Getting on to the real treatment - or - I like facebook pokes better than real ones!

So far this week all the prep work has been done. I've attended a number of educational sessions, something Mayo does really well (like most everything else. If they completely eliminate patient waiting they will be pretty much perfect... but still they are better than most there too). Then Wednesday I had a liver biopsy in three spots. It confirmed the cancer in the liver is the same as the one in the colon. That is good news. Had they been different then treatment and the overall prognosis would have been much rougher. I do like good news!

Yesterday I had a power port put in. I joke that it is my first Borg implant (Borg, for the non-science fiction fans, is a half biological - half mechanical form of life. Nice guys though, if you want to be assimilated into the Borg collective. I'm taking applications now...). That was a rather painful process. Not the procedure itself, but the fact that the anesthesia did not last eighteen hours was a problem. No, really it should not last that long, but I wish it had. The port is the 'central line' Julia posted a picture of earlier, but instead of terminating in some connectors outside the body, mine ends in a plastic / rubber type receptacle under my skin about two or three inches below my right shoulder bone. It will allow them to introduce chemo drugs and take blood samples without sticking me in the arm every time. and it can stay in indefinitely.

So I am ready for my first chemo today! Mike, a good family friend, will be keeping me company for the five hour procedure. I'll also have a book and an iTouch with music, games, and podcasts. It shouldn't be too bad, but I'm looking forward to the future sessions that will run only three hours. This weekend I'll blog about how the session went. I'm curious to see how I react the the chemo. It is not supposed to be as kick-ass as chemo for lung, breast, or pancreatic cancer. I probably won't even lose my hair (at least not more than I already have!)

Take care,
Chris and Julia