HOUSTON TRIP RESULTS

The last couple of weeks have been pretty much non-stop as I prepared for this last trip to Houston. As mentioned previously, they wanted reports and results on any and all medical visits and treatments I have had in the past five years. In addition, they wanted a list of all doctors I had consulted including names, addresses and phone numbers, and last but not least, they wanted a list of all medications I have taken and wanted me to bring the original bottles of each and all medications - including over-the-counter drugs. I spent the best part of the previous week running all over town getting this information and my suitcase was weighted down with all of this material as I departed for Houston.

We went down on Sunday and met with the plastic surgeon and his staff first thing Monday. As always, our son Scott and his wife Sheri had been busy doing research on all the potential treatments and risks involved and their research caused them to be concerned about the screen that is often used in this procedure. When Scott brought these issues up at our meeting with the plastic surgeon, the fact that MD Anderson is one of the most advanced treatment centers was once again demonstrated. They do not use the screen process. While this sounds a little unpleasant, they use the skin of a pig or cadaver and sew this into the abdomen to create an artificial lining or wall which your own lining will become attached to. (I am sure I am explaining this exactly right. It was somewhat over my head even though it was dealing with a subject somewhat below my head.) In any event, they did point out that they would remove the cells and DNA from this lining they would implant in my gut. I could just visualize myself getting excited or emotional and starting to "oink". Of course, my Mom always said I ate like a pig - so maybe something about this is appropriate. The plastic surgeon did go over all the potential risks including - death. Why did he have to say anything about death? I am already apprehensive about this whole idea to begin with.

After this meeting I had some lab work done. Within the few days I was in Houston, they sent me in for lab work four different times plus they stuck an IV port into my arm. I had so many holes poked into my arms I was afraid to take a drink of water for fear I would start squirting water out of both arms.

We next met with an internal medicine doctor and his staff and he was tough. He went through all my records with a fine tooth comb and changed several of my current medications. He was great though and called me on my cell phone several times after we left to confirm and/or re-confirm several of his instructions. These are top ranked high qualtity doctors and I don't get that kind of treatment from my own local doctors. MD Anderson is a top rated cancer treatment center with both doctors and patients from all over the world. I was amused that the internal medical doctor's name was Dr. Ho. Later in the week I had another doctor with the name of Dr. Lo. Then I became worried that maybe these were fictitious names to prevent you from tracking them down if something went wrong.

We then met with my cancer surgeon and his staff and he arranged for me to have some more blood work and added a doppler exam, a chest x-ray, and EKG, and a cat-scan of my abdomen, pancreas and bladder. These exams caused us to need to extend our stay in Houston an extra day. These exams are not painful but are not pleasant. However when I have had the doppler exam in Albuquerque some young guy in a barren office in an almost vacant building comes in wearing a pair of jeans with a partially white smock and looks like he has just thrown on the smock as he finished his job of delivering pizza. This company is contracted with Presbyterian to perform these exams. He has a lap top computer that his probes are connected to and he completes the exam in about fifteen minutes. I have to give him credit though, he did find the two blood clots in my right leg. The doppler exam in Houston was in a room with so much sophisticated looking equipment that I thought they might start cutting on me right there and then. This exam took almost two hours. The exam started with a female technician who did a very thorough job and after a lengthy exam she excused herself and brought back another technician, who she said was more advanced than she was and she wanted him to review the exam. The two of them looked at everything in detail and whispered back and forth as to their opinions. Next they summoned a doctor (Dr. Lo) who reviewed everything and gave me a whole new exam of both legs from start to finish. I went from that exam into the holding area for the cat-scan and finally got out of there around 7:00 pm.

Between the visits with the doctors and the doppler and cat-scan exams, we had a day off so went down to Galveston to see the results of hurricane Ike. There were a number of tree limbs and branches lining the streets in Houston and all the big billboard signs were pretty much destroyed as MD Anderson is in the South part of Houston. In fact, we were just a very short distance from the new stadium that the Houston Texan Football team plays in and this huge stadium as a retractible roof kind of like a convertible top. It was damaged and they said it couldn't be repaired before the end of the current football season.

As we got closer to Galveston the damage caused by Ike was almost unblievable. Sides of buildings had holes in them, roofs had tarps covering holes, some buildings were totally destroyed and some shopping strip malls were totally closed. As we crossed the bridge into Galveston, huge yachts, sailboats and all sorts of smaller boats lined the highway on the side and even one or two had been blown clear across the highway into the medium. Most of these boats looked like total losses. The streets of Galveston were lined with huge piles of rubbish and garbage. Almost every pile of litter had refrigerators and other kitchen appliances included in the rubble. It was really sad. Almost all of the traffic lights were not working and they had installed four-way stop signs at almost all intersections. One of my biggest concerns was a museum we had visited when we went down in April which houses a collection of World War II airplanes. The airport is not too far from the sea wall. We went out to the airport and there was a wire fence built around the airplane hanger and it was obvious that most of the walls of the hanger had been torn apart by the storm, but the framework of the hanger was still in place and we could see some of the airplanes inside. I am sure there was some damage, but it looked like all the airplanes were still in one piece. Scott had found a web site that was a restaurant right across the highway from the sea wall. This restaurant had a video camera that scanned the water across the highway out into the gulf. For some reason this restaurant, The Spot, was open for business so we stopped there for lunch. Scott had already returned to Albuquerque, so we called him and called Andrew down in Florida and waved to them on the camera as we sat on the patio and had lunch. It is amazing, but this restaurant is right across the street from the sea wall and it wasn't damaged. They never closed for the storm. They were out of food for several days, but the bar was open every day. Yet miles away from the sea wall, buildings were completely destroyed.

We got back to Albuquerque late Thursday and I was anxious to get to work on Friday. I sold a car on the 1st. and hadn't been back to work since. Instead I spent more than half the day going to my doctors here in Albuquerque. MD Anderson gave me two prescriptions they wanted me to start on immediately. Neither of these prescriptions were going to be covered by my insurance as Presbyterian has assumed they are not necessary - I guess, and one was around $750.00 and the other was something like $265.00. Because of my visits with the local doctors, I was able to have one of them converted to office treatments and this will eliminate the cost, and on the other I was able to get a "sample prescription" from my pulmonary doctor. So, while I spent more than half the day running around seeing my local doctors, it did save me around $1,000.00 - so I guess it was worth it.

I finally got to work late Friday afternoon - and now the bummer! I got a call from MD Anderson telling me they were going to cancel the surgery planned for the 21st. The exams showed that I still had fragments of blood clots in my right leg and it also showed that I now have an anuerism in my right leg. I already knew I had an anuerism in my left leg and one in my chest, but this one in my right leg is new. They said it was too dangerous for them to operate on me at this time, so they want me to come back in three months and go through this examination routine again.

I was really frustrated and depressed when I got this news. I had spent a lot of time and money to get everything needed for this examination process and had mentally gotten myself prepared for the surgery and the recovery process. Now nothing. I also missed a reunion I badly wanted to attend and a memorial service in Boulder for my niece, Erin. While I am still sad that I missed these events, my state of depression didn't last long. I am so grateful that I have been blessed with the exposure and experience of dealing with MD Anderson and so grateful that they are so thorough and sophisticated that they won't allow something to happen if there is any chance that it might be harmful. Now I just have to wait another three months and prepare myself to go back for another exam and hope that by then I will be an acceptable candidate for surgery. The hernia is quite painful and bothersome, but I can deal with it. The biggest challenge will be trying to remember everything I need to do to improve my condition so I can pass the test next time. I never was real good at passing tests - I'll just have to study harder for this one.

God Bless -

AL