Enough holiday! Well, never enough :-) But the break is over. Now it's back to medical matters.
We enjoy a long half day of minding the grandson. Always fun :-) This Tuesday, we go to the zoo. So there is a lot of pushing the buttons which open the gates. A lot of pushing the buttons which cause a machine to make a sound like a frog. A lot of showing other kids, Look, this button makes a frog noise! I'll push it for you!
Oh, and we do see a few animals as well... The way I see it, everything is new to a toddler, it's all worth seeing, animals are just one part of the interest at the zoo... and animals are a lot harder to see -- in a modern zoo -- than a button which opens a gate.
Deb's attitude is a little different... She finally picks up the toddler and says, Let's go see an animal! And they do... Though not the giraffe, I hear a lot about that, how they didn't get to see the giraffe.
As for me: by that stage I'm ready to just sit. So I do. I'm feeling well but still feeling tired. But I do enjoy our visit to the zoo... I'm like the toddler, everything is interesting :-)
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Late afternoon and we are at the hospital for a brain scan, an MRI. Oh... wait... I've already covered this. It's the magnetic rays sex change "joke" which reminds me. Oh well. So you get a bit more about the zoo. Sorry :-)
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Thursday, time to meet DrT, the oncologist...
We're on time, DrT runs just a bit more than an hour late. Doesn't worry me, I just add it to the list of black marks against the "medical team". But our son is also there, he waits an hour more than expected and he has better things to do. What's that you say? Doctors and dentists always run late? Well, our dentist has a busy practice -- and he apologises if he is running just five minutes late.
DrT is looking at my MRI scan. Since she did not request it -- I wonder what she would have said if I had not been booked in for a scan? Probably much the same... these doctors work to a checklist rather than matching patient symptoms to treatment. As far as I can tell.
When asked, DrT says that I will be scanned every three months. (She does answer direct questions.) I tell DrT that I will stop seeing DrH at the Genesis clinic. No comment. DrH -- a point in his favour -- told me to get an MRI scan. If I don't see DrH -- will anyone else tell me when to schedule a scan?!
And here: [MRI scan images] is a link to my brain! Can you see what I'm thinking? Or at least... can you see why I leave the *medical* issues to the medical experts :-)
Apparently the area where the tumour used to be is still visible but is smaller than it was a few months back. I take that as being good news. There is also an expert opinion with the scans: "There is slightly more prominent marginal contrast enhancement... this may relate to the effects of XRT." Which I understand to mean, "I can see that some of the edges are thicker but my lawyers won't allow me to guess what that means."
Then we get to the nitty gritty, the next stage of my treatment. Next stage will be a continuous cycle of five days heavy chemo followed by three weeks of nothing. For twelve months. The chemo will be the same drug (Temozolomine) at twice the dosage. Twice what it was when mixed with radiation, that is. The second to twelfth months will be at an even higher dosage... if my body can handle it.
DrT mentions nausea and Kytril. I say that I have never had nausea, just diarrhoea. As someone who has been to sea I know that the two are different and not necessarily related. I mention pins & needles on the soles of my feet. DrT doesn't hear / ignores / doesn't respond. As usual. Peripheral neuropathy is not on her check-list.
I say, Okay, what about exact dates? Getting there, replies DrT:
I'll be starting the first cycle of heavy chemo on Monday. And it will finish a couple of days before Christmas... Now there's something to be glad about :-)
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Next day... I'm felling so good that I go jogging! In between sleeping, that is :-) I just go out and back for an hour, total. Alternately walking and jogging -- very, very slowly. I'm feeling fine... but months of doing nothing have not been good for maintaining fitness. Not just for running... We go out to buy a Christmas tree, to the place where you select a tree and saw it down yourself. We pick a small tree. I have to let Deb help with the sawing... Normally just a minute's work, this year I'm struggling to do it in ten. Sigh.
But it is a good looking tree :-)
==== Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity." … Amelia Earhart
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