Today is hall closing for the student.
The semester has ended.
It has been a long semester.
As for the way I have been feeling, i not been feeling well.
My side has been hurting.
However, on a good note, I will be flying out to Connecticut on Sunday.
My mother and father do not have the internet, so this will be last blog of the year!!!
When I return, on January 8th, I have a CT scan and then on January 9th, I will be meeting with my oncologist Dr. Tanaka
Happy Holidays and Happy New Years!!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Happy Holidays To All
Dear Friends and Family,
Happy Holidays! 2008 has been a busy, stressful and wonderful year.
However, my motto is when you work hard, you play hard! So, I have also been on some pretty incredible vacations this past year. In June I was very lucky to go on vacation to Aruba with my friend Brenda. It was a trip of a life time! I went. It took awhile to get there, as we had six plane rides (roundtrip) but once we were there, we went on brilliant excursions. We went parasailing, jet skiing, cave and scuba diving.
In July, I went on a pilgrimage to Kanab, Utah to visit an organization called Best Friends Animal Society. Best Friends Animal Society is working with shelters, rescue groups and members nationwide to bring about a time when there will be no more homeless pets. Best Friends operate the nation's largest sanctuary for homeless animals; providing adoption, spay/neuter, and educational programs. I highly recommend you all check out the website www.bestfriends.org.
As for my health… it can best be described as a rollercoaster. As you know, in June 07 my appendix burst. During my appendectomy, the doctors found and removed a cancerous tumor. I was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Cancer. Since then, I have been going to the UC Davis Cancer Center for routine checkups (ie: tests, blood work, etc.) However, in
April 08, I was feeling pain in my lower right region of my abdomen. After meeting with my oncologist
and having a plethora of tests, I was informed in August 08 that a CT image showed that there were 8+ new tumors found in the same site where my appendix once was. The tumors are located in the lymph nodes. Since then, I have been going to numerous doctors and I have had multiple tests (MRI, Octride Scan, CAT Scans, PET Scan). I visit the hospital at least 1-2 times a week. The odd thing is I feel fine! Besides the occasional pain and the overwhelming stress from time to time, I feel great! I will find out more about the details of my treatment in January 09 after another CT Scan. For more details of my medical updates, please check out my personal blog http://jso1110.blogspot.com/ I update it almost daily.
Throughout my journey, I have had many people stand by my side – family, friends and strangers that have called daily and I could not be more grateful. Despite the dreadfulness of cancer, something amazing has happened. Cancer has caused me to build stronger and closer bonds with my friends and family. I know this sounds crazy, but it’s true. I have also met pretty amazing cancer survivors who have helped me along my journey -- Kevin Sullivan, Martha Church, and Paul Molly. They are my heroes. They are not biological family, but have given me love, hope and support like they were family.
Another one of my heroes is a lady and I do not know her name. While on a Southwest flight from Sacramento to San Diego, I sat down next to an elderly couple. They cracked me up. They were reading a People magazine that they found in the front seat pocket in front of them. They were laughing at the pictures of the celebrities dressed in ridiculous outfits. I knew I sat next to the right people. We began to talk and laugh together. Once the flight began, I pulled out a book that my friend Kevin Sullivan suggested I read – “Its Not About the Bike” by Lance Armstrong (this book changed my life). The woman sitting next to me put her hand on my hand and told me that Armstrong’s book helped her through the hardest time of her life. She began to tear up. She informed me that she has breast cancer, twice – both breasts. I informed her that I too have cancer and that I was going to the UC San Diego Morris Cancer Center to get a second opinion and explained my history. We cried on the plane. The woman then took off her yellow Livestrong Bracelet and told me to wear it until my treatment was over. She said that she had worn it throughout her treatment and she survived. I was in shock. She put it on my wrist and she hoped that it would give me the same luck it gave her. We talked the entire trip. After getting our luggage, we hugged and parted ways. I don’t know her name, but I am so grateful for her conversation. I am still wearing the Livestrong bracelet today and I have enclosed a Livestrong bracelet for you to hopefully pass along the same hope and courage that she gave to me.
Looking back on this year, I have realized I have learned a lot. A good friend once gave me the following advice, advice we all should live by: “Our lives are made up of moments - that's all we get. No single moment ever comes again so we need to grab each one and live it to the fullest! Don't allow anticipation to steal the good moments away from you!” With that said, I wish you all the best in 2009. I hope all of your wishes, dreams and wildest thoughts come true.
Happy Holidays!! Thank you for being a part of my life. Live Strong,
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Grateful, Fear, Sadness -- all in a waiting room
I went to the UC Davis Cancer Center today to get lab work done.
