Appointment with Dr. Gray

Today we met with Dave's Oncologist, Dr. Gray.  I was sooo nervous about going and was hoping he would be a good, positive doctor and it turned out he was.  The first thing he said to Dave was that he was too young to be in his office.  He also told us that his nephew, who is 18, also had colon cancer, went through chemo and now is cancer free. 

He decided to set Dave up on an aggressive chemo treatment.  It is called Folfox and he will be on it for six months.  He will go in once every two weeks for a two hour period.  He will be sent home with a pump and will continue his treatment at home for two days.  We will go back after two days and they will disconnect him from it.  Of course there will be a lot of side effects which include; being tired, nausea, mouth sores, being constipated or having diarrhea, and it will make his toes and fingers tingle.  He said if he were to touch or drink something really cold it would feel something like an electrical shock.  With this treatment most patients don't lose all their hair, but it thins.  He said these side effects should go away after treatment, but some people complain of the tingling for awhile after. 

I was so afraid of the statistics he was going to give us, but he said that after treatment there's only a 20% chance of recurrence.  That was a lot better than we thought we'd hear.  Dave asked him straight up if he was going to make it.  The Dr. said yes and that he hopes to cure him.

He showed us the chemo room, and it didn't look that bad.  Just a couple of old people in their Lazy Boy's, getting their chemo and smiling at us.  One of them asked Dave if he was the Dr.'s son.  He said, "No, I'm a patient just like you.  I'll be in here soon." 

It's still hard to believe that it's true.

So for next week:  Thursday Dave will have his body scan at Ogden Regional.  Friday we have a follow up appointment with Dr. Jordan.  Sept 13 is when Dave will start chemo.