What comes first?.....

Today is my first treatment day after 9 years of being off from treatments.  Last night I spent time getting all our I's dotted and T's crossed in preparation for effectively a 3 day Nap.   Today we got to the cancer treatment center pretty early. I got labs done right away and then was brought back to a new pod for treatment.  First introductions were done and going over case with my nurse followed.  She's nice and I'm pleased how she cares for me and I am sure the relationship will go well to follow.  In the words of a friend, I don't see her taking her broom into work. First item on the business was port access.  I had that placed on May 25 just 3 weeks ago today.  She cleaned it and I kindly told her to give me a warning when pushing the needle.  She said on 3 take a big breath.  She got to three and I didn't have a chance to breath.  That took all my breath away!  It hurt quite a bit.  I know people say your port is your friend.  I still haven't gotten to the point where I feel the same.  Not to long after port was accessed she hung saline and the pushed 2 meds. One was a steroid and another being an anti nausea med.  They ran that through for 25 minutes and then they hooked up my Avastin which is the drug that helps the Chemo be effective in stopping cell growth.  After my 90 minutes here then Chemo (Fol Furi) a common drug when treating Colon Cancer. 

Back to that title.  If you read it the next thought in your mind should be "the Chicken or the Egg".  I'm not referring to Chicken's or Egg's here rather Chemo or Pet Scan results.  My nurse nudged them and said they are not finished with my Pet Scan results yet. ( at that point in me  begining in writing the post.) She said she would check again before the end of treatment to see if they have come in by then.  So obivously Chemo comes first.  Not exactly the order I had planned things out in my mind. Roughly a half hour to forty minutes later I was notified through My Chart of the results of the PET Scan.  So here we go.... Many of my organs are not affected, here is the low down on what was lit on the scan.  In my first battle with cancer it was found in the Liver and Colon.  I had a surgery back then on both Colon and Liver, on the current scan  the resectioned part of the Liver they found at the resection site it showed some growth or it was lit and that is evidence of reacurence.  They feel with the Chemo that I am on that they will be able to attack that.  The second part of the scan showed a few nodules on the Thyroid.  It is a very slim chance that this area could be cancer but it did show concern and so I will be seeking further advice on what we need to do.  On Tuesday, June 20 I will be having an Ultrasound to determine what I need to do to address this.  Then there is the mass that they found below my Liver sitting surrounding the Portal Vein.  As all this is hard to hear, we are hopeful that much of this will shrink with the Current Chemo plan.  

As many of you are aware after Leah's facebook post, we have had quite a few hurdles in this first round of Chemo.  I have had a total of 3 Hydration treatments over the last three days.  I have battled several days of being sick and trying to figure what my body can handle with food and drink so that I do not need to make a return trip to the ER this weekend.  

I can not thank you all enough for your Love and Prayers over my recent diagnosis.   We would love to ask as we antcipate the next Chemo for all your prayers for calm minds, the right way to hydrate before Chemo and that I have very few side effects in the next round.  

I hope all of you have a wonderful Father's Day.  Lydia just had her 1st week of campers at Camp Geneva and I will be seeing her this evening and a bit on Sunday before she retuns for a second week with more wonderful campers who can't wait to meet their new counselor......Lydia! 

~ Kent and Leah too.