Well, was suppose to start chemo and radiation today. The chemo has been pushed back until tomorrow. Seems the Chemo MD needs a certain xray that Dr. Sullivan's office has. Her office has been trying to get it from him, but Dr. Sullivan's nurse has quit, evidentally throwing his office into chaos. So I will begin the chemo tomorrow.
They went ahead and started the radiation treatments today though. Was completely painless, and took less then 10 minutes. Just layed face down on the table while they got me lined up with the all the lasers, and then turned the machine on. I could hear it buzz and feel a cool air blowing on me like someone blowing thru a straw, then it was over!
The only problem I am having is pain thru all my joints being inflammed. My MD explained that my auto immune sysytem is low from trying to fight the cancer, and therefore my joints are flaring up. I feel like a 100 year old with arthritis. My hands, knees, neck, shoulders, and feet hurt so bad. The hydrocodone only knocks out about 50% of the pain. I will be glad when this part is over!!
Well, will try again tomorrow to get this whole show on the road!!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
April 16, 2010
Had to go back to the Radiation department yesterday so they could do a "dry run" of the radiation treatments that begin Monday. They put me back on the table I have to lay face down on that has a form on it to lay on. It has a cut out to put your face in and a cut out for your stomach. At the head of the bed is a huge, round machine that looks like a catscan machine, but the bed is stationary. It does not slide into the machine (I think). You lay there face down, with your arms above your head.
They adjust the table back and forth to get it lined up with all these lasers that are coming out of the top of the machine showing down onto my butt. There are also lasers coming out the sides of the wall of the room too. Anyways, they have to get all these lasers exact every time so they are radiating the exact same spot that needs it.
I bet I was face down for 45 minutes while they adjusted stuff, and drew on my butt with sharpies again! Lol! I got 5 more blue freckle tattoos too to help mark the exact spot they have to be. There was 1 guy Tech (senior radiation tech), and 2 women. They were really nice.
There was a little area in there when you first walk that hs 2 chairs and a coffee table with magazines. I asked if that meant Bill come in with me when I do treatments, and they he couldn't 'cos of the radiation, but that they would be glad to show him what the machine looks like when it is off. Still wonder what that little waiting area was for...lol! I know when they turn the machine on, the techs go behind a wall that has a big, glass window. It has shades you can open and close.
They adjust the table back and forth to get it lined up with all these lasers that are coming out of the top of the machine showing down onto my butt. There are also lasers coming out the sides of the wall of the room too. Anyways, they have to get all these lasers exact every time so they are radiating the exact same spot that needs it.
I bet I was face down for 45 minutes while they adjusted stuff, and drew on my butt with sharpies again! Lol! I got 5 more blue freckle tattoos too to help mark the exact spot they have to be. There was 1 guy Tech (senior radiation tech), and 2 women. They were really nice.
There was a little area in there when you first walk that hs 2 chairs and a coffee table with magazines. I asked if that meant Bill come in with me when I do treatments, and they he couldn't 'cos of the radiation, but that they would be glad to show him what the machine looks like when it is off. Still wonder what that little waiting area was for...lol! I know when they turn the machine on, the techs go behind a wall that has a big, glass window. It has shades you can open and close.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
April 14, 2010
Met with the radiation MD today. They put me in the catscanner thingy with red laser lights, and made marks on my backside to get mapped out the exact position they need so they give the radiation treatments in the exact same spots everytime. Once they got everything marked with a Sharpie, they marked 3 of the spots with a little blue tattoo spot (like a blue freckle).
I begin chemo and radiation next Monday. MD said I will have to have 28 radiation treatments at a rate of 5 per week. So I guess the treatments will be over by end of May. Then 8 more weeks after that I will have the surgery! Hey, that is right around my birthday! My butt hurts thinking about it!
