Hi All,
Well, we had some success today with the clinic counsellor, who agreed that the comments made to us by this Dr. were unhelpful and unsupportive. I think she was rather shocked, although not entirely, as she knows the three throat ROs quite well.

She agreed that we don't need the worst case scenarios and threats every time we see this Dr. It's not about hand-holding, just a bit of encouragement. Also, there are clinic guidelines to be followed and this one Dr. does not make all the decisions about any patient's care.

She is working with the MO and the psychiatrist to find a way to minimize the effects of the dexamesathone and is going to run a bit of interference for us to find out if we can make a change to one Dr. that she thinks might be more suitable.

She also reassured us that Gordon's not having any more "trouble" with the treatment than other patients that she sees, and that many have the same side effects at this stage that he has now. She said he's doing fine. She also said there are many things to be tried before treatment would be discontinued, so at least we feel we won't be cut loose and Gordon left to die.

You really do have to be proactive these days and fight for your loved one (and yourself) when necessary. We both feel a bit better about the whole thing, although we know the next 4 weeks will be very tough. Maybe tonight, we'll both get some sleep.

Thanks for all your support,
Anne