As I was talking to the guy who was doing the scheduling, we were talking about the lab reports and he was saying "I see it's a 'Spindle Cell Tumor'". So I said I was told it was "hemangiopericytoma". SO I was asking what was the difference or is there a difference or what's going on here? He's not a vet and even though he's worked there for a long time, he didn't know. That got me all confused and concerned. Does he have two problems or what?

So I did what any 21st century hep cat does: I blogged about it.

Then I went for a bike ride, the first one since the heat episode at the end of August. It was nice, but I didn't start until too late. I'd planned only going to Lexington Center, but then I saw a guy I see around a lot who also has a Fondriest zoom buy. So I caught up to him to see his new Look bike (schweet!) and rode with him to Bedford. That meant it was quite dark by the time I got back home.

When I did get back, there were two messages on my machine. Someone had sent the oncologist a link to the blog and she was calling to answer my questions! Whoa! Who ever heard of such a thing? I have to say I was nearly speechless. She got a mention in my will for doing that! And talk about fast. I posted that at, like, 4:00 and she called around 5:15.

Anyway, the answer is that it's a general to specific. A hemangiopericytoma is a specific type of general spindle cell tumor that affects the "pericyte" or wall of the blood vessels.

She apologized several times for not having a schedule slot before Oct 5 and wondered whether it had grown! She said that it may seem a long time before the appointment but that "things tend to move pretty fast once you're in here". Ugh. I took out a sharpie and marked where the tumor is so I can see if it's getting any bigger. So now he has magic marker on his foot.

Anyway, that made me a huge fan of Angell, but I'm going to be wreck before that appointment comes.