The Force was with us - Recovery Part 20
The Force was with us – Recovery Part 20
The Force was with Doug and me when we went to the hospital on Thursday and Friday.
Parking is usually bad to really horrible, depending on the time of day. We got lucky on Thursday and found a spot right in front of the MRI building. I felt like Han Solo, sliding the Millennium Falcon into a grungy parking bay on some forgotten world, when I parked the Pathfinder right next to the building’s front doors.
After I finished the MRI, I drove over to main hospital building for my dressing change. We sort of took a look into one parking lot that we usually try to park. It was clearly a no-go choice; there were cars parked in the aisles, waiting for someone to leave. I tried another lot on the other side of the building; it was a lot that we rarely use. A car pulled out just as I turned the Pathfinder into the aisle. This parking spot was also close to the building doors although that was not much of a consideration for us.
All in all, I was very pleased with finding the parking spots. If I had not found the second spot on Thursday, I would have had to spend an extra few hours at the hospital on Friday and who wants time at a hospital on a Friday afternoon when it is sunny and warm in Southern California.
Besides, I had a lesson plan to prepare for my Saturday class.
Thursday was an MRI day for me.
The oncologists [cancer doctors] wanted the MRI to develop some more detailed images of the spots that were first found when I had my emergency operation last October. The doctors were unsure if the spots were cancerous or not. If the spots have gotten smaller, then it is likely they are cancerous and will probably be removed in an operation.
The operation on my liver is not too bad of a prospect for me. The new surgeon will cut along my October scar and cut part of my liver out. Losing part of my liver is only partially serious since the liver will naturally grow back.
My October surgeon, Dr. Aileen Takahashi, said that scars are fine on men. They look good. I am guessing the scar will probably end up a bit wider. I can live with that; I’m used to seeing the scar by now.
Thursday was the first time that I had an MRI.
MRIs are different from an x-ray or a CT scan. You get placed in a narrow, really narrow tube. The machine blows a steady stream of cold air through the tube to help you avoid claustrophobia. Cold air was the not best possible solution for me since I am still a little sensitive to the cold from the chemotherapy medicine. But, the nurse did give me a blanket so I stayed sort of warmish.
The MRI machine is extremely noisy. The nurse issued me some ear plugs to help prevent any damage to my hearing.
The MRI process is also much longer than a regular x-ray or a CT scan. That makes your stay in the narrow metal tube a real challenge. I managed; I figured this was all going to help me recover from the cancer so I am willing to do a lot.
After the MRI, I had my weekly dressing. I’m going to talk about that separately because of the Baby Blues.
Friday was the regularly scheduled visit with the oncologists. I had a man doctor for only the second time. This doctor was less enthusiastic with his vocabulary; no excellents, no greats in his conversation.
The radiologist had not reviewed the MRI results so that left a big void in the conversation. I had planned that the next visit would be the one that discussed the MRI results.
Overall, things are going well for me. I am tolerating the chemotherapy well and the doctors are pleased with my modest weight gain. Most cancer patients tend to lose weight because of their therapies.
We talked about the liver surgery some more this week. I don’t think any decision will be made until I finish the eight cycles of the therapy. That should be in June. I figured the doctors will review file and then decide. I will probably find out what they plan to do next in July.
The only area of concern so far is my blood platelet cell count which is still in the safe zone, just on the lower side of the desired range. I have not had any trouble with blood clotting so far; this would be an indication that the level of platelets is falling off more than desired and my condition requires more attention. I am fairly certain the doctors will want my platelet count higher before they operate.
I guess the only positive outcome of the low blood platelet cell count is that it is likely caused by the chemotherapy regimen. Once I stop with the therapy, my platelet count should rise back into the normal range.
I still have all of my hair and that is good.
I have had only two instances of nausea since I started the therapy. I think the two instances had nothing to do with a reaction to the therapy and much more to do with the food not agreeing with my stomach and the other contents that were there when I consumed the food.
I am still happy and positive and looking forward to a full recovery later this year.
The Baby Blues
Thursday was another dressing change day with the Baby Blues.
I have to go to the hospital to have the dressing for my catheter changed. This requires two hands and a lot of skill, two things that I have in very short supply. Besides going to the hospital gives a reason to get out of the house on a regular basis.
I had a new nurse, Lin, put on the new dressing. Lin was not much on talking on Thursday; that could have been because she had a mask over her mouth and the dressing change room was noisy.
My favorite Baby Blue, Glenda, came by to say hello to me again.
Glenda always makes my day much better when she shows up at dressing changes or during an infusion session. She always had a big smile for me. Glenda looked especially nice on Thursday; she was wearing white pants instead of the usual blue pants with her baby blue colored oversized jacket.
Perfectomundo.
