So its been a crazy week already. Andrew and I finally found a radiation oncologist that we feel comfortable will provide the quality and level of care and has the expertise we are looking for. His name is Dr. Bajaj and he is located in our backyard and works out of the Fairfax Inova Hospital Group.
But our adventures for the week did not begin there. We first started out in Woodbridge, VA with Dr. Boylan, one of Dr. Bajaj's colleagues. That's how we found Dr. Bajaj... and thank goodness for that. I mean, have any of you ever been to Woodbridge? Me neither, until this. That's where Dr. Boylan's office was located. Anything outside of the 495 beltway seems like a different world to me. Though I don't claim to be a city girl by any means, and would move to State College, PA in a heart beat if I could, when I am in the city, I act like a city girl ... honking at anyone who gets in front of me, drinking Starbucks at all times of the day, only wearing heals over 3 inches high and texting to anyone and everyone who will write back to me, all the while wearing Big Jackie-O sunglasses to shield my eyes from making real contact with anyone ... to validate my importance, of course. Trying to maintain this pseudo-life in Woodbridge, would have been impossible. I never did see a Starbucks or anyone but the doctor and myself in heals ... she had on Stewart Weitzman's .. nice choice. When we stepped out of the car after our 1 hour and 15 minute jaunt from our McLean home and I looked around, I said 2 things to Andrew. 1. Look honey, this is where all the tree are..... Trees for miles around , and 2. ToTo, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore... And sure enough I was right. Woodbridge did remind me of Uniontown, PA, where I grew up a little. But there's reason we are not having treatment in Uniontown and are staying near a big city for medical treatment.
So after a great appointment with Dr. Broylan, she set us up Tuesday afternoon to meet with Dr. Bajaj at the Tomo Therapy Center in Fairfax ... an area we were more familiar with ... so we high-tailed it out of small town USA, got on 95 North and headed back to civilization around the city. Uh .. Starbucks Pumpkin Chai Latte here I come.
Dr. Bajaj is a young guy who actually used to work at Johns Hopkins with Andrew's specialist Dr. Thornton, so we have great confidence in his skills. He has seen upwards of 5 cases of Ewing's in his time as a doctor. Though that may not sound like much, seeing one case in a life time as a doctor can be rare, so 5 makes us feel pretty good. Andrew will be having anywhere from 31-35 treatments, or about 7 weeks in conjunction with his 5-day out patient I/E treatment. All of this will start on October 12th and continue though Thanksgiving week. So you guessed it, Thanksgiving will be here in Northern Virginia this year ... a first for us. His treatment will only take about 20 minutes per day and it will be given to him on a Tomo Radiation Therapy machine. This machine is not new, it's been around for about 7 years, but it is a more precise way for doctors to give radiation without hurting good cells in the process. Andrew and I were both impressed with the machine and its capabilities. He will be having a planning session tomorrow so that the doctor can make out a road map for where the radiation beams will be pointed. The great thing about this machine, is that each day a CAT scan will be done to modify on the fly for any sudden changes, ie an enlarged bowel, kidney ... just anything that may change and potentially be in the way for that day. This will help to keep healthy organs out of the way of the treatment.
But besides that, Andrew continues to go to work each day and I am now working from home. Georgetown has had a large outbreak of H1N1 virus and to keep myself and Andrew healthy, I have been able to work out this schedule. My hope is that I can keep it up through Thanksgiving and maybe even a little longer, until Andrew gets strong enough for me to be around college kids .. who of course think it is fine to cough, sneeze, blow their nose and oh yeah .. come to my office in this condition to tell me about it. Memo to students ... I am not a doctor and I do not play one on TV, go to the Student Health Center or the hospital and not to your advisors office who can't write you a prescription or a note of absence from your classes. Didn't your parents teach you anything ..... so because of the lack of common sense that Georgetown student possess, I am home, staying healthy.
Be well ... And wash your hands frequently with soap and water to keep the spread of virus to a minimum!!
