Everybody Wang Chung Tonight

Another long —though productive —day at Mayo today, accompanied by Mom and R.
First stop was the radiation oncologist, the cancer doc that specializes in the radiation part of the treatment. This doctor I will call Dr. Quidditch. She laid out a plan of 28 "fractions" of radiation, which is to be done over 5 weeks and 3 days ( treatment is given 5 days a week). I will get intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), which apparently is some super-special kind of radiation that only irradiates (mostly) what they want to irradiate. I asked whether this is something that could be be done in the cities, or if I needed to come down to Mayo. See, I do want the best care possible, but the idea of moving to Rochester and living in a hotel for 6 weeks seemed more depressing than the treatment itself.

Dr Quidditch said that there was one guy that she would trust on the cities to do it: Dr. Wangchungtonight. (His name is actually even more ridiculous than that, and I started laughing whenever I said it — and R. had to leave the car he was laughing so hard — which probably made me sound like a prank caller when I was talking to his scheduler.)

So, Dr. Wangchungtonight will be my Radiation oncologist. Another oncologist—yet unknown—will do the chemo, which falls under the umbrella of "medical oncology". The new, second oncologist will be different from my previous chemo oncologist because it's best to keep both chemo and radiation at the same location. So I am extra special because I have 2 different *kinds* of oncologist.

The whole circus is planned to start a week from Wednesday, 5/10/11. Chemo and radiation will run for 6 weeks. After this I'll be given about 4-6 weeks to recover and let my blood cell counts up to where they should be again, and then surgery is planned for (likely) the week before Halloween.

I also met with a Neurologist, Dr. Harold Whitecastle, who missed his calling as a comedian. If he had worn a red foam nose, he could have given Patch Adams a run for his money. He said that the back pain was most likely not nerve damage, and that it might be related to the cancer or might be "mechanical" rather than neurological. He essential said that it would wither go away or not. Dr, Whitecastle—working with the Urologist and Radiologist — verified that it was not internal bleeding, diverticulosis or another lurking tumor. Pain of this type is sometimes common with tumors in this area. In it seems to be lessening. It is not gone yet, but maybe it is is on its way out. In any case, its not anything more than annoying, which is some comfort.

Wednesday, I meet with Dr. Wangchungtonight for a 3 hour intake appointment were I will get my Radiation Tattoo! more on that on Wednesday.