I could be something or nothing

We made the trip to Stanford and the doctors don't have a good idea what could be causing Mary's pain--but having ongoing back pain from a compressed vertebrae for this length of time is not unheard of.

We met with a resident first, who finishes at Stanford in a few months, and he suggested acupuncture either at Stanford or at a clinic in San Jose. Mary is interested and plans on following up on that. We then met with the staff radiology oncologist, the guy who cooked Mary's innards last summer and he ordered an MRI. The MRI should happen next week. Its been two months from her last MRI so only if something is definitively growing will we learn something.

Otherwise, no other changes to the meds or treatment.

Learning that the length of time, while long, is not abnormally long was somewhat assuring. Having the MRI ordered and therefore the subsequent analysis is also assuring. If it is a cancerous growth, there are techniques like the cyberknife that would have a high probability of stopping a tumor.

Although we didn't see Dr. Visser, the surgeon, I will use his phrase of a "tincture of time" seems to be the best course of (in)action.

Both of the docs today did not like the problems Mary is having. The pain being first, the frequent regurgitation is second and the weight loss is the third issue. Frankly, the 2nd and 3rd items are probably caused by the pain medication (fentanyl) so they are not as worried about that as they are about the source of this pain.

I would like to thank Terry who took Mary to Stanford today. Thank you. I did find Mary in the examination room when I arrived at 2PM so that worked just fine. Oh, and we were on hospital time. The 2PM appointment only took slightly more than two hours before we saw both the doctors. Thank you Stanford for guest wifi and Steve Jobs for iPhones! The structural mass of Stanford's buildings basically shuts down cell phone service so guest wifi is a real blessing.

For those who wonder if the heavy duty drugs are affecting Mary, let me tell you this little story. I had a 7AM meeting today so I left the house about 6:30, long before Mary woke up. That means she had to do her own pill routine plus feed herself which she did successfully. She then showered and dressed and felt very sleepy from the compazine (anti-nausea medication). Terry arrived just before 1PM and with Terry's arrival, Mary started to gather the dogs to put them in the dog run while she was gone. She could not find Demandit Dawg. Demandit Dawg will follow you into a room and not come out before you close the door. Given our doggie deposit problems, we keep almost all doors closed all the time. Mary started the routine of opening doors and still could not find Demandit Dawg.

She finally realized what had happened to Demandit Dawg. In Mary's drug induced state, she had neglected to a) release Demandit Dawg from her sleeping crate and b) feed both the dogs their morning meal--normally done when we get up. So at 1PM Mary released Demandit Dawg from her crate and as Mary said it, "That dog shot out of the crate, down the stairs and out to the dog run in record time!" Poor dog!

As for yesterday, our regular "The Maids" day, I want to thank Ingrid who collected Mary and our two dogs so the maids could have the run of the house for two hours without interference. And, Mary didn't have to smell the cleaning fluids they use.

During the two hour outing, they did the round trip to Stanford so Mary could have her blood tests done in advance of the visit today. As I write this, I realize we didn't ask if there was anything to learn from the blood tests. Mary will need to call to find out. They also had lunch but were not able to do the dog walk because of the rain. Interestingly, this morning's paper showed that Los Gatos has had almost 8 inches of rain this week (through Wednesday afternoon) while San Jose had just a hair under 3 inches. Seasonal totals for Los Gatos and San Jose are about 24 inches and 12 inches, respectively, so this set of storms was a big chunk of our annual totals.

I just did a quick google maps analysis and downtown Los Gatos to downtown San Jose is about 8 or 9 miles as the crow flies and a virtually flat but downhill terrain, given Los Gatos is in the foothills and San Jose is in the middle of the valley. Very interesting how our microclimates work in this valley. This is a google terrain map. You can click on it and see the terrain of the mountains and hills around Santa Clara Valley.


View Larger Map