Week 2: Midweek update

Soooo much has happened already this week that I decided maybe I should post a midweek report. :-)

Yesterday (Tuesday) Vic had a minor surgery to insert a port to deliver the chemo and a feeding tube just in case he needs it someday. Here is Vic before surgery. As you can see, he looks jovial. The nurses love jovial.

Here is Vic and his surgical team. As you can see, he is quite the fashion plate. Although he was bummed that he didn't get a lead apron like his little friends.

He said the anesthetic they used in the surgery kept him half awake, in sort of a happy stupor—much like he is in the rest of his life.

Anyway, he sailed through the surgery, and the nurses loved him. He does have a way with the ladies. ;-)

Interesting side note about the feeding tube: they said that usually patients who use the feeding tube hook themselves up to an overnight bag because it just takes a long time to get a day's worth of nutrition through the tube. They call this "nocturnal feeding." So, he can't be out in the sun, and now he's going to start nocturnal feeding. What's next, he won't be able to see his reflection in a mirror?

At the end of the day, Vic went to his beloved dentist, Dr. Bob Ahern of Ahern's House of Pain.

Apparently, the radiation is really hard on your teeth, so Dr. Bob's crack staff made some impressions of Vic's teeth and then used those to make a mouth guard, like football players wear. Maybe we will get a photo of those later.

Today (Wednesday) was another busy day. It started with the PET/CT scan, which was done in a mobile unit. I'll admit that I am slightly nervous about administering a highly sophisticated, technical procedure in the back of a semi-trailer. I mean, when I was a kid, a truck came around delivering books. There were ice cream trucks. We sometimes put hay bales in the back of trucks and rode around. These seem like acceptable uses for a truck. But I'm trying to be open-minded about it.

Anyway, the PET/CT scan is supposed to give us the stage of (whisper) the cancer (end whisper) and whether it has spread. The lady who checked Vic in (Julie) said a radiologist would read it "immediately, well, not immediately, but you know, right away. I mean, sometime this afternoon." I think if I hadn't cut her off, the radiologist might not have read it until Christmas. Anyway, the radiologist reads it, writes a report, and sends it off to the doctor who ordered it. Julie said it should be there by noon, but I don't want to push things, so I'll wait until 12:04 to call. (All kidding aside, I have asked the doctor's office to get us in before the weekend to get the results of this important test, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen—but nicely, not obnoxiously, because Vic doesn't like obnoxious wives in medical shows on TV.)

After the PET/CT scan, we had chemo teaching where we found out some very exciting news: Vic's EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) was positive, so he will be receiving the chemo drug Erbitux. The other alternative, Cisplatin, is very hard on the kidneys, and as you all know by now, he only has just the one. And although Erbitux can be hard on the heart, they will work with Vic's cardiologist to keep a watchful eye on it.

The way I understand it, Erbitux isn't a chemotherapy at all. It's a monoclonal antibody that targets the specific cancer cells rather than spreading a wide net and hoping that it covers the cancer. And although it's hard on the heart, it's easy on the hairline and the tummy—meaning that he should not lose his hair or his lunch. (Sorry, Darlene--I know you were hoping for a contest to see who was prettier bald.) This is also good news for me, because I had volunteered to shave my head in solidarity, and noooooobody would have wanted to see that.

There are a ton of potential side effects, such as eye irriration, mouth sores, an acne-like rash, anemia, a bunch of things that end in -penia, diarrhea, and constipation (what? how can you get diarrhea and constipation?). Also, he will not be able to get pregnant during the therapy (yes, they really said that).

The chemotherapy will start on July 13. The first treatment will last about two hours, and the weekly treatments after that will last about one hour each. They are not sure how many treatments he will need. They will evaluate at the end of the radiation cycle (which is seven weeks long).

At the end of today, we went to the nephrologist (kidney doctor). He says Vic's kidney (all together now—he only has just the one!) is stable and is functioning as well as one kidney can. He seemed relieved that Vic would be on the Erbitux instead of the Cisplatin.

Still ahead this week:

• We have a radiation planning session tomorrow, where Vic will get his waffle head. We are hoping to get pictures of that!
• We also have a nutritionist coming to the house tomorrow to take the dressing off the feeding tube and show Vic how to use it and keep it clean and such.
• Wanda the Honda is getting her service tomorrow! (Yes, I know it doesn't specifically relate to the cancer, but I know you were all worried about whether we were going to be able to fit Wanda's service in with our busy schedules.)

Emotions: leveling out a bit now that some things are becoming known and scheduled.

Song: We were trying out "Squamous in the Night" and "Squamoustime, and the livin' ain't easy. Chemo's startin', radiation is high." But that's as far as we got with either of them. We're very busy, you know.

Oh, I got a new text editor for the blog, so the formatting should be better than my first two posts! I know that's important to a lot of people. :-)