Friday off

Nothing going on today as far as radiation treatments are concerned. It will probably be early next week until I start up again. I should hear from Dr. Brenner soon.

Sunburn..............that seems to be the best way to describe how my throat feels. It's still quite tough swallowing and yes, I did take a nice long nap this afternoon. It felt good.

Rob is home for the weekend. Tomorrow morning is a big Man Utd game. They are playing Chelsea. This could decide the premiership title. Go Man Utd.

Sizing me up again

Today I went to the Owings Mills radiation facility for a CT scan. This scan was done for planning purposes only and not diagnostic purposes. It will take them a couple of days to precisely plan and set up the next 14 rounds of radiation. In all likely hood my 22nd round of radiation will probably be mid next week. The few days delay should not pose a problem at all to my overall treatment plan..

Suzy took us to Dinner at Ginza, a Japanese Hibatchi Grill. Very nice but I think I over ate!!!

Thought I would throw in a picture of my Tulip garden. Not quite the scale of The Kuikenhoff Gardens in the Netherlands. But,none the less, we love it.

Radiation Round 21 & Chemo Round 5 - A change

After 21 rounds of radiation (3D conformal) I am having the final 14 rounds at a different facility. This will enable them to make the radiation xray approach from a different direction using a different machine (IMRT). This, however, will not give me immediate relief for the swallowing problems but it will help with protecting other organs and especially my spine. We are all thrilled with this development as it was a bit of a battle to get our insurance company on board. They finally did the right thing and approved the location of the remaining 14 rounds of radiation.





Suzy (one of Diana's best friends from Toronto) is visiting with us now. My chemo entourage is growing by the week. Hey, the more the merrier. I am just going to have to pick up more donuts for the radiation and chemo folks as well as the patients. As long as I get the first honey glazed.

Chemo went well today. Mary was off so Lisa did my treatments. All went just fine. Blood work was OK. Had the same room. Big enough to handle today's group. My Mom, Diana and Suzy.

I must sound like the official spokesman for the Portacath. The nurses asked me, once again, to talk to another elderly lady about my Portacath. Hopefully I was able to help her with her decision. Makes me feel good.

I had the radiation round 21 after chemo today. I had to wait a bit as they were quite backed up. Maybe it's a good sign that I am going elsewhere for the last 14 treatments!!! I did manage to get one of the last honey glazed donuts. Yummy. I even got a graduation certificate from the Sinai radiation department. Not totally sure what I graduated from

Radiation Round 20

Round 20 went smoothly today but I am really starting to feel the cumulative effects on my swallowing. That combined with the worst acid reflux. What a combo. I am also taking longer naps in the afternoons. I guess it's all part of growing up (eerr getting old).

I went to yoga today with my Mom. It happened again........... The same (rather large) lady farted once again. It was a beaut. This time everyone cracked up. Nothing like a bit of comic relief mixed in with yoga. The lady next to her was in hysterics so that just goaded me on. The instructor added that any sound in yoga is OK so maybe next week I'll light 'em up. See how long it takes for me to get booted out of yoga. Just like back in school!!

***TO ALL***

I absolutely love to hear from everyone.

But if you wouldn't mind, please post stuff as comments and not as "new titles". If you have a picture or link then send it to me and I will post it. If you are having a tough time posting then simply send me the email and I will post the comment to the correct place. Thanks.

Nothing has been deleted. Just moved into a comment. The name of the commenter is always at the end of the comment even when it says anonymous.

I really am enjoying this "blog" thing. It helps me out tremendously.

Radiation Round 19

The Passover service went on til well after midnight. We stayed until just before midnight. It was a really wonderful experience. Very informative. The rabbi was amazing.

The xray techs just called from Sinai to tell me the machine is down (broken). They said they would call as soon as it's fixed. On the one hand I am really looking forward to being done with the treatments. On the other hand, I do not want to miss any days. I just want to move through this on a regular consistent basis. I know it makes no sense but then what the hell does with this!

Got called about an hour later. The machine was up and running and I had round 19. Quick and easy.

Second night Passover

Phil and How left at lunch time today to go back to NY. Hannah had to leave first thing this morning for the airport. Brief but really nice visit.

For the second night Passover (Seder) dinner we are invited out. One of Dr. Erlich's nurse practitioners invited our family to their Synagogue for a communal Seder (dinner). It's an orthodox synagogue so it should be quite an interesting service. So far I'm doing OK eating matza. Drinking lots of liquids with it.

The battle/war resumes tomorrow. I have had a pretty decent weekend so far. Physically and mentally.