We Have a Plan!!!!!

If you know me, you know that I like it when there is a plan in place........and we have a plan.   We have decided to go with UTSW Radiology and started the process last week.   As I mentioned in the last post, I had a dentist appointment last week.   They took a bunch of xrays and said everything looked pretty good but he wanted me to start getting checked by him every 3 months.   Seems the Mega Radiator 2000 can be hard on teeth........mainly the roots of a tooth, and apparently in dental school they learned that teeth need roots...who knew!?   If at any point I start having issues with the lower jaw on the right side, I'm thinking "Pull them all!!!!!!!!"   I've seen those infomercials on at 2:00 am, I can get a perfect set of choppers for $200!!!!!   Yes, I have to travel to West Virginia for the new teeth, but I think it will be worth it!

Plan for the teeth in place, on to the Hannibal mask.     They want to fit the mask, and do a CT scan right after.   So the mask thingy is pretty interesting.   It starts as a hard plastic sheet, in the basic shape of your shoulders and head.......it looks like one of the silhouettes that you shoot at the pistol range.   They put it in very hot water, and wait for it to soften a bit, then holding my head in the exact position they want, push it over my face/head and bolt it into the table.   Then the techs push it tight against my face and neck, and start blowing cold air on it from a hose, to help it harden faster.   After a couple minutes it's back to solid plastic, and I ain't movin......like not a millimeter.   Slide me in the CT scan and I'm done in 10 minutes.   The techs pull me out and put some tape and write with a Sharpie on the form some numbers and measurements.    Pop the form off and I can breathe again......good times.

This Friday at 10:00 am I have a "practice run" through the entire process.  They want to make sure you can get back in the form, and the Mega Radiatior 2000 goes through it's calculated movements, just without the radiation.    Just making sure it goes and points at the correct areas.    Then Monday I start the actual process.   Not sure on the time yet.......I would love to have the 7:00 am every day, but that is a "very popular time Mr. Peters".    Old people......they like to get up early, get zapped, have the LuAnn platter at 4:15, and bed after the 5:30 nightly news with Brian Williams.  

But we have a plan, have dates set.......5 times a week for 4 weeks starting Monday.......Giddy Up!

Mike

Radiation Appointment #2

There are times when I'm amazed at great customer service, not because I don't expect or hope for it, but because it seems to be rare these days.   This morning I was pleasantly surprised when Dr. C walked in and said "Dr. F and I have met a couple of times to talk about you and your case, I know your history of treatments, surgeries and current choices for treatment........so first of all, how was your bow hunting last fall, Dr. F tells me you love to bow hunt."    Dasha and I were thrilled with her level of explanation of the radiation process, and why she thought the 5 bigger doses of treatment was NOT the way to go (although she said it would work fine also) but instead to do 4 weeks of lower dosage 5 days a week.   The main reason for the change in protocal is the tissue around the area that is being radiated isn't effected negatively as much with the lower dosage.......or so is the hope.   Another interesting thing is they want me to see my dentist soon........like today........because the lower jaw on my right side will have some nerve and blood flow damage, so any dental work that may need to be done should be done now, and they want to have my dentist set a schedule for cleanings more often, ect....   I tell Dr. C that I've been trying to get in to see my dentist for 2+ weeks (after Radiation appt #1 told me the same thing)......her assistant asks who my dentist is, steps in the hall, comes back in 5 minutes and says "you have a 9:00 am appointment in the morning, I talked to your dentist, and we are all on the same page."   Back to that customer service........I'm impressed.   I also have a 1:30 appointment back at UTSW Radiology tomorrow to have a CT scan to map out where vocal cords are, salivary glands, ect.....   And I'm hoping they also fit me for the super cool Hannibal Lecter mask that I wear during treatments.    It takes a week or so after the CT scan and Hannibal mask fitting before I start radiation.   After all of the calculations are run through the computers and set up on the Mega Radiator 2000 (my name for it) and then I'll get scheduled for my first Gamma Ray blast (again, my nickname for it) sometime soon.

If at any time I sounded like I know what I'm talking about in the above post, it's pure luck......hence my trust in Dr. F and Dr. C.   Only lawyers are able to talk about medical procedures and sound like they know what they are talking about, going back to my LONG time belief that "All lawyers want to be doctors".   And when my family of lawyers start talking "law" stuff around the Thanksgiving table, I occassionally say "Tort reform, good or no?" just to see them salivate at the thought that I'm encouraging "law" talk!!!!

Peace out!

Mike

Radiation Appointment #1

Hi everyone.   This morning we had an appointment with Premier Cancer Center (the radiation specialist that Dr. B recommended), and we had a bunch of questions.   First and foremost was "this wasn't an option 2 years ago because of the side effects, why is it now?"    The bottom line is you want to radiate a big area, the bigger the area the better, but you also want to be very specific because in the area of my cancer are several things that do NOT like radiation and could be greatly affected by radiation.....salivary glands, vocal cords and hearing in the right ear.  With that said he thinks he can set the radiation to be below the salivary glands and not affect the hearing, and also thinks that melanoma responds best to BIG amounts of radiation in fewer treatments than we were expecting.   So instead of 5 days a week for 5 weeks, it would be twice a week for a total of 5 treatments.   I would start with an appointment to get a mesh mask made that is put on my face/head wet, and it dries to a rigid form that is screwed to the table, so I'm in the exact same position for every treatment......anyone claustrophobic???

We mentioned that Dr. F wanted us to talk to the radiation department at UT Southwestern, and he was fine with that, encouraging us to get a second opinion, but thought they would probably agree with him on the course of treatment.   I have an appointment with UTSW Jan 2nd, and depending on how that goes, I have a Jan 6th appointment to start the ball rolling with Premier.

