5/18/11 - Mapping

Well I had the first portion of the SIRT procedure done last week, and I’m finally feeling well enough today to start writing a bit about it. the entire preparation process for this treatment is very particular and is carefully planned. I started with a CT scan and a PET scan on May 6^th which would be used to take better pictures of the blood vessels that are connected to the ones which will be involved during the treatments and try to see where they lead. The CT scan was business as usual and besides a very long wait time due to one of the machines being down, there really isn’t anything exciting to report from that. The PET scan was a new one for me and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I was called back into the room where they measured my height and weight. After that, I was put in my own small cubicle with a recliner and was told to wait. The nurse came in with a cart that looked like it was made of lead and had one of those radioactive/nuclear symbols on the side. She pulled a cone shaped container out of it and inside of that was a syringe filled with some sort of isotope. The whole scene reminded me of kryptonite or something, but it was only a small dose of radiation that would show up on the scans. After the injection I had to drink the red contrast dye for an hour, then proceeded to have the scan done…I fell asleep inside the machine so I guess it took a while.

The next part of the process was the mapping procedure which was done last Wednesday on May 11^th. I didn’t really know what to expect, but they said it could take a long time because the doctor would want to be very careful to make sure everything was properly planned so nothing unexpected would happen when they did the actual treatment. I was awake for most of the surgery…all six hours of it. I dozed off only when the nurse gave me a fresh dose of sedatives, but I was usually awake a few minutes later because they took several scans throughout the procedure to make sure they were on the right track. Luckily, my doctor has a good taste in music so the sounds of his ipod filled the surgical suite the entire time. The surgery itself sucked…it would best be described as being put through the gauntlet. The operation was a series of laying there for long hours, putting my arms over my head, putting them down, becoming very cold, do you need more medicine?, you’re doing great…it was all very tiring. To top off a six hour surgery, I was not allowed to move from laying on my back for another four hours since they needed time for the glue holding the incision in my femoral artery to set. This was incredibly annoying and even painful because I pretty much hadn’t moved from laying on my back since early that morning.

We finally got home after what seemed to be a longer than normal ride, but either way I was relieved…mostly because I really needed to throw up. Apparently I got too excited about the crackers and apple juice I was allowed to have and didn’t pace myself slow enough. The recovery has been a bit longer than I expected and I still walk with a bit of a limp. I had low grade fevers for about a week which have finally subsided today. I’m still trying to get my appetite back and I really need to because I’ve probably lost a good amount of weight from everything. It’s a bit scary thinking I have to do this two more times and they’ll be injecting radiation each time which will add to the side effects. I know I’m in great hands with my doctors because they are very precise in what they do, they actually filmed my surgery as a training guide for the World Conference of Oncology. But, I’ll admit I have been a bit worried how my body will handle this surgery two more times, but I guess it’s up to me to prepare myself as much as I can on the days when I’m feeling well. Perhaps I was a little too optimistic and overestimated my body’s ability to recover since it only took a few days to bounce back from treatments. Either way, this is going to be a very difficult and trying summer…so for now I’ll wait and prepare myself because next Friday the storm is coming…

Tomorrow, hopefully the rain holds off, the North Haven community has been so generous in showing their support for me that they are dedicating their senior night for the baseball team to RELENTLESS Against Cancer. Their support has meant so much to me and I’m really hoping the weather holds out because it would be great to see everyone. The game is at 7pm at Bob Demayo Field in North Haven where the old high school used to be.