New Beginnings

Well it has been a long week of waiting for an appointment at MD Anderson but we finally got one! Yesterday we met with Dad's new oncology team. We pulled up to the hospital and I immediately had a smile on my face because the outside of the building had a sign that looked like this:

When we walked in everyone was so courteous and we were walked, not told, to where we needed to be. Once all the paperwork was taken care of we were given a nice tour of the highlights of the facility. What are the highlights you ask? WELL they have a meditation garden that has tables and chairs so when the weather is nice you can eat and relax outside. They have a bistro that has healthy-non cafeteria food items (and also a cafeteria for fries and such-Dad's preference I am sure!). They have a radiation oncology center and do ALL of their scans (PET, CT, X-Ray ect) on site. They have puzzles on the second and third floor waiting rooms (ok maybe that was just a highlight for me) and TV's as well. There is a Hope Tree with ribbons for every type of cancer right when you walk into the building and lastly the Lantern of Hope (which is pictured above...you can see and read more about here ).

This is Dad in front of the Hope Tree, he will get to tie a ribbon next week!

Aside from all of the physical highlights... the staff, as I mentioned earlier, are all extremely nice and of course are top of the line in what they do. After we met with the RN, we got to meet Dr. Klueppelberg, or "Dr. K" for those of us who can't speak a proper German accent. Dr. K is from Germany and is great! They gave us a whole 1 page bio on him before we met him, so it's like getting a new best friend with all of their life history, without the coffee dates and hangout's until 2am (even though that is the best part of getting a new friend!).

After he got to know Dad a little bit he decided to change Dad's treatment plan. Now, instead of 6 cycles of chemo, he will do 4 cycles (he has already had 1, so 3 to go!) and the chemo drug Avastin will be added to his "chemo cocktail". Dr. K doesn't want to continue with the Emend (which is one of the anti nausea drugs) and will replace it with one called Zofran. Dr. K will have Dad get another CT scan after the 4th cycle to see how the chemo has worked and where to go from there. He also wants to eventually get another biopsy of the tumor (they didn't get enough tissue with the other biopsy) because MD has more treatment options available for Dad (just another plus for us moving to MD Anderson!).

Once we had this conversation with Dr. K in combination with everything else that had happened yesterday we decided to continue treatment at MD Anderson and no longer continue at Arizona Oncology. MD Anderson, although new, has incredible resources and care we weren't always receiving at Arizona Oncology. Dad will be able to stay on schedule and receive his next chemo treatment next Thursday at MD Anderson! Another cool thing? Dr. K will be at EVERY chemo appointment AND will see Dad each time as well (which was not the case at the other place...what a rhyme, I should be a poet)!

After Dr. K was finished, we got to meet Mary who is the Nurse Practitioner for Dr. K. She is our "question lady" so anytime we have a question related to treatment, side effects, ect. we can call her direct line (There is also a "question lady" for the financial side of all this). This was great because we have had so many questions and it was like going through a maze with a blindfold trying to get answers at Arizona Oncology. She also took us on a tour of the 3rd floor which is specifically for chemo. It was really cool each chemo chair had its own little cubicle so you weren't staring at 100 other people getting chemo. The best part? Well there's three...or four... 1. There are TV's and DVD players in EVERY chemo station. 2. The chairs are really comfortable (Dad tested) 3. There are beds so if Dad wants to lay down and take a nap he can do so! 4. Last but not least, lunch is delivered to him! No more going 8 hours without eating! All the nurses we met up there were very nice, happy, and you could tell they loved their job. It was a great change!

We are very excited about this change and are excited to see how this process blossoms here. There is so much hope instilled in their practices, motto, and employees and that is so important! Other than that, Dad has been feeling great! He had two days or so of feeling like crap, but other than that he is golfing and living life normally (well as normal as you can without work :) ) I hope you all have a great week, thanks for keeping Dad in your thoughts and prayers! Here are pictures from Dad's most recent golf outing:

Dad, Uncle John, and Cunningham's sons

Dad, Uncle John, and Cunningham