Monday, June 29, 2009

The Cheemo Consult.

Today I met with my oncologist. We are going to proceed with chemotherapy.

He was pretty impressed with how well I've recovered so far! I rock!

SO... now to the nitty gritty.

The bile duct was the originator of the tumor on my liver. They took that all out with the portion of liver and the gall bladder as well as the lymph node.

The chemo that I will be taking is GEMZAR (gemcitabine). It's a 30 minute infusion through IV once a week. That happens for 3 weeks and then I get a week off. During this time, we'll be monitoring platelet levels and white blood cell counts. If I get too out of whack, then I take that week off and do the next one. This will go on for 6 months.

No guarantee on hair loss... but overall this drug offers pretty mild side effects.

In addition, I'll be going back to Stanford every 3 months for blood work and CT scans. That goes on for about a year (though my oncologist indicated that the CTs would go on for 5 years, but decreasing in frequency). If I make 5 years without any other signs, the we mark me as done!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Surgical Follow Up

I'm back from the follow up at Stanford. It was a great meeting with my surgeon and others.

Things were running behind schedule, so we were about an hour and a half late getting in. We got to spend some time with some folks who used to live in Chico, but retired to cooler climates.

Once we got in, Dr. Chen (one of the residents) came in. He shared some good news about the liver... I think what he said was that no further tumors were found on the material that they removed from me. Then he said, "now... let's take a look at your incision". THEN he poked me right down the line top to bottom. Poke, poke, poke. I was thinking..."Oh my god! I'm gonna poop my pants!" But, it didn't even hurt, and Dr. Chen seemed quite pleased. I'm not sure if he was pleased that I didn't poop my pants or squeal like me friend who hates spiders or if he was pleased at my recovery. At any rate, we were told to wait for Dr. Vissar.

Dr. Vissar came in, and I jumped up off the table to shake his hand. We spoke a bit, and then I asked questions like, "When is it REALLY safe to drive? When can I vacuum? Can I ride a bike?" He gave me a look and said, "You make liver surgery look easy. I should have you share your recovery with other patients as most of them don't do this well."

I was told that all of my activities could be resumed IF my body said it was ok. BUT I wasn't going to hurt anything.

Then the beer!

Yessiree Bob! I can have a beer now and then. YES! Fat Tire never tasted SO good!

Cheemo appointment on Monday!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

No new news to report...

Well, there just hasn't been much happening. I'm spending a lot of time "getting better" after the surgery. That pretty much means that I'm hanging out at the house bored out of my skull.

I go back to Stanford on Friday for a follow up with my surgeon. I'm going to ask what steps I can take to hasten recovery of this cut, but I have a funny feeling that I'll be told, "Patience young man." That will bite.

I'm also going to ask how long until I can have a beer. When we met for the consult, I was told, "in time you'll be able to enjoy beer again." The "in time" part is what I'm curious about. How long is "in time"?

That's about it. More when I have something to share.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

2 weeks after surgery.

Well, here were are, 2 weeks and 2 days following surgery.

I've come to the conclusion that healing generates a lot of heat. I don't have a fever, but boy do I get warm... REALLY warm... when I'm sleeping.

Staples are out, and while it feels better to have the metal out of my belly, things are still really tender.

I also have my driving privileges back, but now after my doctor told me what (who) to watch our for, I'm still scared to get out there. One little accident (they happen all the time) and POP! I'm splattered all over the window. I think I'll skip it unless I really, really need to get out for something.

The hard part now is allowing myself time to heal. From what I've read and been told by my surgeon, it's going to be 5 to 6 months before this cut is healed...well... the cut and all the internal stuff too. I feel like Veruca Salt... "I WANT IT NOW!"

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Just a post...

Staples come out tomorrow! Yeah!


I miss driving privileges. There is an incredible amount of independance lost by losing your wheels.


Back to Stanford next Friday with a follow up with my surgeon.


Cheemo discussion appointment the week after that.


Lots of walking, increased activity this week. I'm making good progress!

Monday, June 15, 2009

My first good night sleep in a while...

