Remember Dr. Witta called me and he said he was free at noon today? When I showed up at my appointment I thought it was kinda funny that the receptionist told me, "He never sees anyone at noon." I guess this was his lunch time or planning period or something, but I told her that's when he asked me to come in.
He was happy I had completed my treatment and that I was doing so well. I told him the only real side effect was my still very dry, cracked, peeling finger tips. I showed him. He said that's the chemo, and that it would still last in my system probably for another three weeks or so.
He asked if he could look at me, if that was all right, and I said sure. I knew he meant looking at my tush. He left to get gloves and then came back in. Instead of me pulling my pants down and then trying to get up on the table, I just hopped up there and then slid them down. That's how much weight I've lost. All my pants are several sizes too big now. I need some belts! Or new pants!
He looked surprised and said, "Oh you've lost weight!" I was so grateful that he looked pleasantly surprised (I took that as a compliment) instead of lecturing me that I need to stop losing weight. When I first saw him, September 12, I was 144. I can't help that I'm losing the weight. I'm not trying to. Honest to God, I'm the laziest person in the world and I love to eat, so I have no idea why I'm dropping so much weight. Anyway, it was nice.
He just took a quick look at my back side where the radiation had been targeted and said there was only minimal redness but nothing concerning. He said taking into account that I'm still having a heavy bloody-pus discharge, having hot flashes followed by chills, and still having pain, he wanted me to get on an antibiotic to be on the safe side in case I do have an infection going on in there. He didn't want me to be going into surgery with an infection, and I agree! I'm more than happy to take an antibiotic just in case.
He explained in detail the course of adjuvant chemotherapy that I'd receive after my surgery and the reasons for doing it and so on. I am still totally on board with doing it. I told him I'd have to call my insurance company to see if my getting the treatment there would be in my Tier 1 network and whether it was offered at the hospital or not. I assume it is but I never know for sure. Dr. Witta said he understood, but that I would need to be followed by an oncologist at the hospital if that's the way I choose to go. I wouldn't mind being under his care for this of course, but I have to also take into consideration the cost, the drive, and the time. His office is a lot farther away than the hospital, and he said the IV treatment would take a couple hours at a time. I'll have to see what my options are and decide. WEIGHT 131.5
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