November 9th Chemo Treatment

Friday, chemo day, came fast. Time is flying by. I had to go to radiation early this morning (7:50 AM) because I had to be at my chemo appointment at 9 AM. I got up early and Yoko got up with me to make breakfast and a lunch for me to take. I had a bit of a hard time eating this morning. In the last week or so I have begun to feel the effects of the radiation treatment. It feels like somethings is stuck in my chest when I am eating. Radiation causes scaring and I can feel a kind of stiffness in my esophagus as the food goes down after I swallow. I can see why someone getting radiation in the neck or throat would have a hard time eating. Here I am basking in the sun on Friday. My tray of chemo is is next to me. I have my laptop, a book and my i-pod next to me. I asked someone to take this pic with my cell phone.

I showed up for chemo at 8:15AM ...and I saw Dr Lunin right away. He had been reading this blog, so he could spit back to me my blog of yesterday and already knew how I was feeling. I learned that he was also a Rotary Exchange Student to Sweden. We need to get him to join the Peace River Rotary. (Scott, we meet at Portofinos, about one minute from Florida Cancer Center, for breakfast at 7 AM every Wednesday! We have lots of doctors in our club, but don't have any oncologists as yet.)

Scott has been great in terms of the attention and interest he is paying to my case. He is closely following my progress, which is very comforting. We talked about what I had said in my blog yesterday. He agreed with me that all the "lack of symptoms" were a good sign. The real question, assuming we get the current tumor under control, is what to we do about recurrence, which is what makes NSCLC (non small cell lung cancer) so deadly. Even if this treatment is successful, we need to be thinking about what we do next. Scott explained that there is divided opinion in the medical community about whether chemo should be used on an ongoing basis. The issue is toxicity. We will have to think about the risks and rewards of continuing chemo. We'll have to see where we are at in 6 weeks and then make a determination. I rather like "taking the offensive" rather than being reactive to future cancer popping up.

I am writing this blog during chemo. They gave me benadryl and I am getting very sleep! I will take a nap and finish this when I wake up....

[Two hours later...]

Wow...I went out like a light. I was sleeping with my mouth open, like some old man. Oh well, half the people in this room are sleeping with their mouth open. When they started me on the cisplatin this time, I suddenly developed a sharp pain in my back. The nurse reacted immediately and stopped the drip, gave me a bag of saline, took my blood pressure and temp. It appears they have to slow the drip. The pain went away after the bag of saline. The drip was set for 30 minutes, but they have slowed it to one hour. It's already 1 PM....I have three bags to go.

I kind of enjoy the chemo. I can listen to music on the i-pod while I do work on my laptop, which is equipped with an aircard so I can access the internet. I have remote access to my Morgan Stanley desktop, so I can do some work while in chemo. I also have voicemail at the office, so I can call in remotely and find out who is trying to get a hold of me. While in chemo this morning, I returned two phone calls and scheduled client meetings for Monday and Tuesday. They had no idea I was not in the office. Isn't technology great?

That reminds me, I forgot to tell Scott Lunin that Yoko had developed an itchy rash on her fore arms. Is it possible that she could get contaminated from me and have an allergic reaction? The rash that was on my torso is gone, but I took medication for it. Yoko did some work in the garden a few days ago and may have gotten it from something outside, but it was something of a coincidence that we both developed a rash. Maybe it is the menopause?

I am batting one-thousand in terms of running into people I know. Today I saw someone from Sea Grape Gallery, (I helped Sea Grape raise some money so they could re-open after Hurricane Charley. They are a not-for-profit art gallery for local artists and had been under-insured when the hurricane hit.) She was driving a friend who is being treated for breast cancer. They recognized me but could not remember my name, so they came over to ask. I told them but added that I didn't want people to know I was being treated. They understood immediately and hopefully won't say anything to anyone.

I feel like the little dutch boy with his finger in the dike...people are going to naturally find out I am sick. In fact, I was talking with Ryan last night and I said I thought it was strange that no one in the office has been asking about where I have been going on Fridays. Ryan agreed and said he thinks people in the office may already know and are not saying anything because I did not want it to get out. Hmmm... Am I just being paranoid or is someone REALLY trying to get me?! I am starting to feel like the assassins in the movie Munich.... am I the hunter or the hunted?

The best part of blogging for me is getting your comments and little notes. They come to me in an e-mail and if there is nothing objectionable, I publish them. If you keep the comments coming I'll keep publishing a daily blog.

My blog on South Pacific got both Paula and Jessie to comment...Now Jessie wants to watch South Pacific with me; I just got the DVD of South Pacific that was shown on PBS. It was a "concert" at Carnagie Hall with Reba McIntyre. It was very well done.

Maybe I can get the girls to even appreciate Pucini's La Boheme, my favorite opera! There is so many things in the world to see and do. Enjoy it while you can!