As my wife Elaine said, our experience right now is like riding the Haunted Mansion at Disney World - you get carried along on the moving sidewalk to the next surprise. But today's surprise was a good one. We got the result of the PET scan that was done yesterday. The disease has spread to a few lymph nodes, which was expected, but it has NOT spread anywhere else! So, it is eminently curable using the treatment regimen on radiation and chemotherapy. The tentative plan, which should begin either 3/24 or 3/31, will consist of 7 weeks of radiation with three sessions of chemo, the first, middle, and last weeks.
In the meantime, I'll be getting specially modified tomorrow with a feeding tube to help me get the calories and nutrition that I will most likely not be able to eat normally. (Any who knows me will swear that this is science fiction. Who would have ever thunk it??) The doctors and therapists will want me to keep eating what I can by mouth, knowing that it will be minimal, but it is important to keep the muscles active. And, there will be swallowing exercises involved, too. The tube will remain in place until the recovery is complete. It will be a red letter day when it is removed!
In the meantime, I'm doing everything I can to maintain perspective. As we were leaving Moffitt on Monday, we noticed the large number of keys on the valet parking board and realized that each set of those keys represents a person whose life took a turn that they never saw coming. But you can't tell by looking at them as they get into their cars. They are my compatriots as future cancer survivors.
BTW - Several people have tried to post unsuccessfully post comments - you have to save them, then publish them.
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