Photo ops and auras...

Today was a day of many meetings, along with treatments. The first meeting was with the Virginia Mason photography shop, where they took a head shot of me for use in a potential interview. This should prove interesting; there are quite a few features of this situation I'd be happy to talk about.



The next meeting came with one of the doctors and a nurse in the Radiology-Oncology section, after I received my radiation treatment for the day. (Eight days to go...!) They agreed that everything was going very well.



Then, late in the day, we met with the doctor who is basically in charge of my participation in the clinical trial program that two others and I are participating in. This was a good meeting, where I got a lot of questions answered -- as did the doctor. A lot of it involved preparing for events after I finish this six weeks of treatments and go home. When do I restart one form of chemotherapy; how can we make the schedule of using the other chemotherapy better for my life and schedule; what can I eat and drink; when should I go see my opthalmologist to see if my vision has been affected; and several others. One interesting discussion was about my "sense of smell" from inside my brain, from an effect caused by the radiation. This is refered to in the medical arena as an "aura." Though I occasionally pick up a smell, or "aura," best described as burnt hair, rotted leaves and ozone, in fact it doesn't exist and is totally within my cerebral functioning. Apparently a variety of people suffering cerebral impact of various forms smell the same scent. Personally, Faith and I call it the smell of dead cancer, since killing the remnants of cancer in my brain is the entire purpose of these treatments. I like the notion that I can smell it dying. After the meeting was over, I felt that every question was patiently answered; I hope I was as patient answering the doctor...!



After all those meetings, we returned to our apartment and ate dinner, after which I did laundry. Finishing the day with "common events" was comforting, somehow.



Hope you had a productive day too...



Dennis & Faith