Sorry for the month-long sabbatical. I should have been keeping you posted, because now things are getting busy again.
Today Richard & I spend 9 hours at various doctors, mostly waiting.
I started chemo last week and had a smaller treatment today too. Tomorrow I begin 4 weeks of mild, whole-brain radiation every weekday. I'll continue to get chemo - hence what one of my doctors called the "sandwich."
My analogy is serving criminal sentences concurrently.
The side effects of the radiation are fatigue, problems with memory and concentration ("radiation brain" anyone?), and hair loss. Well, I was already was going to lose my hair from the chemo, so that doesn't really count (I think the sentencing analogy holds).
Friday I'm also having a scan of my full spine, just to make sure nothing's in there that shouldn't be. My oncologist also mentioned a spinal tap, although that's not on the schedule yet.
... All because of mild neck pain, going up along my left ear and around my eyeball socket. It's something you'd almost forget to mention to a doctor, but it led to a brain MRI last week, which showed I have some diffuse tiny tumors in my head - "snow" my one radiation doc called it today - plus 2 more distinct masses they may "spot-weld" with targeted radiation after the whole-brain radiation is done.
I told my oncologist today I had been tired and was feeling "lousy." He corrected me and said the correct medical term is "crappy" ! You can see why I like him. He's also an excellent, and very thorough, doctor. Before Richard and I left his office, at this short pre-chemo appointment, he asked twice if there was anything else he could do for me.
My radiation doc was confident I'd feel better in at least a week or two, after the treatments; my oncologist gave me a prescription (again) for Decadron, with the instruction to call him on Friday about whether it was helping.
There are so many people who need prayers, but I am not too proud to request them, as long as you're making lots of prayers, for all kinds of suffering.
OK, speaking of "sandwiches," I'm going to go get something to eat. ...
In Eight Steps to Happiness Geshe-la says "'Self' and 'other' are relative terms, rather like 'this mountain' and 'that mountain ... 'This' and 'that' therefore depend upon our point of reference. This is also true of self and other. By climbing down the mountain of self, it is possible to ascend the mountain of other, and thereby cherish others as much as we presently cherish ourself."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment