It was quite by accident that I ended up with Dr. James McGee as my radiation oncologist. My first appointment was with Cancer Care here in Pekin. My initial appointment was with Dr. Gomez. My type of cancer fell out of his expertise. Dr. Gomez did tell me the treatments that would be offered to me and I was going to be referred to a radiation oncologist in Peoria. When I was at the appointment desk I was given 2 choices. Marilyn, the receptionist, told me that one of my choices, Dr. McGee, had saved her son’s life when he was battling cancer. That was enough recommendation for me.
Then I began winding my way through several doctors until I finally met Dr. Parrish who outlined 3 different choices of treatment. I chose the most difficult treatment because Dr. McGee had told me that if I completed the 2 hospital stays and the 2 different sets of radiation that my remission rate would be somewhere around 90%. Dr. Parrish was involved as the ENT surgeon who removed the lymph nodes from my neck. I have stated before that the lymph nodes were not malignant. I was not surprised to learn that McGee and Parrish had worked together on many cancer cases for 17 years. This was good to know.
I have stated before that Dr. McGee is a kind, gentle caring doctor. He has a gentle voice and takes the time to explain to you just what you can expect while you are undergoing treatment.
I also mentioned before the timid little oncology nurses that in my opinion would have been better off in another field of nursing. I am not saying they were unkind because they were not. They just didn’t want to come into a hospital room where radiation was involved if they could send some peon in their place.
One day during my second hospital stay Dr. McGee came into my room to tell me that my radiation was going to last a day longer than he had thought. He had brought with him his own nurse, Julie, who has been his nurse since he first started his practice. Julie reached for my hand and patted it. I cannot begin to describe how much that meant to me as I was so very near tears and in so much pain with my mouth. I did take the time to tell Julie and the doctor after I was out of the hospital how much Julie’s holding my hand meant to me.
I have a doctor appointment here in town today. I am dreading going out in the heat. The temp here yesterday was 98 real temp with triple digit heat index.
Keep cool! Stay safe and be happy!!
Beth
