Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A Long Day

Today was chemo day and we were there for three hours when they finally came over to us and told us that they had "forgotten" to sign the orders for Tanner's medications and hadn't even ordered the chemo yet so, needless to say, it was a really long day...

Tanner seems to be doing fairly well except that he's having more pain in his right hip where the largest lesion is located (and he told me today also in one of his shoulders). 

He want's to talk to an Orthopedic Surgeon about the hip because he's afraid the femur is going to break.  When we asked Dr. Nicholas last year about the lesion in the right femur, he told us "we'll fix it if it breaks"...  Tanner's thoughts are that if there's some sort of surgery they can do to help strengthen the bone to stop it from breaking, he would rather go ahead and have surgery rather than to deal with the pain and trauma of waiting for it to break.

My thinking is this might be just the beginning of having to deal with the discomfort and pain of Multiple Myeloma.

Dr. Albritton wanted us to schedule Tanner to start some phyisical therapy (to see if it can help with some of the pain) but I told the nurse I don't want anyone stretching and doing any therapy on him until we ask a MM Specialist for their opinion. 

My fear is that someone not familiar with the fragility of MM bones might cause Tanner more harm than good.

Tomorrow we have an appointment to see Dr. Robert Berryman over in Dallas at 3 p.m..  We completed the new patient packet tonight and it said to be prepared to be there for 3-4 hours so tomorrow will most likely be another long day.

Since I'm thinking I'm going to get up and go to the office early tomorrow to get some of my work done before I have to leave for the appointment, I think I'll call it an early night tonight....

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.

1 comment:

  1. I am praying that this doctor will be the one Tanner needs so he can quit going to Arkansas. I know Dr. Barlogie is a very good doctor; however, I have to believe there are others who are just as good. And the hardship of going to Arkansas that is put upon you all needs to be lightened. I am hoping also there will be an orthopedic doctor in this group that can advise Tanner about his leg. It doesn't need to break. That is just a really stupid thing for any doctor to tell someone.
    We love you Tanner. Keep going straight and thinking positive and your life will blossum into something amazing.
    Granny and Pop

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