Sunday, August 4th
Last night Judith and I returned from several days in Sonoma. While Judith was at meetings, I went for walks and finished Studs Turkel's "Will the circle be unbroken?" -- interviews with a wide range of people on their feelings and thoughts about death. I found a great bakery on the plaza where I could get a pastry and coffee and read the newspaper in the morning. Sonoma and the California wine region are known for their excellent restaurants and we had some wonderful meals. I'm now trying to restrain my eating and reduce the size of my belly a bit.
On the way home, we stopped at Point Reyes National Seashore for a refreshing hike thru the fog and another great dinner at the Station House Cafe, an old favorite. Then today we met with three close friends from Berkeley days who had driven up from southern California. We had breakfast at the always amazing Bucks Restaurant and then went for a hike in Windy Hill Preserve.
This coming week, things get serious. I have an appointment on Monday at 1:00 for the final preliminary to the radiation and the actual radiation treatments should begin on Monday or Tuesday, I'll also try to meet early in the week with Paula Kushlan to work out the details of chemotherapy.
Monday, August 5th
I had a busy day today. My best friend from high school was in the area to see his new grandson and he stopped by with his wife for a visit this morning. He filled me in on the people I missed at our 45th high school reunion a few weeks ago.
Early this afternoon I went in for the final setup and verification step before starting my radiation treatments. Once that was finished, I got the first actual treatment. The radiation blast itself lasted only about 40 seconds. So far there are no ill effects, but they usually come later. I'll be having treatments every weekday morning for 6 or 7 weeks. And tomorrow I have an appointment with my oncologist to discuss starting the chemotherapy. We're launching a full scale assault on the brain tumor.I hope it isn't too hard on the rest of me.
Tuesday, August 6th
I had my second radiation treatment this morning. Later in the morning we met with the oncologist to discuss chemotherapy, and I took the first dose of chemotherapy (Temodar) in mid afternoon. I was feeling pretty good about getting underway with the treatment until the early evening when I got nauseous and started vomiting. That lasted for several hours, so I hope we can sort this out tomorrow. The nausea could be caused by the Temodar or a sulfa drug I started taking today or even the radiation.
Wednesday, August 7th
This morning after the usual radiation treatment, I met with Pauling Chang, one of the local radiation oncologists. When I told him of my nausea problems yesterday, he suggested that I take an anti-nausea drug and wrote a prescription. To see what was causing the nausea, I tried taking the sulfa drug by itself this morning and when I still felt fine after several hours, I decided that the Temodar must be the problem. So I took one of the anti-nausea pills with the Temodar in the afternoon. I only threw up once in the evening, so it seemed a big improvement over yesterday. Hilariously enough, I was talking with a friend on the phone and she asked if I was having any side effects. I said, "Well, I've had a problem with nausea. In fact, I'm not feeling good right now. I have to hang up ..." And I ran to the sink.
Otherwise, I'm doing well. Good night, all.
Thursday, August 8th
I had my 4th radiation treatment this morning. It's beginning to feel routine. I'm told that my hair will start falling out in a couple of weeks. To get some control over that experience, I've gotten out the dog clippers and will ask Judith to shave my head soon. With any luck, you will see Before and After photos.
I'm still feeling well, altho I tend to get tired more often than usual. I have also noticed that I sometimes get get lost and confused in buildings, and I used to have a very good sense of direction and spatial orientation. Maybe this is an effect of the right side tumor.
Tonight I will try taking the Temodar and the anti-nausea drug just before going to bed. Some people have suggested that procedure might reduce my nausea problems, so I wanted to try it.
