Skip to main content

exploring Pittsburgh

I began my quarterly oncology appointments with Dr. Villaruz at UPMC two years ago. They are now becoming more routine and less anxiety-inducing. I slept well the nights before my CT scan and the appointment. At my appointment on Thursday, Dr. Villaruz said my scans still look stable! The small nodules she has been monitoring have not grown. She showed us the scans from August 2022 and now. Then, my lungs looked like they were draped with cobwebs. They were mostly white (on lung scans, black/clear = good and white/cloudy = bad). She said, "Frankly, they looked terrible." Now they are mostly clear, with some scarring and nodules. I can certainly feel this difference in my daily lung function, but the visual contrast was striking evidence of Tagrisso working its magic.

One thing I haven't yet described in this blog is a typical CT scan and oncology visit. Before the CT scan at the local hospital, they put in an IV for the contrast (an iodine-based liquid that makes you feel warm and like you have to pee). This time, they had to try twice to find a vein. It was painful. The CT scan takes 10 minutes or so. I now try to schedule the scan a day or two before my oncology appointment so that I'm less tempted to read the report and freak out.

The day of my oncology appointment, we leave around 8:30am and catch up on This American Life, Ezra Klein, and other podcasts on the drive. We arrive at the EV charging station around 11-11:15 and have an early lunch at Choolah (delish Indian fast food) while the car is charging. (The Hillman Cancer Center garage has a few charging ports, but they are reserved for specific doctors. Grrr.) A few times, we've met up with friends for lunch. 

My blood work appointment is at noon. They usually find a vein on the first attempt, thankfully. This time, they used a lime green bandage, a color I'd never seen before. I asked the phlebotomist whether it was in honor of Brat Summer (if you're not familiar with this meme, start the video at about 5:30). He jokingly agreed. (When I later relayed this conversation to Lily, she said she wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed or proud. LOL)

We then wait up to an hour to see Dr. Villaruz and meet for about 15 minutes. Until yesterday, we had always left immediately afterward to drive home. But since Lily isn't in school and the semester hasn't started yet, we made plans to stay and explore Pittsburgh. We went to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, a first for both of us. 

Chihuly in the background

more Chihulys (or is it Chihulies?)




After checking into our historic inn in the Mexican War Streets neighborhood, we got drinks at an Irish pub and then takeout from a Caribbean place. 

love the row houses in this neighborhood

Shout-out to our neighbor/Lily's adopted grandma who transported Lily to/from 2 volleyball practices while we were gone! It takes a village to have a parents' day and night out. 


Comments

  1. David PostAugust 17, 2024 at 4:11 PM

    We hope to host you next time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Esther PrinsAugust 17, 2024 at 4:30 PM

      Thanks, David. I'm sorry we missed you! We'll be back in Nov. and then Feb. for vball and UPMC.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Healthcare costs and insurance woes and victories

Those of you who have read this blog from the beginning may recall my posts about how inexpensive healthcare is in Germany compared to the US. I now have additional proof. I've been receiving "explanation of benefits" statements from Aetna detailing the cost of my hospital stays and other healthcare services since the end of July. Close your eyes and guess how much these amount to. Higher. No, higher. Still higher. Well over $200,000. Of that, I have paid maybe $100 plus some $20-30 co-pays for doctor's visits. Add to that my cancer and blood thinner medications, which would cost about $16,000 per month without insurance. I have no idea what people in my situation do if they are uninsured or under-insured. My recent interaction with one of my German doctors illustrates another stark difference. Before leaving Germany, I had asked my doctor what to do if I received bills from the LungenClinic after we had moved and closed our Deutsche Bank account (all bills in Germany...
15 comments
Read more

Indolent nodules

We met with my oncologist (Dr. Villaruz) and radiation oncologist (Dr. McCall) at UPMC in Pittsburgh yesterday en route from visiting family in Grand Rapids, MI. The main nodule we were watching grew by another millimeter or so. Dr. Villaruz described it as “indolent.” I asked what that meant and as she started to say “growing very slowly,” I recognized the word and blurted out “lazy!” I remarked I’d never heard indolent used in a medical context, and Dr. Villaruz said she’d never heard of it outside of medicine. So we both learned something. She and Dr. McCall said that there is no urgency, but that within the next 9-12 months, they would want to radiate the more clearly defined nodule and another one close to it. A third one looks like “ground glass,” a term for something that is hazy and not quite solid, but you can’t radiate something that is ill-defined and can’t be clearly imaged. It will be much easier to do radiation in the summer than during a busy semester or the winter b...
23 comments
Read more

Four years

Sunday, June 14 marked 4 years since I was diagnosed with lung cancer while living in Hamburg. Those of you who have followed my journey from the start know that my family and I went to hell and back several times during those first six months. Here I am before, during, and after. The photo below was the last taken before my life unraveled. I went on a photography outing with the American Women's Club of Hamburg. When my doctor said my x-ray showed "infiltration" and I should get a CT scan, I put it off for a day so I wouldn't miss this event. That's how unconcerned I was. The possibility of cancer never crossed my mind, despite my severe shortness of breath. This was my hospital room at the LungenClinic, where I learned my shocking diagnosis. I was sitting at the little table with the doctors and Leland was on Zoom. Leland had to travel to the hospital by train (an hour-plus trip) before we could process the news together, shellshocked. This photo shows me in the...
22 comments
Read more