Random Thoughts

A funny thing happened on the way to my nuclear medicine treatment. Well, not so much funny as unexpected. The tumor on my back grew - really fast. The doctors had changed my drug regimen in order to “excite” the cancer and then zap it with radioactive iodine. I was only one day away from the appointment to take the radioactive iodine, after a week of “dosimetrics” to determine how much stuff to take. But the cancer got a little too excited and grew like crazy. My legs got worse and I was in greater danger of becoming paralyzed. I woke up Sunday morning (June 17) about 4 am feeling really strange. I felt rationale, but was pretty sure that pure evil had entered my body. I quickly moved into a panic state and Carmela and I considered a trip to the emergency room, then considered just driving ourselves, then things eased up a bit. But after the next panic attack at 10 am, we got into the car and headed for the ER. (more…)

We were warned not to make any major decisions during this period of time of surgery and heavy drug alteration. But I had already racked up considerable experierience in my earlier life making major decisions during drug use, so we tried out a few things. We decided to move to the research triangle area of North Carolina for the duration of my cancer treatment. It would mean packing and selling our house, finding and buying a new home and moving to it. I would not be of any physical help and that presented a new challenge for me in moving. We also loved our Roanoke Island home. It was to have been our final home, our retirement home. So there were conflicts for me in the move. But I also knew it was the right thing at that time. Besides, I was on all kinds of drugs and wasn’t accountable for decisions. (more…)

As Carmela and I met with the various doctors who would be treating my cancer, we became more aware that our schedule would evolve over time. Nothing was set in stone. But our first stage of treatement was radiation therapy, and it was pretty much set in stone: 14 treatments over 3 weeks.

Just prior to the first treatment, we lucked out and rented this wonderful little 1930’s one bedroom, one bath cottage, the “Rose Cottage” in the Watts Hillandale neighborhood in Durham. We are grateful to our good friend Peggy for spreading our housing needs over the local listservs. And not only were our landlady and landlord full of life and joy, they were both nurses. They told us to call anytime we needed them, and they surely meant it. We were in good hands all around. (more…)

Traveling to Chapel Hill, I brought along my 35mm Nikon with a zone plate body cap. Its a good travel camera, along with my Zero 2000 pinhole camera. I was visiting the UNC Hospital for further diagnosis of my cancer and then start treatment. My back is healing nicely, but I still need a walker to get around. The camera and light meter weigh me down more than usual, so I started hanging my camera off the walker. The UNC Health Care center has become a large complex with an interesting architectural mix of buildings. The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center that I’m visiting is just one facility in the Health Care complex. Staff and patients are much more international and culturally diverse than than when I worked there years ago. It was an exciting adventure to return. And I brought along my zone plate to capture some of the flavor of it.
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