If I was really as organized as I like to think I am, I should have taken a photo of Glenda and Jennifer long before now. Maybe I will get my act together this week.
Why I didn’t Post on Thursday
I went to a fraternity event. It was at the Orange County Alumni Club of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. We celebrated the founding of the Fraternity 140 years ago.
Normally, I would not have made the trip for the dinner meeting. I will be going to a Founders Day celebration in May at my own chapter of the fraternity. I went to the dinner because my good friend Scott was going to be the featured speaker and he was going to talk about how the fraternity was doing.
In sum, Phi Delta Theta is doing very well. The Fraternity got invited by a leading Korean business school to come to Korea and explain how to develop an American style fraternity. That is a real honor for the Fraternity.
Scott and I plan to get together when I am in Salt Lake City. We didn’t have too much time to talk when he was in the OC, as Doug would say.
Visitors
We had another good week for general visitor traffic. We had visitors from Australia [14], Texas [9], Japan [5], Canada [12], Chile, Netherlands [2], France [10], Poland [4], Korea [3], Romania [2], Malaysia [4], Switzerland [2], United Kingdom [9], Italy [3], United Arab Emirates, Spain [3], Hungary, Brazil [2], Sweden [3], Germany [5], Mexico [3], Belgium, Taiwan, South Africa [2], Puerto Rico, India, Philippines, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Croatia.
We had an off week in terms of visitors who came and stayed around for a while. There were only three visitors who stayed for more than ten minutes; one who stayed for 31 minutes, one who stayed for 23 minutes, and one show stayed for 17 minutes.
I do appreciate all of you who took time to stop and visit the blog. I know that you may have other more important things to do than to come here.
Woman of the Moment Encore
It is time for a new Woman of the Moment Encore feature today. I will be featuring Aiko Tanaka for the next few weeks. Most of her photos were downloaded from the now dead Speed Options.com web site. The others came from her older web site that can be found at http://aikotanaka.com. The website is undergoing an upgrade so the photo gallery is still under construction.
These images are some of my personal favorites. I hope that you can share my views.
Firefox
I downloaded a new version of Firefox on Friday after I downloaded the massive Vista SP1 bloatware. I though the version was a final version; my bad luck, it was only a beta version so it has problems left in. My experience using the new beta version was a disappointment, it was more unstable than the version it is replacing. That was really frustrating because it would intermittently not respond to command and then quickly respond.
Note to self, never download beta versions of any program.
Be well and stay happy.
The Force was with Doug and me when we went to the hospital on Thursday and Friday.
Parking is usually bad to really horrible, depending on the time of day. We got lucky on Thursday and found a spot right in front of the MRI building. I felt like Han Solo, sliding the Millennium Falcon into a grungy parking bay on some forgotten world, when I parked the Pathfinder right next to the building’s front doors.
After I finished the MRI, I drove over to main hospital building for my dressing change. We sort of took a look into one parking lot that we usually try to park. It was clearly a no-go choice; there were cars parked in the aisles, waiting for someone to leave. I tried another lot on the other side of the building; it was a lot that we rarely use. A car pulled out just as I turned the Pathfinder into the aisle. This parking spot was also close to the building doors although that was not much of a consideration for us.
All in all, I was very pleased with finding the parking spots. If I had not found the second spot on Thursday, I would have had to spend an extra few hours at the hospital on Friday and who wants time at a hospital on a Friday afternoon when it is sunny and warm in Southern California.
Besides, I had a lesson plan to prepare for my Saturday class.
Thursday was an MRI day for me.
The oncologists [cancer doctors] wanted the MRI to develop some more detailed images of the spots that were first found when I had my emergency operation last October. The doctors were unsure if the spots were cancerous or not. If the spots have gotten smaller, then it is likely they are cancerous and will probably be removed in an operation.
The operation on my liver is not too bad of a prospect for me. The new surgeon will cut along my October scar and cut part of my liver out. Losing part of my liver is only partially serious since the liver will naturally grow back.
My October surgeon, Dr. Aileen Takahashi, said that scars are fine on men. They look good. I am guessing the scar will probably end up a bit wider. I can live with that; I’m used to seeing the scar by now.
Thursday was the first time that I had an MRI.
MRIs are different from an x-ray or a CT scan. You get placed in a narrow, really narrow tube. The machine blows a steady stream of cold air through the tube to help you avoid claustrophobia. Cold air was the not best possible solution for me since I am still a little sensitive to the cold from the chemotherapy medicine. But, the nurse did give me a blanket so I stayed sort of warmish.
The MRI machine is extremely noisy. The nurse issued me some ear plugs to help prevent any damage to my hearing.
The MRI process is also much longer than a regular x-ray or a CT scan. That makes your stay in the narrow metal tube a real challenge. I managed; I figured this was all going to help me recover from the cancer so I am willing to do a lot.
