I Made through the first week

That first week of chemo and radiation went well to say the least but on Saturday
it was hard getting out of and staying out of bed. I was tired but later in the day I manage to pull myself together
and left the house for a little while. Sunday wasn't much better either. I think the fatigue is from
not getting the steroids on the weekend when I'm not getting any treatments.

Monday 3/22/01 was my last for chemo for about three week then I start again.
Radiation is 5 x week and I am starting to feel it. My chest is a little sore and my throat
feels kind of scratchy when swallowing. There is some kind of lidocaine solution I can swallow to numb my throat if it get to be too much.

I did go to work yesterday and worked 7-12, got tired and went home and was in bed by 1pm
and damn that felt good. I stayed there until this morning but now I'm up getting ready for
another radiation tx.

Actually not a bad day..........3/15/2010

Thank God for daughters, they sure can make life easier in a time of need.

We got to chemo at 9AM and I was hooked up a going by 9:15.
I received about 600cc of fluid to get well hydrated before I got the
2 chemo drugs..aka "the poisons" and another 500cc at the end to help
flush my kidneys as this stuff can be fairly toxic to them. I also received
drugs for nausea...must have worked because I had none.
The whole thing took 4 hours, the chemo sessions for the rest of the week
will last 1.5 hours because only one of the drugs will be given.

Next on to PROV for the 2:30pm thyroid nodule aspiration....no big deal
either. We ended up aspirating 2 nodules and sending it off to the lab
and results should be back in a few days.

Then made a Costco trip and a trip to Jo Ann fabrics, then to
Walmart to buy fabric for Dana's curtains and finally to a
Mexican restaurant for my last margarita for awhile.

At 7PM I'm at the radiology oncology dept. for the first of 35
treatments....pretty painless and they will do their best not
to ding my spinal cord but my esophagus will get hit.
I have a meeting every Wednesday with the DR. to access my
swallowing capabilities and if I'm having problems there is
numbing stuff I can drink until it gets better.

Dana has done a lot of prep work tonight for the
soups that we are making tomorrow so that I
can have a bunch in the freezer.

All in all not a bad day............
And we have finally started........

What a week.............

On Monday the Groshong catheter placemnet went fine and even though it sits in the middle of my chest doesn't bother me at all.
On Tuesday the Bronchoscopy went well.....but no snooze. I had to gargle
awful tasting stuff, a numbing solution to snort into the back of my throat, a numbing mist to inhale for 5 minutes
and 4 Q-Tips with numbing gel sat in my nose for a few minutes before we got started. It helped to have drugs on board too. After the prep it all went well.
The doctor
said he didn't see much and did take a few biopsies, I don't have the report yet.

The aspiration of the thyroid nodule is delayed until Monday 3/15.

Well, I went to the radiology dept. today and
I had this face mask made which I get to wear and is
bolted to the table for each of my treatments, about 35 of them,
thank God they don't last too long.
It's a plastic mesh that is in a frame, heated up, placed over the face and the frame is pushed down to the table
and bolted there until it hardens. The mask is used to keep my head in an exact position
and my chin tilted up and out of the radiation beam as
it circles around and fires at the nodes in my neck.
While this is going on more scans are being done with measurements
and markers all to be calibrated so treatment can start Monday.
I plan to make the mask into a planter when I get done.
I should have taken a Xanax before I went and will now from now on.
That picture looks frightful and IF I was claustrophobic
it would have been bad....but I'm not.... so it's
not as bad as it looks

The blue catheter in the middle of my chest is the Groshong
catheter that was put in on Monday and I'll receive chemo
drugs through it.

Tomorrow, Thursday I have chemo training ...hmmmm
should be interesting.

Schedule for next week.......Mar.7---Mar12...

"Here's my schedule for next week

Monday.... Appt. with Dr.Clark the pulmonologist then go to day surgery and have groshong catheter put in
for chemo treatments.

