Office visit 12/23

12/23 10:46
ANC 6251

Today we saw Doc P's nurse practitioner Patsy, since Doc P was busy with new consultations. Alan's counts were good, but we talked about the diarrhea that he had been experiencing over the last week. We were a little concerned as to the cause - it is a side effect of the Irinotecan, but Alan usually gets constipated. Whatever has been causing him problems may be changing his reactions though, as evidenced by last Monday's vomiting. We mentioned that his diapers have been very dry and we were concerned about dehydration. Patsy noted that his heart rate was a little high, another indication of dehydration, so we decided to stick around for some IV fluids. Whatever the cause of the diarrhea, fluids are never a bad idea.

We asked to see Doc P - we wanted to know if Doc L had a chance to talk to him about Wednesday's test results. Doc P had not been contacted yet (not a surprise considering how crowded Doc L's office was and being this close to the holiday) and was a little floored by the news. He was a little less certain than Doc L that this couldn't be a recurrence of the tumor and said we might need to resort to the Ifosfamide and Etoposide that Alan had handled so poorly last year. However he said we should wait for the data and a needle biopsy was exactly what he would have ordered as well. In the meantime, we will come back next Wednesday for counts since the office will be closed on Monday.

After we were done with the IV fluids, Alan wished the staff a Merry Christmas as we headed home.


Alan checking out the view from the exam room