Wild 24-Hours

I snuck down for a nap Wednesday just after lunch. When I woke up an hour later I had a terrible headache. It was excruciating and reminded me of the old stress-related migraines I used to come down with years and years and years ago.

Barb suggested we call the oncologist's office and pass this news along.

Usually I expect up and down days, and typically I enjoy the up days and ride out the down. But I did feel especially lousy. I even ended up getting sick to my stomach, breaking a streat that had stood for more than two decades.

There were several factors at work here. Barb did have a bad sinus infection. I had recently cut off my steroid completely. And it's always a possibility at any time for cancer to show itself in the brain.

My oncologist ordered an immediate MRI "STAT!" And he also asked me to take five .75 mg steroid pills immediately. I took the steroids. In conjuction with the oncologist's office we worked out the first best time for the MRI - 5:45 a.m. this morning. Whew.

I didn't know exactly how I would feel this morning when I woke up. So yesterday we arranged with Barb's mother Susan to come pick us up and run us into downtown lancaster for the MRI.

Thank you Susan. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We hate to put such a burden on those who mean the most to us. You guys just always come through. It can bring a little tear to my eye.

From the navigator's seat I misled Susan many times diving in an out of one way streets in downtown Lancaster. We finally ended up on Lime Street headed for Parking Lot C.

We went into the Radiology Department but everything was locked up and closed. Hmmmph.

We started looking around a little frantacally when I bumped into a large, older bus driver. He was the nicest, kindest, sweetest man. He led me outside, around the corner, and there the hospital had a 24-hour entrance for MRI scans guarded by a security guard.

"Just wave to him and let him know you're a patient he'll let you right in," said the kind bus driver.

I trotted back to get Barb and Susan and we completed our whacky journey going from outside to inside back outside again and then finally in the office.

I think part of the charm of Lancaster is how it continues to grow across so many years. There are streets that seemingly go nowhere, others that start east and end up going north, and others that will suddenly split into four or five more options. We called those five-pointers in Philly.

The return home was smooth, quite enjoyable. It wasn't even 7:30 a.m. yet and we were enjoying the sun rising over Central Pennsylvania. What a day this is going to be! I might get all worked up and mow the lawn!

Since Barb and I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning, around 11 a.m. I looked for a quick little power nap to launch me into the afternoon. Barb woke me up though just a couple minutes after I had started snoring.

It was the oncologist. He had gotten the MRI already. Everything looked good, except three tiny dots, and he emphasized tiny. We're going to hit those dots again with the Gamma Knife radiation. The Gamma Knife can be used over and over again as long as the doctors are careful not to double dose any areas with radiation. That could cause serious damage.

The brain is quickly becoming the real battleground. Between the neck and the toes the docs and I have been able to handle everything that is presenting itself. In the brain though, because the brain has its own blood filter that operates seperately from the rest of the body, chemo is uneffective in the brain.

I know there is one chemotherapy drug named Avastin that has shown some success in operating in the brain. But right now it is being tested for the most popular cancers, i.e. breast, prostrate, colon.

There are somewhere around 500 clinical trials open right now to test new drugs in controlled study groups. A clinical trial can always become a possibility. But in a clinical trial you never know whether you're getting the drug or the placebo.

They say that tumors form in the areas of the body that have the highest bloodfloow and general circulation, which is typically the lungs and the kidney.

Now what does that tell you about the size of my head?!?!?!? I never said I was smart. But I have said that I have a HUGE, GIGNORMOUS skull. Why do you think I try to grow all this hair? So I can disguise some of this giant head! lol