Cancer week...

I just got back from spending the last week in California. Here's the rundown. Tuesday I had a lung biopsy procedure at El Camino Hospital. Everything went great. The procedure was done by an aggressive interventional radiologist Dr. Komlos. I really liked him, and his personality fits perfectly on my team. The procedure itself was a non-event, which is how I like em. I fell asleep, and 45 minutes later it was all done. If you recall, after my last surgery in May of 2009, I had a similar procedure done to try and re-inflate my lung. That procedure was a disaster because the needle struck a nerve in my chest, and to this day I still have chronic pain as a result. This time it was perfect. Thank you Dr. Komlos. Next step is to send the tumor tissue off to the testing lab to find out what characteristics it has. Once we find out, we can start to create a concoction to go after it. Should take about a month or so to reach that point.

Also last week, I had my largest tumor Cyberknifed. The process takes about a week. First you have a scan and a breathing simulation. Once that is complete, you go through a planning process, and then in a couple of days you are ready to be zapped. Dr. Gottschalk and his team were able to get this all done by Thursday, and Thursday morning I had my treatment. It had been two and a half years since my last Cyberknife treatment, so it was a little weird to be back. I'm grateful for this treatment tool, but I really didn't like being back in the treatment world. But one nice by-product was that I got to see some old friends. The guy who ran me through my 6.5 weeks of radiation treatment 5.5 years ago, Charles (I called him "Charles in Charge"), was the guy who gave me my breathing simulation and CT. He was so happy to see me, as I was him, and he totally remembered me. Imagine how tough his job must be to try and not be affected by all the people who he comes into contact with. So many of them probably don't make it, and so it must be nice to see someone still going strong.....especially someone whose outcome was so precarious 5 years ago. The treatment itself went fine, although for some reason it took longer than I thought it would, about 1.5 hours. But by noon I was at the airport, and on my way home to see my girls. I couldn't wait to get home. Jennie had taken Charlotte with her to New York the prior week, so it had been a week since I had seen them, and god did I miss em.

It's now been 3 days since my treatment, and I had forgotten that radiation doesn't make you feel really good :( I've been very lethargic, and nauseous, but I know it will pass. It also cumulates, so I'm hopeful that I'm past the worst and on the downslope. Especially because we have an exciting weekend coming up. Our good friends from Concord, the Beckman's, are coming on Friday to spend 3 nights with us. They have a four year old daughter, Natalie, who was in Charlotte's preschool class. The two girls were best friends and they haven't seen each other since February. They are both so excited and they can't wait. It's going to so fun to get them together. Not to mention, we love Natalie's parents too, so it's going to be fun for all.

Finally, I want to thank my parents for taking such good care of me this past week. They were there every step of the way. Two trips to San Francisco, a day in the hospital, listening to me complain, feeding me, entertaining me, etc. I am very lucky and I know it. Also, thank you to the Rodrigues's in Connecticut, who took Charlotte in as one of their own, as Jennie navigated her way around NYC and their house, as I was holed up in California for my treatment. Without this support network, we would not be able to fight the good fight. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Fall has arrived in Seattle. We are ready for some good apples, and some good living.

xoxo
The Dougherty's