So here we are again, the second of five treatments.
This session was scheduled for 4pm. It was a real pain to get here on time. The traffic is very different in the afternoon as in the later morning. The truth of the matter is that I was late leaving the office. Driving fast in traffic doesn’t bother me but it sure bothers Satomi. I drive the minivan to all of our appointments because the ride’s so soft. She still has to close her eyes when we drive. The movement causes her eyes to twitch which results in headaches and dizziness-Bad stuff.
To complicate matters, Satomi was feeling a bit nauseas and dizzy. Possibly due to her treatments and possibly due to the leftover Spaghetti she decide to eat for lunch. I don’t risk eating any leftover that I cannot fully recall when it was placed in stasis. Getting sick would put more strain on everyone else and I cannot allow that.
I want to believe Satomi’s issues were caused by a bad lunch but you just never know with this brain stuff. She felt dizzy at work yesterday albeit functional. I am always pushing her to take it slow. If I get overly concerned, I forgo the text messaging and call her. I can tell if she’s having difficulties by just hearing her voice. So far, it’s been OK but I remain vigilant.
We talked to the Cyberknife technician about sleeping during the actual procedure; She said that most people do sleep through it. I have mixed feelings but I know I’m being unreasonable to make Satomi stay awake for an long, uncomfortable, and boring 2 hours. The mesh mask does hold her fairly tightly.
Since I will be trying to give you all more information on Satomi’s overall attitude and feelings, I decided to start using a rating system. I wanted to explain it a bit beforehand so I don’t get a lot of confused comments and/or E-mails. This is just a tool for me.
I will be rating Satomi’s physical health and separately, her emotional well-being. I assign a numerical rating between 1 and 5 with 1 being bad and 5 being good. In other words, a physical health rating of 5 is a day of normality-No sign of sickness; A physical health rating of 1 is bed-ridden day of drugs, pain and sleep. An emotional well-being rating of 5 is a day full of smiles and happiness-Complete optimism; An emotional well-being rating of 1 is day of crying depression.
Now that I think about it, I think this tool will also be useful to rate my emotional well-being. Let’s give this a try…
With the nausea and dizziness, my guess at Satomi’s physical health is a 3 of 5 using the new rating system. Her emotional well-being is a 3 of 5 using the same scale; I gave her a 3 since she laughed at some of my stories from a long day at the office. My emotional well-being is also a 3 of 5-a normal day with no heavy thoughts.
I need to go now-Satomi should be done with her treatment in a few minutes.
A large part of Satomi’s recovery is quality time with her family and children.
Here is a glimpse at our most recent endeavor-Swim lessons for Kandice and Jillian.
Kandice loves it but Jillian still hasn’t made up her mind.
That is no longer the case…
Satomi’s fine.
She was locked in that plastic prison for over 2 hours. Afterward, she walked out of the treatment room on her own and talked with the technicians; I heard her from the waiting room. She was still a bit wobbly but walked out OK. The mask made it impossible for her to wear glasses so she couldn’t occupy herself with any of the ceiling murals or other things around the room. Boredom with the added stress of not being able to move. Her neck was super-stiff and she was super-hungry. I took her to a late lunch.
Satomi felt so good, we also went to see our Neuro Surgeon. He wanted to take a look at Satomi’s wound infection. We didn’t have an appointment-He just fit us in. He was quite happy with my work as wound dresser. Unless things go wrong, we aren’t suppose to see him again until the Cyberknife sessions are done.
All the way home Satomi kept complaining about being really tired. While fatigue is a possible side effect of the Cyberknife, I actually think it was that El Torito Combo #4 she inhaled a couple of hours ago.
In any case, we’re home and she’s sleeping now. It was a good day.
The day has arrived.
Wifey is in the process of getting the remaining part of her tumor irradiated. I know many of you are very interested in this the second stage of her cancer treatment so I am sitting in the parking lot of the treatment center and composing this blog posting.
For simplicity sake and my own sanity, I have broken down Satomi’s treatment into different stages. The original brain surgery that removed most of the tumor was Stage 1 and the present Cyberknife series will be Stage 2. Next week she will start her Tykerb/Xeloda chemo cocktail (Stage 3). I consider all the follow-up MRI’s as maintenance and will refer to them as Stage 4. Hopefully, there will be no Stage 5.
The Doctor’s have decided to split the treatments into 5 sessions; More than we all had originally thought. Cancer cells do not repair themselves when exposed to radiation so splitting the treatments will give Satomi’s healthy cells time to heal between sessions. This will allow a higher total dose of radiation to the cancer cells. The need for a split treatment does underscore the severity of the cancer.
The sessions will last over 2 hours and as I mentioned in an earlier post, will not be comfortable. Here is a quick photo I took on my way out of the room. Check out that pointy nose.
On our previous visit to this treatment center, I had some questions answered. Here’s one of the key one’s: Why do brain “complications” not show up until many months after any brain radiation procedure?
As it was explained to me, the radiation kills the DNA of the brain cells but not the cells themselves. Since the lifetime of a cell is finite, it must replicate to maintain its function. Without DNA, the brain cell and its function is lost when the DNA-less cell eventually dies. Keep in mind that this applies to any irradiated brain cell. This is why the accuracy of the Cyberknife is very important. If the wrong cells get irradiated, the wrong brain functions will be lost. Given the relatively long cycle of a brain cell, the loss of healthy brain function will not be apparent until the body tries to replace dead brain cells some 3 to 6 to 12 months after irradiation. Interesting.
Satomi will be getting treaments every Tuesday and Thursday until all 5 sessions are completed.
I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from many of you over these past weeks. The praise has been great-I need all the help I can get right now. The criticisms have been lighthearted but nonetheless prudent.
The critisims seem to focus on a few specific things:
- “When are you going to update the blog again?!”
- “We used to look at the blog everyday but you stopped updating it so we don’t bother anymore”
- “When are you going to update the blog again?!”
Everyone wants to know how Satomi is doing-Everyday. My philosophy thus far has been that I only right about memorable days-Good days, bad days, progress, improvements, failures. I don’t bother if the day’s unremarkable. But that was my mistake, right? The point is that everyday full of life is a gift and truly remarkable.
I need to write more…
Satomi's Cancer Blog 