I begin chemo and radiation next Monday. MD said I will have to have 28 radiation treatments at a rate of 5 per week. So I guess the treatments will be over by end of May. Then 8 more weeks after that I will have the surgery! Hey, that is right around my birthday! My butt hurts thinking about it!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
April 8, 2010
Sorry! haven't been on for a week or so! Met with the chemo MD this past Monday. The chemo they are going to use will not make my hair fall out. She said it might thin it a little, but I can deal with that.
I am going to have to wear this casette thingy that has the chemo in it. The chemo will feed into the MedPort 24/7. I have to go back every Monday to get the casette refilled and have them do a white blood cell count.
I meet with the radiation MD next Wednesday. He was on vacation this week. Chemo MD said he will probably want to do radiation 5 days a week for 7 weeks. I'll know more about that next week.
Started feeling like I was getting an infection last night from the MedPort. Just started feeling really crappy. The area was getting really hot, and it hurt all the way up into my neck and jaw. You know how you feel when an infection is starting.
It was late (after 8pm), but I called Dr. Sullivan's office and left a message for him to please call me. Just thought he would call in antibiotic for me. He called me right back, but said from what I was saying he thought it was strep throat. I had 2 doses of Cipro squirreled away in case of an emergeny. i took one of them and went to bed. I felt alot better when I got up this morning. Took the 2nd dose later at work.
This morning Dr. Sullivan's nurse called me to check on me and to get the number for my PCP. Wasn't long after that Dr. Dennis' office called me saying Dr. Sullivan wanted her to check out the MedPort site and make sure it wasn't an infection.
Dr. Dennis couldn't find evidence of any strep throat, but wants me to continue on the Cipro for another week since it helped me overnight. I still think an infection was starting and the Cipro got it.
I am going to have to wear this casette thingy that has the chemo in it. The chemo will feed into the MedPort 24/7. I have to go back every Monday to get the casette refilled and have them do a white blood cell count.
I meet with the radiation MD next Wednesday. He was on vacation this week. Chemo MD said he will probably want to do radiation 5 days a week for 7 weeks. I'll know more about that next week.
Started feeling like I was getting an infection last night from the MedPort. Just started feeling really crappy. The area was getting really hot, and it hurt all the way up into my neck and jaw. You know how you feel when an infection is starting.
It was late (after 8pm), but I called Dr. Sullivan's office and left a message for him to please call me. Just thought he would call in antibiotic for me. He called me right back, but said from what I was saying he thought it was strep throat. I had 2 doses of Cipro squirreled away in case of an emergeny. i took one of them and went to bed. I felt alot better when I got up this morning. Took the 2nd dose later at work.
This morning Dr. Sullivan's nurse called me to check on me and to get the number for my PCP. Wasn't long after that Dr. Dennis' office called me saying Dr. Sullivan wanted her to check out the MedPort site and make sure it wasn't an infection.
Dr. Dennis couldn't find evidence of any strep throat, but wants me to continue on the Cipro for another week since it helped me overnight. I still think an infection was starting and the Cipro got it.
Friday, April 2, 2010
April 2, 2010
Well, had the MedPort put in yesterday in my chest so they can use that to administer the chemo thru. They say if they try to administer thru your veins, it will burns them up and you won't have any veins left in your arms...don't want that! So anyways, they put this port in right below my left clavical bone. It doesn't hurt as much as it is really sore.
Saw the surgeon this morning. Dr. Litchliter (hope I am spelling it right). His plan is 4 weeks of chemo and radiation, and then surgey 8 weeks after that. I asked why do they wait 2 months after the chemo and radiation to do surgery. He says once the radiation treatments stop, the radiation keeps working for awhile and will continue to shrink the cancer. He says there is a better success rate too rather than going in 3 or 4 weeks right after those treatments.
Told me I can't be eating steak, cheese, bread, anything starchy 'cos it could stop me up then I would have to have a colostemy bag. I can barely poop now cos the tumor is in the way, so I have to have food that is easy to go thru (sorry, this is the only way I know to word it).
