The End ...... And A Beginning

Yesterday I had the final SIR treatment and I am thrilled that it is over. Although it’s a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, the actual process on the treatment days was agonizing. Most of it was very tolerable, including the severe pain when the spheres are actually injected. But I absolutely hated laying on my back and having my movement restricted for six hours. And yesterday’s “recovery” nurse was particularly tough. She didn’t cut me any slack at all. The day went pretty much the same as last time except I think we got out a little bit later, slightly after 7:00 pm. We had been there since 7:00 am. One thing I didn’t mention last time is that they gave me a prescription for a six day dose of steroids. I don’t understand why because I’m already a hunk. Dr. Nosher, the doctor who performed the procedure, stopped in near the end of the day to fill us in on what to expect next. They’ll be some post procedure check ups in a couple of weeks but those will be to make sure no liver damage or other harm was done. We won’t learn about the efficacy of the treatment for about three months when a PET scan is performed. It takes that long to kill the tumors. In the meantime we’ll probably get some indication from CEA levels in blood tests. The count has gone down slightly since the last treatment but I don’t know how significant that is. I’ll probably go back on chemo in about three weeks. Other than some discomfort around the incision area I have no after effects. Last time there was some nauseousness. At the risk of repeating myself, I’m very glad it’s over. And I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to hopefully eradicate some of this disease. In the holding/recovery area there was another patient who was very upset. We could overhear some of her conversation with the nurses. She was there to have a port-a-cath implanted. This told us she had cancer. Later in the day Terry said she was scared of the chemo treatments that lie ahead of her. She was concerned about what this device that was now inside her would look like when it healed. She was obviously at the beginning of her battle with cancer. She was going through what I’m sure every cancer patient goes through at the beginning of their battle, fear, anxiety, confusion and hopelessness. Terry said she was crying so she invited the lady over to my bedside to let her look at my port-a-cath. Later, when we could see she was getting ready to leave I asked terry to have the lady come in again. She did. We held hands as I told her I would pray for her. She smiled and said she would pray for me also. And then she left to begin her battle. Please pray for all of us. ------------------------------------