uhh what swollen node in his lung?

We met our Internal Medicine specialist yesterday. The man is A-OK in my book already for two reasons.

1. When this adventure began, the lymphoma was found on CT scan by his cardiologist. The cardiologist made an appointment with this Internal Medicine specialist and sent the CT results to him. Rather than waste further time seeing William first and then sending him to an Oncologist, the I.M. doc called and made us an appointment for the very next day. This of course makes great sense, but very few doctors around here would have done it.

2. He asked if William was having pain and when William told him yes, the doctor automatically said "I can write you something for that." He asked if William had been coughing and I said "Yes, badly enough that he often throws up. Between the pain and the coughing he isn't sleeping." This fine I.M. said "I can write a prescription for that too. Cough syrup with codeine may help with the cough and it should make you drowsy enough to sleep." We didn't have to beg and plead for relief, we didn't even have to ask. In a town where all the doctors and medical personel seem to look at every patient asking for pain medication as if they're meth addicts, our new I.M. is an absolute GEM.

What caught us off guard at this visit was when we mentioned the cough. The doctor said "It may be the swollen lymph node in your lung." No one has discussed the CT scan with us really, other than the "Significant Abnormalities" bit. Our mutual unvoiced thoughts struck each other in their fast track across the 4 feet of space separating us. "Uhh. What swollen lymph glands in his/my lungs?? That's not good is it?" The crash of thoughts awoke the monster in the corner. He uncoiled and grinned maliciously at us both.