continued from chapter 6: part 6
At last Doctor Roberts announced he was going to set up an appointment with the Oncologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital next door. Now we wouldn’t have been dumb enough to maintain ties with this man, but ask yourself whether a person like this would waste his time trying to prolong Hal’s life. I think not.
Three months to the day since his surgery Hal had his first meeting with Doctor five, the Oncologist. This was also our first experience with clinic visits, an experience like no other.
Kind volunteers ushered us through the first-time admitting routine until Hal was weighed and we were directed to an examining room. I had every intention of being with Hal and that turned out to be acceptable procedure anyway. The room was a decent size, with examining table, washroom, cupboards and sink. Hal stripped down to his underwear and socks and pulled himself onto the table. I sat in a chair holding his clothes, magazines, books and other necessities. We probably only waited fifteen minutes, and a nurse popped in once to say the doctor would be in soon.
We watched the shadows of passing feet under the crack in the door leading to the more private back corridor. Another nurse dropped in for a moment to let us know what the procedure would be and then a resident entered to do the usual testing and thumping and asking of questions and as always, in Hal’s case, came the rectal exam. I know he was sore from them but he never complained.
Finally, Doctor Edge arrived, accompanied by the resident and a nurse. My hands were ice cold. Here was the person who might be able to give us more of that quality time we kept reading about.
He was a stocky bearded man, crisp, articulate and smiling. He had the kind of erect body that appeared rooted to the floor. He introduced himself and was definitely not a person you would be on a first-name basis with. It became immediately clear that he had read Hal’s file thoroughly. He knew we were studying him as carefully as he was studying Hal. He talked about Hal’s kind of cancer and what he perceived as Hal’s condition at the present time. Hal said he felt well, had returned to work full time and found it hard to believe he had cancer.
The doctor told us he didn’t plan to begin any treatment while Hal was feeling well and while his weight was holding. We asked about something another doctor had mentioned, that they might consider surgically implanting an infusion pump near Hal’s liver, to mete out chemo drugs but Doctor Edge didn’t think this was the right course. He said that when the time came for treatment he would probably try chemotherapy by injection, a series lasting one week and then a follow-up six weeks later. We did ask how the doctor would know when to begin treatment and he said when Hal began to lose weight and complained of various discomforts.
continued in chapter 6: part 8
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