Friday, August 10, 2012

Timmerman conversation

Friday, August 10

Talked to Mother today after her conversation with Dr. Timmerman. She said she was slightly confused by what he said and asked me to call him to clarify. I called and talked to Alita (sp?) the nurse practitioner.

Timmerman said if Mother were stronger, he'd suggest waiting a couple of months, doing another scan, then possibly doing a focused radiation of the cancer. (This is what confused Mother; she thought he was suggesting this.)

Alita says she's not strong enough, and won't be. The last cyberknife treatment damaged her lung considerably and there's no way she could withstand another one. (No news.) She says the cancer they treated before was a Stage One non-small cell; they don't know about this one, of course, since they didn't do a biopsy, but it appears to be involving her lymph nodes, in which case it's untreatable at all.

Evidently, her conversation with Timmerman made Mother afraid that she had "jumped the gun" by signing up with hospice, that perhaps there was another treatment option that would not diminish her quality of life.

But not.

Unless she revokes her DNR, no more appointments are necessary with Timmerman, Alita says.

So, no news in a way, but the last shoe dropped.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks. When I spoke to her yesterday, she had not yet talked with Timmerman.

    As you say, "no news in a way."

    But hearing it said leaves a different kind of silence.

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