The Pause that Refreshes

Here's Violet indulging in her drug of choice: a recently worn shoe. I walked around a lot yesterday, so my shoes were probably extra funky. I don't judge.

I met with my radiation oncologist, Dr. Gillis, on Tuesday. She took me through my diagnosis CT scan side-by-side with the post-chemo CT scan, so I could really appreciate the differences between the two and the amount of tumor shrinkage that chemo achieved. Very encouraging. She also explained the radiation treatment process in excruciating detail, since I had to sign a release form saying she had done so. There are some side effects listed in the "common" column (they were grouped by "common", "less common", "uncommon" and "extremely rare") that I hope I don't get. Shingles, for example. I had that about 20 years ago and it was not fun. Anyway, I liked Dr. Gillis a lot, which mitigates somewhat my annoyance at having to go so far for the treatment.

I go back again on 3/24 to have a CT scan that will determine the position of the radiation beams, and they'll tattoo me then with little registry pin dots. Starting (probably) the following Monday, I'll go every day, Monday-Friday for 30 treatments. Most visits will last 10 minutes, except for each Wednesday's visit, when Dr. Gillis will examine me.

Meanwhile, I have a pause in treatment that I'm only just starting to appreciate. My energy level is a little better this week, and on Monday, I leave for my week in paradise (Puerto Vallarta). My catsitter, a former coworker, came over last night for dinner and gave Junie her shot like a pro with no drama from Junie, so that's a worry off my mind.

The Best of All Possible News

Dr. Liu seemed very excited to share the CT scan results with me. It showed, as we knew already by sight, tremendous shrinkage of the lymphadenopathy under my right arm, and no new spots anywhere else in my body. My internal organs all appeared normal on the scan and my lungs are clear.

So I'm a candidate for radiation therapy, but that won't commence until 3/23 at the earliest, in order to get my scheduled trips out of the way. I have an appointment with the radiation oncologist next Tuesday, 2/16. She and Dr. Liu have determined that I should have 30 treatments, so that's six weeks, every day, M-F. I'm not quite sure how I'll get to Oyster Point every day. Apparently there is some sort of shuttle from the South SF BART station to the Kaiser Cancer Treatment Center. I'll try it for my appointment next week, but if it takes too long, I may have to join a car share program.

This is the best possible news in this crappy situation. It's news I didn't dare hope for, but am very grateful to have received. I'm celebrating by doing a little dance in my head (oh, and maybe by lighting up the hugest doobie I can roll).

And now we are one

Della turned 1 yesterday and her parents had a few of us over for a small celebration in her honor. I can't believe she's only been in our lives a year. She is almost talking (she says "ba-ba" for "bottle", and "a-da" for "all done"), which seems a bit advanced to me. She also speaks some mysterious language that involves a lot of fish-lipped vowel formations.

My brothers, Tim and Jim, and Tim's wife, Cathy, came up from Fresno on Saturday and we had lunch at Starbelly before they checked into their hotel, and then dinner at Chez Papa Resto that evening. It was nice to see them.

I'm a little worn out from my very social weekend, and I guess my digestion still has a ways to go to get to normal, because I find that small meals are still best for me. I do miss pigging out, but I guess it isn't really good for anyone, no matter how hard the marketplace tries to "supersize" us.

I probably won't post again until after my oncologist appointment on Wednesday.

Here's a video of the big moment after dinner last night:

Scan-dalous

I had my post-chemo CT scan today. Went fine. The CT department is run by a guy who doesn't let them get even a minute off schedule. I was there on time for my appointment and back out on the street 20 minutes later.

I have an appointment with the oncologist, Dr. Liu, next Wednesday to discuss the scan, and shall of course, report results and findings here.

Otherwise, I'm continuing to nap every day, but I am still lunching out and walking every day as well. My left foot's sole is numb, but there is no pain. The best thing is that my digestive system is getting back to normal, and I find I can eat a bit more at one time than I've been able to in awhile.

Today marks the longest I've gone without being poisoned since 9/29. During the chemo cycle, today is when a new round would have started. I did have to swallow the awful barium stuff in preparation for the CT scan, which I think they make worse by adding banana flavoring, but heck, that's nothing compared with etoposide and carboplatin.