This blog exists so that your email boxes won't be so cluttered. I'll just record the events of the summer here and hopefully keep friends, family, and colleagues posted as to my treatments this summer.
Currently the schedule is:
June 6th: Remove 11 lymph nodes from both sides of my neck and above my collar bones. This will happen at Wash U in St Louis. I should be in the hospital for 1-2 days afterwards. Hopefully I'll be climbing and riding my bike the monday afterwards ; )
Sometime in June: get some shots (G-CSF for you medical folks). Then get my stem cells harvested. These will be for a rainy day if I ever need 'em after my radiation treatment this summer
July 7: Show up at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. For the next week and a half, I'll be going to the hospital on a daily basis. On the 7th I'll receive a very small amount of radiation (I'll drink it out of a little vial with a straw) and a shot with a fake (recombinant) hormone that makes my body think I don't have any thyroid hormone (rTSH). Each day afterwards, I'll get my blood drawn and a scan. The idea is to 'study' how my body deals with the radioactive iodine that I drank so that they can calculate the largest amount my body can handle.
July 17: Drink a big 'ol dose of radioactive iodine. yum. Then I'll be bubble boy for a day or two and have to stay in the hospital.
One week later on July 24: I get a scan and a meeting with the doctor to see where the iodine was taken up...which we already know will be my lungs and we hope will not be my neck since we're hoping the surgery takes care of my neck.
Some number of months later: hopefully I'll have a blood test and it'll show I'm finally (after 3 years...diagnosed in 2005) in remission! Sweet.
7 comments:
Dan and Maggie,
Great set pictures in the blog. Sorry that Cindy and I were not able to meet in Colorado, and my response is slow, just a lot finishing here. I hope the treatment goes well and I will be visiting the web site for more pictures and updates. Are you both off for the summer? I hope the best for you.
greg and cindy
Best of luck to you, Dan. I'll be thinking of you. If you want to hit some bike trails, give me a call.
Hey Dan, thanks for posting the latest. We'll be sending you positive vibes and wishes for a full remission. Good luck this summer and thanks for including pictures of you and Maggie, we miss you!!!
Ozark, great shots of you and Maggie. When will we ever meet this heroine? May the luck o' the Irish get you on the road to remission and inspire you to chug that iodine like it's a tasty pint of Guinness. May the force be with you.
Kroh 'n Annemz
dan!
will you have time and/or energy to hang out when you're back in StL? let's get some PF changs. . . my treat. give me a call or drop me a blog-note.
love you bud,
monty
Dear Dan,
I'm very sorry to hear about this.
I'm teaching a theology course this summer on the problem of evil (see, e.g., http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/). Maybe you can help me with this...
My thoughts and prayers,
Andrew
Hey Dan,
Nice pict!
I'll keep on sending you positive thoughts. Know that a lot of people are doing the same. If you want a little distraction visit the Team Saucisson Blog I told you about:
http://teamsaucisson.blogspot.com/
In the meantime I'll keep my finger crossed for you and Maggie. You'll get through this and will be ready for the little one to come!
Sof.
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