Radiation

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This is the picture of the tumor between the 2 green blocks - the round green circle is the anus. Dr. Smith said that it was ~5 - 6 cm from the anus - which is good.

The area in the scan below - where there are no lines - is the area they are treating - as time goes by that will be reduced.

12/7/08 - 212 - Started my radiation and chemotherapy today. I will take pictures of the machine and how my profile is laid out - I have three tattoos - one on my left hip one on the right hip and one right below my naval. They use these three points to align the machine. They also drew the complete treatment area on both hips and my stomach so they could compare them to the scans to be sure that everything will be aligned.

The first day wasn't bad.

1/8/08 - 212 - treatment took about 15 minutes

1/9/08 - 214 - a little discomfort in the anus area.

1/10/08 - 212 - not much change

1/11/08 - 212 - Starting to feel the affects of the burn.

Weekend

1/14/08 - Off today had the done

1/15/08 - 212 - Slight frontal skin irritation

1/16/08 - 212 - Talk to Dr. Smith today about the ultrasound - Dr Alcocer put on the scan T3 N0 CA.

Here is a picture or the area - by this picture I would be a Stage 2 and looking at the inset it has penetrated through the muscle layer almost to the serosa.

T3: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the subserosa, or into
nonperitonealized pericolic or perirectal tissues.

N0: No regional lymph node metastasis

CA: Cancer

We also found out that the actual Staging could not be done until the Pathologist looks at the tumor after the operation.

Having a slight burning when urinating - Dr. Smith has medicine for that. (Just what I need more pills) He said that I could be a "True Longhorn Fan" it makes you pee Orange.

5/28/08 - After thinking about everything that was going on I have concluded - totality a non - medical opion.

I think that doing radiation for one week and the irritation that created and then having to do the clean out had to irritate everything. The next day I had the ultrasound done - the skin being freshly radiated for a week and then the cleanout and the scope probably irritated the rectum.

1/17 - 206 - Bad day - now have a UTI and bleeding. The worse issue is the burning when urinating. Dr. Smith prescribed Levaquin 500mg antibiotic and also for the burning he prescribed Phenazopyrid 200mg. (I am also taking Marshmallow Root) I took the first pill and within about 2 hours my urine is Longhorn Orange - sure glad he warned me about that cause I sure didn't expect it. Having a bowel movement has been almost unbearable pain - apparently the radiation inflamed the Internal Hemorrhoids - This is quite graphic - taking a suppository Hemorrhoidal HC 25mg. Another of the side effects of radiation is burning the skin - the area that they are treating me is from the bottom of the rib cage to the bottom of the pelvis - I'll let you figure this out.

1/18 - 206 - about the same as the 17th.

1/21 - 1/22 - 1/23 - 206 - Dr. Smith gave me these days off to recoup - going to try to restart on Thursday. These days have not been pleasant - the symptoms from the above still persist. 11/22 - No blood in the urine today.

1/28 - 1/29 - 1/30 - 195 - Dr. Smith gave this week off also trying to heal the hemorrhoids - I am going to see my family Doctor today and see if she has any good ideas how to get this under control. Talk to Wanda @ Atkins Pharmacy and she gave me Hemorroides that is a homeopathic, I put under my tongue. I also got Mangosteen to help with the irritation.

1/28/08 - BM this morning was bearable - The pain has subsided quite a bit. I am taking Dulcolax and this helps soften the stool.

1/29/08 - Went to see my family Dr. today and she prescribed me Analpram HC 4x a day - it has an applicator which can reach higher. She also looked online and said what Dr. Smith said that the treatment for hemorrhoids is surgery. Don't know if this is helping or if the supplements and the med combo are working - the pain is nowhere near as bad. Hopefully we can restart the treatments.

After thinking back I had the Ultrasound done a week after I started treatments and had to go through the BCS. I think that having that week of treatments and then having to prep and the procedure itself irritated things more than we knew...

1/30/08 - Hemorrhoid disaster finally ended - I'm telling you what I am going to stay ahead of the game on this one - so that doesn't EVER happen again.

1/31/08 - Another treatment today and all went well - sure have found uses for Aloe Vera - starting to get spots that are getting burnt. Felling kinda like "all my get up and go got up and went"

2/1/08 - Still feeling really tired - had a little hemorrhoid pain today - started back on all the meds for this. This ain't gonna happen again.

2/4 - 2/5 Felt about the same tired. Went to the acupuncturist today to get my shoulder fixed - she let me stay a little longer than usual so I could take a nap. This was my third treatment and all the pain has gone except for the connecting muscle that goes from the neck down the arm. I really think that it is a pinched nerve.

If you have never used acupuncture you should try it. Before you find someone in your area be sure and do your research and find out how qualified they are. I really got lucky to find Patty McCormick

2/6 - 2/7 - Not bad days - just really tired. The burn in the Anus is starting to get a little worse - using lots of Aloe and started using the Lidocane on the external part that has slowed down some of the burn.

2/8 - Today was really bad - left work to get a treatment, stopped by the house to rest for a few minutes. I didn't realize how much the burn was until I had a bowl movement - unbearable. Did not go back to work - laid around the trailer all day in severe pain. Worked the rest of the weekend but stayed on top of the pain.

