Tag: health

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Sci-fi doses and first treatments

Chemo

Up early with Amy for my first visit to chemo and radiation. After meeting RN Matt and getting some initial education, and after Matt struggled to get the hospital computer system out of “Legacy Mode” (at least its not written in COBOL), and a couple of “bumped valves,” I finally got situated in the Barcalounger with a pretty hefty hydration drip, followed by two separate anti-nausea drips. We turned out the lights and I drifted into a hazy nap. I noticed that I was making a brand new snoring sound, caused by the growing tumor.

Photo by Amy Kubes

Before falling asleep, I remember feeling profoundly comforted that medicine was finally flowing into my body – after this long month of news and prep and trepidation and existential question marks, treatment had finally begun. The room was warm and dark, and I had a blissful moment of feeling at-peace with the process.

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Treatment Ahead

Hi friends – 

Today the doctor told me to try and get through my hot sauce collection quickly, because I probably won’t be able to enjoy it after the radiation treatments begin. That gives me a few weeks to get through ~20 bottles. Not going to happen.

A few weeks ago, a persistent “thickness” in the throat and a visibly swollen tonsil led me to see the doctor, who felt suspicious and sent me to a specialist, who surprised me by doing a spontaneous biopsy on a lymph node in my neck and an order for a CT scan. A few days later, I got the call – I have Stage 2 Squamous cell carcinoma of the throat. It was the last thing any of us saw coming, and suddenly things are moving really fast. Yesterday I met with a surgeon who delivered a mix of good news and bad. 

The good news is that the marker I have — P-16+ — is the good kind, which responds very well to radiation and chemo, and which will allow me to avoid surgery which would probably have life-altering side effects on speech and swallowing. He gave me a 100% chance of survival (not 80-90%, as the first doctor had reported), which immediately lifted a huge stress load. 

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