Catching Up

In my last post I indicated that I knew a little bit more about my situation. On Monday I went to see Dr. Jabbour who is the radiologist who would have determined the dosage for the SIR Sphere treatment had that plan not been canceled. I wanted to see if she had any ideas. My daughter Heather was not working that day so she met me there to keep me company. It was great having her. We joked and laughed most of the time. She has an awesome sense of humor and the time flew. I didn’t want the doctor visit to end because the would mean I’d have to leave Heather. But I had another appointment back up north. At one point the doctor had me get up on the examining table and lay back. She said she was going to lift my shirt and asked me if I was OK with that with Heather in the room. I said yes. Then she asked Heather if she was OK. On the wall was a chart showing a diagram of the male prostate and reproductive system Heather pointed to the chart and said “As long as it doesn’t involve anything on that chart I’m OK.” Dr. Jabbour could offer no other options for me except to continue with chemo. I wanted to get her opinion on some things so I asked some direct questions. First I asked her if the fluid in my abdomen could be drained. She said yes but they prefer not to because it will come back and each time they drain there is the risk of infection. I asked her if the fluid was a sign that the end was getting closer. She said yes. Then I asked her how long she thought I had. She said probably not a year. She said that it’s not days because I looked too good (do you think she was hitting on me?). So she said probably months. At that point Heather said “Well I guess I’ll have to buy you a Christmas present”. Everyone laughed and after a brief pause she said “But I’ll keep the receipt.” Perhaps the most revealing indication of what Dr. Jabbour thought came at the end of the visit. She is a very quiet and reserved person whom I had seen only twice before, once for a pre-procedure check up before the spheres and once on the way into the procedure room. As we were leaving she came over to me, gave me a big hug and said “Good bye my friend”. We left and I headed to my appointment with Dr. George, my medical oncologist. What I was thinking about most was that I was sorry to be leaving Heather. I enjoyed her company so much. Dr. George was a little more hopeful. First, she said she would arrange to have the fluid drained whenever I wanted. We’ll wait for it to become more uncomfortable. Next she said that the new chemo regimen I started on November 1st (Epirubicin, 5fu but no Cisplatin) has had good results in Europe. It’s not used very often here. I had a “months” prognosis before and I lasted more than two years with Dr. George’s help. We’re going to try to do it again. On Saturday Terry and I went to our church’s Mass for the anointing of the sick. I’ve written before about what a moving service it is. There were four priests, each assisted by a deacon except for one who was assisted by a nun. Apparently there were not enough deacons available. When it came time for the anointing a priest and a deacon went to each person in attendance and prayed over them. Then they came back and anointed each one with the oils. Now try to appreciate the significance of this. I got the priest without the deacon but with the nun. The nun was my angel, Sr. Sylvia. If you don’t remember Sr. Sylvia’s role in my journey you can look back to my post of January 26, 2009 titled “A Miracle”. Later that day we had dinner guests and Terry, being Terry, went all out with the cooking and preparations. We were visited by our good friends Carol, Denis, Dina, Dina’s mother Barbara and Fr. Flanagan our former Pastor. I addition to having a good time Fr. Flanagan anointed me. That made twice in one day. Seems like a winner to me. Carry on. -----------------------------------------