Saturday, January 10, 2009

We're off

Today Diana and I leave on our Africa trip. Only South Africa and unfortunately, not Zim. We do, however, have over US$1000 to distribute in Bulawayo for our Zim appeal. Thank you once again.

I will try and update the blog as often as I can and, hopefully, with pictures.

Carpe Diem.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Lung tap

After a not so great night of sleep, off I went to the hospital to get drained. Dr. Skaryak, the thoracic surgeon, is such an amazing person. She explained the procedure to me. Needle in the back after numbing it, and then drain it into a vacuumed bottle. What we want is straw colored fluid. Any sign of pink/blood is not a good sign i.e. cancer.

Ten minutes later, more than 1 liter of clear straw colored fluid in a bottle. Phew – no sign of blood. Hopefully, the lab will validate the seemingly positive news. Did I mention that I have never seen such a freakin long needle in all my life!

Carpe Diem.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Meeting with Dr. Erlich

This afternoon, Diana and I met with Dr. Erlich. I put on 8 lbs. in one month! Dr. Erlich said he has never seen anyone on Sutent gain weight. There's a first. I might need to go on a diet soon. The PET/CT showed an increase in the amount of pleural effusion. Translation – fluid build up between the lining of the lung and the chest cavity. Well, that explains the shortness of breath and coughing. My lungs have no room to expand! So now we have to remove that fluid, send it to the lab to check for cancer. Here we go again.

Carpe Diem.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Tests galore

Today I had my MUGA scan and also my PET/CT scan. It took a little longer today because of getting both tests done on the same morning. Now it's hurry up and wait! The wait for the results is tough. Every time the feeling is the same. What will we be dealt with now? We can only hope and pray that we keep getting good news. But I will be honest with you, you can't help feeling that maybe something not so great will crop up. If that happens we will deal with it. Though I know what I would prefer.

8:00 p.m. Dr. Erlich called. That man never stops working. I feel very fortunate to have him as my oncologist. The good news is that there seems to be no sign of cancer. However, I do have a lot of fluid around my lungs (in the pleura). Tomorrow I’ll find out what this means.

Carpe Diem.