Weekend of 11-03-2007

Just so everyone knows, November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month. If you are so inclined, please wear as much purple as possible and let people know about pancreatic cancer. I know that it is not the most uplifting topic but creating awareness of the disease really helps the cause. If you are really motivated, you can go to www.pancan.org and email your representative or senator. Awareness leads to money that can go into research which, hopefully, will prevent you or your
family from having to through what we are going through. Try to think of creative ways of promoting the cause. Some may have unforeseen benefits. On November 1st, I wore my purple tie to work and got quite a response. People thought was going for an interview at another company. I laid their concerns to rest, told them that Raytheon has treated me incredibly well, that I was very happy, and that my tie was just to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer. People joked that I might as well let my management think I was interviewing and then see if they would give me a bit to keep me around.

Overall, things are going well with me. I still feel well. Chemo continues and is still pretty mellow, life is generally good, Eva is amazing, and work remains fairly enjoyable. Basically, I am still just plugging away. My regimen seems to have changed a bit again as I was expecting Taxotere, Epirubicin, and Erbitux, last Monday, but got only Taxotere. For the last little while I have been going in once every three weeks, but I was in last Monday (10/29), I was back in Tuesday (11/06), and I am scheduled for next Monday (11/12). I had a CT scan last Monday but will not know the results for a few days, maybe a week. The scans continue to be mellow but the stress level for the few days before and after a scan go up quite a bit as they are essentially progress reports on your body.

With all the trips we have taken and the time that has gone to work, somehow it had been about 4 months since Eva and I had been over to Catalina. To remedy the situation, Eva and I cruised over to the island last weekend. In November, the Camping cabins open up making for some very reasonable accommodations at Two Harbors. The excitement of the summer has wound down quite a bit and the town returns to the sleepy character that Eva and I love so much.

We left Saturday morning and had a pretty mellow crossing- just a touch of wind chop on the water. We kept trying to get into the fog, thinking that it would be even flatter there, but the sun kept breaking through as we would approach and we never got into it. Two Harbors looked a bit eerie as an intimidating fog bank on the back of the island was funneling through the isthmus. We cruised towards the west end of the island and found a good spot for a bit of fishing. Eva is quite a little fisherwoman and she had the lucky hands as she brought fish out of the water first both on Saturday and Sunday. It took me a while but I managed to keep up with her and we ended up with 4 fish each on our first little outing (in case you did not already know, everything is a competition between us).


We may have ended up with the same number of fish, but Eva certainly beat me pound for pound. I do not know how this little guy got his mouth around my bait. I do like sushi and think I could have finished him off in about one bite. In case anyone worries, the little guy got thrown back.


We eventually made our way onto land, got set-up in the little cabins, and sat and read a bit. With everything that is going on, we both appreciate having a bit of time to just relax for a little while. The locals at the store mentioned that the haunted house was having an encore on Saturday night and that seemed like the thing to do (if you have ever been to two harbors, you know that was basically the only thing to do). I am not that big a fan of being scared, especially these days, but we gathered up our courage and made our way up past the Banning House to the game hut where they put it on. Appropriately, the haunted house was staged in the hut where they used to skin animals after hunts on the island. I have to say, I am continually impressed with small town folk. It just seems like they have a bit more energy or time and end up producing impressive results. It was a very elaborate haunted house - a maze that you walk through, pretty good size, good props, and some cool little effects. I was definitely freaked out. One spot would blow a puff of air into your face which really startled me. I think the guy had some fun as he puffed me another four times before I could get through that little corridor. 3-D effects and even some crawling made it pretty fun. A few of the “scarers” were pretty good but one or two could use a little work. It just doesn’t have the same effect if the gobblin is laughing as she comes at you. I did not mind keeping it a little light. After the haunted house, we cruised down to the other scene, the Harbor Reef Bar, and watched some football.

On Sunday, we leisurely got up and headed out for a bit more fishing. Again Eva whooped me early, but I managed to even it
up by the end. After fishing, we went for a short run/walk and then down to the restaurant for a nice dinner. Our favorite waiter/ fixture at the restaurant-bar, Deon, served us and took good care of us. It is always great to see him. Eva, amazingly enough, still likes him after everything she went through after Deon and I got drunk one trip. Not that there is ever a good reason to get drunk, but drinking to remember your coach seems as good as any. Anyways, dinner was great and then we walked the 15 steps over to the bar and watched a little more football (isn’t Eva great!).

Another big one for Eva.

On Monday, we had a little breakfast, made our way back fairly early, and were lucky enough to see some dolphins. They always put a smile on my face and just make me feel good to be alive. There were some young ones that were pretty chipper and we would actually get splashed by them jumping off the bow of our boat. One moment I saw three in the air at the same time, all just off our bow.



The crossing was pretty smooth, Eva handles the boat very well and before we knew it we were back in San Pedro. We got the boat cleaned up and then headed up to UCLA for my CT scan. I was not in the best mood as you have to fast for at least a few hours before the scan but I do not think I was at my most unpleasant either. I got the apple smoothies this time, tasty. You know that it is bad when you are so hungry and thirsty that you are looking forward to the Barium Sulfate shakes. I was excited that they would be able to use my port this time though there were a few port related hang-ups. The Purple Power Port (what I have, go Purple!) is fairly new and people are still just working out how they are going to handle patients with ports. Do you start the port early or in the room or only by a nurse or whatever. I told the guy to give me the needle and I would start it myself if they wanted. Side note, the port is actually pretty cool. It is really easy to hook up. Basically, Joan, the chemo nurse, just comes at me with the needle and sticks it in. It is like she is putting a sticker on me, essentially the same motion. I feel a little prick, just like my lovenox injections twice a day, and then the needle is in and you have access to my cardiovascular system. We joke that this would be a great option for junkies- almost too easy. Anyways, the nurse started the port, left the room, and the radiography tech hooked me up to the contrast. The usual procedure is that they scan you, then they remotely push about 150cc of IV contrast into your bloodstream, and scan you again. We got through the first scan, then, when they remotely pushed the contrast, the tube flew off and all the contrast sprayed onto the floor. The nurse had clamped the IV going into my port and the radiologist did not unclamp it when he hooked up the contrast. Just another instance of lack of communication. It was not a big deal. They reloaded, hooked me back up, pushed away, and scanned again. The contrast is pretty trippy because it makes you feel a warm rush and gives you a sensation of soiling yourself right after it goes in. After they moved me out of the doughnut, I checked my pants, and everything was ok. We took the rest of the afternoon pretty easy but then had to deal with some plumbing issues at the apartment.

Tuesday morning, we waited for the plumber to snake the sink and then made our way to chemo. My folks came up for the infusion and we all seemed to have quite a time. I only got Taxotere and it was over before I knew it. Only a couple hours in the office barely seems worth it. I hung out in the lounge with a couple of cool patients. One guy, Mel, was quite an inspiration. He was a 3+ year survivor and has been on chemo the whole time (no surgery). He did not hear all that well, but I would type questions on my computer in large type, he would read, respond, and before we knew it we were just chatting it up. Cool guy, great spirit. After the infusion, the group cruised over to Century City and we watched American Gangster. Nothing like an action movie for the post infusion, drugged up mind. We rounded out a great day a great meal and had sushi delivered – how decadent.

I managed to recover pretty well (it was only one chemo) and went in to work on Wednesday and Thursday. Not all that exciting but still good to feel somewhat productive.

Take Care and Live Strong,
Tyler