Radiation Week Two

Well Diane is now into her second week of her radiation treatments, it's going by at a fairly quick pace, so we hope it just flies by, faster than Sarah Palins' answers with the media.
Diane is beginning to feel the effects of the treatments. Her mouth is not producing enough saliva as before, so it feels dry. They recommend a salt water solution she uses several times a day to keep the PH balanced in there, but we are figuring out a way to deliver the solution into her mouth. (She just can't gulp the stuff). So she tried a large syringe, and by bending way over in the kitchen sink, she "shoots" the stream of solution up into her open mouth, as it somes right back out and quick as it went in. We had a little laugh about that today. I am going to go buy her a small pump sprayer, so she can put put the wand by her lips and press a button to gently spray the inside of her mouth. I tried to make her use my old pump sprayer, the one with Round Up in it, but she simply refused!
She also is beginning to feel some sore spot near her tongue, but the Doctor today couldn't see anything. Her sense of taste is diminished somewhat, and we expect that to get worse.
But Hey, we are right now 6/19, which means 6 down, 19 more to go. That's almost 25% done, and the whole process is beginning to become just another part of the day for Diane.
Till next time...

Radiation Treatments: the beginning

Diane has started her radiation treatments. I have gone with her to offer my support and also to see how it happens. We arrived very early Monday morning, with a little anxiety and stress we had all weekend. Diane is very friendly with the whole crew and she actually asked me to take some photos with my cell phone! Such the life being married to a photographer! The staff have her lay down on the table. Two teeth guards and a tongue guard go in her mouth, and the staff puts on the wrist straps connected by a long strap that goes around her feet, so it pulls down her arms and shoulders. Then the plastic mesh mask is put on her face and clamped on the table! OK, here we go.

They then line up the laser guides to her mask, to make sure the radiation beams are going exactly where they should, mostly in her throat and inside of her cheek.

Once it is all lined up everyone leaves the room and the machine begins, taking about 8 minutes and moving around to apply the dose to the affected areas.

Afterwards, a nurse met with us and told Di what to expect in the next 5 weeks. Diane might have some pain in swallowing due to the inflammation of the inner lining of the mouth and throat. She will have some dry mouth because radiation reduces the salivary production, and decreased taste and irritation of the skin. We were a bit somber after that, but then Diane has an attitude of "Hey, it's only 25 days, and I've started it, so each day I'll be closer to finishing."

After the first visit, we actually headed off for some shopping, first at Home Depot and then Costco. We became separated in Costco for a bit, then I thought I better go looking for my ativan induced wife, she might be wandering the cathedral height aisles looking at the 50 roll box of paper towels, wondering if the brawny guy actually exists. She was fine, really, but kind of tired and not in a hurry.

So we proceed with this next chapter in the road to recovery, Diane is SO right in thinking that we are getting closer to the end if it's started. It might get tough again before it gets better, so with the faith and help we have from all of you, we will get through it. What a wonderful community we are blessed to have, thank you.

Time in a Bottle

21 years ago Diane and I walked down a grass path in Yosemite Valley. It was a beautiful sunny day and before 130 of our friends and family we gave our vows and declared our love for each other. You think on your wedding day how much you love each other, never to realize it is just the start, and over the years it just continues to grow in many ways, on such a deep level. When I look back the past 7,476 days, the love is just continuing to enrich both of our lives. That is what is keeping us going through this difficult time, along with the help of God and you, our friends. We just looked at our wedding photo album from 21 years ago, and gave each other a deep lingering hug and Diane said "what a great life we've had so far" and after agreeing with her I responded " and we will continue to do so". Once in a while it's wonderful to see how blessed, how lucky we really are. People in Africa think you are really rich if you drive a car. They walk for hours for their daily water, where we just lift a lever. Having an incredible wife, an abundance of food, a warm loving home, and three wonderful children, I feel like the richest man in the world, even though the paycheck has been a little smaller lately!

21 years! Yeayyyyy!

one week to go

Next week Diane starts her radiation treatments, the office called today and told her to be there at 8:15 AM ! For those of you who know Diane, she LOVES her sleep and during the summertime people know not to call her before 10:30. Now that we are on school schedules, it should not be a problem, we wake up at 7:00 AM. It might be a bit hard to get three kids out the door by 8:00 and then leave for Concord, where the treatments are at. Hopefully it will only be 8:15 for the first week.

Diane is feeling well, sleeping well, and eating well. She is still sore and numb around her neck and left cheek, and she has no feeling in her lower left ear, but overall is a model of good health.

My sister Maria flew out here from PA this last weekend to visit and we had a wonderful time. Diane and her went shopping in Walnut Creek, we just hung out at the house part of the time, and on Friday we went to see Teatro Zinzanni in the City. AMAZING !!! It's part Cirque, part Vaudeville, part Beach Blanket Baylon all thrown in together under a circular tent that is transformed into an intimate dinner club. The cast walk by your table and chat with you, the performances are spaced out throughout the evening as you dine on a 5 course meal. We laughed all night long and it was great seeing the whole family enjoy the entire evening.!