On to Top Chef......4 hours until Top Chef comes on.   AND I've been asked to send in another audition tape for BBQ Pitmasters.   I might have to start a grass roots campaign to get me on the show since I've tried out twice.....I don't think I'm "colorful" enough.   Last year two of the contestants had closed caption when they talked because they were so red neck you couldn't understand them!   An institutional stock broker living in the burbs of Dallas just isn't a good enough story!!

Midnight Update

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ear.....I come to report decent news!

So, update earlier and the car ride home was interesting, or at least I'm told, because I don't remember any of it!   I was so ready (rushed) to get out of the surgical center and I was probably still under decent anesthesia and loopy pain drugs....but I was ready to get home!!   I slept for several hours this afternoon, and woke up feeling pretty good.   Definitely a lot more sore than earlier in the day and worn out, but compared to previous surgeries where they messed with lymph nodes, glands and nerves, this was a walk in the park.   Dr. B was able to avoid the nerve that controls the right side of my mouth, and it wasn't working today, but he said that was because the area had been injected with something during the surgery.   Very happy to see if that returns to normal.

So......big day #1 is behind me and I'll call it a success.     Big day #2 is tomorrow when we meet with Premier Cancer Center on 75 about the scheduling of radiation.   I'll have a lot of questions, not only about timing and scheduling, but also about the side effects and why it wasn't suggested just a couple of years ago.   I'm really looking forward to this meeting, as it's the last piece of the puzzle of information that we are gathering.

BUT, I'll post tomorrow with an update on what we learn and how things are going.

And I know I say this all the time, but I'm blessed to have such great family and friends......Love you all very much.

Mike

P.S.   Nice gritty win for the Stars on the second night of an out of town/in town back to back.

Post Surgery Update

From Dasha:

The surgery went well and we are home.  His incision is small and his nerve for his lip was untouched which is a huge praise.  His surgeon said that the surgery went exactly as planned.  Mike isn't in any pain and is sitting at our kitchen counter FINALLY having his coffee for the day!

Here We Go Again!

Yeah yeah, it's been a year and a half since my last blog post, I can see that.  So I'm not as good as my dear friend, and blogging queen JA (Thumper for short) but I'm trying.

As many of you know, I went in for a quarterly surgical oncology check up a week ago.  After a sonogram showed a lump in my neck (same area as previous surgeries) that wasn't "behaving as it should" (glad to see all the med school lingo is paying off for my dr), he did a needle biopsy.  Well, if I'm posting on this blog again, you can guess that on Wednesday it came back positive for melanoma.  Terry at Dr. B's office scheduled a Friday morning appt with the Dr. B to put a plan in place, and ordered a PET scan and a brain MRI.   PET was done Thursday afternoon and the brain MRI Friday morning at 7:30 am.   The PET scan did show the lump in my neck, but thankfully was clear other than that, and the brain MRI came back all clear.

Dr. B set surgery for the next week (tomorrow) and we were off to meet with Dr. F at UT Southwestern.   Dr. F and his staff are awesome.   They had all my scans and test results from Terry and immediately had a plan.   I'm going to have surgery tomorrow at 8:00 am, and will meet with the radiology department on Wednesday morning (if I'm up for it).   Then the plan is after a couple of weeks of healing, start radiation.   I have a lot of questions about radiation as it wasn't an option just a couple of years ago, but I'm looking forward to asking those Wed morning.

So the schedule for the week is:

Tuesday  8:00 am surgery

Wednesday 10:00 meet with radiation team

Wednesday 9:00 watch Top Chef  

Thursday  watch Sopranos 

Friday   watch more Sopranos and Ultimate Survival Alaska

Last week was a very stressful week, but I'm thankful for Dasha, my family and our dear friends.   Dasha's parents are arriving at 6:00 am in the morning to help with the girls, and my parents have relieved a huge stress on us also.

Thank you for friends......each of you are dear to me and thank you most of all for your prayers.   They are felt and very much appreciated.

And yes JA, I promise to post about something, ANYTHING, in the next 18 months!!!!!!   Maybe I could be the Reality Steve of Top Chef!!!!!

Mike

(either I will or someone will update this blog this week, post surgery and post doctor's appointments)

Good Medicine

It has been a while since Mike posted and so many of you asked how he is doing on the 1/2 dose. I just wanted to update on how he is feeling after 4 rounds of the lower dose. He is doing amazingly well and tolerating it so much better. It is obviously not a cake walk and he is a trooper b/c he doesn't complain despite lingering side effects like aches in his hands and feet and shoulders, but we are thankful that is tolerable and so much better than the full dose. He is able to work and even went on a business trip last week. He is eating better and can even enjoy coffee again (big bonus!). It is an answer to many prayers that he is doing better, and we are thankful that it looks like he will be able to do the 1/2 dose for at least a year and hopefully longer.

He enjoyed some "good medicine" this past weekend-taking our family to his "happiest place on earth"-Circle 6 Farm in Missouri. Our dear friends, the Kossmeyers, invite us every year to bring the girls. Mike and Chris have been friends for about 20 years and hunt together every year and it really is Mike's favorite place on earth. They have 4 grown children who are so kind to our girls. Campbell and Avery look forward to this trip every year.

Riding the Big Green Tractor, riding the little four wheeler, fishing, relaxing in the lake and in the hammocks...we did it all!

It really was a perfect weekend for our family. I don't think any of us thought about shots (well, maybe Mike did because he had to take one while we were there), or oncologists or scans while we were there. It was so much fun to spend time with dear friends...."good medicine" for all of us.