Wednesday afternoon

Well, a woman from Dr. M's office did call me - about 11:30 this morning, with news that my appointment with the MD oncologist, Dr. R, has been moved up to this Friday morning. That worIks better for me. I'll hear all the gory details about the treatment, its side effects, etc. etc., and then have at least the weekend before the chemo starts, but still should be able to get it started early next week. Still, the woman from Dr. M's office first told me that the appointment would be with a different MD oncologist. She even gave me the other doctor's name - Dr. P. I asked what Dr. P's first name was and she gave it to me. I asked if Dr. M had a problem with my changing from Dr. R to Dr. P - and that seemed to trigger some sort of confusion in the woman. All of a sudden, she apologized and told me, wait - no, I'm sorry, your appointment is still with Dr. R but on Friday.

So what does that mean? If I had written down Dr. P's name and the appointment time and hung up without asking further questions, and then showed up for an appointment with Dr. P, would Dr. P have known about it? Was it really changed to Dr. P? Or was that just error on the part of someone in Dr. M's office or the MD oncology office? It's weird to me that this scientific area - medicine, and oncology specifically - which as a lay person (and a patient) I tend to think of as very detail oriented, precise, careful - seems so hit-or-miss sometimes. Oh, wrong date? Sorry. Oh, wrong doctor? Sorry. In the end, I guess it's okay as long as they have the right diagnosis for the right patient. (Reminds me that when I had surgery on my right breast a few years ago, they put several stickers all over my LEFT breast that read "NO" and (I kid you not) had a frowny face on them. Actually a friend told me today that last week when her young nephew - who is diabetic - was brought to the hospital with a serious head/brain injury (a tree limb fell on his head), despite his family informing the hospital of his diabetes, still somehow the hospital gave him an IV that included sugar (or glucose - at any rate, something he should not have received as a diabetic) for something like 12 hours. It almost killed him. But thank God, he's going to be all right.

Me, too. I'm doing all right. Good walk with Jessie in the park this morning. A second good walk with Helen around the neighborhood. Cleared up the MD oncology meet-and-greet appointment delay. Talked to friends at work. I'm tired, a busy day, but a good one... so far. I'm not done yet!