What it's like.

Hello again, sorry it's been awhile but have had a lot going on and been trying stay on top of everything. In my last blog I explained what happened and how The Dr.s came to discover my tumor. The second thing I get asked the most is how is my treatment going and what is it like? So I have decided to use this opportunity to address that question. First off, I am on a ton of medications that I seem to be taking around the clock, I have alarms to remind me, and Susanna has alarms to remind me, And we both have alarms to remind us to actually check the alarms. I wake up daily at 0600 and take about 10 pills to help me throughout the day. I take antisiezure medication, Steroids to reduce swelling in my skull, which helps with my headaches immensely, anti-vomiting medication, Anti-depressants, Allergy meds, and several more. Then I usually try to go back to sleep, which is often short lived because Destiny is usually up by 0630 and her first order of business everymnorning is to climb on top of me, tell me she loves me, inform me her diaper needs to be changed, and ask me whats for breakfast because she wants some nummy nummy.  Of course, Carol is also up around 6 if she hasn't hit snooze on her alarm too many times so I have to poke my head in and check on her, She usually has the dog fed, her backpack loaded and is ready to catch the school bus by 7. So after a hug, kiss and "Have a good day princess" she is out the door and I am working on Destiny's breakfast. Fortunately she takes after me in that department and is usually good to go with some oatmeal, cereal, yogurt
 or chorizo & eggs. Meanwhile, Susanna goes over my schedule for the day to make sure we know when all my appointments are and what time we have to leave to get to them, She takes good care of me.
So once breakfast is done I turn on some "Go Diego Go" and start watching T.V. with Destiny in which we spend a good deal of time arguing over which path is the right path to take, man to they encounter a lot of snakes and crocodiles on that show for a Hispanic kid living in South America. but anyways, then Susanna catches me messing around with the kiddo and embarrasses me into getting my butt in gear. I usually have appts. in the mornings up until 12:30.On Mondays I go to the Chemo unit at around 0900 to have my infusion for the clinical trial of Avastin I am participating is as a volunteer. 2 days a week I go to Occupational therapy in the morning to help me relearn and deal with some of the lingering effects of the trauma and surgery I went through. After the surgery I had a great deal of trouble with remember how to do alot of my job task and basic education task like writing or typing and elementary mathmatics. Plus I had been experiencing stress and anxiety issues as well. Many of my facilities have come back slowly but surely and I am doing much better. I have also begin meeting with a trauma counselor weekly to help me learn to adjust to some of the more extreme moods I have been experiencing in the past couple week. I have spoken to my Oncologist as well as my counselor and have learned that some of these feelings and moods I have been going trhough can be attributed to the steroids I am taking to reduce swelling in my brain.
I take my Chemo pill daily at 10:45 and have Radiation treatment at 11:45 Monday-Friday. A lot of people have asked me what the treatment is like and seem to have a poor understanding of Modern radiation therapy, so I am going to break down what one of my sessions are like.
First of, I would like to say that I am very blessed and fortunate to have such a great team caring for me at the Rapid Regional Cancer Clinic. From my Oncologist, to the treatment nurse, Radiation and Chemo nurses, and the variety of modern equipment that is available. The Clinic actually has a few different types of Linear Accelerators. The more common one is a stationary unit in which the patient is positioned  in the center of the room, and then the machine is rotated to different positions around the patient in order to administer the radiation dose to the desired area.
They also have Linear Accelerators mounted on a sled. Basically it is a huge machine with a doughnut shaped appearance (similar to an MRI, but shorter and not as dense) and a table in front of it. inside the apparatus the linear accelerator is mounted on an enclosed sled with the functioning beam facing the center of the ring. I lay down on the table and am positioned on a cradle to keep my head as straight and still as possible. Then a plastic mesh mask which has been molded from my face (yes nose and all) is placed over my face and secured to the table to help keep me still. Definitely not a good situation for someone who is claustrophobic. But I seem to do well. Then they start the machine step out of the room, I am slid into the opening until my head is about 1/3 of the way inside. At this point the Linear Accelerater is rotating around my head in circles and preforming a CT scan, which takes about 4 minutes as I am slowly moved deeper into the machine. This allows the machine to do a more complete scan moving me into it while it performs it's scans. Once it's done the table backs out of the LA and the nurse comes in to set it up for the Radiation, which takes a few seconds. Then I am moved back into the machine only this time it is a bit more noisy as it is emitting radiation. With this type of machine, the beam is more condensed and focused. It makes 15 rotations around me and I can tell when the radiation hits the part of my brain because I have an interesting reaction to it. As the beam zaps the left front portion of my brain, i see a blue flashing light, almost like electricity flashing under my eyelids, and I smell a chlorine like smell. then as gets around to the back of my head it zaps me from the right rear toward the left front. When this happens I see a thick white flash at the edge of vision from my left eye. The entire process is about 8 minutes. They give me a small ring to hold onto so I have something to do with my hands while I'm strapped down, and I usually shake it around in the air like a tambourine, or hold it like a steering wheel and make Wii Mario Cart noises while I pretend to be driving. Hey keep me distracted and entertains the people around me.Then I am moved out of the machine and the nurse unhooks me from the mask and I hop off the table.
On Tuesdays I meet with my oncologist after the Radiation therapy and basically discuss how I have been doing, what has been going with me and how my headaches have been, and that's basically it. I have some random appt in the afternoons on some days, And as I get closer to my move to Texas I am sure I going to get much more busy, but for now I am doing well, have responded to the treatment well and have suffered very minimal adverse affects all things consider. Honestly, it's amazing to me. A little over a month ago I was diagnosed with a lethal brain cancer, now here I am writing, reading, laughing and sharing. If I ever needed proof of miracles, I got it. Hope this wasn't too long or boring for every, and for those who stuck it out to the end, thanks for reading. Until next time, Hasta la bye-bye.