Page 20 - The Freckled Eye - Book

Chapter 5
The Diagnosis

July 19th -

My next 3 month follow up appointment with Dr. Sharma finally came. It was
time to hear if the cold laser treatment worked to help reduce any of the fluid
the mole had been leaking. Dr. Sharma ran all the eye tests we had done
before, to compare with one another. Had the mole grown? Did the cold
laser therapy work at all? I was hopefully, but nervous. Dr. Sharma came in
and went over the tests with Jay and I. He told me he felt that the mole hadn’t
changed in size and suggested we try another round of the cold laser
therapy. After listening to him, I talked with Jay, but we had already decided
against a second round. There had been no change in my vision and I just
felt this wasn’t the right path for me. So, I asked Dr. Sharma if I could go see
the specialist, Dr. Phan in San Francisco. Something (my internal voice) kept
telling me to go to her.

Dr. Phan was the top eye cancer doctor at Kaiser, Northern Ca. She was the
originally doctor Dr. Sharma wanted me to see, but she’d been on maternity
leave. I wanted her to review all that we’d done thus far. Dr. Sharma said no
problem. He was such a wonderful doctor and so supportive to new
treatments and what I wanted. He said he’d look to see when she was
coming back and when there might be an appointment available to see
her. With that, he ended our appointment and Jay and I left. We'd wait to
hear back from him on my next step.

A couple of days later, I got a call from Dr. Sharma’s assistant. She told me
doctor Phan was returning and there’d been a cancelation in her schedule. I
felt so lucky and relieved. I knew I needed to see her and we set the
appointment for late in July.

July 29th - First Appointment with Dr. Phan

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Today mom and I drove to San Francisco for my 1 appointment with Dr.
Phan. I was excited to see her. Once we got there, mom stayed in the
waiting area while I went in for my eye examination with Dr. Phan. She then
ran her own tests to review against all the other test I had done thus
far. While I waited in the room, I wondered what she was going to say. I was
hoping for the best.