Friends and Family,
Just a quick (for me) update. I had a minor medical procedure today. They put me under a local anesthetic and put a tube into a major vein by my heart. Then they inserted a permanent port just under the skin on my chest which they can use to deliver the chemo. They tell me that the chemo gets better diluted when it enters this much larger vein by the heart, so it won't cause the same kind of damage to my veins that using a regular IV would cause.
Before the procedure, a young man came in to tell me that he was a Fellow and would be part of the surgical team. OHSU is a teaching hospital, so I assumed he meant he would be doing the procedure himself. Except he looked like he just graduated from middle school! While he was going over the consent form, I was wondering if he had spent more time on a BMX bicycle than in an operating room. However, since I had been assured last week that this was a minor procedure, and I new there would be an actual doctor supervising every move, I wasn't worried.
In the operating room they put a "drape" over the part of my body surrounding the wound, so that everything that they aren't cutting remains sterile. I could feel the young trainee's surgical movements, as his arms were touching the drape. I kid you not, throughout the entire procedure I could feel him shaking! The surgeon was even giving him guidance on how to properly tie the sutures! I decided not to make him nervous by asking him if I was his first. However, I'm pretty certain we were both virgins.
With that taken care of, I'm all set to start chemo tomorrow (Thursday). I'm ready to kick some cancer A** and get healthy again!!!!!! That's where you come in. Your prayers, energy, thoughts (or more specifically, thoughts of emerald green light in my lungs if you like Genevieve's imagery), are all very much appreciated on Thursday. It takes a whole village to shrink a tumor.
With gratitude,
Dann
Just a quick (for me) update. I had a minor medical procedure today. They put me under a local anesthetic and put a tube into a major vein by my heart. Then they inserted a permanent port just under the skin on my chest which they can use to deliver the chemo. They tell me that the chemo gets better diluted when it enters this much larger vein by the heart, so it won't cause the same kind of damage to my veins that using a regular IV would cause.
Before the procedure, a young man came in to tell me that he was a Fellow and would be part of the surgical team. OHSU is a teaching hospital, so I assumed he meant he would be doing the procedure himself. Except he looked like he just graduated from middle school! While he was going over the consent form, I was wondering if he had spent more time on a BMX bicycle than in an operating room. However, since I had been assured last week that this was a minor procedure, and I new there would be an actual doctor supervising every move, I wasn't worried.
In the operating room they put a "drape" over the part of my body surrounding the wound, so that everything that they aren't cutting remains sterile. I could feel the young trainee's surgical movements, as his arms were touching the drape. I kid you not, throughout the entire procedure I could feel him shaking! The surgeon was even giving him guidance on how to properly tie the sutures! I decided not to make him nervous by asking him if I was his first. However, I'm pretty certain we were both virgins.
With that taken care of, I'm all set to start chemo tomorrow (Thursday). I'm ready to kick some cancer A** and get healthy again!!!!!! That's where you come in. Your prayers, energy, thoughts (or more specifically, thoughts of emerald green light in my lungs if you like Genevieve's imagery), are all very much appreciated on Thursday. It takes a whole village to shrink a tumor.
With gratitude,
Dann