NURSE'S CALL

I’m writing this blog post on Tuesday. Tomorrow morning I have my appointment with Dr. Tan, my oncologist. First of all, I’ll be interested to see if the staff is really as kind and responsive as the last time I was there!! No actually, I’m not really worried about this appointment; I presume that I’m still in cytogenetic remission. Dr. Tan thinks that remission will hold for around seven years before something else might have to be done. Nevertheless, these periodic lab procedures have to be done in case something goes haywire; we wouldn’t want to be unaware. In other news, our insurance company called and wanted me to talk to one of their nurses. Evidently they have assigned a R.N. (Nancy) to me. Among other things she asked if I was experiencing any signs of depression. I responded that I have a wife, four kids, and a granddaughter that expect me to fight this stuff without having pity parties. I admitted that it is a very tough fight at times but I want it etched to my family’s souls that if I can go through this junk without pity parties, they can go through life without them too. Now, before you send fireballs to me…I know there is pathological depression. Nevertheless, we also know that most depression is self-induced by dwelling on negative thoughts, problems, challenges, and dwelling on one’s own status in life too much and too often. That’s what I’m talking about. The nurse did advise me to talk to Dr. Tan about my narcotic. She said that although it is not “contraindicated” with Gleevec, it is not recommended. She suggested I ask him about pain medication as he will be the most versed about drug interactions with Gleevec. That’s about all the important things the nurse had to say…which is more than I remembered when Eileen asked me last night!!