U of I Update

So, I'm still in the hospital. Right now we're pretty much waiting until I've had enough radiation to see if it's going to relieve the tumor pain. If it does not, we will most likely have to increase the amount of pain medication that I'm taking (as if it weren't already high enough).



RADIATION:

As of yesterday, I have completed 5 radiation sessions. The tumors were not able to be treated with one beam as we had hoped. Instead, the tumor in my chest is treated with one beam and another beam treats the tumors on my spine and behind my heart. The chest tumor will get a total of 12 treatments (done on June 22nd). The other two will be treated slightly more aggressively in 10 sessions (done on June 18th). So... I'm told I should see some pain relief AROUND the 5-7 session mark.



The sessions are quick and painless. I lie on a table like I'm getting an X-ray. There are marks on my chest that they use to line up the machine. They strap me down. The machine rotates around me until it gets into the 'firing' position, makes a buzzing sound, then rotates to the next position.



PAIN MEDICATION:

We are not changing anything right now unless my pain suddenly increases. As I said above, we're waiting on the radiation. For now, I'm doing OK. I'm very sore all over from not moving around. I have a lot of muscles that have started to atrophy from not moving.



BLOOD CLOTS:

I've been switched from the IV blood thinner to an oral blood thinner called Coumadin. It's a little touchy when it comes to dosing me correctly. I have to get my blood tested every so often to ensure that I'm in the therapeutic range. This will be how I will dose myself at home over the next 6 months.



FOR NOW:

I'm just waiting to see how the radiation is going to turn out. Then they should discharge me once we figure that out. I most likely would not stay in the hospital through my entire radiation treatments.



Thank you to everyone. Thank you to all of those that organized the benefit last night.
Several people have sent me notes wondering how they can donate money if they should choose to. Aaron Hyde set up a great secure way to donate through a website to an account for me at Veridian Credit Union.

http://www.chrisrobertssarcoma.bbnow.org/index.php