Week 2 and Counting...

Well, today began Week #2 in my Chemo/Rad routine. The plan looks like this:
Assuming my body tolerates it OK (which to date, thank God, it is), I'll be getting Chemo (Taxol, Carboplatin and the ever appropriately named 5 FU administered via Pump that is "my new best friend" and goes with me whereverI go. Basically, On the first Monday (Aug 20) on the 4th Monday (September 10) and once more on the 7th Monday (October 1) I'll go into my Oncologist's office for a 6 Hour infusion of Decodron to prevent allergic reactions, benedryl, saline and then the Taxol and Carboplatin. On every other Monday I just get the 5FU "replenished" in my pump and I'm good to go. They also check my "Power Port" (surgically placed in my left chest on 8-17. This is a cool thing as it avoids people having to constantly stick me in my veins (which I'm told would "fry" if they ever administered these drugs that way) in order to get access to my system. So far this has been fine although I must admit, if it were entirely up to me, I would probably elect to not have them stick a needle into my port (yep! right through the chest) to get the process flowing. Evidently, there is a "thread" or line attached to the port and it is threaded into one of the large veins in my left neck--sort of like an instantly accessible central line!

Since I will be "with" these 2 devices for the foreseeable future, I decided to name them. The Port I'm simply calling "Harry Porter" (Groan) and the pump, with apologies to "John from Cincinnatti" I've named "Butchie Instead". (If you're not familiar with the HBO show, please don't bother wasting your energy in trying to figure it out).

Radiation takes place every Monday through Friday at 9:15 AM and lasts for all of 15 minutes per session. (Looks like somebody's idea of a neat torture device from the Planet Zoran!)

The first week, with the exception of my "crashing" from the wired high of the Steroid/Decodron for 2 days, and experiencing a deep fatigue for about 15 hours, except for minor things like an emerging scratchy throat that wont go away, increased secretions from mucous membranes (runny nose) and the beginnings of a tingling numbness in my fingertips/toes, all in all, Thank God, I'm tolerating this pretty well. I'm trying be as "active" (although much slower paced than normal) as I can and do whatever I can physically for myself.

Saturday evening, I did feel very, very light headed for a bit and my friend Jason got me to the lazyboy, put my feet up and turned the overhead fan on full force until I "came back to myself".
That was "interesting". Thought I was going to pass out for a minute.

Oh, I put up a big wall calendar and get special relish out of marking off each day with a giant blue "X"!

What's to come?

My Doctor tells me that whenever Chemo is complete, I'll have approximately a 4-6 week window of time in which to have fairly major surgery with anywhere from a month or 2 of convalescence.

I've taken a medical leave of absence from my work and I'm very happy that my benefits are excellent as the costs of all this are truly astronomical ... (I caught a glimpse of one "line item" for a CT Scan that I had. The entire thing was around 5 Grand with, get a load of this, $1500 of it going for about 8 ounces of "Contrast" that I drank prior to the test!!! $1500 bucks for some liquid???) Hey, maybe there's a market out there for "Contrast Bars"...

Anyway, my task remains, as ever, remembering to be in each present moment:

I Choose:

To Affirm the Value Present in Each Moment

For therein lies The Presence,

The Omnipresence...

To Connect

On a Being Level

With The Presence,

So "This I Am"

Can Seemlessly Merge with,

& Dissolve into,

"That I Am"...

Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi

May Peace, & Peace, & Peace Be Everywhere