The Oncologist

At 12:30 we went to see the oncologist directly from the ER.

In ER, mom was given morphine and an anti-nausea medication. We figured we had about 2 hours before she would need more pain meds. The ER doctor had prescribed morphine to take home with her, but we didn't have the prescription filled yet.

Dr. Avina Singh was wonderful. She had already reviewed the CT scan and understood the magnitude of how sick my mom was. She ordered a series of more tests. A PET scan, a biopsy, another CT scan, and some blood work to look for cancer markers.

Mom asked the doctor if she could tell us what the chances for survival were, but Dr. Singh declined from answering saying that until we had a PET scan and the biopsy results we couldn't even begin to talk about treatment and that if she were to tell us any number as a percentage of survival that it would stick in our heads regardless of whether we later learned something that would change the prognosis.

I wanted to ask about what the ER doctor had said to me about the "2 weeks" but since mom hadn't heard that, I didn't dare bring it up.

Mom has another appointment on Friday.