Monday after Friday

The first thing I noticed was there was hardly any rush hour traffic. I think I stopped once for 30 seconds but other than that it was pretty smooth all the way to Scottsdale. I arrived 30 minutes early and spent the rest of the day waiting. The handler quizzed me about any things that are wrong with me right now and also reviewed the supplements I'm taking. Then I waited 45 minutes in that examination room for the doctor. There was no reading material there except a big book of cancers. I read it three or four times and can answer any questions you may have.

The doctor finally came and did my physical and asked me to go to the infusion room. I thought he was coming with me but when I turned around I was alone. I stood there for a half hour constantly reassuring the nurses that work in that room that I wasn't waiting for them to do medical things to me. The handler came later to say that the reason I was waiting was the company who's drug is on trial had asked her to fax my CT test because they hadn't agreed to my being in the drug trial.

Two hours later I had another EKG (I'm surprised I passed because I was agitated) and a blood test. Then it was noon and they finally got the okay from the company and gave me my first dose of the medication. The rules on taking this pill is: take on empty stomach and wait 1 hour to eat.

I had been up since 5 a.m. so I was a little hungry. On the way back to home I passed many restaurants where I could have had a great meal but I couldn't eat till I was home because of the one hour wait.

Now I've taken the dose every day and keep a diary showing when I take the drug and what time I eat after I take it and if there are any side effects.

I worked out on Saturday with a cardio class and today I did Kickboxing. I'm not used to sweating but with the humidity we were all sweating in class. Rather than just humidity it would be nice to have some rain.

It's A GO

Monday I had my Brain MRI and CT scans at one facility and my blood, urine, and EKG at the Oncologist's office. They called a little after 5 p.m. to tell me that I'll be starting the cancer drug trial on Friday morning. I'll get more information once I meet with my handler. I hope so because I would like to make plans with friends and family for the days that I'm not testing.

Today I'm going to try to play 9 holes of golf with 2 friends. We're teeing off about noon so it'll also be testing how I withstand the heat. I haven't played in 9 weeks. I wonder if I still have a swing.

I'll be able to tell you more after Friday.

The New Oncologist's Office Called

They called but it wasn't on Tuesday when I almost stayed home all day waiting for their call. I had a chance to have lunch with 2 friends I haven't seen for a while. So I called the Oncologist's office and left a message on the phone of my "handler" or my "scheduler" that I would be away from home from 11:30 till 1:00 but they could reach me by my cell phone. No call came that day either before, during or after lunch. So then I worried which is something I majored in that maybe I had missed my call window. But in the back of my mind I remembered that nurse telling me a few days before that Tuesday they would have double the appointments because of the Monday holiday. That was also what the caller mentioned at 4:30 p.m. She was calling for my handler who had been too busy with patients to make the appointments. Anyway she called the next day and my appointment for a Brain MRI and CT Scan have a check in time at noon on Monday in Scottsdale. Now I don't know my way in Scottsdale so I am forever grateful to Gary and Diane for giving me a Tom Tom to find my way around. I think they came up with the idea when I went to Tucson a couple of years ago and came close to the Mexican border. Diane has a head for directions so she helped me get back on track to Tucson.

After my two tests I'll be going to the new Oncologist's office for blood work and other tests. Hopefully I'll get my calendar of when I have to be in their office on a weekly basis. Right now my life is in limbo because I don't know what days will be open and what days I'll be in Scottsdale.

Now it's for sure my cough is no better since they drained my lung. This is 5 months of hacking. I'm surprised I haven't been barred from most restaurants and other public places. I think hacking coughs are annoying for everyone in the room and lately I understand if you cough around some people they pull out a mask and put it on their faces. It also affects my sleeping because I can only sleep on my back not on the sides or my stomach. Those positions cause more coughing.

I wasn't able to get to two of my workout classes: one because the class was canceled because of the holiday and the other because the nausea came back for a day. I did get to David's weight training class and Julie's cardio class.

This week I may be able to go to Kickboxing on Monday before I go to Scottsdale. I'll definitely try because the more classes I do the better I feel.

New Oncologist Appointment Results

I don't post for months and then I post nearly every other day. Well, I guess it's cause it's easier when you have some news to relate.

Gary and I saw my new Oncologist yesterday afternoon. He spent a long time reading, explaining, and answering questions on the 29 page consent form. It also explains how often I'll be driving to Scottsdale to be checked or tested. I signed and initialed the pages and now I'm in. Tuesday they'll call me and set up all the testing I need to have done before the drug trial starts which is very soon.

I thought my cough would get better now that the liter of fluid is out of my lung space. Things still are not what they were 5 months ago. I don't know how long it's supposed to take for that lung to go back into place. The coughing is as annoying for everyone around me as it is for me. Well maybe more annoying and painful for me.

This morning I went to the Weight Training class and I wouldn't miss that. It's so great and even though I enjoy it more when it's over than while I'm doing it, I'm hoping it'll strengthen those muscles that have been sitting around for over a month.

During the testing I won't be seeing my first Oncologist or my Radiation Doctor. Hopefully this testing will bring about a drug that will help a lot of cancer patients. I like to think that.