My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

Here is the rant.
My appointment was for 10 AM. At 11, I was weighed. At 11:50, I was called back for the
nurse to draw blood from my port and replace the Huber needle. I was not seen by Dr.
Flam until 1:30, and did not get out of the office until close to 2:00 PM.
Late in the afternoon, Judy went to pick up the prescription, which was supposed to have
been called in to the pharmacy. They didn't have it.
There were many patients grumbling in the waiting room, some very sick and waiting to
have chemotherapy.
There has to be a better way. Even the Cheesecake Factory gives pagers to those
waiting for a table.
In Dr. Flam's defense, his Physician's Assistant recently left and has not yet been
replaced, and he was seeing about 100 patients that day. I pointed out to him that the
waiting times were excessive, and he shrugged it off to being very busy. He gave
instructions for me to be the first patient of the day when I see him in 2 weeks. This does
not change the fact that the office could be organized to reduce waiting times for all.
Posted by David Shuster at 04:27PM (-07:00)
My 71st Birthday Photo
Thursday, August 18, 2011
This is what it is all about. Here is a photo of me with 3 of my granddaughters, Eva (age
10), Sara (age 4) and Bel (age 2).
Posted by David Shuster at 05:29PM (-07:00)
Substantial Improvement Since my Last Post
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Last Tuesday, I had a brief visit with the nurse. My labs are still not great, but my
Hemoglobin is up to 11gm from 9.9. My white count and platelets are slightly low. I have
been off parenteral nutrition since last Saturday morning and have begun eating much
better. I am still losing weight but I suspect much of that as retained fluid. My taste buds
are improving daily. Last night I had a small steak and it tasted like, well, you know,
steak!
The white coating on my tongue has improved, but not disappeared, so I renewed my
My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer
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