Bill has been great thru all of this. Sitting in all of the MD office's with me, waiting rooms when having day surgery, driving to Dallas to meet the surgeon. He hasn't complained one bit. Thru sickness and in health...lol!
Meeting with the Oncology MD next Tuesday to get this chemo and radiation show on the road! The sooner the better!
Saw the surgeon this morning. Dr. Litchliter (hope I am spelling it right). His plan is 4 weeks of chemo and radiation, and then surgey 8 weeks after that. I asked why do they wait 2 months after the chemo and radiation to do surgery. He says once the radiation treatments stop, the radiation keeps working for awhile and will continue to shrink the cancer. He says there is a better success rate too rather than going in 3 or 4 weeks right after those treatments.
Told me I can't be eating steak, cheese, bread, anything starchy 'cos it could stop me up then I would have to have a colostemy bag. I can barely poop now cos the tumor is in the way, so I have to have food that is easy to go thru (sorry, this is the only way I know to word it).
Bill has been great thru all of this. Sitting in all of the MD office's with me, waiting rooms when having day surgery, driving to Dallas to meet the surgeon. He hasn't complained one bit. Thru sickness and in health...lol!
Meeting with the Oncology MD next Tuesday to get this chemo and radiation show on the road! The sooner the better!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
March 31, 2010
Well, tomorrow I go back into day surgery to have a MedPort put into my chest for them to administer the chemo through when they start the treatments. It is a port that will go into a main artery. Dr. Sullivan says they can't administer chemo thru the veins in your arms 'cos the chemo will end up burning the veins up. Nice thought!! Oh well, I guess it is to be expected when you are putting poison into your body.
I contacted Texas Oncology to get the appointment scheduled to begin the chemo and radiation. They said my MD's office needs to send them all my records, so Dr. Sullivan's office was suppose to do it Monday. If I don't hear from Texas Oncology soon, I will call them again. I am ready to get this show on the road. I don't want it to drag on for weeks. The tumor can be really painful at times, and it is causing other problems (that I don't want to get graphic about), but it involves running to the bathroom alot. I am ready for this thing to quit growing and start dying and shrinking! I feel like I am carrying a monster inside of me that is eating me alive from the inside out.
Will meet with the surgeon Friday.
Let's get this show going!!
I contacted Texas Oncology to get the appointment scheduled to begin the chemo and radiation. They said my MD's office needs to send them all my records, so Dr. Sullivan's office was suppose to do it Monday. If I don't hear from Texas Oncology soon, I will call them again. I am ready to get this show on the road. I don't want it to drag on for weeks. The tumor can be really painful at times, and it is causing other problems (that I don't want to get graphic about), but it involves running to the bathroom alot. I am ready for this thing to quit growing and start dying and shrinking! I feel like I am carrying a monster inside of me that is eating me alive from the inside out.
Will meet with the surgeon Friday.
Let's get this show going!!
March 26, 2010
Met with Dr. Sullivan today for all the test results. It was a bad news/good news meeting. The good news was all my other organs are cancer free (kidney, liver, lungs, etc.) so the cancer has not spread to them.
The bad news is the cancer that we thought was a 4 inch tumor in my colon, has gone thru the colon wall and into my pelvis area. He held up his hands about the size of a cantaloupe. I don't know if it's actually that big though. I haven't seen any of the images.
The bad part is that there are alot of important blood veins in that area he says. The veins that go to your legs, etc. The cancer has enveloped the blood veins. He says the surgery is going to be a hard surgery because of all the blood vessels involved now.
The game plan is chemo and radiation for 6 weeks to shrink the cancer as much as possible, and then a surgeon will try and remove what is left. He has given me the name of a really good surgeon that is in Dallas. Dr. Litchfield is his name I think. I have an appointment with him next Friday. He also has given me the name of Texas Oncology on Mayfield in Arlington to get the chemo and radiation done at.
