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Saturday Morning, First Day at Moffitt Cancer Center

Saturday Morning March first.

A Dr. G** comes in. He is the first doctor we have seen, so I look at him hoping he has some answers. The nurse at Zephyrhills Hospital told me that things happen 24/7 here at Moffitt. I hope so.

Mathew’s Dad and Stepmom, Diane, are here. 
The following is from The Notebook, thank you, Diane, for taking clear, legible and comprehensive notes.

GAME PLAN ACCORDING TO DR. G:

Sunday  1. - Pain mgmt doctor will be here and set up pain mgmt plan.
              2. - Try elevating legs periodically to relieve swelling/fluid retention.

Monday 1. - Gastroenterologist will look at doing the stent procedure to open bile duct. 
                     Could be done late Mon or poss Tues. This will make him much more 
                     comfortable. CDs will be helpful - Mon or Tues is fine.
              2. -  Dr. Gonzalez** will come by.
              3. -  When obtain slides oncologist will continue working on specific  
                     diagnosis/treatment plan. Treatment plan will probably be end of the week
                     and hopefully will be outpatient.


Overall goal, take care of the bile duct, manage pain, and finalize diagnosis. Then, hopefully, can go home on oral pain meds, do outpatient treatment. Treatment can be done at Zhills Hospital. Dr. G said it would be exact same chemo as they would administer here, so either place would be equally same. However, may be that treatment will be done in hospital.


**Dr. G. I would find out later was one of the admitting Doctors, the one who accepted Mathew as a patient.

**Dr. R. Gonzalez is a Surgical Oncologist. We were on 5 South, which is/or was at that time the surgical ward. He would also become part of Mathew’s team.

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