OK. So the stars have aligned, allowing us to begin treatment today. It has taken awhile to negotiate getting the very special and expensive chemotherapy drug, Temodar, here to Lubbock. The great thing was that Chip and I didn't actually have to do anything, Jan, our fabulous social worker, took care of everything. She called me at work.....
Jan: "Mrs. Bacon, I need to ask you something."
Me: "OK"
Jan: "Your insurance has improved and sent the Temodar - it will be here tomorrow - but your insurance wants pre-approval for the Zophran (nausea medicine) before they will send it."
Me: "Oh, no. How much longer will that be."
Jan: "Well, it takes the nurses awhile to get that done - it's a pain - do you mind if WE pay for that and send it in to Best Pharmacy? You can pick it up today."
Me: "Sure...sounds good."
It really is a fabulous set up. Remind me to tell you about the goodie bag we got today.
ON TO TODAY.
Here's the schedule.
6:00 am - glucose test, morning meds (9 of them)
7:00 am - breakfast
9:00 am - Zophran (nausea medicine)
10:00 am - Temodar (Cancer Killer!!)
11:00 am - Radiation Therapy at the cancer center.
We are told that the Temodar is a fast uptake drug when taken on an empty stomach. So we eat at 7. It takes about an hour for the drug to be in the brain, killing cells. They want the radiation to be working on those cells AT THE SAME TIME. Pretty cool.
So we followed the schedule - everything went great. Had more discussions about side-effects. We'll let you know if he experiences any.
Here are pictures of the radiation machine, his mask, and his cute and sweet radiation tech.
You all rock. The facemask is way cool and I think Chip is amazing to stay still long enough for the zapping of radiation.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
I didn't much care for the look of the face mask but the guy underneath is awesome. :-> Hope Chip doesn't experience any nausea.
ReplyDeleteI am sure you are all excited for the treatments to begin - I'll be following your progress and wishing you the best.
ReplyDelete