A plumber once told me that long hair is often the problem when it comes to clogged drains. He may or may not have stopped short of telling me to just cut my hair short. As it turns out, short hair can also do the job. This second time around with chemotherapy, I decided not to shave my head. I managed to get through four treatments by the time I flew to Colorado with most of my lovely long-ish hair still there. It is winter, after all, and so much of our heat escapes our heads. New sympathy for men. By the end of the year, the hair loss was more noticeable, so I cut my own hair really short. That worked for awhile, but more is coming out, and now my bathroom sink is cloggy. Hair in the drain.
Taxol by round 4 had taken my usual dry eyes to a new level. With Colorado's dry cold climate, I found it hard to use my eyes whether to drive or to read the book I'd brought. I found myself closing my eyes much of the day and sleeping during breaks between family activities. My visual acuity took such a hit that when I got back to Baltimore, in classic doctor style, I tried to self-medicate with various drops and also reading glasses. 1.75+ seemed to help, plus Dollar Tree had fun pink ones to match my new wig with brunette with auburn highlights. Thanks, Beauty Supply for the hair - best.hair.ever. Alas, the problem persisted with my eyes put to the daily test of looking at computers all day with patient care. It has been almost painful to focus.
I realized I needed to see an eye doctor. The internet has terrible tales of taxol and the eyes, with worse complications than just dry eyes. Though internists would often say that our pens and our brains are our tools, I realized how much my eyes are also my tools. When I started reaching out for appointments, I was met with roadblocks of various types. The most proximate eye center which is actually located on our campus advertised same-day and next-day walk-in appointments on their website. When they called, the best offering was the end of January. Another large practice offered me February 6th. This even after repeating to multiple schedulers that I really can't see well, and I need to see to do my work.
Finally, I begged one scheduler to ask my colleague who is a retinal specialist to call me back (doctor privilege should be worth at least something!). The next day, I heard back from him. This was the same day my host mom had encouraged me to call Dr. Brett Levinson's office. I already had the appointment for a week from Friday. My colleague gave me more direct contact information. Finally, I got some advice and direction in advance of next week's visit. Thank you, Drs. Harlan and Levinson!!! Meanwhile, I was hoping to hear back from my colleague who is the chief of the on-campus ophthalmology group, and I instead heard back from his secretary about scheduling an appointment. I truly mourn the loss of collegiality in medicine. I have experienced this loss on multiple fronts in this season.
Yesterday brought renewed hope as Dr. Michael Brady came to meet with us to get oriented to start a six month stint at the practice. As I begin cutting back a bit more for my treatment and the many doctor visits in the next couple of months and as I take 6 weeks of leave this Spring, Dr. Brady is stepping in to share my practice. He is Heaven-sent, a Hopkins-trained internist who is going on this summer to train as a specialist in geriatrics. My not-so-secret hope is that when his training is complete that he might come back and join our practice. Like Dr. Nayak, he is super-smart and also a wonderful person in whom I can place full trust. This peace of mind is priceless. We also hired a lovely new medical assistant named Amanda to join Kaiya in her work. Reinforcements have arrived just in time!
Love this picture of you.
ReplyDelete