Thursday and Friday

Quite a bit has happened since Tuesday afternoon's Dr. appointment. I was at work on Wednesday morning when I received a call saying I need to be at the Skyridge Hospital on Thursday morning at 8:30am for check in. I will be meeting Dr. Fradkin and then having a procedure where they install the Infusaport into my chest. I believe this is a pretty minor thing and it should only take an hour. Having the port, just under my skin, is the easiest way for them to give me an IV and take blood which will both be frequent events over the next 12 weeks. I was a little taken back by the call as I didn't realize this would be a 4-5 hour gig including pre-op stuff, an hour long surgery where I will be knocked out and and an hour for recovery. Jen is taking me and we anticipate it being pretty straight forward.

Not long after talking to Dr. Frakin's office, I received a call from Courtney at Dr. Reznick's office. Since there were a few things that needed to happen for me to start treatment on Monday, she called to tell me the other appointments I have scheduled for Friday (as she knew Thursday afternoon would be a little tough). So, here is the schedule for Friday:

• 9am: Reznick's office in Parker for "teaching". This is the informational meeting with the financial counselor and nurses to hear what to expect.
• 10:45am: Audiogram in Parker: Hearing test to provide a baseline for Dr's. One of the drugs has a potential side affect of buzzing in the ears. I already have that as I am living in a house with 3 women.
• 1:45pm - Pulmonary function test at the Medical center of Aurora - Test lung volumes and bronchial tree functionality.
• 3:30pm - MRI at Medical Center of Aurora - MRI of spine.

As you can see, Thursday and Friday are full of required appointments to keep Monday's start date.

The only other info from Tuesday afternoon's appointment that I wanted to share is the chemo schedule. It revolves on a 21 day cycle from the first day of treatment (always a Monday) and is broken down as follows:

• Days 1-5: I am at Rocky Mountain Cancer Center for Chemo. This is a 5 hour appointment where I receive Etoposide and Cisplatin each day and Bleomycin on Tuesday.
• Day 8: I stop into the office for medication to help with side affects. Some of the medication discussed was neulaste and arunesp. Depending on how I feel, there are many other medications available to help ease things.
• Day 9: Tuesday - Stop into the office to receive a shot of Bleomycin.
• Day 16: Tuesday - Stop into the office to receive a shot of Bleomycin.

That is what each 21 day cycle looks like in terms of scheduled office visits to receive medicine. I will have 4 cycles of BEP and that means the following 4 dates are the first day of treatment:

• November 5th
• November 26th
• December 17th
• January 7th

Although I was hoping for this thing to get going as soon as possible, I didn't sleep very well on Tuesday night as I had a lot of "what if" questions. Not so much about the treatment or how I will feel but more about Jen and the girls, the holidays, work, the cost of this stuff and everything else you can imagine, some being more serious than others. I did run into our neighbor last night (we took Addison trick or treating to the immediate neighbors houses - Briley went to a party with some friends) and I told him what was going on and asked that, if we get a significant snow, he use his snow blower on our driveway so Jen does not have to deal with it. Last year, on the December dates I am schedule for Chemo, we had a huge snow storm and I shoveled for hours. He was extremely kind and offered what ever we need and I would not have expected anything less from him. The toughest part is asking and I am really clear that, during this time, I will need to ask for help. That feels so counter intuitive as you grow up hoping to prove your independence and show how self sufficient you can be and then all of the sudden, you are asking someone to shovel your driveway because you can't. I'd guess there will be many other instances like this and the great thing is that we have the support of so many people. I can't stress how much I appreciate all the emails, calls and letters we have received and it's overwhelming when people say something similar to "just let me know what you will need and I will take care of it" as I know the people who offer this, are serious and would help with anything. This would be an easy point for me to insert a joke about needing new tires or the Ultimate James Bond dvd collection or something similar and I don't want to take away from what I am saying and that is Thank you.

I also see a shift in the blog as I have been very matter of fact and tried to pass along as much as I could with as much detail as possible. I think the next 12 weeks have the possibility of being very abstract and I have decided that I will use the blog as a journal and will be very honest and straightforward with my comments. This might give some of you more info on me than you would ever want to know and it has the potential to be pretty ugly and that is my warning to you. I will do my best, depending on how I feel, to write daily and share what is going on with the chemo. Thank you again for taking time out of your day to read this.

I do want to acknowledge that both our bosses and companies are giving us unconditional support and that provides a great sense of relief. I promise to work really hard when i get back.... well, I will work when I get back..... or, maybe I will just sit in the office and stare at the mountains.

Sam