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Time to fire the oncologist

Well, I've just about had it.

After providing documentation to the fact that Velcade does not affect the kidneys, and is in fact beneficial to the kidneys, the "fill in" oncologist, admitted that to be the case, and then proceeded to come up with a new excuse. She said the reason for not resuming the Velcade was that the risk of a stroke was high during the plasmapheresis process, and if the platelets went down that could be a problem.

She then went on to add,
I'm covering my ass!

Can you believe that? The reason she doesn't want to resume the Velcade is because she's more worried about herself, than she is Edie.

Since that time I have done some research, and talked to someone knowledgeable in the field of plasmapheresis, and discovered, that the risk of stroke is minimal at worst, and only when the platelets are starting out at a relatively low amount. Edie's currently is over 200 (reference range 130 - 400).

So while Edie's creatinine is still at 5.3 after the second plasmapheresis treatment, her hemoglobin continues to drop, and the myeloma continues to progress, the "fill in" oncologist, doesn't care. She just wants to go on treating the symptoms, instead of the cause of the disease, because she cares more about her ass, than she cares about Edie.

Unfortunately, she is the oncologist on call for the weekend, so there is no way to get in touch with anyone else, until Monday morning.

So tomorrow (Sunday) evening, we are going to fire her (that's what patient services said we have to do), and get another oncologist [hopefully mine will be willing to take over] in the interim, until Edie's regular oncologist returns on September 4th.

I just hope we haven't waited too long.
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