Right now my plan is to schedule the chemo and radiation appointments for after work. I will see how that goes physically. I can't miss work because we don't have sick leave there. We have something called PTO (personal time off). I earn about 5.5 hours every 2 weeks. You have to use that for sick leave, vacation, anytime you need off from work. I have a weeks worth saved right now. I don't want to use it. I want to save it for the actual surgery part, so yes, I am going to try my best and work while doing the chemo and radiation. Thank God for short term disability too!
So while the news could had been better, it could had been alot worse too. Bill and I both took a deep sigh of relief, and are now concentrating on what we have been dealt to deal with.
The bad news is the cancer that we thought was a 4 inch tumor in my colon, has gone thru the colon wall and into my pelvis area. He held up his hands about the size of a cantaloupe. I don't know if it's actually that big though. I haven't seen any of the images.
The bad part is that there are alot of important blood veins in that area he says. The veins that go to your legs, etc. The cancer has enveloped the blood veins. He says the surgery is going to be a hard surgery because of all the blood vessels involved now.
The game plan is chemo and radiation for 6 weeks to shrink the cancer as much as possible, and then a surgeon will try and remove what is left. He has given me the name of a really good surgeon that is in Dallas. Dr. Litchfield is his name I think. I have an appointment with him next Friday. He also has given me the name of Texas Oncology on Mayfield in Arlington to get the chemo and radiation done at.
Right now my plan is to schedule the chemo and radiation appointments for after work. I will see how that goes physically. I can't miss work because we don't have sick leave there. We have something called PTO (personal time off). I earn about 5.5 hours every 2 weeks. You have to use that for sick leave, vacation, anytime you need off from work. I have a weeks worth saved right now. I don't want to use it. I want to save it for the actual surgery part, so yes, I am going to try my best and work while doing the chemo and radiation. Thank God for short term disability too!
So while the news could had been better, it could had been alot worse too. Bill and I both took a deep sigh of relief, and are now concentrating on what we have been dealt to deal with.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
March 15, 2010
Went to Baylor Hospital in Waxahachie for the virtual colonoscopy. Only took about 20 minutes, but it was extremely uncomfortable. Without getting too graphic, they stick a tube up your butt, and then proceed to blow up your colon with air. It makes you feel like you have to go to the bathroom so bad! You just know you are going to have an accident laying there on that table. The tech kept assuring me there would be no accident, it was just a by-product of the air.
She took 3 scans while I was laying on my back, and then I had to flip over on my stomach, and she did 3 more scans. Every minute felt like it was 5 minutes long! Then they give you a washcloth and towel to go to the bathroom with. All this air they pumped you with is now going to come out. I was praying no one was in the room next to me hearing the sounds coming out of me for 5 minutes! Wow!
She took 3 scans while I was laying on my back, and then I had to flip over on my stomach, and she did 3 more scans. Every minute felt like it was 5 minutes long! Then they give you a washcloth and towel to go to the bathroom with. All this air they pumped you with is now going to come out. I was praying no one was in the room next to me hearing the sounds coming out of me for 5 minutes! Wow!
March 10, 2010
There is a tumor about 4 inches long, and I am 99% certain it is cancerous. That's the first words I remember hearing right after coming to after the anthestesia. I was extremely calm (thanks to still being under the influence of the drugs). I remember asking the MD, "O.K. What do we need to do next"?
He asked me if I could wait around until noon (about 30 minutes) to meet with Dr. Sullivan who he said was an excellent MD. We waited. I remember Dr. Abdulian showing Dr. Sullivan the pictures he had taken during the colonoscopy. I hear Dr. Sullivan say "Have you shown these pictures to them yet"? Dr. Abdulian replied he had not.
Both MD's came into my space in the recovery unit. Dr. Sullivan sat on the foot of my bed as Dr. Abdulian stood. I was shown the pictures, but really couldn't comprehand what I was looking at. It just looked like a bunch of bloody something. I guess that's what a tumor looks like.
