Radiation Complete for E1

The long awaited day finally arrived . . . E1 (Grandpa) is done with his 44 radiation treatments. According to him, the end didn't come a moment too soon. He received a certificate documenting his accomplishment and we all celebrated his graduation by going out to breakfast.

E1 (Grandpa) has a check-up scheduled in six weeks, basically just to make sure the side effects are clearing up, but then doesn't have another doctor appointment for six months. At that point, they'll do another blood test to make sure his PSA is back to normal. Seems a bit strange to me that there isn't a need for an earlier appointment or the need for an updated PET/CT scan, but I guess that's the way they do it when it comes to prostate cancer. In other Grandpa news, we've convinced him to get his cataracts taken care of, so he has a series of appointments for that starting in mid August . . . pre-op appt., followed by surgery for eye #1, then post-op appt. ... pre-op appt., followed by surgery for eye #2, then post-op appt. Let's see, what else can we do? He does still need a follow-up endoscopy. Oh, and there is still the matter of Grandpa's bum shoulder. And he could benefit from hearing aids. Before it's all said and done, we'll have him as good as new.

E. has been officially retired for 10 days now. The folks from work had a nice little farewell gathering for him, and I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I wish I could say that he's been kicking up his feet and relaxing ever since, but that is far from the case. Grandpa's radiation treatments took up each weekday morning and it seems as if the kids have had one thing after another. We keep waiting for things to slow down some, but for some reason, I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

On the health front, E. has been dealing with some very uncomfortable stomach issues lately. Aside from the stomach aches and pains, he's had the raunchiest smelling burps you ever did come across. Of course, any time there is a digestive issue, I immediately freak out. In googling his symptoms (What ever did we do in the days pre-Internet?), I learned a possibility could be food, particularly food high in protein, sitting excessively long in the stomach due to slow digestion (we know slow digestion has been an issue for E. post chemo and radiation). The situation could be exasperated by other factors, such as diabetes (ding-ding). Another possibility could be a stomach bacteria or parasite. And yet another possibility could be a gastric type cancer. My freak-out mode is still in full force.

We go back to Texas on July 18th . . . so close, yet so far. Ugh.

Retirement Countdown

E. has a total of 10 more work days. Yup, you read right . . . TEN. His last day of work will be June 18th and his "official" retirement date will be June 19th. 30 years (+ a few) and out baby!

Having him home for 14 months spoiled me rotten. It was an adjustment (more so for me probably than for him) when he went back to work part-time, but we managed. Then he went back to work full-time. Since then, our time together has been minimal. Waaaaaahhhh! He's out the door early in the morning and when he gets off work, I'm usually on the go, being a taxi driver to once place or another. Sometimes we hook up at a kid's baseball game, but it's not like it is quality time for him and I. I know I'm whining, but man do I miss him.

I'm not sure we'll get much uninterrupted time together post-retirement as it coincides with summer vacation, but at least we have a much better shot. Other than enjoying each other and the kids, no big plans yet. We'll head back to Texas on July 18th and go from there.

Oh, and have you heard? Once E.'s health stuff is all taken care of, he plans on embarking on a second career. He plans on putting that Master's Degree to use, getting his clinical hours in, passing his boards (I think that's what they're called) and becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Good thing I love him so. :)

S.

E1's Over the Hump

E1 (Grandpa) has now completed 27 radiation sessions. That means only 17 more to go. He is definitely on the countdown as he will be so glad to be done with this "mess."

A Little E1 Update

Grandpa (E1) has now finished 14 radiation treatments . . . only 30 more to go. He's experiencing some side effects, but claims it's nothing he can't handle. You know how those stubborn men are!

The folks at the radiation center are nothing but nice. And very efficient too I might add. We have never had to wait more than 10 minutes. Of course, 10 minutes plus the 15 minutes of radiation time translates to almost a half hour that I have to entertain Peanut in the waiting room. Since everyone has standing appointment times and are usually there for a long duration of radiation sessions, we see the same faces every day. We've established sort of a camaraderie and they think it is quite entertaining to watch me chase Peanut around, trying to prevent his path of destruction.

