Looking Forward, Looking Back
Happy Holidays to everyone! Today is December 26th,
2012.
It is my twelfth day after completion
of two and a half weeks of radiation treatments at the Marin Cancer Center, eight
days after my first 5+ hour infusion session of chemotherapy drugs, and a
after an injection of Neulasta. It’s an expensive
drug to help build my white cell count, reduce nausea, and fight the cancer
affecting my body.
I’ve had great
support from my close friends during this very stressful time – visiting,
coaching me, bringing me to and from treatments, and generally providing much
needed support. Gillian Hayward, a
close friend and cancer survivor, has been a wonderful “coach” for me during
the process.
My daughter Kate
arrived a week+ Tuesday evening after my “Chemo day” and her counsel and love is really
keeping me going. I’m having a
hard time keeping up with occupational and physical therapy, eating the food
put before me, and dealing with increased pain levels since the Chemo, all
considered normal side effects. I check in weekly at the Marin Cancer Center with Dr. Gullion and for cancer counseling. My next Chemo session is January 8th, with another session
Last week I
visited Dr. Chea, my infectious disease specialist, to determine the next steps
in my treatment. He told me that I look great – much better than he thought I
would. I’m hoping that we can modify the infusion schedule and dosage for the antibiotics. I’ve been on about five hours of
drip treatment a day; two one-hour and three half-hour intravenous sessions are
the current “mix”.
At the end of last week he worked with work with my surgeon, Dr. Lee, to develop a schedule of IV treatments I can
receive by infusion twice a day twice daily, and taking the other antibiotic by mouth three times a day. We’ve accomplished the
treatment modifications so I can stabilize my treatments and plan to go home in early January.