Finally! I got a good night sleep. Last night was my first full night without any pain meds. Here's why...


I had the most horrible dreams on the Oxicodone (sp?). My belly was killing me even if I took the stuff. I finally worked out some "plumbing issues" related to the oxicodone but was still hurting like crazy. Finally, day before yesterday, at 3 AM, I said forget this! These aren't working, I'm not taking them anymore.


Yesterday, my first day off meds, was freakin awesome! I didn't hurt, I went and dit a little shopping trip (I rode, Julie drove and lifted the bags etc). We went to the movie rental store and picked up Gran Tarino. (Great flick!). I also knocked out two little loads of laundry and cooked dinner.


Last night I managed to get five hours of sleep at one sitting (rather than the 10 minutes I was getting at best on the meds). Then I toook an hour break from sleep to stretch out the shoulders a bit (unrelated or maybe stress related tension) then went back to sleep for like four more hours.

I woke up tired, but rested ... if that is at all possible.

This morning I was reminded that it's still very hard to shave. The cut they made was right down the center of my tummy, and now it's still a bit tricky to lower my upper torso to get my face wet.


And for a bit of humor, a memory from Standford...

RN: "It's time to take out your epideral Mr. Carman."
Pretty Drugged Up Me: "Duhhh.... ok"
RN: "First we have to remove the tape, slow or fast?"


Note: My back used to be quite hairy. I had no idea they used what felt like duct tape. I had no idea HOW much tape they used.


Pretty Drugged Up Me: "Go slow, I'm not sure I can take it fast."
RN: OK Mr. Carman, here we go.


RRRRRIIIIIIPPPPP, tear, rrrriiippp, yipe, rrrriiiiippp, tear.


RN: "Ok Mr. Carman, all done. You did great! No charge for the waxing! "


Though painful, it was funny that my RN had a sense of humour. Great guy! I wish I could have had hime the entire time.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

7 days after surgery.

Well.. sorry for the long delay. I've been a bit "under the weather.


The very short version is, they took about 40% of my liver, my gall bladder and a "suspect" lymph node. One of the resident surgeons who did not believe that I weighed 218 was quite "amazed" at the amount of fat I had crammed in there. Gee... I'm not sure I know how to take that ;-)


Overall care at Stanford was pretty good, but I did get the roommate from hell. On the second night of him turning the lights on and off, the tv on and off, and running the nursing staff crazy because "I lost my medicine" (Dork... It's the magic green button they pinned to your jammies... just like they told you 50 times the first night) I finally walked my ass out to the nurse and said, you either move me to another room or I'm walking home to Chico. I think he took me seriously, because I was moved into a two person room, with no roommate the first night.


I'm tired, and drugged up. They gave me this pain killer that gives you the dreams from hell. My god! I was on a bus, a rabbit was driving it... but I couldn't see his face unless I got onto bus number 103.... sheesh... then Charlie Tuna was trying to kill me one night. That stunk.


So now I'm home. I can barely focus on anything for long. I walk twice a day... a generous amount. I would guess maybe 1/2 mile each time. I cannot drive. Cannot lift anything over 5 pounds.

The last two days I've spent sleeping for the most part. Sleeping and working on getting real food working in my system again.

The really wacko thing... smells! It is like my sniffer went into hyperdrive. So much stuff smells like crap... just reall rotten.

OK. I gotta go take my nap (I'm tired of thinking).

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The big day! #2

Well, yesterday after sitting in the waiting area in the hot looking evening gown, I was notified that I had been bumped to today.

The woman before me did not have a good time in her procedure and some emergency surgeries came up (my dad figured they were the helicopters that came in).

Today I report at 11 for surgery at 1. My surgeon says it will take a bus roll over to bump me one more time.

Yesterday was hard. Waiting is rough, your brain can spin up some kind of big yarns while you're stuck there.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The big day!

Today's the big day. Report at 8:40, procedure begins at 10:40. Three to five hours later, I will be waking up and looking forward to recovery fun and games!

Man, I'll be glad when this is over.