Skip to main content

A Visit to the Radiation Oncologist

Well that was a fun experience, NOT!

Starting with the trip to Kaiser Sunset which is on Sunset Blvd in LA. That's about 30 miles into heavy traffic. If you're from LA, you know how tough that drive can be, and if you're not from LA, just be happy you don't have to find out. Fortunately Kaiser runs a shuttle from various satellite locations to the Kaiser Sunset facility, so at least my wife (Edie) won't have to do that commute herself.

As it turns out, she is scheduled for daily treatments, Monday thru Friday, for the next 5 weeks. This came as quite a shock, as Edie was expecting 2 to 3 treatments. I'm not sure what I expected, but it sure wasn't anywhere close to 25 treatments.

As expected, the facility was a very nice and clean facility, and the doctor was very nice and very young also. He tried to paint a not so dire picture of the treatment, but I knew better. And rather than bore you all with the particulars, I'll just tell you that there are side effects (mostly fatigue), and long term effects, i.e. susceptability to secondary cancers some time in the future. There were also some hazards, which he mentioned, but I prefer not to think about them.

In the mean time, Edie goes for a mapping and graphing (I think that is what they called it) on Monday, but we're still waiting for the results of the skeletel exam, the BMB and the urinalysis to ensure that the disease is not showing up anywhere else, before proceeding with the treatment.

Fortunately everybody where I work and where Edie works have been very supportive. I can't imagine how it would be for us, or for others if they were not so supportive.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History IS repeating itself

I didn't grow up during the rise and fall of Hitler and Nazi Germany, so for me to claim it feels like those are the times we are living in now, must be taken with a grain of salt. But I have seen enough movies, and read enough history to know, if the times we're living in now are not akin to the rise of a Nazism and Facism in Europe in the 1930's and 1940's, then we're not far off. If you can't see the parallels with Nazi Germany, then you must be living in a different country than me. Republicans and other right wing extremists will stop at nothing to subvert the will of the majority, forcing their beliefs, that they are the superior race and have been appointed by God, to impose their will on America, while they blame all our problems on immigrants, blacks and Jews. As I speak, Mitch McConnell, and his minions are raising roadblocks to all legislation designed to help average Americans under the guise of fiscal responsibility. They condone violent and verba...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vaccine Mandates, what are they good for?

Not much, that's for sure! Simply showing evidence of receiving a Covid-19 vaccine (whether fake or not), does not mean you are protected from getting Covid-19, nor spreading it, if infected. We are all different, and too many of us, i.e. people who are immunocompromised/ immunosupressed, the elderly, or others for various reasons, do not [cannot] mount an immune response as good as younger and healthier individuals. What is evidence of immunity is a quantitative antibody test showing you have developed antibodies, and to what degree, either from natural immunity or the vaccine.  That is what we should be testing for. That is what is important. But for too long, many, i.e. the FDA, doctors, and other health experts discouraged people (and still are) from getting antibody tests, because there was little knowledge about what level of antibodies are needed to impart immunity to the virus. That of course is true, to some extent, but how can we ever find out [learn] the a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Open letter to all Democrats

Stop the nonsense! Continuing to go after Trump, without any hope of getting a conviction, does nothing more than provide Republicans with an obstructionist dialogue (now that they have come up with the unconstitutional talking point) in addition to giving Trump much needed publicity, when we should be ignoring him. It's the pure definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result! Instead Democrats need to be laser focused on what is important to all Americans, i.e. healthcare, Social Security and Medicare, infrastructure reform, the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, to name just a few. And when you do talk about Trump, simply steer the conversation as to how the Trump administration botched everything, how Trump is responsible for the deaths of 400,000+ Americans, due to his inaction and the down playing of the pandemic, plus the deaths of 2 Capitol policeman during the insurrection Trump provoked and incited on January 6, 2021. ...
Post a Comment
Read more