At my first appointment with Dr. Franz, I mentioned to him that I picked his name, from a list of hundreds because he attended UVA, and how they saved Sheila's grandfather. He told me he would then refer me to Paul Levine, a cancer specialist at UVA for further care.
From the moment I entered his office, I knew I was in good hands the day I met Dr. Paul Levine. I had been waiting so long to find out what was actually wrong with me, I couldn't get through one minute of my story without falling apart in front of him. I was so relieved to be in that room and with those people. (Dr. Tam Nguyen, nurse Ellen, technician Jay, and Levine.)
The second I broke down, it was almost as if a switch went off, he snapped into this bedside comedian mode, and with one question made me laugh and smile. It was as if the sun had lit up the room with a warm glow. A calm rolled over my mind, body, and silently, I thanked God for Dr. Levine.
He explained that he was going to scope my nose and throat to see if anything superficial inside stood out. It was quite an experience being scoped, but Dr. Levine took great care ensuring I felt no pain or discomfort. The CT scan did not show the reviewing Radiologist enough, except for the mass in my neck, but the biopsy slides that were sent from the first aspiration/deflation, ordered by Dr. Franz would tell him more. He sent Dr. Nguyen to retrieve them.
She walked back in two minutes later and advised us all, that Dr. Franz's office hadn't sent them in time, and they hadn't received them, so the slides hadn't even been read yet..
They had 4-5 days to mail my biopsy slides less than 100 miles, and waited a day too long to mail them. His office even had set up my first appt with Dr. Levine, knew when it was, and still dropped the ball on me!!
(Another one of those shining examples of the doomed state of our health care system in America!!!)
Dr. Levine gently put his hand on my shoulder, and apologized for the lack of professionalism. I remember he said something to the affect of, ''They know who I am, and what I do here. I have 33 years experience fighting Cancers of various types and have saved countless lives, but I'm sorry Tony...you're going to have to wait 7 more days before we can tell you what's wrong, and figure out the next step, so that we can begin treatment.''
Seven more days of waiting to find out what is wrong with you, when you've already been told you have Squamous Cell Carcinoma in your Right Lymph node...if someone out there reading this, could cue up "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC, while I WAIT 7 MORE DAYS for my official diagnosis--that'd be great..
Oh, before I forget...those all important biopsy slides arrived 2 hours after we had left for home.
Granted, UVA still needed their time to review them, but it was still a real kick in the balls when I was told they had finally arrived after just having left.
I thought I would include the link to Dr. Levine's page on UVA health's site. In case anyone out there was curious. I'll try to find resources for each member of his team of specialists who will be treating me over the next few months. http://uvahealth.com/doctors/physicians/348
To be continued..
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