On Treatments and Loss
The schedule questions finally got resolved with a couple of phone calls on Tuesday, 7/6. Julie, the Social Worker in radiation oncology, called me mid-morning to say that Hope Lodge had a room for me starting Wednesday, 7/7, and had Dr. V's office called me? If not she would call them, verify the starting date, and call me back. As they hadn't called yet, that sounded the best option to me. She called me back about half an hour later with the news that I was to undergo my dry run on Wednesday, immediately followed by the first treatment, and that I was confirmed at Hope Lodge through 7/21.
I called Saint H and we hustled to make arrangements for furry childcare, and all the usual "leaving-town-for-3-days-with-less-than-24-hours'-notice" tasks... It's wonderful to have a known address for the duration, as we can leave things in place when we head back home on weekends to replenish clothing.
I haven't figured out whether I'm going to see near-immediate benefit, but I do know that my back pain has diminished somewhat. I'll take that, I think.
We received word that the second founding member of the Renal Cell Networking Group, John Gillivan, had passed away this morning. His brain mets came back and he lasted only a few days in ICU at the James. John and his caregiver, wife Susan, were instrumental in my being here still. When I first joined the group, I was trying to figure out what next course of action should be (remember this was in 2004). I had almost settled on starting with a clinical trial when they pointed out that one had to try and fail at high dose IL-2 in order to be eligible for most clinical trials. If one chose to start with some other therapy, one would be disqualified for most drug trials and other medications. Luckily I listened to them, suffered through high-dose IL-2, and then when that failed me I moved onto trials and other drugs; "the rest is history" as they say. I'd have missed buying the farm, building the house, refocusing my life on what's important. This process of postponing a bad outcome has taught me what's precious. I'd not have missed these lessons for the world.
I called Saint H and we hustled to make arrangements for furry childcare, and all the usual "leaving-town-for-3-days-with-less-than-24-hours'-notice" tasks... It's wonderful to have a known address for the duration, as we can leave things in place when we head back home on weekends to replenish clothing.
I haven't figured out whether I'm going to see near-immediate benefit, but I do know that my back pain has diminished somewhat. I'll take that, I think.
We received word that the second founding member of the Renal Cell Networking Group, John Gillivan, had passed away this morning. His brain mets came back and he lasted only a few days in ICU at the James. John and his caregiver, wife Susan, were instrumental in my being here still. When I first joined the group, I was trying to figure out what next course of action should be (remember this was in 2004). I had almost settled on starting with a clinical trial when they pointed out that one had to try and fail at high dose IL-2 in order to be eligible for most clinical trials. If one chose to start with some other therapy, one would be disqualified for most drug trials and other medications. Luckily I listened to them, suffered through high-dose IL-2, and then when that failed me I moved onto trials and other drugs; "the rest is history" as they say. I'd have missed buying the farm, building the house, refocusing my life on what's important. This process of postponing a bad outcome has taught me what's precious. I'd not have missed these lessons for the world.
Labels: appointment results, life in general, lung lesions, medications, radiation
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