When Kathleen and I returned home from the January appointments described in the prior post, we had a long conversation in the driveway. We’ve been doing a lot of that since last May. In that dialogue, we discussed the feeling of disappointment that I described previously. And we were able to put our fingers on why it felt that way. In all prior meetings, there was always a visible sign of progress. After treatment began, every six weeks we were…
Someone I’ve never met, but have been praying for daily, got to ring the cancer bell a little more than a week ago. I was so very happy for her and it was moving to see photos and read about her experience. It brought back a bunch of memories from January when it was my turn. Ringing the cancer bell comes at the end of your treatment. Cancer center staff takes you to the bell. There is a reading. There…
As a part of the process of approaching treatment, I actively avoided becoming too knowledgeable. I distinctly remember a day before the first round of chemo when our medical oncologist said something along the lines of “You could look up information on outcomes and survival rates among patient populations, but I suggest that you don’t.” We took him at his word, or at least I did and I put the focus on this one cancer in this one patient in…
I completed my SBRT radiation treatments on December 4th. At the end of radiation, there’s a four-week pause to let the tissue process the treatment and then a new scan is taken. I took a big pause myself in December and I just focused on enjoying the spirit of the season. The holiday season was wonderful. My medical new year began Saturday with my first post-treatment CT Scan of the chest and abdomen. The results of this scan would be…
I have read, experienced, and learned a lot in the last four weeks. To bring you up to date, we’re going to cover none of it, not yet. Instead, we’re going to leap over it and bring you straight to the now. Radiation treatment began yesterday. I’ll be having a short, two-week course of high dose radiation to the remaining mass in the lung. It will be five sessions in total. And it’s a brilliant system. Here’s how it works….
The day at Froedtert began in the blood lab waiting room. For whatever reason, there was an extra-long wait today. That came in handy because it gave me a chance to do an extended session of 4-7-8 breathing. In for 4 … hold for 7 … out for 8. Repeat. I have been wavering between calm and anxious since Wednesday, so I just focused on breathing for a while. Then I watched the political ads on TV in the waiting…
A number of weeks ago, Aidan (14) and I were together eating at the table in the breakfast nook. The conversation turned to lung cancer because that happens around here these days. And I was describing to Aidan advanced lung cancer and how, because there are no nerves inside the lungs to feel pain, it often goes undetected until it’s late stage. I said to him, “Aidan, can you imagine how helpful it would have been if I’d had bronchitis…
No, this isn’t an announcement of my status as a cancer survivor, though that will be nice when the time comes. It’s a reference to the very popular TV series that debuted twenty years ago. You know how the show works. Contestants are dropped off in a remote, isolated location where they need to find a way to eat, build shelter, create fire, and locate water to survive while trying to avoid elimination. Well, after a few seasons of seeing…
It’s been a while since my last post and you deserve an update. Round 5 of chemo went in and went through its three-week cycle without incident. But along the way I made an observation. Treatment right now is pulling me simultaneously to two opposite ends of a continuum. At one end of the continuum I am surely more healthy than I have been in a long time. At the other end I am just plain tired. That’s why I’m…
We drove to Froedtert in the rain yesterday. A perfectly fitting start to the appointment based on where we left off last time. The purpose of the appointment was to discuss the transition to radiation therapy now that the first four rounds of chemo and Tagrisso are complete. But let’s be honest, all anyone really cares about is the result of the PET Scan from last Friday. I won’t make you wait. The results were good, really good. Again. I…