07/30/2012:
12:15: I am done with my bath and the sterri strips for my port incision have been aggravating me. Time to take them off. I can’t find any rubbing alcohol, but I find some GermX which has 69% Alcohol in it. I use this to soak the sterri strips in first. I then start peeling off the sterri strips. I peel off the top layer that is just over skin with no problem. I then peel off the one which is over the incision. I find out that I only peeled off the top layer of the sterri strip and the actually threads that give the underlying support are still across the incision. I soak the area again with GermX and then I slowly peel off the remaining support threads. You can barely see the incision when I get it off. I clean it once more with some GermX and Hydrogen Peroxide and then put some ointment on the area. I then brush my teeth and head to bed.
1:00: I am just getting in bed, my wife comes home and then we talk a little bit and then off to dreamland I go.
10:51: I am awaken by a phone call of a client calling the office. I remote into their computer and fix the issue.
11:06: I am following up with another client’s questions that they emailed to me.
11:15: I am up out of bed. I take out Buster and then warm me up some left over Pizza for Breakfast/Lunch.
11:30: I am back on my Desktop Computer at home following up with emails and admin work.
12:50: My wife and my mom bring me to my Radiologist Oncologist consult over at EGJH at the Yenni Treatment center.
1:00: I check in with the frontdesk, and given forms to fill out and sign.
1:10: I am sitting in the waiting room waiting to be seen.
1:30: I am showed to the back, I get my weight 242.9 lbs and height 6’1 and blood pressure 127/79 and temperature 98.6 taken along with my medical history.
1:40: The nurse leaves to update the doctor. I am just waiting in the patient room for the doctor.
2:20: The doc comes and introduces himself and goes over my cancer and the benefits of also treating me with radiation as well. He also says that my cancer is in Stage II with some B factors. Treating Lymphoma just with Chemotherapy has been known to cure the areas infected, but have been known to allow the relapse of the disease in the area affected. Treating Lymphoma with just Radiation has been known to cure the infected areas, but has been know to allow relapse down the line of areas not previously affected. Therefore it has been seen that treating with both Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy yields the best results in putting the cancer into remission and possible cure. So depending on what my next PET scan results are, will decide how much longer Chemotherapy will be warranted and how soon Radiotherapy will begin. To reduce the toxicity of the Chemotherapy after the cancer cannot be found in my system, only two more rounds, 4 more infusions of Chemotherapy will be given, then the radiotherapy will begin. The Radiotherapy once begun will be done for 4 weeks, 5days per week, Mon-Fri. The dosage of radiation will be low, and it will only be for a few minutes each day. I will not notice any major side effects right away, and I will not have any burning of my skin. The side effects will slowly onset with some fatigue, and will resolve itself within a month. The information I have on the radiation is limited, as it was just a consult today. Also please keep in mind that this information was given to me by the Radiologist Oncologist who needs to completely map out the treatment with my Oncologist.
3:20: We are done with the appointment. I schedule another appointment in September following my next PET Scan which I will schedule tomorrow. I now need to go over to the hospital to get blood drawn for a SED rate test. The sedimentation rate (sed rate) blood test measures how quickly red blood cells (erythrocytes) settle in a test tube in one hour. The more red cells that fall to the bottom of the test tube in one hour, the higher the sed rate. When inflammation is present in the body, certain proteins cause red blood cells to stick together and fall more quickly than normal to the bottom of the tube. These proteins are produced by the liver and the immune system under many abnormal conditions, such as an infection, an autoimmune disease, or cancer.
3:35: We walk over to the EJGH and I check in with registration. Then registration makes sure they have all my billing and insurance information before bring me over to the outpatient lab where they will be drawing my blood for the SED rate.
3:50: I tell the nurse I am a hard stick and she must use a butterfly needle, and it’s all by feel. She does say that I am all by feel, and after feeling around for about a minute, she has the hit in my anticubital area that is my favorite for them to usually take blood. She then sticks me and takes my blood, just a tube :P.
4:00: We then go find my wife as she forgot her phone and got separated from us when we were walking from the Yenni Treatment Center to the Main Lobby of the hospital.
4:15: We find my wife sitting in the Main Lobby.
4:17: We are back in the car in the Hudson Parking Garage headed to the bank to deposit the checks that I have for Hands Free Help.
4:30: We deposit the checks for Hands Free Help at Iberia Bank.
4:35: We are at Wendy’s. I got my appetite back and I am craving a Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Wendy’s
4:50: We return home, and my Dad is at home waiting. He has been calling everyone’s phone’s wondering how the appointment went, but no one had their phone on them or on, but me, and he didn’t want to disturb me in case I was talking to the Doctor.
5:00: I eat 2 of the Spicy Chicken Sandwiches from Wendy’s.
5:30: I am back on my computer following up with work Emailed in today.
8:00: Done with various remote computer work.
8:30: I am back in the Lazy-Boy watching The Godfather, just relaxing and taking it easy.
11:00: Time for a bath. I’ll try a shower out tomorrow. The incision made to put in my port is healing nicely.
