A very busy two weeks

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile...the past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and doctors' visits. Last week I had a bunch of different scans and tests, as well as a very interesting visit to the fertility doctor that for modesty's sake I will not be blogging about.

Last Friday I had my second visit with Dr. Penley and received some very good news. The PET scans did not show cancer anywhere in my body besides my neck, meaning that I am in stage I/II of this disease. Since we managed to catch this relatively early, I will only be having four months of chemotherapy and then a month of radiation (as opposed to much longer treatments if I were in a later stage), which is fantastic news.

Yesterday I had my first dose of chemotherapy, and I have to say that it really was not all that bad. Basically all it involved was sitting in a recliner for three hours reading a book while nurses came by and switched out various bags into my IV. All the patients receive their treatments in the same room, and the atmosphere in there is actually pretty nice with people conversing and commiserating over their experiences. The regimen of drugs I am receiving is called ABVD (there is a Wikipedia page on it for those who are interested), and one of these chemicals is bright red, which is sort of weird to watch go into your arm (it also makes your pee neon orange which is funny). The nurses gave me all sorts of warnings about what to be careful about while receiving these drugs because apparently if the IV gets blocked and the fluid spills onto your skin, you can get burned. Pretty ironic considering they are pumping this stuff directly into the bloodstream...

I slept most of the day yesterday, and aside from general feeling of crappiness, I was in pretty good spirits. I did not get sick (thank you $650 anti-nausea medication!) and actually ate a bunch of pizza for dinner. Basically yesterday was like any other day so far in my life of unemployment. People say the first day is easy and the following days are when things get difficult, but I am still feeling just fine this morning. No big plans for Thanksgiving this year considering everything that is going on, but at least the Godfather trilogy is on TV.