A visit to the ER

Not the best of days. Thursday mid day I started to have pain in the center of my chest. Yes, the very same area they bombed extensively with radiation. By evening time the pain was so bad that I was having problems breathing. So off we went to the ER. After the obligatory "couple of hours" and lots of tests, they concluded that I had pneumonia. They discharged me late evening and off we went home.

The next morning, after a lousy nights sleep, we went and got the prescribed pain med and antibiotic. We had our radiology oncologist doctors look at the xray and CT scan. They basically concluded that it could be pneumonia but more likely to be post radiation effects. The pain meds still helped and taking the antibiotic wouldn't hurt anything.

A day later with a good nights sleep (and the meds) and I feel better. Hopefully the improvement will continue.

Medical Team Meeting

Today we met with Dr. Erlich, Dr. Skaryak and Dr. Citron (Dr, Brenner's partner). It was a really good meeting with some good news.

They reiterated that there is no evidence of the tumor on the lung anymore. They also mentioned that there is a good likely hood that the reason the nodes near the oesophagus are still showing slight evidence of "activity" are due to the residual radiation. The residual radiation should be with me for another couple of weeks. Crap!

The plan now is for me to start another round of chemotherapy on July 1st. It will be a six week weekly course of chemo with three different drugs. Different from the original round of chemo treatment I had. After the six weeks I will have another PET/CAT scan followed by another six weeks of treatment. So a total of twelve more weeks of chemo. I have been told that I should tolerate these upcoming rounds of chemo quite well. No radiation. So the swallowing issue should be ...........well, a non issue.

Now back to the residual radiation!!! I have had good days and not so good days. The swallowing issue is remarkably better. There are still times when it hurts swallowing but I guess it's self induced. I tend to scarf my food with minimal chewing. Well that's going to have to change. I am actually going to have to concentrate on chewing my food. How boring. Oh, I better start bulking up in the weight department. I lost about 22 lbs. My weight right now is 138 lbs. Too thin!!!

The fatigue is also quite difficult at times. I am just going to have to accept that I will have tough moments. Rest and relax, rest and relax. I sound like a therapist.

Happy Anniversary

What more can I say about Diana and how she has endured this medical ordeal with me. She has also endured 23 years with me (not to mention the pre marriage years). We, like most couples, have faced our ups and downs but we just seem to come out stronger in the end. My health battle was the perfect example of this. She has been by my side from day 1. She has been a real strength for me.

So I just want to say to her "happy anniversary and I love you more than ever".

Fathers Day

Waking up on Fathers Day morning was bitter sweet. Bitter because I am not able, any more, to wish my Dad a happy fathers day. It's been just over six years since he passed away. Sweet, very sweet, to appreciate being a father to two of the greatest kids in the world and savouring the encouraging news from Friday's scans.

This coming Wednesday we meet with Dr. Erlich and his team to discuss, in detail, the PET/CT scan results and the upcoming treatment plans. As soon as the meeting is over I will post all the updated and latest news.

In the meantime I will relish the fathers day attention.

PET Scan/CAT Scan

Once again, sorry about not getting the news out on the blog sooner ,but we have just gotten our Internet back online. Friday morning, I had my pet/cat scan. A few, long hours later Dr. Erlich called with the results. The tumor in my lung is completely gone!!!! There were still a few mildly active sites at the nodes which could be inflammation, or not. Either way, I'm going to have another round of totally different chemotherapeutics for about 2 months. I'll have more info at our meeting this Wednesday. I'm just relieved that my lung is clear.

So much for Friday the 13th!!!

Oh, and Mike passed his drivers test today. First time and did quite well.

Quick update

Hi All. My sincere apologies for not updating the blog on a more regular basis. Major reason right now. No internet!!! It looks like Saturday until we get back online. It's also really difficult as we cannot get TV either and subsequently, no football to watch. It is simply amazing how dependent we (at least me) are on technology. TV and internet.

Weekend Update

Well most of the weekend was great. I will qualify that later on. Again, let me just say that the visit from my uncle Hymie, Aunt Joan and cousin Jennifer was wonderful. We had a really nice time with them. Lots of time at the pool because of the heat wave. Also, I have started to eat solid foods again. This is what may have caused me to say earlier that most of the weekend was OK. On Sunday morning I guess I overdid the getting back to eating thing. The nice egg and turkey bacon I made for myself did not want to stay down!!! After having chatted with the doctor I realised that it has to be a slow process back to solid foods.

The other thing I realised is that I will have a few good days and then a rough day or two. The good and encouraging thing is that the good days outnumber the bad days and at least I can eat now as the pain is bearable and manageable.

The other good thing right now is that the Euro 2008 Football (soccer) tournament is on. A lot of tremendous countries (from Europe) playing some awesome football. Off to watch.

Friday Dr. Appointment

Sorry about the tardiness with regards writing and adding to my blog. Our Internet connection and home network has been intermittently broken.

I did not go for the bronchoscopy like procedure today as I could not get an appointment set up. They would have had me come in and wait to see if an appointment would become available and I elected to wait till next week. Let me explain why. I actually have started to see some improvement in the swallowing problem. I am now able to eat most things. I just have to chase the food down pretty quickly with water and the pain subsides quickly.

I also understand what "withdrawal" feels like. This morning I woke up and really did not feel well at all. I started to feel progressively worse and then realised that my pain patch (Fentenol) had come off. After a short nap and new patch I felt a hell of a lot better.

It has been really great having my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin visit with us from Toronto. Good meals now that I am playing food catch up. More later.

Appointment with Dr. Brenner

Let me describe the swallowing. I can chew and swallow anything. But within seconds of actually swallowing things I get really bad pain in the center of my upper chest (oesophagus). There has been some slight improvement. But very slight.

I met this morning with Dr. Brenner and he was somewhat surprised that I was still having so much pain with swallowing. This after two and a half weeks since the completion of the radiation treatments. He was not concerned at all about something bad going on in my oesophagus. He also mentioned that if I am having this much pain can you imagine what the cancer cells are going through. Hopefully a very positive death!!! What a strange statement.

He has arranged for me to have something similar to a bronchoscopy. Hopefully Dr. Skaryak will do the procedure this Friday. It will be an out-patient procedure with mild sedation. Whoopee. Dr. Brenner believes that I am still suffering from radiation burn or I may have some ulcers in the oesophagus. Dr. Skaryak will be able to tell us. I will keep you all informed.

In the meantime Rob arrives home from her European vacation this afternoon. It will be good to see her and see all the pictures and hear the stories.

I have another ZW$ note to show you courtesy of Ilan. ZW$500,000,000. As of this very second it's worth US$0.40. Ask me it's worth tomorrow!

Friday & Weekend Update

I know that I am explaining this in a very round about convoluted way but I do feel that I have reached the bottom and things seem to be improving.

There has been a slight improvement in the swallowing department. I am still pretty much reliant on the Carnations and the other nutritional drinks. I am trying different foods and seeing what I can tolerate. Some I can handle in small amounts. Other stuff, that hurts right now, I avoid.

We have a busy week coming up. On Tuesday I meet with Dr. Brenner. We will discuss the radiation effects and where I am with the recovery. On Wednesday I go to the infusion center for round 6 of the Avastin treatments. We will also discuss what to expect in the coming weeks with regards the oncology side of the equation.

Robyn comes home on Wednesday from her Europe trip. Sounds like she has had an incredible time. On Thursday My uncle Hchie (Hymie) aunt Joan (Donut) and cousin Jennifer (Jones) are coming to spend a few days with us. I am really looking forward to seeing them all.