Dr. Sullivan had me go to his office a few miles away, to have some blood work done, and a chest xray. Meanwhile, Dr. Abdulian ordered a virtual colonoscopy (done with a catscan in the Radiology department at a hospital), so he could see places he could not see with the regular procedure. That was scheduled for the following Monday, March 15th.
He asked me if I could wait around until noon (about 30 minutes) to meet with Dr. Sullivan who he said was an excellent MD. We waited. I remember Dr. Abdulian showing Dr. Sullivan the pictures he had taken during the colonoscopy. I hear Dr. Sullivan say "Have you shown these pictures to them yet"? Dr. Abdulian replied he had not.
Both MD's came into my space in the recovery unit. Dr. Sullivan sat on the foot of my bed as Dr. Abdulian stood. I was shown the pictures, but really couldn't comprehand what I was looking at. It just looked like a bunch of bloody something. I guess that's what a tumor looks like.
Dr. Sullivan had me go to his office a few miles away, to have some blood work done, and a chest xray. Meanwhile, Dr. Abdulian ordered a virtual colonoscopy (done with a catscan in the Radiology department at a hospital), so he could see places he could not see with the regular procedure. That was scheduled for the following Monday, March 15th.
February 9, 2010
Followed up with my primary MD, Dr. Dennis. She asked if I ever had a colonoscopy. When I replied no, she said everyone should have one when they turn 50. She gave me a referral to Dr. Abdulian. Appointment was set for Friday, February 12th.
Guess what? Texas gets record breaking snow that day! I have to cancel my appointment. Over the next 2 weeks, I try to reschedule the appointment when I think about it. I have to admit, I wasn't trying too hard to get it re-scheduled.
I finally make myself follow thru and get it re-scheduled for March 4th. Dr. Abdulian wants to do a colonoscopy the following Monday. Because of work issues, we settle on Wednesday the 10th.
Guess what? Texas gets record breaking snow that day! I have to cancel my appointment. Over the next 2 weeks, I try to reschedule the appointment when I think about it. I have to admit, I wasn't trying too hard to get it re-scheduled.
I finally make myself follow thru and get it re-scheduled for March 4th. Dr. Abdulian wants to do a colonoscopy the following Monday. Because of work issues, we settle on Wednesday the 10th.
February 6-7, 2010
Saturday night, I went to bed about 9pm. At 10pm I woke up with really bad stomach pains. I ended up spending the night on the toilet with a trash can in front of me. The pain was horrible. There was no way I could go to a hospital because I couldn't get the anything to stop long enough to allow for a drive to the hospital. After about 8 hours of this, I told Bill if I was still sick by daybreak, I needed to go to the hospital.
Daybreak came with no relief. I got into the car and laid across the backseat while Bill drove. I had a towel under me, and a plastic bag to throw up in. I remember when he asked me what hospital I wanted to go to, I replied "The nearest one".
After a catscan, xrays, and a sonogram, they could not find what was causing the pain. I thought I had torn my lapband loose from all the vomiting, but they said it was still in place. They gave me morphine for the pain.
The MD wanted me to stay in the hospital for more tests the next day, but I promised I would follow up with my primary MD, and went home. I just wanted the pain to stop, and the morphine accomplished that (damn, that was some strong stuff)!!
Daybreak came with no relief. I got into the car and laid across the backseat while Bill drove. I had a towel under me, and a plastic bag to throw up in. I remember when he asked me what hospital I wanted to go to, I replied "The nearest one".
After a catscan, xrays, and a sonogram, they could not find what was causing the pain. I thought I had torn my lapband loose from all the vomiting, but they said it was still in place. They gave me morphine for the pain.
The MD wanted me to stay in the hospital for more tests the next day, but I promised I would follow up with my primary MD, and went home. I just wanted the pain to stop, and the morphine accomplished that (damn, that was some strong stuff)!!
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