Beam Me Up...

  

The blessing (and yes, there is one) of having this undeniable pain that indicated there was a problem is that we were able to address it rather quickly. The tumours in my lower spine and hips have been growing for quite some time as evidenced by the bone marrow biopsies I had done in August and in October. The odd thing about cancer is that you can see that something is going sideways, but you can't necessarily tell in what fashion this is happening. For all we knew, the presence of cancerous cells was merely in my bloodstream and in my bone marrow. As it turns out, this was not the case. 

The ridiculous part of all of this and the most difficult part of this to swallow is that my doctor had to submit to Anthem BlueCross/BlueShield an approval request for an urgent MRI. Again, the operative word here is "urgent". The insurance company did not respond within 24 hours and sent back a message that said they have up to ten days to respond to this request. Ten. Days. A lot can happen in ten days. Hell, a lot happened overnight for me last weekend. 

My oncologist. who also thinks this whole process is bullshit, said the best course of action was for me to go to the Emergency Department in Lakewood where they would undoubtedly do a CT scan, which does not require insurance approval, get plied with heavy muscle relaxers and pain killers, and incur a $350 ED visit co-pay charge. Because all of this happened, they found out just how bad the situation was. Basically, the system is broken and needs to be fixed. Anyone who tells me otherwise can go fuck themselves. 

 

Kudos to the folks at the Lakewood ED and especially to my oncology team that they were able to move things along so quickly. By the time we were sitting at the pharmacy drive-thru to drop off the prescription order, Nurse Janice was on the phone with us to tell me to get down to Cleveland Clinic Main Campus where I would meet with Dr. S and his team to start scheduling an immediate start to radiation therapy. 

We arrived at 1:00 PM and by 3:00 PM we were ready to move forward. The next morning, I got a call from the Moll Pavilion at Cleveland Clinic Fairview Park (where I began this whole thing in 2014) that I was set for a noon appointment to get mapped and have a simulation run. This process of mapping and simulation running can basically be thought of creating a GPS route for the beam to target the area as accurately as possible. They run another CT scan of the area, use a Sharpie to draw X's on me and then tattoo little black dots my abdomen to make sure the massive machine is lined up properly for each session. 

The first session commenced at 5:00 PM on Thursday. I get the simple job of just having to lay on a blanket placed on a metal table with a pillow and a knee prop. They move me around a little bit until the lasers inside the unit match up with the X's and the main Sharpie X. The techs retreat to their little room to engage the beam. A loud buzz sounds as the proton or photon beams travel from the lens and into the target area. There really is no noticeable sensation during the procedure, but every now and again, you can feel a little warmth as things get zapped. 

The giant machine revolves around the patient, targeting the tumours from different angles as dictated by the "GPS". It's absolutely fascinating to watch such an apparatus in operation. If everything goes well with the computers running the procedure, the patient is generally in and out of the room within 5 to 10 minutes. 

 

My second session came hot on the heels of the first one, happening less than 14 hours after the last one. I found myself back at Moll Pavilion at 7:00 AM. Same table, same crew, but this time it was a much shorter session. This was good as I was able to find myself back home and able to work a couple of hours before going in for my now expanded Friday infusion (Daratumumab, Kyprolis, IGIV - an immunity booster, Benadryl and more Dexamethasone on top of the stuff I took at home).

While not a huge advocate of extra Dexamethasone, being a steroid, it helps reduce inflammation in tissues, so that brought some extra relief to the "broken" area of my body and allowed me to not have to rely on Flexerol and Oxycodone, or for lesser pain, Tramadol. 

So, beam me up! I am ready to get the remaining three applications of radiation on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Fingers are crossed that everything is handled and life can go back to normal for more than two years this time. Please?

Live Long and Prospser.