Fundraisers for Me

My incredible SF Bay area friends are hosting a fundraiser to help me pay for my cancer treatments. My friends who live in NYC don't have to feel left out. They will be invited to an east coast fundraiser, my birthday party, also held on Saturday November 21st.

 You're invited to a West Coast Fundraiser Wine & Cheese Party for Shane!

Week Four - Inflatable donut

Doh! Cancer is now officially a pain in my ass, at least a couple of times a day.  Luckily, there's oxycontin.  Narcotics woo woo!  That inflatable donut at the RX is starting to look better and better.

Week Three Matzo Balls

I start my third week of continuous chemotherapy today. A pump, which I wear, administers the cocktail 5FU via the aforementioned port catheter. It’s attached to me 24/7. My oncologist said the pump would be about the size of a Walkman – more like a portable 8 track cassette player. The pump makes a sound like an industrial air freshener in a restroom. The saucy chemo nurses who laugh at my bad puns swap the cassette of 5FU and insert a new needle in my port every week.

The 5FU will not cause me to lose what little hair I have left. So far I have only felt a little nauseated no long conversations yet on the big white porcelain telephone. Last week the doctor gave me a script for Marisol or oral Mary Jane and told me to eat more donuts. A side effect of the Marisol could be increased desire3 to watch Cheech and Chong movies and laugh hysterically. High caloric foods will help increase my blood pressure. I will have another bowl of matzo ball soup please.

New Plumbing

End of September I obtained some new hardware.  A vascular surgeon installed a titanium port catheter on the left side my chest and neck.  A thin plastic tube was inserted into a blood vessel to provide a painless way of drawing blood or delivering chemotherapy into my bloodstream over a long period.

If you ever want to get a seat on crowed subway in NYC where a huge piece of balled up gauze taped to your neck.  Works like a charm.  Although, I was sore after the surgery (thank you Jesus for Vicodin), I am starting to get used to my new plumbing.

What You Can Do to Help

Here's a way you can help out.  Make us dinner.  We could use a hand or a kind note.  This website has a a calendar with a list of activities or tasks that you can sign up for to help us out.  Thanks.
http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com

Treatment

The recommended treatment is pre-op chemo and radiation therapy, then surgery, followed by more chemo therapy.  Over six weeks I go in for radiation 5 days a week for a total of 28 treatments.  During the same period 5 days a week I receive continuous chemo therapy (5FU).  This simaltaneous treatment method has had good results.  I have a port catheter that a surgeon installed in my chest.  The chemo is administered via the port by a cassette/pump that I wear 24/5.  Freaky no.

Then, I will have surgery to remove the tumor probably around the holidays six to eight weeks after the treatments. I will get a temporary ileostomy (bag) so that my body can heal, and then 8 weeks later they will reverse  the ileostomy.  Two different surgeons have said it is unlikely that I will need a permanent colostomy, but it is a possibility.

They recommended 6 months of post-operative chemotherapy since it looks like the cancer might be in some of my lymph nodes - that's the difference between stage 2 and stage 3.

Diagnosis

No shortage of great physicians and hospitals in this city.  In fact, it feels like half the doctors of NYC will have had a finger in my rec . . . recovery.  According the biopsy and two ultrasounds I have stage 2 or 3 rectal cancer.  The good news is that the cancer doesn't appear to have spread to any other major organs although it may have spread to a couple of lymph nodes.  Both surgeons that I visited recommended the same treatment plan, and they said this type of cancer is common and curable.