Kelly is very tired, so I thought I would fill in for her. She started radiation therapy last Monday and has had three treatments so far. The first day was really tough, she spent over 2 hours on the table and wasn't very comfortable. The radiation is causing her to be very nauseous and she's throwing up. The doctor prescribed new medication to help her, but it's not working too well.
The positive side is that she already thinks the radiation is working. I thought it was too soon, but the doctor at UC San Francisco said she could easily feel something after two or three treatments. She's got 19 to go.
The doctor at UC San Francisco was something else. He looked and acted kind of like the nutty professor. It would have been funny if he wasn't dealing with somehting so serious. He left the consultation twice to go look something up on the internet. I'm thinking it was "Meningnoma's for Dummies!". The end result is that Kelly cannot start chemo while she's going to radiation, her body would be too susceptible to infection.
He prescribed a new medicene that might work on her other tumors while they are radiating the hip and upper spine/neck. Of course, when I went to get the prescription filled, Blue Cross wouldn't fill it without the doctor filling out more paperwork. It costs $3,000 a month for this new medicene. Maybe we should try and get it from Canada. As we were leaving UC SF, we asked the doctor if he thought the medicene would work and to quote him: "I don't think so, but we'll try it anyway." He needs work on his bed side manner to say the least.
We had a good Thanksgiving today. Marla made an awesome meal. We're stuffed and laying in bed watching Ugly Betty. It's time for us to go to sleep. I hope everyone had a good day today.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
First Post
Hello everyone,
In response to every one's calls and emails I want to provide a communication medium that everyone can check at any time, and also, it gives me the chance to write when I feel up to it. The cancer and associated pain medication make it hard for me to talk on the telephone. Now, when I'm feeling good, I will update the blog and we will all know what's going on.
As may of you know, I've been diagnosed with a malignant meninginoma, which is very rare. So rare it took the doctors about a month to diagnose it and confirm their diagnoses. The radiologist went to UC San Francisco where they have an entire department focused on it, and he has never seen a malignant meninginoma that has metastasized. We met with an oncologist radiologist yesterday and he gave us some very encouraging news. Even though I have numerous tumors, none of them are currently threatening vital organs. He is going to start radiation treatment on the two in my cervical spine and the one in my hip. They need to start here because they are afraid that the tumors have eaten away enough bone mass to put me at risk of fracture. The radiation treatments will be approximately 30 minutes long and will go on for 22 days.
We are going to see a specialist at the University of San Francisco the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This is to discuss our options for chemotherapy.
I am in good spirits. I will post again when I learn anything new.
Thanks again for all your cards, emails and calls. I really appreciate your thoughts and prayers which has helped keep my spirits high (along with the pain medication :)
I want to wish all of you and your families a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
Kelly
In response to every one's calls and emails I want to provide a communication medium that everyone can check at any time, and also, it gives me the chance to write when I feel up to it. The cancer and associated pain medication make it hard for me to talk on the telephone. Now, when I'm feeling good, I will update the blog and we will all know what's going on.
As may of you know, I've been diagnosed with a malignant meninginoma, which is very rare. So rare it took the doctors about a month to diagnose it and confirm their diagnoses. The radiologist went to UC San Francisco where they have an entire department focused on it, and he has never seen a malignant meninginoma that has metastasized. We met with an oncologist radiologist yesterday and he gave us some very encouraging news. Even though I have numerous tumors, none of them are currently threatening vital organs. He is going to start radiation treatment on the two in my cervical spine and the one in my hip. They need to start here because they are afraid that the tumors have eaten away enough bone mass to put me at risk of fracture. The radiation treatments will be approximately 30 minutes long and will go on for 22 days.
We are going to see a specialist at the University of San Francisco the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This is to discuss our options for chemotherapy.
I am in good spirits. I will post again when I learn anything new.
Thanks again for all your cards, emails and calls. I really appreciate your thoughts and prayers which has helped keep my spirits high (along with the pain medication :)
I want to wish all of you and your families a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
Kelly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
