Update 5/14/08

5/14/08 – Wow, what a day! We went to the University of Utah Hospital today to meet with Dr. Nelson (a general surgeon) with the expectation that he would biopsy the swollen lymph node in Judy’s neck. After a brief discussion he informed us that we had come to the wrong doctor. He said that the swollen lymph node was just a small part of a larger problem and that we needed someone else to manage the larger problem, i.e. an oncologist.

We told him that we had tried to get in to see Dr. Saundra Buys (a highly recommended oncologist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute) but had been told that she was not accepting new patients and even then she was booked out a month. We decided that that was too long to wait and begged the scheduler to find someone who could see her sooner and biopsy her lymph node and that we had then been referred to him. He said that he knew Dr Buys well and that he would give her call. He came back after calling her and said that she would see Judy immediately if we would go over to her office right then.

We spent and hour or so with Dr Buys and she said that she would manage Judy’s care and that the first two items of priority were to get the bile duct opened up and to properly diagnose the problem. We then told her we had an appointment on June 2nd to have Dr. Adler redo the procedure to open the bile duct and that we had complained that the appointment was too far away without any progress in getting it moved up. She said that she would call Dr Adler, that he owed her a favor or two. She came back after the call and reported that if Judy would be admitted to the Huntsman Cancer Institute Hospital that he would do the surgery the next afternoon.

Talk about answers to prayers!

She is in Room 13 on the 4th Floor of the Huntsman Cancer Institute Hospital. Her phone no. is 587-4513.