I Made it to World Cancer Day…Now What?!

As I look back on the past 8 months, I cry. Time must be broken. It felt like an eternity. I have done 30 radiation sessions (external beam radiation) with a thermoplastic mask over my face. Too much radiation can kill you. During these sessions they strapped me down to the table. Every time, drugs flooded into my veins as I became nauseous. I HATED IT.

They STOP the CHEMO!!! They had to stop the Chemo in November. WHY? I got an infection in my head. The infection caused me to have surgery on my head. I am now missing a piece of my skull. I had to have a picc line (Which is a peripherally inserted central catheter in my big vein.) for 8 weeks in my arm to pump me full of antibiotics twice a day.

Get the Gallbladder OUT!!!
One of the antibiotics caused gallstones and I had to get my gallbladder out. However, 2 gallstones passed causing choledocholithiasis. That is a fancy word that means the gallstones lodged in my common bile duct instead of the gallbladder. Basically, the stones are on the way to my pancreas.

Ready for MORE Radiation. NO WAY. First things first. This last December, right before Christmas, they put a titanium plate (Craniotomy) in my skull. It’s a substitute for the missing chunk they took out of my head. I was told to go home for eight weeks. After 5 months of waiting for further treatment, two weeks ago today, I finally had my first clean MRI.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY. Finally, while 114 million folks in this United States were watching the Seahawks throw away the Super Bowl, I resumed the radiation treatments. There I was during the pregame show in your house, lying strapped to a table with the same plastic mask on my face getting more radiation on my head.

CHEMO. I take the drug Temodar. Temodar (Temozolomide) is used to treat certain cancerous brain tumors in adult patients. I started cancer as a kid and I am now an adult. How did that happen?

Today, is World Cancer Day. Now what?