2008-06-16 — Back to the AKH, and some confusion

So Prof Klepetko (the lung surgeon) sent out a letter to my other doctors stating what he'd done and suggesting my mouth surgeon (Professor Ewers) and an oncologist consider further treatment. He also suggested that a PET scan (full body nuclear scan — have had one of these last year) be done.

So I'd made an appointment for today with Professor Ewers. Also up for discussion was the next operation on my mouth — we had booked 2^nd July tentatively for this operation which is to free up my tongue movement.

We had (why do I write 'we had'? — it's 'I had') the obligatory one hour wait before seeing the Prof. He looked into my mouth and suddenly swung into action. With a bit of prodding and poking, helped by two other people holding those mirror-on-a-handle things dentists use (and a level of discomfort on my part) he removed two objects with tweezers. The first looked like a pointed sliver of bone (about 3 or 4 mm long) — the second seemed smaller. They put them in little jars which they labelled.

There was a bit of bleeding so I had to spend the next 10 or 20 minutes clenching a bit of cloth between my teeth — answering questions even less distinctly than I do normally these days.

I then had to go next door for a mouth X-Ray and then wait to see the Prof again. He asked me how I felt and the conversation seemed to swing around to the operation taking place — provided the analysis on the things he removed was ok.

The analysis can take 2 weeks and the operation is also in 2 weeks and when I pointed this out we came to a sort of a Heath-Robinson solution whereby we'll phone around (labs, me, the Prof) next Monday to decide.

There was no mention of the secondary cancers taken from my lungs — so I raised this. He said it was up to Prof Klepetko — I pointed out that Klepetko had written that it was for Prof Ewers and an oncologist to handle — a bit of muttering and checking the letter ensued — the solution is that they will check with Klepetko.

What is of concern to me, is that there seems to be no overall chief dealing with my cancer. Rather I have specialist surgeons, each dealing with a specific part of my body. If I did not raise the question it might never have been addressed — luckily I can read medical German at a sufficient level, and also that I make a point of actually doing so with the letters I get for handing over from one doctor to another.

And the things they removed from my mouth? I had to ask and am not still not sure what the answer is. Probably not cancerous things, probably 'necrosis' — which doesn't look too good on the internet so I stopped reading about that — and probably a side effect of the radiation. I guess this will be clearer next week.