Today I had another follow up visit with the dermatologist. They looked me over head to toe to make sure there were no signs of returning or spreading melanoma. Thankfully, there are no signs and I was given a good report. I’ll be due for another follow up visit in early October. Next Friday I’m due for a good old fashioned wellness visit with my primary care provider. How’s that for a little bit of a return to normalcy? Finally.

Yesterday was my twelfth immunotherapy treatment. I got there on time and at the registration desk an older couple was signing in just before me. The husband was hunched over with his hands in his pockets while his wife filled out some paperwork the hospital requires from us occasionally. One of the questions on the paperwork is “Do you feel at risk of a fall?” When the man’s wife asked him this question, he just slowly and silently glanced at her. She responded quickly with a bit of a sarcastic tone “Well, you’re leaning over really far forward with your hands stuffed in your pockets, so I’m checking ‘YES’!” 😀 This made me chuckle a little because she reminded me a bit of my grandma the way she said that. My chuckle prompted her to look my direction and then she told me with a smile “He’s got his doctor’s appointment shirt on.” I looked at her inquisitively so she had him turn around so I could read it. The exact wording escapes me now, but it had a silly phrase on it about getting old being serious business. I told him I thought I’ll probably be like him when I get a little older because I also enjoy wearing shirts like that.

Passing the time

The initial wait time was a bit longer than average this trip so I ended up talking to the couple more while we waited. Well, mostly she ended up talking to me for a while, LOL! I found out that they are 79 and 80 and apparently the husband had been coming in regularly a few years ago for treatments, but had an adverse reaction to the medication part of the way through the treatments, so they had to stop coming for a while. Fortunately, in spite of having to take the break from the medication, he still comes in for checkups every six months and so far his cancer has not returned. Apparently they have also recently come back home and settled down again after splurging and buying an RV, then spending a few years traveling around the USA visiting all the places they hadn’t yet been. While all I really ended up getting out of the husband were a few big smiles, (I’m guessing he’s the quiet one of the couple 😀), they both seemed like really nice people and I enjoyed having someone to talk to while we had to wait to get called back for labs.

Treatment

The labs and treatment went a little faster than expected this time around, considering there was heavier wait time up front. The nurses got me through lab work, got that lab work processed, got the immunotherapy medication mixed up and to my treatment room, and finally got the IV started (and finished) all in just under an hour. For perspective, less the wait time at the beginning, those parts of my trips can often take around two hours to get through. I was still there about the same amount of time, so I guess whatever caused the early hold up and wait time must have cleared quickly once it finally did.