Grandpa is not only hanging tough with treatment, but also hanging tough in our House of Chaos. That might just be a bigger accomplishment.

E1 Radiation has begun

The radiation "dry run" was apparently a success for E1. He got to start radiation today. Radiation takes a whoppin' 10 minutes or so. Of course, the radiation office is on the exact opposite side of town from us, so it takes approximately 45 minutes to drive there. All in all, it's a two-hour adventure. Throw in a yummy breakfast out and our entire morning is booked.

E1 will be getting radiation every weekday (Monday through Friday, excluding holidays) at 9:15 a.m. He has that slot reserved until the end of June, when he'll hopefully have all his radiation sessions complete. That's a tentative date though because if E1 has to miss any sessions due to side effects or anything else, those days get tacked on the end. Reminds me a lot of snow days at school . . . so fun at the time, but not so fun when summer rolls around and you have make-up days cutting into your summer vacation.

Every Thursday, E1 will meet with the doctor after his radiation session. Much like E. did, the weekly check-in allows the doctor to monitor progress, check for side effects and answer questions. A list of potential side effects was reviewed with E1, although they don't typically begin until between the 4th and 5th week of radiation. A few patients experience side effects right from the start and a few patients never experience side effects at all. We're hoping that E1 is in the "no side effects" or "minimal side effects" camp.

No CTs or other tests will be performed to monitor progress. Six weeks after the last radiation session, E1 will return simply to make sure any side effects are dissipating and his activities are returning to normal. Six months after that, he will return again for blood work and that is when his PSA will hopefully be in the normal range, showing that treatment was successful. So, from the way I understand it, we won't really know if everything was successful and E1 is cancer free until February of 2011. Wow, that's a long time. We've just got to be confident all is well.

E1 CT Done

E1 finally got his CT done today. He also got a mold impression done today. From our understanding, E1 was positioned just right for the radiation to zap the cancer and then a mold was made of that exact position. That way, he'll be in the right position for every radiation session.

E1 will return for a doctor appointment on April 27th to finalize the treatment plan and have a "dry run" of the radiation treatment. Hopefully then we'll finally get a radiation schedule.

E1's cancer journey thus far has been frustratingly slow.

Here's his timeline so far . . .

February 19th - biopsy

March 5th - doctor appointment

April 8th - copper targets inserted

April 20th - CT

April 27th - doctor appointment and dry run of radiation

The earliest E1 will begin radiation is April 28th. So, from the point of the biopsy (not even from the point of his first doctor's appointment) to start of treatment will be well over 2 months!

In contrast, E. had his first doctor appointment (simply to complain about difficulty swallowing) on February 9th. A series of tests and appointments followed. He then began radiation and chemotherapy (the Reno treatment plan anyways) and finished it all on April 11th. So, from the point of his first doctor's appointment to the END of treatment was 2 months!

Frustrating!

S.

E1 Update

Things don't always go as scheduled . . .

E1 did get his "copper targets" inserted as scheduled . . . except he got four instead of three. We're not sure exactly what that means.

The scheduled CT didn't work out quite as well. He was there as scheduled, but unfortunately, the machine "broke." "Run some errands and come back in an hour," they said. Errands? No errands to run when you live two hours away. Off to lunch they went. An hour later came the phone call informing them that the machine would not be up and running today and they'd call next week to reschedule his appointment. Nothing like a trip to Reno for, well, nothing.

The call came today at 2:30 pm . . . his appointment was rescheduled for today at 3:30 pm. Did I mention he lives two hours away? "Oh, I guess we can reschedule for tomorrow then."

So, E1 is traveling back to Reno tomorrow and hopefully he'll get his CT scan and all that goes along with it. Then maybe, just maybe, we can get his radiation schedule and get things moving.

Oh and remember how it was anticipated that he'd have to live in Reno for the nine weeks of radiation? Well, at the last appointment, the doctor mentioned FOURTEEN weeks rather than nine. There are apparently 44 sessions of radiation . . . I think we erroneously assumed that he would be receiving radiation five days a week; hence the 9 weeks total. Quite possibly, he will be receiving radiation only three days a week, which could stretch things out even past fourteen weeks. We'll let you know as we know.