OK, so I didn't smile. I was waiting for the photographer to say "one, two, three". Don't they all say that???

"The Mask" part two

Did you ever see the movie "the mask" with Jim Carrey? That was the movie that came to my mind when Diane had her appt. on Monday to have her custom mask created for her upcoming radiation treatments. As she told the story, it kept getting stranger like a weird science fiction movie, with a little bit of bondage a go go thrown in.
She had to lay down on this long metal table, and was asked to put in two mouth guards, along with a tongue guard! With three things in her mouth, unable to talk, the assistant then straps her down to the table, starting with her wrist, and the strap then going to her feet and then up to her other wrist, so she doesn't move. (glad she's not claustrophobic, the next item would put her over the top). A thin white plastic mesh type material is taken out of a really warm cooker type machine and placed over her head and chest, and they proceed to tell her "You have to stay perfectly still, and you will feel the your face getting real hot, but it will only last a really short time". The hot material then slowly cools, and hardens as it conforms to her face and chest precisely. She had to stay there for twenty minutes! What if she had to sneeze? Diane kept saying to herself, "OK, I'm getting through this, it's not that bad". She thinks the guy in the room was new at this and she was hoping that she didn't have to do it over. There were several people in the room, and one of them had bad breath, talking right to Diane, saying, "hold on, it's almost over". (Diane should have requested a nose guard as well!)
After a long wait, with her back getting sore from laying in one position for so long, it was finally over and her "mask" was done. Like Jim Carrey, I expected her to sit upright, take off the mask and say "SAAAMOKIN!!!" She will go in for a test run on Sept 19 and then start her first dose of radiation on Sept 22.
One of her friends called and asked "how are you doing?". Her comment was "Physically fine, but emotionally a little up and down". She is tired of getting poked and prodded by all sorts of people. During one of our late night conversations she opened up to me and said "People that haven't gone through this just can't relate to what I'm feeling right now". There are some friends of hers that have or are going through this now, and they know what she is talking about. She realizes her lifestyle and diet is changing, and worrying about becoming an old boring person. (If she is old and boring, then Palin is a left wing liberal who hangs out with Feinstein up in the trees at Berkeley.) There are adjustments to be made as we go through this, and it is the change that Di is reflecting on, realizing once again she is going to be a cancer survivor times two. Will it come back? Will the new radiation cause something else to happen down the road? Does this affect her immune system which is not real strong?

There are up and down times, like the roller coaster through life we are all riding. You hope for mostly up times, and there are an abundance of those. Most of the down times are a small percentage and though very real, Diane is not usually in a negative mood. A call, card or an E-mail from a friend helps out her attitude, and she realizes she is not going through this alone, but with a whole community of people who love her, who care about her, at her side. That is helping her whole disposition with this disease, and she realizes she is not alone, she is blessed with God's love, the love of her family and the love of her friends. (and that's a whole lotta love!)

We are going to stop the dinner schedule for the next week, we feel that we can now take care of that, Diane is at Safeway all the time now. The last month has been AMAZING, with all the great meals and offers of support coming in. Thanks to everyone for helping out, we feel very special, and my stomach feels very very special, because it is a lot bigger now, darn it!
We will start up the meals again when Diane starts her radiation treatments, so an E-mail will go out in the next week for those wanting to help out. We still hear from friends that are actually frustrated that they can't get on fast enough to sign up for a meal. Hold on, your chance will come!
First day of radiation is scheduled for Monday Sept 22. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

Almost back to "normal"

Life is pretty darn sweet these days, Diane is feeling good, sleeping well, eating well, and is not coughing, or going "Errr-Umm" as much as she used to. (I totally ignore her now when she does that, hope she is not trying to get my attention). She is going to meet with the radiation Doctor today to set up that whole process, but right now, every day, we are blessed with life, and it is wonderful! Great weather, kids are happy and in school, the house is somewhat organized, and the laundry is now being sorted correctly. (I didn't know you couldn't mix colored and whites!)
I tried not to name very many people to thank on this blog, because there are so many helping out, but I have to give a big thumbs up to Kathy Fuller for putting together the calendar and coordinating everyone, and also a big tip of the hat to Jessamyn and Robert Picton for moving into our house when Diane was in the hospital for a week, putting their busy life on hold, and helping out with the kids, the food, and just about everything else we needed. Thank you, thank you and thank you!

A big "YES" to Glen Thomas for finishing his treatments yesterday! Way to go Glen! Diane talked to Glen last night and we have to say what a wonderful positive influence he was with Di, even when he was going through his chemo/radiation. His blog is listed to the right of this column and we've been thinking of him a lot. Get well soon!