Hurdles and the Finish Line

August 24, 2010

The last week has been a whirlwind of phone calls, quick runs to hospital and post office and research.

We made the decision to refer to MD Anderson on August 15th. I found out we could do it on our own, so I called and got the balls rolling on the 16th. Spoke to a very nice woman and she told me she needed the pathology results faxed over for them to look at and set up an appointment. They were not sure if we would see a pediatric surgeon or an adult surgeon as this type of cancer occurs most frequently in adults. I called our local surgeon's office to request that they fax over the path results.

I called MD Anderson around noon on August 17th to see if they had received the fax from the surgeon and they said no. I was totally confused, angry and could not believe that a doctor's office would not do this promptly. UGH!!

I told her I had a copy of it and that I would write a brief history on the back and fax it to her myself. She then told me that they would also need the CD of the ultrasound, pathology slides and all records. I run to the nearest city to fax the results I had. As soon as I got back I called the hospital to request the pathology slides be sent and they said they would be shipped out overnight to MD Anderson...yay Path Dept. I then called radiology and requested a CD of the ultrasound to mail...which I was told to do.  They said to give them an hour and it would be ready. Stewart waited an hour, then headed to the hospital to pick up the CD and get it in the mail before they closed. Our local postmaster waited there at the post office after hours so he could get it mailed out for us.

We called the surgeon's office again and requested they send Trace's records ASAP. Also called the pedi's office and they faxed them immediately....and even called to let me know they had.

On August 18 we called MD Anderson again to see if they had recieved Trace's records from the surgeon. I was SHOCKED to hear that they had NOT!! Stewart then called the office and then he reassured me that they would be faxing them immediately. We waited, they didn't, so he left to go up there. Needless to say...they were faxed.

Later that day MD Anderson called and said they had received the faxed records. YAY! We requested to see Dr. Clayman per Dr. C. recommendation. They said they were working on the case and should have some appointments set up in a few days. They also said we needed to get another CD of the ultrasound to bring with us...that we should have not mailed the 1st one...which we were told to do. Called RRMC Rad. Dept and they were very nice, said they would have another ready for us to just come get it. I don't know if they are supposed to charge for those, but we didn't get asked for money.  

Days passed very very slowly waiting to hear from MD Anderson. We are soooo thankful that his cancer is not emergent, not aggressive, and that we have this time to research and find the best of the best.

Ms. Odom from the Head and Neck Center at MD Anderson calls with Trace's appointments on August 24th!! YAY!!

We are to see Dr. Stephen Lai on Sept 2nd.

We need to be there at 12:30 for appointment at 1:30.

We need to be prepared to stay for 3-5 days for tests and scans.

Trace will have labs and scans over a few days.

They gave us the number for Travel services to help set up hotel rooms and gave us Trace's medical discount code.

YAY!! We have an appointment....at one of the best cancer hospitals in the WORLD!! We will beat this.