Tanner's Journey: Waiting on the Schedule

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Waiting on the Schedule

The appointment lady from Dr. Allbritton's office called yesterday and said they were in the process of scheduling all of Tanner's tests. She said Cook's in Fort Worth was really booked up and wanted to know if I would mind taking him to Hurst to have the tests done because they have a lighter schedule and could get Tanner in more quickly.

I told her I didn't mind where they were done as long as we could get them performed as soon as possible.

Later she called back and said that Cook's in Hurst didn't have the capability of putting all the tests on a disk so they were going to need to be done in Fort Worth which, in turn, means that they can't be done until next week.

Now I'm just waiting for them to call me back and give me the complete schedule so that I can call Little Rock and make Tanner's appointment with Dr. Barlogie and Dr. Nicholas.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could schedule them both on the same day? Last time they wanted us to see Dr. Nicholas on Friday and Dr. Barlogie on Monday...

My boss told me it would probably be just a one day trip to AR this next time and I told him I didn't know how easy it would be to find a day where we could see both doctors - and that I also have to have time to make my aunt some quiche... LOL! Tanner and I both really miss her, Julie, and the kids!

I've actually not even seen Tanner in two days (Spring Break and all the kids are in from school). When I'm home, he's gone and vice versa. I'm hoping he will make it in before I go to bed tonight... I guess he doesn't much need his mom any more... (Ok, he just came in and gave me a kiss and told me for my birthday on Monday, I can have an afternoon with him this Saturday. LOL!)

I only slept four hours last night so I'm hoping tonight will be a better night. Maybe it's age that's causing these difficulties sleeping. I see 49 staring me in the face next week...

I'm still working to pull out of the depression. Now that the time has changed, I have daylight for a while after I get off work so I stopped at the park and went for a walk tonight and then went to eat at Mexican Inn (good thing I had the walk first!). For the most part, I seem to have a better handle on things right now.

The future is no place to place your better days... Dave Matthews Band

1 comment:

Lori PuenteThursday, March 17, 2011
Hi Angie, just "checking in" to see how things are going with you and the boys. I'm happy to see that Tanner will get his tests and seems to be living the life of an older teen! Between losing some of your caregiver role AND your mom role would be pretty tough to take. I was a bit time delayed on the empty nest syndrome with Dave's illness and it hit me sometime much later and of course no one understood. Mom has gone off the deep end, AGAIN!

Good to take some walks and add some Vitamin B to the mix. A great little boost for some.

Best to you all,

Lori
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Recap

One summer day in 2009 my 17 year old son, Tanner Walker, decided to go swimming at a friend's house. While walking across the yard, his left leg collapsed and his tibia snapped completely in two.

Of course we were upset and worried that afternoon when I rushed him to the Emergency Room but I have to admit that the thought of cancer never entered our minds until the doctor came back into the room and told us "There's no easy was to say this other than just say it. There is a tumor in the bone".

They put Tanner in a splint and sent us home and over the next two weeks he saw several doctors who told us it "might be cancer - or it might be nothing" and eventually surgery was performed to repair the break and a biopsy was taken.

After the procedure, the surgeon came out and told us that the good news was that it wasn't cancer - but the bad news was that they didn't know what it was.

Two weeks later, my cell phone rang and it was the doctor wanting to speak to me and explain that they had found a Pathologist who had, finally, diagnosed the lesion as Multiple Myeloma. Can you imagine? I was at work and at that very moment my world, my son's world, our family's world - were all forever changed.

After a full body scan was performed Tanner was found to have hundreds - "innumerable"- lesions in the bones throughout his body and the Oncologist told me (privately) that at the stage he was at, he most likely only had two years to live.

Luckily, we were referred to the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at UAMS in Little Rock Arkansas where Tanner underwent some of the most aggressive treatment available including chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants. Now, over three years later, he remains in full remission.

He receives maintenance treatment here locally and is back to living the life of a young man... A young man with Multiple Myeloma.

Tanner's Journey

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Waiting on the Schedule

1 comment:

Followers

My Blog List

Songs of Our Journey

Blog Archive