The Day Before Treatment

It's now Sunday, April 18th and the day before my first round of chemo. I'm a little nervous. Fortunately, we're having a barbeque in the yard later this afternoon so I will have a good amount of distraction to keep me from thinking about tomorrow. At least until bedtime. Then I'm most certain I will not be sleeping. That's O.K. I can sleep during the chemo.


Since the day of the final diagnosis, it’s been non-stop doctor appointments or tests. April 8th I met with the radiation doctor. He has all kinds of interesting information to share with me, much I have already forgotten. One of the few things I don’t forget are that cancer treatment puts you at risk for developing a secondary cancer. Keep in mind that we are all at risk for developing cancer. The only people who have immunity from cancer are already dead. I’ll take my chances with that secondary cancer, thank you very much. Because I’ve already been diagnosed with a cancer, I will now have annual check-ups. I’m good with that.


The other thing I remember is the radiation doctor describing the method of radiation treatment. Something to do with strapping me to a table, covering my head with this netting that’s like that of a tennis racquet. It will mold to my face to hold me still so that the radiation beam doesn’t enter through my chin. I’m picturing something from The Silence of the Lambs.

“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”

The next test is a PET Scan. I screw up the first appointment because I eat before the test. My friend John Riley takes me to the appointment and I tell the girl behind the window that I've had just a sliver, a teaspoon of cheesecake an hour earlier, will it screw up the test. She tells me I can’t have ANY sugar (later I learn they inject you with some day-glow glucose). She sends me home and I cry to John that I’m an absolute moron. As we near the car, he asks me what I’ve really eaten. Not much, just some salmon, a chicken leg, about a cup of salad with ranch dressing.  Oh, and a giant soft breadstick. Really, nothing at all. Oh, and I really did just have a tiny sliver of cheesecake. I wasn't lying. I take the test the next week.

Blood tests. 6 or 7 different kinds to test my platelets. Electrolyte panels. I’ll be taking those each time before chemo as well. I have a potassium deficiency that my Nephrologist thinks is due to a rare inherited disorder called Gitelman’s Syndrome. Not a big deal; I just take potassium supplements to keep my levels up. But all this is starting to make me wonder if I’m a walking medical anomaly; rare everything. I have a 6th lumbar which is uncommon, some sort of rare potassium deficiency and now a rare form of cancer (about 5% of those diagnosed with cancer will have Hodgkin’s).

The next test I am to take is a MUGA Scan. It’s a scan of my heart to see if the tumor has had any effect on it from pushing against it for some time.  They also want to make sure my heart is strong enough to handle chemo and radiation. My doctor is pretty confident everything will be fine.  It may be a few weeks until I take it. They use nuclear isotopes for this test and apparently there is a global shortage as the nuclear plant that made a large percentage of the world’s supply shut down in Canada. Those darn Canadians.

The blood tests come back and everything is good. I get the results from the bone marrow and it’s negative. I get the PET Scan results and it shows a spread of the cancer to a neighboring lymph node but it’s only 1.5cm away from the primary tumor so that’s excellent news. Things are looking up.

I’m watching Transformers with some friends tonight and it’s doing a good job of putting me to sleep. I guess I won’t be having any problems getting in a good 6 hours of sleep tonight. I say good night to everyone and drag my comfy fur blankie to bed with me.