We met again with the chemotherapy specialist last Friday. He came to the same conclusion other doctors had, that Karen wasn't quite healthy enough for chemo yet. She was still losing some weight - although less - and there was a new concern about a possible fistula. He had put some thought into the treatment and said it might be beneficial to add Avastin (bevacizumab) to the FOLFOX treatment he had originally recommended, after Karen had healed more, possibly several months into chemotherapy. It slows the body's growth of new blood vessels, which in turn, slows tumor growth. However, it also slows the body's natural healing process. Hence the delay in adding it.
When we originally met with the chemo specialist, he suggested that we might be interested in looking for some place closer to get the actual chemotherapy. The only Mayo location that currently does chemo is an hour away, and although it's only once every two weeks, it's still an hour of being in a moving vehicle directly following chemo. So yesterday we went to Arizona Oncology to meet with an oncologist there.
Karen seemed to like the place a lot. We saw the facilities there was someone sleeping while getting chemo, and they seemed comfortable, which made her happy. They have free coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, which is nice. The doctor we saw won an award in 2001 for being one of the top doctors for breast cancer in America; an award in 2002 for being one of the best doctors for women; and an award in 2005 for being a top doctor in Phoenix. While I liked the doctor, and she said she was more than happy to work with our oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, I'm not sure it's really the best choice.
I want to say the walls were really thin, but I think they were reinforced partition walls, and they met with the window in such a way that they left a big enough gap for you to hear from one room to another. While we were waiting we heard the complete conversation between a 70 year old woman, someone who sounded like her daughter, and our doctor, several rooms over. I tried not to listen, but the conversation was very easily overheard. The doctor had said they'd be using chemo that's more suited for older patients, and the daughter piped up and said, "You mean, more suited for seasoned patients." And the doctor politely corrected herself, and the daughter laughed. I hope when I'm 70, people let me call myself old. What's there to be ashamed of? I mean there's something to be said about living that long. Anyway.
The building itself can only be described as a big metal thing. While waiting to see the doctor I was sitting next to a window with shades and really dark tint, sweating. While Karen, sitting just the other side of me, was cold from the air conditioner attempting to keep the room a reasonable temperature. I'd thought of offering to switch places with her when she mentioned being cold, but the nurse who brought us in was very specific about who sat where. Karen's been having hot flashes, so the air conditioner was probably the better of the two places to be sitting anyway. The place also had really bad wifi, which isn't a big deal, but if you wanted to watch Netflix or the such, you probably aren't going to have much luck. The chemo facilities only had one TV for everyone, so you probably weren't likely to be the one watching what you wanted to see. And the place is only open Monday through Friday, so that rules out the option of getting chemo on Friday and having the pump removed on Sunday. Karen had wanted to work Monday through Thursday and just be out Friday, but that doesn't seem very likely with this location. Everyone is saying chemotherapy starts out easy, but gets more difficult over time. So perhaps she can make it work for now, but this will be a source of conflict if we go with Arizona Oncology.
