What's Next?

Whew! The big gun treatment is done for now, and today we're doing baseline scans to see what the troops accomplished. No one (meaning me, Matt and Dr West) is particularly worried about what we will find, so please don't read this and start fretting, if you are the fretting type.

Then, tomorrow, I start my first "maintenance drug", Alimta. I have been told by several of the lovely chemo nurses (remember Dawn? Lucie is marrying Sam, her son, when they are old enough. I want her as an inlaw!) as well as Dr. West that Alimta is a piece of cake. Mild to no side effects, a short (like half hour) infusion once every three weeks, and the best thing -- a B-12 Shot every three weeks! (They are GREAT.)

Which just goes along with my assessment of cancer treatment at Swedish. You are treated like a rock star. Good drugs, shots in the stomach and rear (which Dawn also handles painlessly and quickly), catered lunch, warm blankets, lavender-scented eyepillows, personal knitters, and in my and my rock star doctor's case, film crews that follow us around and ask us to talk to them.

So then it's just Alimta until it doesn't work anymore -- and we'll be checking that with periodic scans (nope, don't know how often - haven't asked yet).

So that's it for now -- hoping to see all you lovely faithful readers next Saturday -- doors open , food arrayed, bar open at 6pm, and the band (we have a band! we have a band!) around 8:30.