Oncologist Appointment

I had a six-month appointment with my oncologist yesterday. Everything looks good.

I knew this appointment was going to be a little bit different. My regular oncologist, Dr. H, has been on vacation, so when I made the appointment six months ago, I made with his Physician's Assistant. I don't know if other parts of the world have PAs.They do many of the same things that a medical doctor can do, though they don't go to school for as long, and the usually work under the supervision of a medical doctor. It makes sense that I would see a PA for an appointment like this -- I haven't been feeling any symptoms, and this was to get some blood tested and a physical exam. I don't have any problem with a PA (and you can usually get an appointment much sooner with a PA than you can with an MD).

I got to the appointment early, which I usually do, and made my way through the parking garage and the maze that my cancer center can be. It's kind of a strangely designed place. I have to park on a particular floor of the garage, then go into the building, then take an elevator up one floor, then go across a bridge, and then sign it at a desk and get a sticker that says I'm a patient or a visitor. And only then can I start looking for where I need to go.

So when I got into the elevator at the garage, I wasn't surprised when a couple about my age came into the elevator. "Are you going down?" the man asked. 

"No, I'm going up," I said.

The woman said to the man, "No, we're going up, too."

The man said, "Are you sure? I think we go down."

I asked if they were going into the hospital, and they said yes, so I assured them they needed to go up one floor.

As we were riding, the man said, "This place is so confusing."

"Yes," I agreed, and then I joked, "Yeah, kind of a bad choice to make a building so confusing when it's full of people with chemo brain."

They didn't laugh. 

I had to remind myself that not everyone likes cancer jokes, or just might not be in a place where they can appreciate them. 

So I made sure I got out of the elevator before the couple, and when we got to the desk to sign in, I made sure I was loud. "YES, I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT FOR A BLOOD DRAW AT 8:30. AND THEN I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT TO SEE MY ONCOLOGIST AT 9:00."

I just wanted to make sure they knew I was a cancer patient, and not some random weirdo who makes jokes about chemotherapy.  

I hope  they had a good appointment.

I went to get my blood draw, and the phlebotomist introduced herself as "an intern." She did a good job, and I made sure to tell her so, and to make sure her supervisor heard me. (I'm a teacher -- I know positive feedback is helpful.)

There was a short wait to see the PA, but he apologized and did the exam. It was a fairly short visit. He had read my file, and asked me about my history with FL. Only part of the bloodwork results were available when we met, but what he had looked good. (The rest of the results came in last night; they look good too.) The physical exam was fine, too.

It's interesting -- he gave me a little bit of background on Follicular Lymphoma and what it is. Nothing I didn't already know, basic stuff. But it made me think, "Wow -- he doesn't know who I am."

That sounds arrogant, and I don't mean for it to be. But I kind of chuckled to myself. I have never told a doctor about the blog, or about any of the other advocacy work that I do. I know from working with physicians that some of them can be very wary of a patient who thinks they know more than the doctor does. They say things like "Google didn't go to medical school. I did." I've never had a doctor say that to me so directly, but I have definitely had doctors try to "put me in my place" when I gave even a hint of medical knowledge. I absolutely DO NOT think I know as much as a medical doctor does. As I remind you all as often as I can, I'm not a doctor or a cancer researcher. But I do like to think I can have an informed conversation about cancer-related topics with an expert, and I know which questions to ask.

Anyway, that was going through my head as I listened to the PA tell me about FL. 

So it was a good appointment, despite my unsuccessful cancer joke, my student phlebotomist, and my own suppressed arrogance.

I hope all of you have good appointments in the near future as well.

We're moving past the post-ASCO research hangover, so I'm seeing more FL research results in my feed lately. I should have some good stuff to pass along soon.