After the MRI, I had my weekly dressing. I’m going to talk about that separately because of the Baby Blues.
Friday was the regularly scheduled visit with the oncologists. I had a man doctor for only the second time. This doctor was less enthusiastic with his vocabulary; no excellents, no greats in his conversation.
The radiologist had not reviewed the MRI results so that left a big void in the conversation. I had planned that the next visit would be the one that discussed the MRI results.
Overall, things are going well for me. I am tolerating the chemotherapy well and the doctors are pleased with my modest weight gain. Most cancer patients tend to lose weight because of their therapies.
We talked about the liver surgery some more this week. I don’t think any decision will be made until I finish the eight cycles of the therapy. That should be in June. I figured the doctors will review file and then decide. I will probably find out what they plan to do next in July.
The only area of concern so far is my blood platelet cell count which is still in the safe zone, just on the lower side of the desired range. I have not had any trouble with blood clotting so far; this would be an indication that the level of platelets is falling off more than desired and my condition requires more attention. I am fairly certain the doctors will want my platelet count higher before they operate.
I guess the only positive outcome of the low blood platelet cell count is that it is likely caused by the chemotherapy regimen. Once I stop with the therapy, my platelet count should rise back into the normal range.
I still have all of my hair and that is good.
I have had only two instances of nausea since I started the therapy. I think the two instances had nothing to do with a reaction to the therapy and much more to do with the food not agreeing with my stomach and the other contents that were there when I consumed the food.
I am still happy and positive and looking forward to a full recovery later this year.
The Baby Blues
Thursday was another dressing change day with the Baby Blues.
I have to go to the hospital to have the dressing for my catheter changed. This requires two hands and a lot of skill, two things that I have in very short supply. Besides going to the hospital gives a reason to get out of the house on a regular basis.
I had a new nurse, Lin, put on the new dressing. Lin was not much on talking on Thursday; that could have been because she had a mask over her mouth and the dressing change room was noisy.
My favorite Baby Blue, Glenda, came by to say hello to me again.
Glenda always makes my day much better when she shows up at dressing changes or during an infusion session. She always had a big smile for me. Glenda looked especially nice on Thursday; she was wearing white pants instead of the usual blue pants with her baby blue colored oversized jacket.
Perfectomundo.
If I was really as organized as I like to think I am, I should have taken a photo of Glenda and Jennifer long before now. Maybe I will get my act together this week.
Why I didn’t Post on Thursday
I went to a fraternity event. It was at the Orange County Alumni Club of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. We celebrated the founding of the Fraternity 140 years ago.
Normally, I would not have made the trip for the dinner meeting. I will be going to a Founders Day celebration in May at my own chapter of the fraternity. I went to the dinner because my good friend Scott was going to be the featured speaker and he was going to talk about how the fraternity was doing.
In sum, Phi Delta Theta is doing very well. The Fraternity got invited by a leading Korean business school to come to Korea and explain how to develop an American style fraternity. That is a real honor for the Fraternity.
Scott and I plan to get together when I am in Salt Lake City. We didn’t have too much time to talk when he was in the OC, as Doug would say.
Visitors
We had another good week for general visitor traffic. We had visitors from Australia [14], Texas [9], Japan [5], Canada [12], Chile, Netherlands [2], France [10], Poland [4], Korea [3], Romania [2], Malaysia [4], Switzerland [2], United Kingdom [9], Italy [3], United Arab Emirates, Spain [3], Hungary, Brazil [2], Sweden [3], Germany [5], Mexico [3], Belgium, Taiwan, South Africa [2], Puerto Rico, India, Philippines, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Croatia.
We had an off week in terms of visitors who came and stayed around for a while. There were only three visitors who stayed for more than ten minutes; one who stayed for 31 minutes, one who stayed for 23 minutes, and one show stayed for 17 minutes.
I do appreciate all of you who took time to stop and visit the blog. I know that you may have other more important things to do than to come here.
Woman of the Moment Encore
It is time for a new Woman of the Moment Encore feature today. I will be featuring Aiko Tanaka for the next few weeks. Most of her photos were downloaded from the now dead Speed Options.com web site. The others came from her older web site that can be found at http://aikotanaka.com. The website is undergoing an upgrade so the photo gallery is still under construction.
These images are some of my personal favorites. I hope that you can share my views.
Firefox
I downloaded a new version of Firefox on Friday after I downloaded the massive Vista SP1 bloatware. I though the version was a final version; my bad luck, it was only a beta version so it has problems left in. My experience using the new beta version was a disappointment, it was more unstable than the version it is replacing. That was really frustrating because it would intermittently not respond to command and then quickly respond.
Note to self, never download beta versions of any program.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 3:59 PM
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