Sunday, January 25, 2009

Half-way through radiation treatment

Well, I'm half-way through my radiation treatment at this point and should finish up with that on February 10. Other than feeling more fatigued than usual, things are going quite well. I've had no real side-effects from the radiation (other than fatigue) and I've pretty much gotten used to my week day morning commutes to Crawford Long. I'm usually in and out of there within 20 minutes. Oh, and they finally got me turned around on the table so that my head's where it should be (instead of hanging over the edge and touching the rotating radiation arm).

I'm also back to work full time now and going to the office every day. Combine all of that with having my full appetite back and life looks pretty "normal" to me at this point. So normal, in fact, that I have to remind myself from time to time that I'm far from being out of the woods here with this cancer thing. I'm just relieved that the radiation is so much easier to handle than the chemo. No comparison!

I know I've been lazy about making blog updates lately, but you can always assume that "no news is good news" if you haven't seen a post. In fact, you probably won't hear from me again until after my radiation treatment is complete. At that point, I'll be given 3 - 4 weeks of recovery time before they operate on my leg.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

1 down, 24 to go

Yesterday morning (Monday) I had my Plan Verification Simulation, which went OK other than the fact that it appears as though the folks that did my CT Simulation put me on the table backwards. The end result for my radiation treatment is that my head hangs off the table by about 6 inches (not too comfortable). This was not a problem during the CT Simulation though since they can freely move the table into and out of the CT Scan "doughnut". But with the radiation equipment, there is no hole, only a wall. They resolved this as best as they could by adding a Plexiglas plate to the end of the table. My bald head now rests comfortably on a pillow on top of this makeshift extension, though the back of my head touches the cold steel of the radiation arm. But hey, whatever works, just so long as I'm aligned properly so that they treat the right area.

This afternoon (Tuesday) I had my first radiation treatment. Though the radiation portion of the treatment took less than 5 minutes, it took an additional 45 minutes to align and re-verify (via x-ray) the treatment fields. The attending doctor confirmed that I was aligned "perfectly". The treatment itself was breeze and completely painless. In fact, it was exactly the same as the verification x-rays they took, just longer (about 30 seconds per position).

Hopefully tomorrow and subsequent days I can get in and out of the radiation room within 15 minutes. But I'm not complaining -- anything is better than chemo!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!

Well, it's been a while since Dave (or I) have made a post and I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I don't think Dave will mind me making a post, since he's usually asked, "When are you going to update your blog?" and this is one less post he'll need to make!

Everything has actually been pretty great as of late. I know Dave is just in the middle of his fight against cancer, but it seems since the chemo is done, his appetite has returned to normal, his strength is returning, that life is good. I know we're still fighting the beast of cancer, but it's just nice that things are "normal" even if it's for a little while.

Our family had a nice Christmas, quiet, just the four of us, but that's what we requested. The boys loved their gifts, building their K'nex with Dave's help and playing new Xbox games. We went to see Dave's family in Knoxville, TN the next day and had a wonderful weekend with them. The last time we were in Knoxville was when Dave's sister saw his left thigh (the "big muscle" as we called it) and got the whole ball rolling with this cancer thing. We're still so thankful we made that trip in June and that Dave didn't wait any longer to get his leg looked at.

Dave went to Emory this past Tuesday for the 1st Simulation for the Radiation Therapy. He now has nice "Sharpie" marks on his thighs...don't want those to come off, that's for sure! He has another appointment next Monday with the Radiation Oncologist and then the radiation will begin.

So, here's to wishing all of you a Happy Healthy 2009. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and continued support.