15th - Like a Baby...Only Adult Size

Today marked two months from my first chemo treatment.  I feel like I have matured 10 years mentally, thinking and prioritizing things quite differently than I used to.  It is hard to express at the moment, but I will share with you when I am able.

Treatment #5 of 12 was last Thursday and everything went okay.  I briefly met a new nurse named Ann before falling asleep (for 4 hours) in the treatment chair.  Ann is an instant favorite, as she managed to give me all my infusions without waking me up.  There is still a nationwide shortage of Adriamycin (the "Red Devil" / "Red Angel"), but Dr. Frenette's office received a shipment just in time for me.  I feel better knowing that I am getting the real protocol, rather than a substitute like last time. 

On the subject of the substitute protocol, you will recall me mentioning that I thought it accelerated my hair loss.  Either that was true, or it was just time for it to come off.  After returning from the barber shop today, I got the following reactions from the family:

Stuart - I don't think it looks that different.  Is it soft and fuzzy?
Cooper (3) - You look silly (as he throws himself to the floor laughing)
Peyton (6) - (holding her hands 12 inches apart vertically) You look like a baby...only adult size

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the adventure:

The Barbershop Mohawk

The New Me

They say that sometimes when your hair grows back, it is drastically different than it used to be.  Here are a few possibilities for your voting pleasure...let me know which one you like, and I will do my best.

The "Owen Wilson"

The "Patrick Dempsey"
a.k.a. "McDreamy"

The "Commander in Chief"

The side-effects of the treatments are certainly feeling more cumulative, as many warned.  It just takes longer to feel better after each one.  Nausea, fatigue and the numbness in my feet remain the chief complaints.

I will tell you what though, it is a lot easier to deal with all this now that I know for sure I am getting better.

13th - Under the Tent, Dreaming

Special thanks today to my brother Doug (middle brother of 3 boys) for getting up at the crack of dawn to take me to the hospital.  This is becoming a bad habit, as Doug also drove me to my first knee surgery a few years ago.  I hope I never repay this particular type of favor to you Doug.

Next, let me apologize to CMC-University, which in a moment of anger yesterday I referred to as a "B-level" facility.  Everyone was great there this morning and I successfully had my port placed.

This was another surgery performed under mild anesthesia (a.k.a. "Twilight")...so although I do not recall everything, I feel like I was very engaged...which you know the doctors and nurses loved.  As part of the preparation for the surgery, a sheet was taped to the base of my neck and then used to create a "tent" where a nurse could sit beside me and neither of us would see the real action going on.  This nurse, Charlotte, and I talked about music, work, my upcoming chemo and many other things as I prodded her for additional narcotics.  I was done in about 75 minutes, then spent another hour or so in recovery until I was discharged.

The port is under the large piece of gauze.  The smaller piece of gauze is an incision they made to help guide the catheter into a vein headed to my heart.

You can see the "port" below the scar (this photo was taken in March after a few months of healing).  It has several "bumps" to guide needles into it.  You can also see the catheter running up and over the clavicle, then into a large vein that then runs to the heart.

Chemo starts tomorrow at 10 AM at Dr. Frenette's office in Ballantyne.  I am scared, but find confidence in the fact that I have chosen the right doctor and that all of you are thinking of me and praying for me.

Bring on the Red Devil & Friends (sounds like a bad children's TV show)!