My friend came with me. This friend is very scared of my cancer -- he fears my death. He has done his best to stay away from the conversation about my cancer however today he wanted to come with me to the hospital. I was surprised by the fact he wanted to come, but I do know that deep down, he loves me with all of his heart. His support today meant a lot to me...
When we got to the UC Davis Cancer Center, we ended up in the waiting room.... waiting!
There must have been close to 15 people in the room. Its odd to look around and think that all of the people in the room were in the same boat I was -- some better off than I am, some much worse off than I am -- nevertheless, it made me sad
I was sitting with my friend and he and I were talking to each other through our body language. He knew I was uncomfortable and visa via.
A couple then came out of a room and sat across from us. They were no older than my parents.
The female began to cry and kept telling her husband how sorry she was for the way he was treating him. She began to cry hard. He held her.
Immediately, I got a bad vibe.
She continued to say things like "well.. that explains why I have pains in my chest" and "God, it hurts so much..." Finally she turned to her husband and asked "what did the doctor mean by my cancer is terminal"
My heart stopped.
Her husband put his arms around her body and told her that they would get a second opinion.
She collapsed in his arms. She began to wail. She kept saying "how are we going to tell our kids? Ill never see them grow up, never see them get married...."
I could not listen any longer. I looked around the room at the others.
Some looked down.
Some had tears in their eyes
I started to cry.
All of us in that room could get news like that one day... and honestly it scares me.
The thoughts of uncertainly. The thoughts of death. The thoughts of this monster taking over and you have no control... it sucks!
I immediately text messaged my friend (and cancer survivor) Kevin.
My text to Kevin:
It might sound harsh, but it is true.
The doctors came into the waiting after she fell to the ground and they took her out.
I am not sure if I will be ever to remove that memory from my mind, but I hope I do.. because it might have been the scariest thing I have ever witnessed.
I just wish I will never be in her spot....
Lesson to be learned: live hard. love hard. -- I love you all!
My friend came with me. This friend is very scared of my cancer -- he fears my death. He has done his best to stay away from the conversation about my cancer however today he wanted to come with me to the hospital. I was surprised by the fact he wanted to come, but I do know that deep down, he loves me with all of his heart. His support today meant a lot to me...
When we got to the UC Davis Cancer Center, we ended up in the waiting room.... waiting!
There must have been close to 15 people in the room. Its odd to look around and think that all of the people in the room were in the same boat I was -- some better off than I am, some much worse off than I am -- nevertheless, it made me sad
I was sitting with my friend and he and I were talking to each other through our body language. He knew I was uncomfortable and visa via.
A couple then came out of a room and sat across from us. They were no older than my parents.
The female began to cry and kept telling her husband how sorry she was for the way he was treating him. She began to cry hard. He held her.
Immediately, I got a bad vibe.
She continued to say things like "well.. that explains why I have pains in my chest" and "God, it hurts so much..." Finally she turned to her husband and asked "what did the doctor mean by my cancer is terminal"
My heart stopped.
Her husband put his arms around her body and told her that they would get a second opinion.
She collapsed in his arms. She began to wail. She kept saying "how are we going to tell our kids? Ill never see them grow up, never see them get married...."
I could not listen any longer. I looked around the room at the others.
Some looked down.
Some had tears in their eyes
I started to cry.
All of us in that room could get news like that one day... and honestly it scares me.
The thoughts of uncertainly. The thoughts of death. The thoughts of this monster taking over and you have no control... it sucks!
I immediately text messaged my friend (and cancer survivor) Kevin.
My text to Kevin:
Hey Kev- I'm at the hospital.
There is a woman in the waiting room who just found out she is terminal.
I'm having trouble dealing with this. I cant deal.
Why don't they move her to a private room?
Kevin's response:
There is a woman in the waiting room who just found out she is terminal.
I'm having trouble dealing with this. I cant deal.
Why don't they move her to a private room?
Kevin's response:
maybe it is just her time Josh... She may have lived an extraordinary life..
but you need to keep a positive attitude. Remember, you are running our own race.
Don't worry about others, you need to keep your eye on your finish line
but you need to keep a positive attitude. Remember, you are running our own race.
Don't worry about others, you need to keep your eye on your finish line
It might sound harsh, but it is true.
The doctors came into the waiting after she fell to the ground and they took her out.
I am not sure if I will be ever to remove that memory from my mind, but I hope I do.. because it might have been the scariest thing I have ever witnessed.
I just wish I will never be in her spot....
Lesson to be learned: live hard. love hard. -- I love you all!
"Hi, UCD Complaint Department, Its Josh again..."
Happy Monday!
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It was quite eventful in the life of a on-call residence life coordinator. I had a very busy weekend.
Nevertheless, like I said in my last blog, I needed to call UC Davis Patient Relations to make a complaint about how Angela in Radiology treated me.
