I like to bitch.

Sure, I like to bitch on occasion. We all like to get our digs in when we have to wait too long at the post office, or that ass-hat in front of you doesn't signal his turn. Happens every day, and the little frustrations get easily defused with a simple "oh pah-leeeze" or the like. But let me tell you; fuck cancer and its associated ball of potential bitchpoints. I think we hit a new record clusterfuck quotient today. Yes yes, not to worry- it all ended up ok, but FOR PETESAKES!! Argh. I'll spare you some of the details, but the take home points are thus:

-I find it incredibly disrespectful and truly annoying that an oncologist's office consistently runs behind schedule. Take a hint- if your first appointment of the day cannot commence within an acceptable period of time, how about you rethink your scheduling? Today, our 8:45am appointment actually began at 9:12. I know that may not sound like a big deal, but this stuff is cumulative. We've figured out that in 2 visits we have waited to see the oncologist for about 1.5 hours, and we've only seen her for 45 minutes. I'm not a fan of that ratio.

-Sounds like our issue of non-returned calls and calls not getting through to the office has been rectified. I sure hope that is the case, because I can't tell you how frustrating it can be to have an uncomfortable wife asking if it's ok to take this med or that med....and not being able to get that answer in a timely manner....especially after you've been told on numerous occasions to "call anytime, we'll get right back to you". Don't lie.

-And the winner of the clusterfuck of the day: "What do you mean, she's supposed to be getting WEEKLY Herceptin doses??....nobody told us that?!!??" It worked out ok, it being only Tuesday. They were able to get her an infusion appointment right then (well, after waiting another 20minutes or so....remember, it's cumulative!). Turns out the schedule we were given was incorrect. I can accept the screwup, that's fine....those things happen. But, don't you think that SOMEBODY would have caught that a while back and given us a call? Shit like that does not instill confidence.

We see now that we need to be much more proactive with this aspect of the process. We can't be quite as confident that all appointments, prescriptions, and procedures will fall into place when we're told they will be. Followup is my new middle name. "I'm sorry to bother you again, I'm just wanting to confirm this upcoming appointment...is this correct?...oh great, thank you...is the doctor running behind? ok, just checking...."

Ok well thanks for the vent, I feel a little better now.

On the bright side, E feels good to have another dose of cancer killing toxins on board. The chemo nurses are really pretty cool (and were apologetic about the snafu). Our new favorite nurse, "The Animated One", is really really good with needles. E didn't feel the port poke hardly at all this time!

Those tumors don't stand a chance. We may have a scrappy team, but they've got a good set of killing tools.

Fuck you cancer.