Originally we'd been planning to go to New York City for a second opinion with Dr. Murray Brennan at Memorial Sloan Kettering. When we got connected with Dr. Pollock at MD Anderson, who turned out to be so responsive and helpful (in addition to being a famous expert), we decided to try to do both in one trip. Dr. Pollock's clinic day was Wednesday, and Dr. Brennan's Friday - perfect. However, once I started the process of scheduling the visit with Dr. Pollock, I learned that he was actually out of the office that day (May 16th)! When I emailed him about this, he offered to cut his trip short and see me on Thursday the 17th instead. When the visit was finally scheduled, it was at 3:30, and there was no way we could allow enough time for the visit and catch a flight to New York that evening. So we decided to meet with Dr. Pollock only - at least for now (kind of a bummer, as I'd been looking forward to spending a couple days in New York!).
Thursday afternoon Scott and I met with Dr. Pollock as planned. They had just received my records, but had not had time to review them. We discussed my case, and their approach to treating me. They also work as teams of physicians, and their conference call would be the following Tuesday. When they learned that we would be in Houston until Saturday, they made me an appointment to see the radiation oncologist the following morning. Dr. Pollock said that he would be out of town on Sunday (Sunday!), so gave me his cell number, and said that his home number was "in the book." When we seemed a bit astonished, his response was "I work for you now."
I've been a little freaked out about the thought of the sarcoma spreading to my lungs, so I asked Dr. Pollock how I can protect my lungs. He responded by saying I should just enjoy life, don't let this thing control me, don't let it take control more than it already has. None of us know what will happen tomorrow (a philosophy I have used in the past myself).
Friday morning we met with the radiation oncologist, and discussed how radiation would work. I'd actually seen the radiation oncologist at the U earlier that week, but learned some new things, like they do increasing doses of radiation in a sort of concentric circle, so that the tumor site receives a higher dose than the surrounding tissues. I will be receiving radiation five days a week for five or six weeks, so I started thinking about the logistics of how it would be to receive my treatment down in Houston (why couldn't this have happened in January?).
After that, we had a nice brief time in Houston. We found a couple of great vegan restaurants (and got vegan tamales!), drove to Galveston, took the ferry, where we saw dolphins, then went to Anahuac Wildlife Refuge, where we saw lots of alligators. I also got to see a few good birds (>8.
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