Now, first and foremost, if you are reading this blog, you know that I am not a complainer.. however, I will also know that I am not one that gets pushed around and walked all over.
I contacted my new best friend from Patient Relations, Sarah. Sarah helped me with my first compliant and she was very happy to hear from me. I told her about my issues with Angela and how it worries me for my continued health in the UC Davis Radiology and for the lack of professionalism.
Time for me to be blunt: Angela has NO right to voice her opinion about me making a compliant. According to the Federal Law, each patient has something called patient rights. One of those rights are to make a free willing formal complaint. Angela has NO right to tell me whether or not I should or should not make a compliant... it is my right. Secondly, Angela's primary job is to SIMPLY schedule appointments, not judge, diagnose or interpret! It might sound rude, but it is the truth.
After a nice 35 minute conversation with Sarah, my formal complaint was completed and I had to make it down to the UC Davis Cancer Center for blood work...
...what a day...
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It was quite eventful in the life of a on-call residence life coordinator. I had a very busy weekend.
Nevertheless, like I said in my last blog, I needed to call UC Davis Patient Relations to make a complaint about how Angela in Radiology treated me.
Now, first and foremost, if you are reading this blog, you know that I am not a complainer.. however, I will also know that I am not one that gets pushed around and walked all over.
I contacted my new best friend from Patient Relations, Sarah. Sarah helped me with my first compliant and she was very happy to hear from me. I told her about my issues with Angela and how it worries me for my continued health in the UC Davis Radiology and for the lack of professionalism.
Time for me to be blunt: Angela has NO right to voice her opinion about me making a compliant. According to the Federal Law, each patient has something called patient rights. One of those rights are to make a free willing formal complaint. Angela has NO right to tell me whether or not I should or should not make a compliant... it is my right. Secondly, Angela's primary job is to SIMPLY schedule appointments, not judge, diagnose or interpret! It might sound rude, but it is the truth.
After a nice 35 minute conversation with Sarah, my formal complaint was completed and I had to make it down to the UC Davis Cancer Center for blood work...
...what a day...
Monday, December 8, 2008
Radiology, Line 2
I have been waiting for about a week to have the radiology department to call me back to figure out if I should have my missed Pelvic CAT Scan completed. According to the Margie, the Director of the Radiology Department at UC Davis, she was very concerned about my health and she would contact my oncologist to find out if I could get the scan....
But this is where I get frustrated (warning: I am going to rant)
Margie did not care about the health of Josh O'Connor, Margie only care about her financial backing and I told her this. She was very taken back. She explained that my health was of the utmost importance. I then asked her why she was calling me on December 4th, which is exactly one month and 5 days AFTER my original missed CAT Pelvic Scan... that does not show too much concern in my eye...
Margie responded, telling me that she just found out about it...
AGAIN, another lie. I called Margie out on it as well. I told her that in my findings report, printed on UC Davis Radiology letterhead, it clearly states "the radiologist did not complete the entire scan, as the pelvic scan was not completed." I asked Margie to explain that... she did not know that was written into the report... which leads me to believe she did not read the report... my blood pressure at this point began to rise.
Finally, I just blurted out, Margie, I honestly do not believe that you are calling me because you are concerned or because you care about me. It is clear by this phone call that you have not even read over my chart. So please do not make a diagnosis about my life or how you think I need this scan... because honestly you don't know.
Margie told me that she would contact Dr Tanaka to see if she would approve the re-scan of my pelvic region. I explained that Dr. Tanaka would not probably approve because he is afraid of me exposing myself to MORE radiation -- causing another form of cancer.
She urged me to let her handle it and she would call me back
On Friday, Dec 5, I received a phone call from Margie. She told me that Dr. Tanaka would NOT allow me to have another CT scan due to the radiation.. (like I told her), until January. She told me that someone from the radiology scheduling office would contact me to set up an appointment.
Later that afternoon, I received a phone call from Angela, from the UC Davis Radiology Department. Our conversation went as following:
"Hello, may I speak to Josh"
"Hello, this is Josh"
"Hi Josh, This is Angela from UCD Radiology, I heard that you complained about our department, so we now need to re scan you... when is best for you"
**Mind you, she is very lucky that this conversation took place via the phone because if we were in person, and if looks could kill.....**
I said "I'm, sorry Angela, what did you say?"
She repeated herself slowly" I heard that you complained about our department, so we now need to re scan you... when is best for you"
I explained that early January would be best for me. We schedule for January 8th because on January 9th I meet with Dr Tanaka for a follow up. After my appt was schedule, I then said the following
"Angela, I just want to let you know that my life is on the line here -- life or death. I know that does not mean too much for you, but it is my life!! And the reason it even got to this point, is because of one of the doctors you are making an appointment for screwed up. So yes, I did complain because now I have to wait with a deadly cancer inside of me for the next 3 months.
