Mike's appointment was at 1:30 with the PA at OSU JCC. I could tell all morning that he was a little apprehensive about going, but I actually felt like everything would go well and wasn't worried. That would soon change, but not really for any reason.
I just felt a sort of a depression come over me as we walked back in the doors of the cancer clinic. We didn't talk much and I think we were both thinking the same thing...here we go again. When we walked in I saw a lady sitting alone and just sobbing. I wanted to go over to comfort her, but when I mentioned it to Mike he wanted to just go up to the 11th floor for his appointment. I think it might have upset him too much
It was wonderful to see all the nurses again and as always, they made us feel welcome. Sue hugged us and took us back to our room and went over his meds, symptoms and health issues. Mike mentioned the rash is spreading rather rapidly, new abdominal lumps, and a sore left breast nipple. Tina poked her head in and said she wanted to see Mike's rash and lumps. She was quite surprised which is out of character for her. I don't think she knew what to say...which is also out of character! She left and said she'd be back later.
We knew we weren't going to see Dr. Andritsos since they moved Mike's appointment up a week, and she is on vacation. Janice, the PA who replaced Ro, and an intern who was working with her, came in next. We liked Janice right off, and her intern. She thoroughly examined Mike's body for his bad rash and lumps. She took pictures of the rash to send to a dermatologist who she said can diagnose well from photos usually. She said she'd talk to her team of Pathologists about coming up and taking biopsies of the lumps.
Soon Janice was back in and said the dermatologist confirmed it was psoriasis and would write a prescription for a cream to use. It wasn't long until Dr. Romanowski came in and took biopsies of two of the lumps and then on the breast. Mike said nothing hurt but the last biopsies of his breast. I'll try and post a picture of the '5-foot needle' he used!! Dr. R said he would have a preliminary diagnosis in about 30 minutes.
As we waited we were on our IPads, Mike playing games...and me looking up psoriasis and CLL and not liking what I see. The pit of my stomach starts to ache and I want to cry. I know I have to suck it up and be strong for him, so I do.
Finally Janice comes in and says "GOOD NEWS!" Dr. Romanowski said he is 90% sure that the lumps are all just fatty tissues!! YAYAYAY, right?? Well, I tried as hard as I could to be excited, and Mike didn't even try.
We make an appointment to come back on November 20, say our goodbyes and leave. Mike isn't talking. He seems sad or depressed. He says that he's bummed and depressed. I try to tell him that he good great news and I tried to sound thrilled.
We went to eat at Der Dutchman in Plain City. Both of us trying to act like everything is good...or at least I tried to act like it. Mike was just quite but kept saying he was bummed. As we left the restaurant, I really began to lecture him on how much worse he could be, it's JUST psoriasis, and his lumps are likely non cancerous!!! As I tried to lift HIS spirits, I began to lift mine, too. I was taking advice from my own lecture! I'm not sure if it worked much on him, but if I can keep MY spirits up, I can help him better.
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