had another MRI scan done on Wednesday morning and it showed that my tumor had not grown since my first surgery. However, this all basically means that I have to put my life on hold for another 4 weeks. I gave Dr. Mickey my best sales pitch to try and convince him that I am capable of driving again. He basically said "rules are rules" and his final answer was NO. If you know me at all you should know that when I get something in my head I put all my energy into making it happen. Even though the news that my cancer had not grown was a blessing, it was still very frustrating to know that I have another 4 weeks of being unproductive and not being able to drive.
After we left Dr. Mickey's office we went over to visit with my radiation oncologist Dr. Timmerman. He was very positive but seemed disturbed to hear that Dr. Mickey wanted me to wait 4 weeks before beginning my treatment. While I was at his office his assistants "measured" me for my radiation mask. Now, when I hear the word measure I think of of using a tape-measure or a ruler. Well... that's not exactly what happened. I had to lay on a CAT scan table with my head in an awkward position while a large lady basically suffocated me with a piece of plastic mesh that she had heated up. The mask will be used to BOLT my head to the radiation table so I'm unable to move. Sounds like fun doesn't it?
Here's a sample of what the final product looks like.
So, as the title of this blog says my life is pretty much in a holding pattern for a few weeks before I begin radiation. I have still not decided which neuro-oncologist I'm going with but it looks like I've been given a little extra time to decide. In the meantime, I'm going to go visit some friends in Florida for the week to try and get away from all this stress. As always, thank you so very much for all your thoughts and prayers. I'll post again soon.
