Part Seven: Back and Forth

            So grateful to have friends who are early risers (unlike me), I meet Mona in the Food Pyramid parking lot at 7:30 a.m.  Today is my first appointment with medical oncologist Dr. Ali Moussa at the Oklahoma Cancer Specialists and Research Institute (OCSRI).  

            As we walk into the building, my first impression is that we have arrived at a festive airplane terminal check-in because of the bright yellow counter with the hanging “check-in” signs.  There is no chance to have to wonder for a second where to go.  At the check-in desk I receive my identifying bracelet and am directed to new patient registration.  I hand over the stack of paperwork I completed at home and my credit card.  In return, I receive the privacy statement and my stack of paperwork on a clipboard followed by my credit card and receipt. 

            I sit down in the front desk waiting area with Mona, and not two minutes later am summoned to a glassed-in office where I admire the lovely framed set of ribbon flowers on the wall and talk with the woman behind the desk.  (Too bad I’ve forgotten everyone’s names from today.)  She tells me it was a project she and her then-four-year-old granddaughter did together using all the different color ribbons representing different cancers.  After scanning my insurance card and driver’s license, she takes my picture and escorts Mona and me to the elevators and on up to the second floor where we wait in a bright, open area decorated in cheerful greens and pastel yellows.  The chairs are all cushioned and the curved couches look comfy, too.

            I am surprised when a medical assistant comes up to shake my hand and introduce herself, saying, “Glad to meet you, Janis.”  It takes a minute to realize that she has found me by my picture.  I get weighed—and I will spare you the details of those digital numbers—and we head on back to an exam room where she enters some information into the computer, checks my temperature, and takes my blood pressure.  She and the student who is shadowing her today leave, but within moments she is back, handing me a bright pink Rustic Cuff jewelry bag and a greeting card.  I pull out the pretty pink bracelet as she explains that 100 of them were donated to OCSRI for new breast cancer patients.  Wow.

            When Dr. Moussa comes in, he shakes hands with Mona and me and then settles down in front of the computer and my paperwork, asking me various questions about my health.  He talks over the biopsy report, explaining it shows a stage 1A cancer—over which I am very happy—looks at the sonogram and checks to see if the MRI results are available yet.  They are not.  He does a quick exam, and while he is waiting the few minutes for Dr. Smith to return his call for a brief phone consultation, he records my medical information on a digital recorder, referring to me three separate times as a “pleasant woman.”  He stops the recorder and smiles at me, saying, “That was the third time!”  I decide that means I am “triple pleasant,” a nice counter-note to having triple negative cancer.  He goes over what will come next: a blood draw today for a complete blood count and a breast cancer inflammatory marker.  Next week I will have a bone scan, a CT scan, and a PET scan.  Based on the information he has this morning, he says that surgery first followed by chemotherapy looks like the route to take after all. 

            Another medical assistant comes in after Dr. Moussa leaves and answers any questions I have, then escorts us back downstairs where I am to have the blood draw and stop at the scheduling desk for next week’s scans and a July 1 follow-up appointment.  The PET scan is not on the orders, so I figure that will come a little later.

            As Mona and I start the drive back to Bartlesville, she suggests stopping at Sprouts in Owasso.  What a great idea!  I love grocery shopping there.  While I am making decisions in the organic produce section, my phone rings.  It is an apologetic Angie from Dr. Smith’s office.  Evidently, the MRI results arrived after my appointment, and Dr. Smith has already consulted with Dr. Moussa via phone.  The MRI shows some lymph gland involvement.  My heart drops as I process this unwelcome news.  Good-bye, stage 1A.  Dr. Moussa’s office will be in touch with me:  the lymph gland involvement means we are back to the chemo first, surgery later scenario. 

            Mona is a good listener.  As we drive home, I talk and talk and talk, some of it serious, some of it silly.  The talking helps drain off my tension concerning the change in treatment plans.  Back at Food Pyramid parking lot, she helps me load my groceries into the car, and I thank her for the ride and company.  I hope I remembered to thank her again for the homemade essential oil products she gave me:  peppermint foot soak and lavender-lemongrass brown sugar body scrub.

            Back and forth, back and forth.  If nothing else, this breast cancer journey is going to teach me flexibility.  I am grateful that even though plans and schedules change moment by moment, I can rest in God’s care.