Tag: Cleveland Clinic

health, Living overseas, Mexico, Uncategorized

We’re going home!

Leslie and I are in Nashville. We came here from Florida to spend Christmas with Stephanie, and also to get a second opinion on radiation therapy from the doctors at Vanderbilt Medical Center’s esteemed cancer program.

We met with a medical oncologist. She reviewed all the reports from Cleveland Clinic and said Leslie did not need radiation therapy. Then we talked with a radiation oncologist who said she did need it. Both, however, thought it was appropriate to take Leslie’s case before Vanderbilt’s tumor board, an interdisciplinary group that looks at cancer cases from many perspectives and makes recommendations.

They met Wednesday, January 3, and unanimously recommended no radiation. That’s what we wanted to hear.

Now we can go home and do what’s called “surveillance.” That means regular follow-ups to make sure Leslie remains cancer-free. Every three months for the first two years, then every six months for the next three years. After five years, she is considered a cancer survivor. The first follow-ups are scheduled at Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida, for the first week in March.

We have booked flights to Guadalajara for the coming week. Next post from Ajijic, México!

Hasta luego!

health

UPDATE: Remission!

Leslie is done with chemotherapy and her oncologist says she is “in remission.” That’s great news and we’re thrilled, but she still must do regular follow-ups with her surgeon and her oncologist at Cleveland Clinic in Florida for at least five years.

It’s exciting, but it seems there’s always a hitch. Leslie was scheduled for six doses of chemotherapy. At the end of the fourth dose, her oncologist suspended further treatment because her white blood cell count was too low, and was not recovering as quickly as expected. She will have more tests done soon to figure how why.

So she completed just four of the six doses. What does that mean? The doctor wasn’t very forthcoming on that question, simply noting that studies were done on the efficacy of three doses versus six, and six was found to be better. They needed studies to figure that out?

Anyway, now we can go to Nashville to enjoy Christmas with our daughter Stephanie and other family. But there’s still the question of whether or not to undergo radiation therapy as recommended by the Cleveland Clinic medical oncologist. While we’re in Nashville, Leslie will get a second opinion from oncologists at Vanderbilt Medical Center. If she decides to have the radiation it will be done at Vanderbilt and we will stay with Stephanie. If Leslie decides not to do the radiation we will head home to Ajijic as soon as we can book flights, probably the first week in January.

So our time in Florida is coming to a close and we’re hopeful that we’ll be back home soon. Florida is not our favorite place — weather (too humid), politics and insane drivers! It seems quite normal to weave in and out of traffic at high speeds on the freeways, sometimes with only inches to spare! And on city streets, the yellow light just means speed up — and if the light turns red, keep going or you might get rear-ended.

And we have lots of iguanas, but they’re harmless and fun to watch. This big guy hangs out in our yard sometimes, but I’ve also seen him at nearby houses.

On the plus side, we’ve been attending Christ Church United Methodist, just a five-minute drive from our temporary home. It’s a progressive church and we’ve enjoyed the services and meeting new friends. They’ve even asked us to light the Advent candle next Sunday. We also attended two concerts by the South Florida Symphony Orchestra, and may be able to do a third in early March because we’ll be here for the first of many follow-ups. Finally, there are lots of outstanding restaurants in greater Fort Lauderdale!

This is a few minutes prior to the South Florida Symphony’s performance of Handel’s Messiah — the Christmas portion plus the Hallelujah Chorus. The audience was invited to sing along, and I did since I remember most of the bass part. The venue is The Parker, a beautiful concert hall that is part of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

More information will be coming when decisions are made. Leslie and I hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Sometimes the iguanas get on the roof!
Living overseas, Mexico

Traveling again, but this time it’s not for fun

Leslie and I are in Florida. Our plan was to take a cruise from Los Angeles through the Panama Canal, ending in Fort Lauderdale, to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary this year. The cruise didn’t happen, but here we are.

A little backstory first. In January, Leslie had surgery at a hospital in Guadalajara. It was supposed to be a complete hysterectomy but the doctor only removed her uterus and fallopian tubes. The pathology report showed a very small Stage 1 endometrial cancer, which we did not anticipate. Normally, Stage 1 means no further treatment, just what the doctors call “watchful waiting.” But because of the way in which the uterus was removed and the fact that other organs remained in place, the consulting oncologists recommended aggressive radiation therapy.

Leslie wasn’t happy with that. She wanted the job finished and done right. After a few months of trying to resolve the situation, she had surgery May 15 at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida, to finish what the Mexican doctor failed to complete. Her second surgery went very well. However, pathology reported another very small tumor (less than 100 cancer cells) in the right ovary. Leslie was referred to a medical oncologist who considers this a Stage 3 cancer because it appears to be metastatic. That means chemotherapy. Six treatments, three weeks apart to wipe out any stray cancer cells that may still be wandering around that can’t be detected through regular scans. We see this not as a cancer treatment — because all the cancer has been removed — but as a way of preventing it (hopefully) from causing problems in the future

Neither of us was happy with that recommendation, but after much prayer and consideration, Leslie decided it was the right approach, and I agreed. Chemo starts July 6, but first we’re headed back to Ajijic. We really need to see our home and our cats again, and we had only arranged house-sitters/cat-sitters through the middle of June. We’ll come back to Florida in early July and stay until the round of chemo is done — possibly four or five months. That’s better for Leslie than going back and forth every three weeks. And one of Stephanie’s long-time friends has offered us the use of her condo in the Naples area, which is about a 90-minute drive to Weston. Thank you, Lexi!

We cannot say enough about Cleveland Clinic and the outstanding doctors, nurses and technicians at the Weston location. Many thanks to our dear friend Carol who helped us become affiliated with this outstanding facility.

Also, this is not an indictment of health care in México, just of that one doctor. In the States we would sue for malpractice, but that’s problematic in México — it takes a long time and a lot of money and usually is not successful. In Ajijic, Leslie and I share a super cardiologist and an outstanding ophthalmologist. Leslie really likes her endocrinologist, too. But both of us now have primary care docs at Cleveland Clinic.

When I recently blogged that we wanted to do more traveling now that the pandemic is essentially over, this is not what I had in mind. We’ll be spending a good part of the rest of this year in Florida, and we’ll be making regular visits back for the next five years or so. Other travel, such as the Panama Canal cruise we were forced to cancel because of the surgery, will have to wait. That’s fine, we’re still young!

The good news is that we’ll be piling up airline miles and points with certain hotel chains and rental car companies. And we might be able to work in some touristy activities, like a visit to Key West or the Kennedy Space Center, if Leslie feels well enough. Hopefully, we’ll be back in México for Christmas — maybe even for Thanksgiving!

More to come!