Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Ports 'o Call!

Maybe that appostraphe should have been after the O... oh well.

Tomorrow I'm going to see my favorite surgeon so that he can give me an infusion port to make the delivery of chemo so much easier.  The oncologist set that appointment up this afternoon.  This dude gets things DONE!

We looked at my PET Scan, which was really fascinating.  He showed me the two lymph nodes but doesn't think they are in my lungs.  In any event, the esophageal cancer is inoperable in his opinion.  That sounds scary, but it's not necessarily so.  We still have options, and that's why I'm having the port put in.  We'll be doing two different types of chemo, and it'll take three hours, and we'll do it one day a week.

Oncologist is also looking at radiation, which would have to be done every day.  He hasn't made up his mind on that one, yet.  And me?  I'm just wanting to start it up and get it over.  I'm so tired right now and I know it's just the stress of talking about all this.  Because although you can think you're being pretty stoic about the whole thing, when you have to confront it head on, it does get damned scary.  Hey, but it could be worse; he could have said to go home, and get your affairs in order.  So there you go.

He says if we go the radiation route, it's going to not be very pleasant, as it will inflame my esophagus and I may get to the point at which I would need a feeding tube.  But, really, the chemo will probably make food taste like crap anyway, so, maybe I won't even mind.  I could sleep for a week.

So, port tomorrow, and I should go get my blood tests done; gotta do them before we can do the first chemo.  I've had a port of sorts before... well, it was the tissue expander which was part of the reconstruction of my amputated breast.  That was pretty cool; reconstructive surgeon filled it with saline every week, making it eventually big enough that it could be removed and the final implant... um,.. implanted.  Of course, that didn't take three hours!  I'm going to need a gameboy or something.  Oh, I can just take my Kindle, and go broke buying books out of sheer boredom!

Alright, more tomorrow, as... you might already have this impression... but I'm really tired. :)

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