Giving Thanks

November 29, 2008.

Let me take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who has supported me & my family in this roller coaster ride involving bladder cancer. I continue to be overwhelmed with the outpouring of concern, support and help from all of you who read this account of my journey.

The timing of my last chemo treatment caused a ‘trough’ of low resistance to bugs, viruses and general nastiness right during Thanksgiving. As a result, we didn’t host the extended family gathering as we have the past few years. The four Olympia Sachets had a quite holiday at home.

One thing we can do well any time is cook and eat! Daren did a masterful job with the turkey, gravy and stuffing. Lauril fixed delicious green beans. Kehlen fixed her favorite … mashed potatoes. I prepared Indian pudding for one of the deserts. If you’re interested, here’s the menu:

Herb brined roast turkey with citrus glaze
Chipotle chili gravy
Corn bread stuffing with corn and green chilies
Sauted green beans with toasted almonds & garlic
Salad of fall greens with persimmons and hazelnuts
Mashed potatoes with cream cheese
Indian pudding (corn meal cooked with milk, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, & topped with whipped cream)
Pumpkin mousse

After our early afternoon meal, we went for a long walk on a trail in some big firs not far from our house. Kehlen’s pup, Samantha & her dog buddy/litter mate, Wyatt joined us (see photo of K & Sam). Lauril and I discovered some late chanterelle mushrooms!

I hope you Thanksgiving was restful & you were all healthy. No traffic battles or squabbles about who has the better team or who should have won Dancing with the Stars!

Just over a week ago, I went in to the hospital & had minor surgery to implant a ‘medi-port’ on the right side of my chest. I described the port in a previous blog, so won’t go into details again. Surgery went OK. I had one little dust up & was sorer than I expected to be. I needed to have access to the port right away so Daren could give me infusions of Factor 9 for four days following surgery. The 'dust up' happened when the surgery tech covered up all of the tube clamps to the valve needed for the Factor 9 infusion. So, it was back to the hospital the next morning to get things straightened out.

Round Three of Chemo. Next Thursday, December 4th (yes, it’s going to be December already!), I start my third round of chemo. Same a previous rounds; I’ll get Day 1 meds at Virginia Mason in Seattle through IV using the new port, then Days 2 & 3 will be pills. I expect the side-effects to remain mild, with a few days of feeling tired, indigestion & some nausea. I’ve discovered peppermint tea is great for the stomach issues.

I expect that right after Christmas, I’ll go to Virginia Mason for CT Scan to asses the status of the little buggers in my bladder following three round of chemo therapy. The CT Scan is kind of cool because it results in detailed images of internal soft tissues … similar to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), but using a different technology. Computed Tomography (CT) involves injection of ‘contrast’ to enhance differences in density between internal organs and surrounding tissues. A machine takes a series of two dimensional x-ray images in a circle around the target portion of your body. The 2-D images are built into 3-D images using computer analysis. It’s quite a powerful diagnostic tool. My doctor will use the CT Scan images, plus additional blood chemistry to tell if the chemo therapy has reduced and controlled the cancerous tumors/cell clusters in my bladder.

Sometime in late December or early January, I will take the results of the diagnostic work & lab tests to the folks at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for a second opinion. Specialists at the University of Washington Medical Center will review my file & talk with me. Hopefully, they will confirm the diagnosis & treatment plan that is being conducted by my docs at Virginia Mason.

I’ll let everyone know how 3rd round of chemo goes & outcome of CT Scan, etc.. Keep you fingers crossed!