Dr. Holland

We just spent a long afternoon at OHSU - most of it waiting to see Dr. Holland. After filling out the paperwork, seeing the nurse (Curt is now "up" to 160 lbs.) and viewing a DVD, we met a Resident Assistant to Dr. Holland. After talking to her, she then took us to an examining room. Our appointment was at 1, and we finally saw Dr. Holland at 3:30. He said the radiation will be tricky. They have to avoid the area they radiated a year ago, but want to get as close as possible to that area. One reason they want to do radiation is that the tumor was very close (~1mm?) to the "anterior margin" (I think this is the area of the carotid artery where they could not take biopsy samples). They will also be radiating around the upper mandible (lower jaw bone) that is up by the ear. They had to remove part of this because of the tumor. Radiation will cause scars there and make it harder for Curt to open his mouth. So after talking to these doctors, Dr. Holland agreed to refer Curt to a radiation doctor in Corvallis he knows. He said she used to work at the University of Washington in Seattle and specialize in ENT radiation. When Dr. Holland called Corvallis, they said she had the day off but would probably agree to do this. So now we will wait to hear from her this week to set up an appointment. We learned there are 5 stages to radiation therapy. The first stage is Consultation - which we will probably have to do again with the Corvallis doctor. The next stages are 2. Set Up; 3. Simulation; 4. Treatment; and 5. Follow Up. Dr. Holland did say the treatment would probably be about 7 weeks. We're just not sure yet when Curt will reach that stage. After stopping at Angie and Jef's for supper, we didn't get home until about 8:30 tonight.
On the bright side, Curt continues to recover well and tries to walk more every day. His eye bothers him at times, so Dr. Gross said to put an ointment in it every night. Last Friday we both got our flu and pneumonia vaccines. Saturday night we went to a 1960's potluck before attending a Kingston Trio concert. Monday he walked to our dentist (over 1/2 mile each way) to get his teeth cleaned. That night he attended a SPRC meeting at church. He has been going to church and some other functions too. Tomorrow he plans on mowing the grass for the first time (we finally have gotten a few days of sunshine, but Gordon Reistad mowed a couple times between rainstorms earlier).
Thanks again for all your support!
Joan and Curt