June 12th arrives on schedule and we begin treatment in the afternoon. We start with a trip to the lab for a blood draw to check my levels, my red count, white count, platelet count, and more. This will be used to confirm that my levels look good today and will be used as a baseline for comparison with future tests throughout treatment to ensure that my levels aren’t falling off too much. Before the blood test, I comment to…
The wait from Tuesday, June 2nd, the day we learned it was officially stage 4 metastatic lung cancer with spread to the liver, to the start of treatment with chemo and targeted therapy on June 12th felt like a l-o-n-g time. We were on board with the treatment plan and we wanted to get started as soon as possible, but treatment plan recommendations from tumor boards and approvals of expensive targeted therapy pills like Tagrisso don’t happen overnight. So we…
In February of 2020, I developed a cough that went unresolved for about three months. Barely noticed it at first, except it never went away. In the COVID-19 shutdown, Kathleen noticed how persistent it was and it started to concern her, so on May 4th I called for a consultation with my doctor and requested a chest X-ray. On May 5th we got the results of the X-ray. I have a 2″ “mass” in the upper part of my left…
I have never wanted to be a blogger. With that said as clearly and as plainly as possible, I have a vision. And in my vision I go through this process of diagnosis and treatment very openly and transparently. I want anyone and everyone who wants to know what’s happening, to be in the loop and up to date. I don’t want anyone to be stuck wondering. If things are going well and I feel good, I want you to…