“More cowbell”

Tuesday, 11/30/10

The day after Thanksgiving I contacted the surgeon’s office to see about scheduling my colectomy, but the person in charge of scheduling was busy and I had to end up leaving a voice mail. I called again on Monday and it was like déjà vu all over again. I left another voice mail, but no call back. When I called on Tuesday I told the receptionist I had been calling for three days and had yet to speak to a warm body. She apologized, took my contact info and told me that I should receive a call within the next hour. When the phone rang I was expecting the scheduler to be on the other end, but was surprised to find that it was my surgeon. He told me that I needed to have neoadjuvant therapy prior to surgery. When I mentioned that the radiation oncologist I saw the week before stated I didn’t need to have neoadjuvant therapy he response was that he had just spoken to the radiation oncologist that afternoon and he agreed that I should have radiation and chemo prior to surgery.

He went on to explain that he and the gastroenterologist believed that my tumor was of rectal origin and the standard protocol for treating rectal cancer is neoadjuvant therapy. It would help shrink the tumor, making it easier to resect and the risk of recurrence would be lower. While I understood his rationale for wanting to pursue neoadjuvant therapy I couldn’t help wonder why the radiation oncologist had changed his tune. After talking with the surgeon I put in a call to my radiation oncologist. My mind was still trying to process the conversation I had with the surgeon. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated and agitated I became. I wanted some answers and a concrete game plan…no more surprises.