A new side show

Hi readers,

I had a CT scan (pelvic, abdomen, chest) on Wednesday afternoon and that evening at 8:30 pm, I got a call at home from my oncologist, Dr. Nelson Yee. When he introduced himself on the phone I suddenly became very fearful that he was calling me with some terrible cancer news. He started asking me if I had any pains in my chest or difficulty breathing. I said "No. why?" He said the imaging shows a blood clot in my right lung and he was very anxious to get me started on Lovenox® - the blood thinning shots I was giving myself for about two weeks several months ago when some clots showed up behind my right knee. Since the leg clot was chronic and not acute, he said I could stop injecting myself.

I told him I still had about 15 syringes left from that last prescription and could start giving myself a daily shot right away. Yee said the mass on my pancreas is unchanged in size and form from the last two CTscans. While the blood clot was disconcerting, I was relieved to hear that good news. He was pleased that I could start Lovenox® (another pork product -- made from intestinal mucosa of pigs) immediately and said we would talk more at our appointment Friday (yesterday).

Lovenox® is basically heparin and acts as an anti-coagulant. I remember my brother Mark giving himself shots during his clinical trial period when he was fighting pancreatic cancer. He ended having a stroke (or two) that was debilitating. I really rather not have that happen to me, so I am concerned. Turns out blood clotting is common among pancreatic cancer patients, Dr. Yee said. The tendency to clotting is a result of a severe enzyme imbalance due to the pancreas not functioning properly.

Dr. Yee didn't have the blood tumor maker test results Wednesday night but we learned at the office visit Friday that it went up slightly - from 36 three months ago to 38.6. He said 37 is "normal". The number was as high as 1100 and 1400 in January and February, so this appears to be relatively "safe" number. He said there are other factors that can make the cancer blood test jump around a little and didn't seem too concerned -- just that we need to have another blood test in December to track it. 

So, overall, reasonably good news. Dr. Yee showed me the CT scan "slices" of my chest (looks like ham slices) and abdomen and I have to say, I'm glad I don't have to read them!! The image doesn't seem that conclusive about anything to me. The white blotch that he said was the blood clot didn't look much different than other stuff on the image which he said were blood vessels and other lung parts???? I trust him though and will dutifully inject myself with hog intestine mucous membrane juice. It just may put a little curl in my tail!

This evening I convinced Barb to go see the new James Bond movie "Skyfall" with me at the local IMAX theatre. Neither of us have ever seen (or "heard") a movie in IMAX format and, based on high praise on Metacritic and from Roger Ebert, I thought this would be good one to see on the REALLY BIG screen. A bit of escapism for me, perhaps. We were both quite disappointed in the movie but very impressed with IMAX. The movie is very well crafted and the first hour or so was entertaining — good acting, great locations, artistic. The music was very good, including old Bond tunes. But the plot is sorely lacking. It is very thin and somewhat predictable, especially the "showdown". The second half of the movie was just not going anywhere and while I enjoyed the Scottish highlands setting and old buildings, the explosions and such were just stupid and violent. Yes, I am old. But so is Roger Ebert??? For a much better espionage/thriller movie I recommend "Farewell" (2010) streaming or DVD. 

That's the latest from Akron. Adieu.