First visit with the oncologist

Well, today we met the oncologist, Dr. Cockerill at ISJ. He is quite a talker. A real nice guy. He spent a lot of time with Steve and has ordered a number of tests to be done over the next few days.

Today he had blood drawn for a full blood workup to check his red and white cell counts, check function of liver, kidneys and stuff like that. Then he went for a Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) which checks out the function of his lungs. Since some of the chemo drugs can be very hard on the lungs they want to make sure they are functioning well right now and then they will perform this test occasionally to watch for changes.

Friday he will go for a MUGA scan which will test the functionality of the heart ventricles. Followed by a CT scan of the abdomen and groin to check out for more signs of tumors. Next test will be on Tuesday. They will do a PET Scan which will help them to figure out the extent of the lymphoma spread. He will also have to see a dermatologist because of a spot on his shoulder that looks suspicious. This visit is set up in early March. Following the PET scan we will visit again with Dr. Cockerill and hopefully he will have all results and a plan mapped out for treatment. On Thursday Steve will have a port put in his chest. This will be done in Day surgery. It will be set just below the skin and will have a tube that will go to a larger vein. This way they won't have to continue going at the veins in his arms. The port will allow them to easier draw blood and administer chemo.

Over to the right I have added some links to give you more info on the scans if you are interested.

We will keep you posted, though we most likely won't know too much until late Tuesday.

Vicki