Met the New Oncologist

I had my first appointment with the new oncologist today. It went well.

I won't go through all of my oncologist troubles again. If you want to read the whole sad tale, you're welcome to here.

My four previous oncologists all had offices in satellite centers, rather than the main cancer hospital. The new guy is at the main hospital.

Going to the main hospital was a new experience for me. I was there a few months ago for a special event on the first floor, but this was my first time really exploring the facility. I went up to one of the top floors, where the doctor's office was located, and checked in. The staff was friendly and efficient.

Outside of the waiting room, there was an outdoor garden. It's there to give patients a peaceful place to reflect and be with a little bit of nature.It was a little chilly to go out, but it was nice to know it was there.

After I was shown into the exam room, a nurse coordinator came in to talk to me. I'm considered a "first time patient" (even though I've been a patient in the larger hospital system for about 7 years), so the nurse coordinator gave me a brief orientation and some useful information in a folder.

It's a very different experience than going to one of the satellite offices. My First-timer Folder had a list of the people on my care team (the doc, the nurse coordinator, another nurse, a physician's assistant, and a social worker). If I need anything, there's one number that I can call for help. Kind of amazing.

My folder also had information about emotional issues for cancer patients, information about scans and blood tests, and a list of free services for patients at the cancer hospital (like art therapy classes and massage). I don't know if I was eligible for these things as a patient at the satellite hospital, but no one ever mentioned them.

So far, this was looking to be a good choice.

A few minutes after the nurse coordinator left, Dr. H came in with a nurse. He was great right from the start. He sat down and said,"So you had Dr K, and he retired. And the Dr. V. And then Dr. F, who told you he retired....Well, I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon, so I think we'll be together for a long time."

And this was me:


I didn't ask him anything about his plans. He just volunteered it himself.

Now, when I meet a new oncologist (and I have more practice with this than I would like), I don't mention the blog, or the other writing, or that I'm a big Cancer Nerd who reads medical journals for fun. I just listen.

He told me a little bit about Follicular Lymphoma, and said there were some newer treatments available since I had Rituxan. He said he wanted me to do bloodwork after we met. [He also called me later in the day to tell me the blood results were back and everything was "phenomenal."]

He also told me he didn't think I needed a PET scan. "I'm not big on scans," he said, "not if there aren't any nodes popping up or any abnormalities in the blood work. If there's a reason, we'll do one, but otherwise we won't."

Me again:


(Extra points for you if you catch that "Hallelujah" reference.)

Dr. H also told me that if it came to it and I needed treatment again, he'd want me to get another biopsy to see what has changed over (almost) 11 years. And then we'd consider straight Rituxan again if it seemed appropriate.

It was my turn to ask questions, and I asked the same one that I asked Dr. V, the other lymphoma specialist I saw: what excites you about lymphoma research these days?

He told me he had been to ASH, and there weren't any real "miracle" presentations this year. Any progress was small but steady.

But what he did find exciting was, first, CAR-T. He thinks it looks great right now, and is doing some good work on patients with aggressive lymphoma. [Read more about CAR-T here.] He thinks that, in 5 years, CAR-T is going to be more widely available, and we'll understand it better then.

He also mentioned some new intratumoral immunotherapy treatments (I mentioned two of them in my last post). The treatment is injected into the tumor, and it "trains" the immune system to look for the cancer cells. He called it a kind of vaccine. I'm going to look into this some more and try to write about it soon.

Then he did a physical exam, and told me everything looked good.

And then it was over. I see him again in 6 months.

I like him. He answered questions before I asked them. His approach to the disease is in line with what I want (basically, leave me alone until we need to do something, and be available when we do).

I like the hospital, too. It's big and less convenient than the satellite offices, but....free massages, maybe.

All in all, a good visit. I'm happy with the choice I made.