Angela, I want you to know that I am not one to complain, but I think it is VERY rude by the way you are speaking to me. And because you have been so rude, I want you to know that I am going to make a complaint against you... I am telling you this because I work in a customer relations field base and I think it is only fair to have someone know if someone else is making a formal complaint against you"
She hung up on me.....
I love the health care system. I will be calling the UC Davis Customer Service Care on Monday.
But this is where I get frustrated (warning: I am going to rant)
Margie did not care about the health of Josh O'Connor, Margie only care about her financial backing and I told her this. She was very taken back. She explained that my health was of the utmost importance. I then asked her why she was calling me on December 4th, which is exactly one month and 5 days AFTER my original missed CAT Pelvic Scan... that does not show too much concern in my eye...
Margie responded, telling me that she just found out about it...
AGAIN, another lie. I called Margie out on it as well. I told her that in my findings report, printed on UC Davis Radiology letterhead, it clearly states "the radiologist did not complete the entire scan, as the pelvic scan was not completed." I asked Margie to explain that... she did not know that was written into the report... which leads me to believe she did not read the report... my blood pressure at this point began to rise.
Finally, I just blurted out, Margie, I honestly do not believe that you are calling me because you are concerned or because you care about me. It is clear by this phone call that you have not even read over my chart. So please do not make a diagnosis about my life or how you think I need this scan... because honestly you don't know.
Margie told me that she would contact Dr Tanaka to see if she would approve the re-scan of my pelvic region. I explained that Dr. Tanaka would not probably approve because he is afraid of me exposing myself to MORE radiation -- causing another form of cancer.
She urged me to let her handle it and she would call me back
On Friday, Dec 5, I received a phone call from Margie. She told me that Dr. Tanaka would NOT allow me to have another CT scan due to the radiation.. (like I told her), until January. She told me that someone from the radiology scheduling office would contact me to set up an appointment.
Later that afternoon, I received a phone call from Angela, from the UC Davis Radiology Department. Our conversation went as following:
"Hello, may I speak to Josh"
"Hello, this is Josh"
"Hi Josh, This is Angela from UCD Radiology, I heard that you complained about our department, so we now need to re scan you... when is best for you"
**Mind you, she is very lucky that this conversation took place via the phone because if we were in person, and if looks could kill.....**
I said "I'm, sorry Angela, what did you say?"
She repeated herself slowly" I heard that you complained about our department, so we now need to re scan you... when is best for you"
I explained that early January would be best for me. We schedule for January 8th because on January 9th I meet with Dr Tanaka for a follow up. After my appt was schedule, I then said the following
"Angela, I just want to let you know that my life is on the line here -- life or death. I know that does not mean too much for you, but it is my life!! And the reason it even got to this point, is because of one of the doctors you are making an appointment for screwed up. So yes, I did complain because now I have to wait with a deadly cancer inside of me for the next 3 months.
Angela, I want you to know that I am not one to complain, but I think it is VERY rude by the way you are speaking to me. And because you have been so rude, I want you to know that I am going to make a complaint against you... I am telling you this because I work in a customer relations field base and I think it is only fair to have someone know if someone else is making a formal complaint against you"
She hung up on me.....
I love the health care system. I will be calling the UC Davis Customer Service Care on Monday.
NY Times: Cancer Patients, Lost in a Maze of Uneven Care
Great New York Times Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/health/29Cancer.html?_r=1
Sounds like my life....
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/health/29Cancer.html?_r=1
Sounds like my life....
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Radiology is on line 1
Today I received a phone call at work... it was radiology
OK, so I know that I have not written in a while. Life has been hectic. Work has been at an all time busy level. The students are currently entering finals week and are going a bit crazy!! The good students are studying hard and getting ready to prepare of the joys of finals. The bad students know that they are going to fail out, so they are acting out. I get to live among this…
Despite the craziness of work, my medical issues have begun to start up again. I have not really heard much word from the hospital lately. A few days after my birthday, I was encouraged to file a complaint with the UC Davis Cancer Center Patient Services after finding out they messed up on my CT Scan.
However, just today, the director of the UC Davis Radiology department called me at work to reschedule my missing CT Pelvic Scan from November. I explained to her that I was advised by my oncologist that I am not allowed to have another scan because I have been exposed too/received to much radiation and I am at high risk for another form of cancer.
She informed me that it would very important that I get this scan done! I agreed with her that the scan should be done, but I reminded her that the reason the scan was not done (a month ago when it was suppose to be scheduled) was due to HER doctor who misread the scan.
She informed me that she would personally call my oncologist to see if it was safe for me to get the scan and she would call me back tomorrow…
Ill keep you all posted…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)