Tuned up and checked out

I had three appointments today. It's an efficient way to do things but also tiring.

First stop was to see Dr. Neel, the dermatology surgeon. He couldn't explain the new flaky area on my lip except to say it was not serious and looked like a reaction to something. He gave me a shot of a steroid in my lip (ouch), froze some spots on my neck (ouch again) and sent me on my way.

From his office on Staniford Street I walked about six blocks to Mass General in what is now a familiar routine. I walked through the hospital to the other entrance and caught the Partners shuttle to Brigham and Women's. You get a nice little tour of Boston this way. I noticed that almost everyone had their head buried in an iPhone. My iPhone is a new toy, and its pull is irresistible. I tried to practice self-control and only checked a few things. I didn't watch the Golden Globes last night, and I figured it was OK to check YouTube to watch Bryan Cranston's acceptance speech since "Breaking Bad" is one of my all-time favorite shows.

From the lip doctor I went to the tongue doctor, aka Dr. Goguen. She said the suspicious spot on the side of my tongue is gone, and the burning sensation on my tongue does not appear to be serious. It might be from the strong mouthwash I used when I had an abscessed tooth, or from the antibiotics I took or all the dental work that might have disturbed the top protective layer of my tongue. So it could pass with time or be helped by eating healthful foods such as green leafy vegetables. So surprise, surprise, I don't have tongue cancer. Dr. Goguen also told me that Dr. Treister, the dentist I have seen at Brigham and Women's, specialized in burning tongue. Who knew? I guess there is a specialist for everything.

Finally I saw Melissa. She said my counts are good and my liver numbers are a little better, so I can try going down from 3 mgs. a day of prednisone to 2.5. Then I took another walk down Longwood Avenue to the T station and got a train to Diane and David's street. Now I am happily ensconced at their house and will head back home tomorrow.

An 8-5 day

I am talking about a doctor day, not a work day.

The more I need done, the more doctors I accumulate, and the busier my check-up days become. I have become a master scheduler, cramming many visits in during a day or two rather than driving to Boston for scattered appointments.

Makes sense, I suppose, unless you consider the fatigue factor.

I had four appointments Monday, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 4:45 p.m., and one appointment today.

Monday morning, I took the T from Diane's to my first appointment to see Dr. Iwamoto, the surgeon who applied the graft under my eye, near Mass General Hospital. She said the graft was attaching nicely and told me to return in two months.

From there I walked over to Mass General and caught the shuttle that goes to Brigham and Women's, and then went to Dana-Farber (basically across the street and around the corner) for my 9:30 blood draw. I had a 10:30 appointment with Dr. Alyea, who pronounced my counts good (except for platelets, low but not worrisome); due to blood work a couple of weeks ago, I knew I was fine, but it was great to hear it from him. He told me I could go two months until my next appointment, a little more loosening of the leash.

He gave me a big hug and then as I started to walk down the hall, Dan DeAngelo, my first doctor, came out of a room and gave me one of his big bear hugs. I had known he was around, because I heard his distinctive laugh in the hallway as I waited for Dr. Alyea.

Next I ran back to Brigham and Women's for a quick lunch at Au Bon Pain with Margaret, who was in the area, and then returned to Dana-Farber for a 2 p.m. appointment with Dr. Goguen, aka the tongue doctor. As I waited for her, I leaned my head back against the wall and fell asleep. When she came in, she said, "Sorry to wake you." Well, she was just doing her job. She said my mouth looked good.

Next stop: Free food!

On the way up, I had seen them preparing for a dessert reception in the lobby for staff and patients. I wasn't going to miss that. I got on a humongous line that snaked around to tables laden with amazing-looking layer cakes, cookies and a token amount of fruit. The servers were piling one piece of cake on top of another on everyone's plates. I got two pieces of cake and one piece of pie, plus coffee, with thoughts ranging from, "You deserve this" to "This is a little bit much."

What can I say? The carrot cake, rich chocolate layer cake and mixed-berry pie were delicious.  I walked back to Brigham and Women's and my last appointment of the day on a sugar high, feeling like my head might disengage from my body and float away.

This appointment was with Dr. Shoji, an incredibly nice man who did the umbilical hernia repair. He said I could resume all my activities (hooray!) and told me I didn't need to come back at all, unless I wanted to show off my improved belly button.

Almost done...I walked about half a dozen blocks to the T and returned to Diane's.

Today I drove back downtown to see my dermatologist, Dr. Lin, who zapped off (with a freezing technique) the spots on my face that could turn cancerous as two others have done. She repeated that this keeps happening because, due to continued use of prednisone, my immune system is not operating at full capacity. She prescribed a new cream and said that if that didn't work, she would like to burn the skin off my face in two months.

That's not how she put it – it's called PDT – or Photodynamic Therapy – but I know that is exactly how it feels, because she did it about a year ago with good, though not lasting, success.

She scheduled it for Feb. 14, her Valentine's Day present to me.

As Scarlett O'Hara famously said, I'll think about that tomorrow.