ok folks, here's the deal.
i haven't healed enough from the surgery to begin any treatment. i need a couple more weeks for the scars to heal and particularly for the lymph drain to stop draining so much. i have a tube draining out from above my left groin where they removed 15 lymph nodes (5 of which where cancerous). the tube drains into a bulb that i have to empty a couple times a day. i have named the bulb 'bob" - but bob with a british accent, so it kinda sounds like bulb. say bob with a british accent and you'll see what i mean. bob. bob. NO I AM NOT ON PAIN MEDICATION RIGHT NOW THANK YOU FOR ASKING.
seriously you guys, i am a leaky faucet right now. a faucet that drips an orangish translucent mixture of lymph and blood. mmmm. so i'm not ready for treatment, and we're waiting a bit. that gives me a couple weeks to stop leaking so much and to build up my strength.
and i will need that strength, because at some point in about mid-june, i'm going to start radiation. it'll be about five to six weeks of lower dosage radiation, as opposed to a shorter cycle at greater strength. they'll be aiming the radiation from around the top of my hip to the bottom of my knee, and they're concerned about potential for damage to my lower intenstine and rectum (rectum? i don't even know him! hA!). so they'll perform a longer-term but lower dosage radiation to minimize that damage.
as for interferon and the experimental melanoma vaccines (currently in phase two), i won't start any other treatments until i'm completely through the radiation cycle.
so i will have the next few weeks to heal, gather my strength and try to live my life as normally as possible. i'm going to be in the office for a couple hours tomorrow and then slowly start phasing back into working regularly. i'm just about out of sick days and i'd like to save my going on disability for when i really need it. and i'd like to save my vacation days for when i'm healthy enough to enjoy them.
i'll try to keep you all updated as things progress, but i may return to work and find myself totally overwhelmed with a backlog of projects.
thanks again to all of you for your support, love and encouragement!
Thank you for telling us all what is happening.
ReplyDeleteSo we still need to keep your leg away from vampires. Good to know.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, one can never have enough rectum jokes.
I haven't had a chance to call or say so in person but Jonah, feel better young man, thinking of ya'.
ReplyDeleteSpitzer? I hardly even know her!
Bonus one: I went to Tampa with her....She loves Florida. (this one sounds funnier than it looks)
Dipshit, the joke is "Rectum? Damn near killed 'em!"
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected. Thank you, Ms. Smarty pants.
ReplyDeleteAlso... I've had this problem before, in fact on the phone with you I think - that color's not orange is it?? I wouldn't remotely have called it orange. Am I actually color blind???
ReplyDeleteI am color blind at the red-orange intersection.
ReplyDeleteThanks for rubbing it in.
You're on a roll today with the hurting my feelings.
[cry]
No!! ME! I'm the one who can't distinguish those colors! Remember you called once and I was in the middle of a fight with Christine in Banana Republic about whether a sweater was red or orange. I can't tell the difference between green and gray often either... maybe I do have rabies...I'm confused
ReplyDeleteLove you loads Jonah. Sent a note but it got returned - guess the address was not quite right but think we have it now - 97 Allen Ave, Brooklyn 11229 - right?
ReplyDeleteGinger and Richard