2/9/08 - Still feel tired - but this is expected. Talk to the Dr. Smith today and told him that I was starting to have some urinary issue. When I would urinate the stream would start and then slow way down and the start back and I was going to the B/R a bunch and up 5-6 times a night. He prescribed ANOTHER drug Flowmax for the issue. You would think that drinking a gallon of water a day might have something to do w/ that. Deedy said that she was cutting me off @ 8pm on the water. Using lots of cold Aloe.

On an off note - Deedy has wanted a tub that she could take a bubble bath - our house in Apacheshores had a real nice tub and since we have moved to Granite Shoals she has been missing it. We have a hot tub - kinda hard to take a bubble bath in there. Deedy has been scouring Craigslist for a bath tub - so we found a brand new garden tub for a steal and I went to Austin to pick it up today.

Ok so here's the full story on the tub.

We went to Bali several years ago and the hotel had an outdoor shower and tub. Deedy was going to surprise me and have some friends come over and build it while I was at work one weekend - just couldn't get it together so we are going to start next week. For all that wonder - this area has a 6' fence around it. I will post the pictures of the construction.

2/10 - My arm has really been hurting. Deedy and I went to Fredericksburg today to see a friend that is a masseuse and she worked on my arm for about two hours and found what I suspected that a vertebrae has twisted and has a nerve pinched - when she was through it sure helped a lot - the pain is bearable. Made an appointment to to see Dr. James Everett - Chiropractor. He comes highly recommend by Patty McCormick.

2/11 - Pain from bowl movement is completely unbearable - really tired. I have again started bleeding from another UTI. The burning when urinating was really bad. Finally had take pain medicine which knocked me out for most of the day. Started taking Phenazopyrid again to tone down the burning and also Marshmallow Root. The urinary issue of starting and stopping has also come back so I am going to start taking Flowmax. One dose of this seems to have vastly improved the issue.

2/12 - BM are still burning and mostly not tolerable. Bleeding worse from the UTI. Talked to the Dr today and she (Dr. Smith was out of town) put me back on the Levaquin to get the infection under control and also gave me the rest of the week off from treatments. I made that costly mistake that I said that I would not do - didn't stay ahead of the game and now the hemorrhoid issue has returned - so back on the band wagon again and this time I am not going to let up. I have 13 treatments left - the profile is also changing and the radiation is now going to get more intense. The profile was reduced by 50%. That means that they are now starting to treat more localized to the tumor. As the profile reduces the burning will become more intense and the effects of the radiation will drastically increase.

2/13 - Started back fighting the hemorrhoids - using Analpram HC 4x a day - Hemorroides as much as possible. Lidocaine is helping the external pain and good ol' AloeVera for the burning. This morning the pain has subsided some during BM's and the burning during urination has decreased. The Flowmax has sure helped. Called and got my STD setup for the time that I will be out during surgery.

2/14 - 2/17 - The unbearable pain persist.

2/18 - Talked w/ Dr. Smith this morning and due to pain that I am having and he has decided to stop the treatments until we can figure out what's going on. He seems to think that maybe the tumor has some edema and swelling from the radiation and the pain that I am feeling in the anus is referred pain. After seeing him I also had an appointment to see Dr. Aung (Oncologist). He said that he would have to refer the issue to Dr. Robertson (Surgeon) for him to do an evaluation - which will probably be a colonoscopy (that means a BCS again) so that he can see the tumor. Dr. Smith said if they deicide to stop the radiation and do the surgery - that I would still have to finish the 12 left and would probably have to have 6 - 7 more if they don't feel the margins are right.. Pain has subsided some today and all of the acute pain has moved to the right side of the anus. I put Aloe Vera on, as have been doing all the time, this time it set me on fire. I came running out of the bathroom and begging Deedy to help me fan the area (of course she thinks I'm nuts) No help she just laughed.. That would have got the 10K from AFV.. Kinda might tell you that the area is a little raw..

Just in a holding pattern right now

1. They could try to wait this out and continue the radiation

2. Do a colonoscopy to try to find out what the issue is

3. Accelerate the surgery

2/19 - 2/24 - Pain has decreased slowly day by day - BM's are now bearable and the bleeding has stopped.

2/25 - 2/26 - Pain has finally ceased and all is back to normal (whatever is normal) I treated for hemorrhoids and this did not make any difference- so I really think the the irritation is much lower.

2/27 - Saw Dr. Robertson (Surgeon) and much to my dismay he did a DRE and said that he didn't see or feel anything that would cause the issues. His recommendation was to restart the radiation and chemo and see what happens - if the irritation returns then we will go ahead w/ the surgery. Monday going to restart the radiation and chemo.

3/3 - Started back on my treatments today - all is going well at this time (knock on wood) - all the pain has subsided.

3/4 - Another treatment today - the last of the treatments in the large profile.

3/5 - The profile was reduced by 50% today - still all is well.

3/19 - Sorry I haven't updated in a while - I have been having very acute pain (bowel and urination) after about the 4th or 5th treatment after I started back - I have just been trying to stick it out as much as possible because......

3/20 - I WILL RECEIVE MY LAST TREATMENT!!!!!!!

after the last treatment I will be off of everything for ~2 months to heal and then they will do the surgery.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support that you have passed along during this mess...

and most of all THANKS to Deedy for sticking by me and helping me in every way that she possibly could - without you I don't think that I would have ever made it through this mess.. I haven't been the most pleasant person to be around during this and you were always there to help!!!!!

I LOVE YOU