After the news about Hope Lodge in Boston, Wendy and I had yet another choice to make. Do we look for hotels, an apartment, a private home, etc., near Dana-Farber or do we look elsewhere for my treatments. I knew that Wendy did not want to live in Boston for two months. She made that quite obvious to me. And I was not keen on the idea of Wendy driving around in Boston if I was not able to. Neither of us considered the commute a viable option. Sounded to me like we were on the road to look for a totally new treatment facility. Or go back to the VA which we were at least familiar with and we knew they were wheelchair accessible.
I called my Dana-Farber Oncologist to discuss our options. He had already been thinking about it and offered me an immediate solution that sounded too good to be true. He had contacted a Radiation Oncologist that he personally knew in Portland who worked for the Maine Medical Cancer Institute. He was willing to take over my case. At this point I was more than willing to go with that suggestion. I could at least talk with the new doctor to see what he thought. My biggest worry was starting all over again with doctors and treatment plans. An appointment was made for the next week and at the Scarborough Medical Center which is only 45 minutes from home. That certainly sounded hopeful.
Many of you may be wondering why I did not go there in the first place. After my let down with the VA, I wanted to seek out what I thought would be the premier of Cancer Centers. For the New England area, that would be Dana-Farber. I really had not considered looking into Maine Medical Center.
An appointment was made for the following week to meet with the new doctor. My MD Oncologist at Dana-Farber wanted me to continue with my hormone therapy until I spoke with the new doctor. He might want to continue on the same path I was already on, or he may want to change things up.
Wendy and I met with him, and for both of us, it seemed like our prayers had been answered. We liked the facility, the doctors, the nurses, and he wanted to follow the same treatment plan that I had started with Dana-Farber! I had finally found a door in the midst of brick walls.
So the way things are now, I am receiving my hormone therapy from Dana-Farber, and receiving my radiation treatments from Maine Medical Cancer Institute in Scarborough, Maine. I hit several snags on the journey but I feel like God worked things out that would ultimately be the best for me. I just finished my sixth radiation treatment today and have the weekend off! I am very thankful for that. I will share in my next post some side effects that have hit me. Some expected, some not so expected. BUT…After all of this, my new most favoritest (my word) verse in the Bible is Psalms 46:10a “Be still, and know that I am God”.
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