My CLL gets a little love today. It hates it when the kidneys get all the attention! Today is a CLL maintenance treatment day, so that means a visit with Dr. Tarantolo and the very cool nurses at the Midwest Cancer Center. It takes a special nurse to work in a cancer center, I think. To remain positive among the people with various types of cancer says a lot about the kind of person who chooses to be a nurse in a cancer ward, or in a cancer clinic like this one.
Right before I started writing this post, one of the nurses came around with a tray of cookies for us. Simple things, right? Just a few minutes ago, Terri, the person who handles the phones and does the scheduling for the doctors, just put a blanket around a woman who was curled up on a recliner while her husband received his treatment. Another simple thing, but all those simple things add up to great care.
My visit with Dr. Tarantolo went really well today. The visits are always good, but today was one of those days when he settled into his chair and seemed as if he was in the mood to chat. We talked about my Bix run from last week, and then he asked what the latest was with my transplant.
He supports me getting a live donor, because the dosage of anti-rejection meds will be lower, which will mean a less likely chance of kicking up my leukemia. Even if my leukemia did reappear, he was confident that he could treat it without damaging my transplanted kidney.
I had to laugh when he described himself as an "academic" doctor today. He was telling me about his conversation with Dr. Miles back in May, and he said he can't believe the academic doctors at UNMC aren't pushing to get me a transplant, given my unique combination of CLL and kidney disease.
Even though he describes himself as an academic doctor, I can say that Dr. Tarantolo is not just an academic. He is committed to helping his patients live a full life. That he is curious and also committed to learning sure isn't a bad thing. Some doctors are content to teach, but it's clear to me that Dr. Tarantolo is passionate about learning and applying that knowledge on his patients.
Since my leukemia is in remission, Dr. T says we can put a little more time in between visits. So, instead of coming back at the beginning of October, I'm coming back at the end of October. 12 weeks out instead of eight weeks. Another good sign of progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment