just when I was learning the routine!

There I was, planning today's post. Nothing much is happening, I thought. Time to comment that posting is less frequent because life(*) is settling into a steady routine...

(*) By "life" I mean, life as described in this blog. Which is now all about death and dying. There is plenty of real life in my life... but I do try to not post too much that is off the death&dying topic.

Today is Tuesday. There is radiation treatment plus the weekly meeting with Doc H, the Genesis radiation oncologist. I have  a list of questions to get my routine straight in my own mind. Doc H counters with a change to the routine:

Am I ready to start radiation treatment for my testicular cancer?

Okay, the testicle with cancer is now no more than a memory. (Or, perhaps, a few slides in a pathology lab.) The cancer itself has spread to various lymph nodes on my back. Or abdomen? Wherever. It's still "testicular" cancer because that's where it started. The testicle was the "primary" cancer site, the lymph nodes are "secondary" sites for testicular cancer. I think :-)

I'm unusual in that I have two "primary" cancers: brain and testicle. But that's enough bragging...

Am I ready to treat the testicular cancer? No thought required, it's what I'm expecting, Yes, do it.

There are two options: chemo or radiation. Testicular chemo could be tricky when mixed with the brain chemo. Radiation means that I am zapped in the brain -- and also across the abdomen. Simple choice, I'll be getting extra radiation.

The brain radiotherapy covers a small area. It needs to be carefully controlled so there is less chance of frying a nearby but essential part of the "healthy" brain.

Abdominal radiotherapy will cover a larger area for just three weeks at a lower dosage. Doc H describes it as a T shape: down the spine then spreading out across the gut. Both brain & gut will be radiated at the one session, each week day. If we start soon, both will finish together.

There are, of course, side-effects! Similar but more...

... Fatigue: I slept for a lot of last weekend. I can expect to be much more tired than that.

... Nausea: will be a lot worse -- it's my digestive system being radiated. Just carry on with the Kytril, says Doc H. I've already dropped that -- with no nausea. Oh well, I still have a good supply.

... Bone marrow damage: I'll be zapped right through my spine, this could affect my white cell production. Do my weekly blood tests show any white cell problems so far? Doc T has not been in touch so... probably... no worries. So far...

... Long-term effects: on the spine, gut, whatever... I stop listening. For some reason I'm not too worried about "long-term" problems!

Next step is a CAT scan so that Genesis can decide exactly where to zap. I will also get tattoos, as markers for the zap-machine set-up. I hope they are not obscene tattoos... Then a treatment plan, then... double the daily radiation treatment.

So much for getting used to the simple routine :-)

On my way out I suggest to the front desk person that email is the best way to contact me. So, later that afternoon... I get a phone call to tell me of a changed appointment time. I'm asleep, Deb takes the call and writes the new time on her wrist. I'm sure it is all accurately passed on. This evening I email Genesis, to confirm the new appointment.

The new appointment is tomorrow, Wednesday, a half-hour later. It will include the standard brain zap plus a CAT scan for treatment planning. Tomorrow is also blood test day so I'll give blood first. There may even be time for Deb to have some coffee in between :-)

Tomorrow is also the day when we pick up mangoes at the airport and deliver them to Armadale.

The rest of the day is spent on toddler-watch with our grandson. We go on a "bush walk"... Not much walking but a lot of examining sticks & stones & twigs & insects & ... everything. It's all fascinating. And great fun :-)  Two people phone me -- that's two people more than phone me on a typical day.

Busy, busy busy! Not at all routine.

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While I'm waiting for Deb to pick me up from Genesis I look round the "waiting room". It's a few separate areas, nicely decorated and OCD furnished.

Have you ever noticed that all chairs in a medical waiting room are set in absolutely straight rows with all their backs against the wall ?!

Okay, it may make some sense in a GP surgery, to minimise the chances of one patient sneezing a new disease directly onto another. But in a cancer clinic?

There are small couches -- backs to the walls. Single chairs -- in straight lines -- backs to the wall. There are small round tables, coffee-tables, one per area. Stuck out in the middle with no relationship to the chairs. There are small square tables which are -- you guessed it -- lined up with the chairs, continuing the straight lines, against the walls...

If I'm left there again... with time on my hands... I may just rearrange the furniture.

(And no, that is not a euphemism... I no longer have enough furniture that it needs regular rearranging... rofl :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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​"No one said they wanted faster horses, they wanted less horseshit." … no, not said by Henry Ford

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Now much more than a clever name for a holiday journal:

 https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/  :-)