Cooking Class 07/08/2009

Cooking class = Meeting with the Radiation Doctor today.

Today i spent a wonderful 2 hours at my Radiation oncologist, he is a nice guy, He is Dr. Kwon He is also one of the directors of Radiation Medicine at Los Alamitos Hospital and he is a pretty straight shooter, i think it will take about 4-5 weeks for me to warp him.

There was some good news and some bad news today, good news first since it will keep me on a roll from the last post.

Good news.

1. He is very confident that the tumor can be killed with a high dose chemo/radiation therapy, he has seen a couple larger then mine and was able to kill the tumor, well that and save the patient also.
2. He works in tandem with the oncologist/hematologist i am to see on 07/09/2009, his name is Dr. Reedy.
3. It looks like i will be starting the treatment in the next two weeks, i still have to see the oncologist dentist to get my facial fittings done, i still have to get my radiation mask done and a couple of computer fittings and then they start zapping me, i guess i now feel sorry for the bug flying into the bug zapper.

Bad News.

1. The initial test showed that i could do 5 weeks / 5 days a week, that has now changed, i am going to do 8 weeks / 5 days a week, 3 more weeks, what fun. The change is due to the size of the mass as i said in the last posting its 4.3cm x 2.7cm that is a big mass, how that was missed i will never know. There has not been one person that has been able to do 8 weeks in one sitting, they usually have to stop for a few days, let the patient recover and then move on, it usually is a 8-10 week process for a 8 week course. I sense a challenge. i am pretty tough, i told him i will try and be the first, i am sure he has heard that before.
2. Due to the positioning and the duration i may experience a couple unpleasant side effects, i may not have to worry about growing a beard again, because i may not be able to grow facial hair again, he did say he thought he could save the goatee.

Well spitting maybe out, because where this mass is there is a chance that he may damage my salivary glands, cotton mouth why does that sound familiar? He advised me that i might want to get use to carrying around a water bottle, i did that a step further, i went to REI outlet and ordered up a "hydration backpack" 70oz, a place for my Walkman and book, i am good to go, it was on sale for 37.00 bucks, not bad, and the Doc thought that was a good idea.

3. the one that bothers me the most, due to the position, the amount of time i will be taking treatment i may need a feeding tube installed, he said my throat will fell like i am swallowing ground up glass. There has been only one patient that has gone 8 weeks that did not need one, and his was installed the day after the last treatment, i sense a second challenge!

i think can beat his record

4. I think i can stand the pain, the dry mouth, and sore throat, but this is the worst one yet, "bland food" no spices, nothing rough, think of a diet that is going to consist of rice(white) soft bread, mashed potato's soft boiled eggs...just painful thinking of that, he said i could have a cheeseburger, just might to run it in a blender first. Well i did need to lose weight, i am thinking we might have to hold a pool to see if we can guess how much weight i will lose.

that is the gist of today's meeting, i will post tomorrow after i see the hematologist, i am really sure i will be a ray of sunshine then.

Thanks for all the nice words i have received, i am hoping this answers some questions you might have in your head, if you have a question you need answered let me know, i will answer them.