Just touching base....

So, what's happening?

I have 8 more radiation treatments, and a few days after that will get a new MRI to see what has happened.  I'm a little terrified of that scan.  It could mean 6 more weeks of radiation, or worse.

But so far I am tolerating treatments very well.  I'm starting to get some radiation burns around my right eye and forehead, but aloe really helps soothe those, and they will heal fine and fast once they stop blasting me.

After three days of very hi anxiety we were able to get the pharmacy to ship the correct number of pills for me to complete this first phase of chemotherapy.  But we were on the phone with everyone from the FBI to the insurance company before we finally got it resolved.  They showed up this morning.  These meds are astonishingly expensive ($15k/month), and so we were really sweating whether we were going to have to go find some in KC and just buy them without using insurance.  That would have been about $2500 for a couple days.

Not much else to report.  I can feel that my scalp is reattaching to my skull -- little tingles and stretches  Good -- I think I like it attached better than not.  I assume the bones are fusing, but don't get much sensation from that.  That's probably going to be another month before those bones are strongly fused.  I'll have to be very careful on the bike.  No falls, and always wear a helmet (which I do, anyway, and always have).

Had some ultrasound on my legs to R/O DVT the other day; I'm very short of breath all the time and my radiation onc doc is concerned about pulmonary embolisms.  But my leg veins are fine.  Ultrasound is weird: the sound of your blood going through your arteries and veins is trippy.  (I do suppose the alternative would be worse.)

Have been making an effort to get together with folks for lunches and things, or just trying to stop by and say hey so that they can see that I'm still here, still me.

I'm very lucky.  Masterful, god-like neurosurgeon to go that far into my frontal lobe, take out about 20% of it, and have me sitting here coherently writing (or mostly coherently).

I'm so overwhelmed by the care and concern shown me by my friends and colleagues, by people in my real as well as virtual circle of friends.  It's just amazing.

You don't know what you mean to people until something shitty happens, I think.  That's a shame.  We should try more often to let folks know how we value them before they're on the way to dying.

Okay, enough for now.  Even though there's no humidity in the house, I'm going to get the pipes out and see if they'll play at all today.  Doubtful.  They were born in Ireland, not Arizona....

Ciao for now.