Tuesday ....Bronchoscopy in Provs OR. They plan to look down in my lungs with a long
scope to see it any tumor can be spotted. None is expected. The thought is that it is so small it
will never be found or that my immune system killed it but not before it had spread to the lymph nodes.

Wednesday.... Needle aspiration thyroid nodule under ultrasound at Prov. Everyone
thinks this is benign but are just covering all the bases and what the hell
I sure have met my $5000 deductible and it'll be covered.

Thursday.... setup for radiation therapy at Regional.....I get one of those head mask made
so that my head won't move while they radiate from mid left neck all the way
down to mid chest. It's a stiff mesh that's shaped to your head and face. While lying on your
back on the x-ray table it is placed over your face and secured to the table so that no
head or neck movement takes place because the machine is
calibrated 3 dimensionally to fire their beams at the exact same spot each time.
I'll be getting 30 -35 treatments.

Friday ..I fly to Kenai to hang out with family. Sunday Dana flys back to Anchorage with me to
help out with the chemo and radiation that I start on Monday through Friday..5 days a week.

The following Monday the fun really starts..........."

Cancer conference today

I went to the cancer conference today at Providence.
Cancer Center.
About 30 assorted doctors attended.....My doctors Gower and Stewart,
the pathologist and radiologist that read my PET, CT and thyroid scans were there too.
I was the first one discussed and boy they sure did. I saw all the tissue slides and heard them discussed by the pathologist and opinions were offered from anyone else who wanted to voice one.
The PET, and CTs were viewed and discussed. Questions were asked if I had had a bronchoscopy
done to look down in my lungs for any tumor.... No , not yet, but it was voted on that I have it done and so next Tuesday it will probably will happen.
But on Monday I will have a Groshong catheter inserted through my upper chest into a big vein and there
I will receive the chemotherapy starting the next week. Google "Groshong Catheter" for details.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy to the lymph nodes in my chest will start the following week....it's spring break here for a week and then things will start.....

I'm feeling fine.....thank you all for the heart felt love and well wishes.

Got a Game Plan......yahooooo

Well, I had another CT of chest and thyroid today. This one
was much more in depth with more slices done and again
the
primary is elusive and will probably never be
found due to the fact that it is too small or
some times they themselves die.
Anyway the dirty deed was done and it let off cells that
got picked up by the lymph system and there they root and grew.
So the plan is to have a groshong catheter for chemo implanted Monday
and start that and radiation to the lymph nodes in my mediastinum next week.
It will be radiation 5x a week for 6 weeks along with chemo
5x aweek for 2 weeks then off 2 weeks then 2 more weeks.
Yes, I will lose my hair. I will have it cut off as soon as
I have some photos taken with the g'kids.
I think it would be easier to cut it off instead of watching it fall out
and there are some real cool looking scarves out there.
If you have any to spare send them this way.
OK....so now we have a plan......

Well Crap.....

Got the results from the tissue biopsy and it's metastatic non-small cell lung CA with extensive squamous differentiation....
tomorrow I have another scan to find just where it is hiding in my lungs but at least now we can start some kind of game plan....
It did not show up on the chest xray or the PET scan.
The scan tomorrow will be a fine slice CT and should pick it up. In the afternoon I have an appt.
with my oncologist to find out my options...

3/01/10 Update

Well......still waiting for the results from the tissue that was sent to Seattle
last week.

My oncologist called and said the blood test for the
tumor markers and other labs came back normal.

On 3/03/10 Wednesday I have another CT and thyroid sonogram
to be done but first
I'll have drink 450mls of barium sulfate suspension before I go
to bed Tuesday night and was told to drink the second 450mls
when I get to the parking lot at the hospital that way I'll be ready
to go when I get there.

Oh yeah....make sure it's real cold...it's suppose to go down better
because it kinda has a chalky feel and taste.
I think the makers of this gunk are trying to fool us by calling it
"Berry Smoothie" and have a picture of raspberries and blueberries
on the label.