I still spend a lot of time with friends -- an old Sun colleague is coming over for a walk this evening. These contacts with old friends are deeply comforting. And I also value the many messages of support that you all have been sending. Thank you. As I listen to the Dire Straits song "Brothers in Arms" I think of you and give you a gentle hug. I hope you can feel it. Don
Friday, August 9th
Folks who have read this page for a while may notice that I have reorganized it a bit. It was getting too long, so I split off previous months into separate pages. There are links at the top of this page take you to the previous months. Another issue is that the "Latest News" link at the top of this page worked for most configurations, but it didn't work for Internet Explorer on the Macintosh. It finally occurred to me that the problem might be that IE on the Mac requires text after an anchor, so I added a space at the bottom of the page and everything is cool.
I finished my first week of radiation this morning -- five more weeks to go. Last night I tried taking the Temodar along with an anti-nausea pill just before going to bed. That schedule helped, altho my stomach was uneasy this morning. Still, not throwing up is a big improvement. This treatment stuff is getting old real fast. I sure hope it is giving the tumor a setback.
Saturday, August 10th
It's Saturday again, so we had our usual coffee and pastry at Caffè Verona (Note: this is a virtual reality site. It is lots of fun but it requires QuickTime) and then we went to the Farmer's Market for fruit and vegetables. I also stopped at the drugstore to add to my growing collection. I'm now taking 8 different prescription drugs, including drugs to deal with the side-effects of other drugs.
We are in the midst of a short heat wave here, so we stayed inside much of the afternoon. In late afternoon we walked downtown to have dinner with friends at Le Poisson Japonais, a fancy restaurant that we have been wanting to try. It was pricey but the food was very unusual and refined and quite delicious.
My new scheme of taking the chemotherapy drug before going to bed is still working, altho I feel a bit queasy in the morning.
Monday, August 12th
OK, the weekend is over and I reported back to start the second week of radiation treatments this morning. I was definitely not enthusiastic to resume, but it has to be done. It was a fine weekend with a Japanese theme. We had some excellent (but expensive) Japanese food and good talk with a couple we like on Saturday evening.And then to compete the theme, a good friend from Japan, who was passing thru the Bay Area, stopped by on Sunday afternoon.
I normally give my scalp a vigorous massage when I shampoo my hair, but this morning I noticed that my scalp was sensitive. It may be a side effect of the radiation treatments. I've been warned about this. In the future, I'll have to be more gentle with my scalp.
Wednesday, August 14th
In the past two days, we met with Paula Kushlan, the oncologist in charge, and Bob Lundahl, the radiation oncologist, and have gotten a more complete view of my treatment plan. I will have another 3 1/2 weeks of whole-brain radiation and then 2 weeks of radiation focused on the right hemisphere. During the radiation treatments, I will also continue to take 140 mg/day of Temodar as chemotherapy. When the radiation is finished, I will continue to take Temodar, but on a more conventional schedule (a higher dose each day for the first 5 days out of a 28 day cycle.
My scalp is definitely getting more sensitive. I assume this is
caused by the radiation. My hair will probably start falling out
soon. With any luck, Judith will have a chance to take it off with
the clippers first.
Exclusive pictures here soon!
Monday, August 19th
We have had a busy few days and then this morning I fell while
riding my bicycle and hurt my hand (no broken bones). As a result, I
won't be able to update this page until later this week. Except for
my sore hand, I'm feeling fine. Radiation and chemotherapy continue
as before. So check back later in the week. With any luck, I should
have some photos posted then.
Cheers, Don
Tuesday, August 20th
My left hand is still sore and swollen from yesterday's bicycle fall, but it is much better today and I'm able to type again. Otherwise I'm feeling fine, into the routine of radiation treatments every morning and chemotherapy every evening.
I have put together some pages with more detailed descriptions and photos. I'm not putting photos on this page to keep it shorter and quicker to load, but you will find links to the new pages on the More Details page.
Judith and I saw a wondrous film on Saturday - "Rivers and Tides". It is a documentary on the work of artist Andy Goldsworthy, and the most startling and thought provoking and beautiful film I have seen in many years. If you are interested in art or nature or life, I strongly recommend this film.
We have connected with a lot of friends and relatives recently. It is encouraging to feel their support. And Judith herself keeps me going with her love, practical support and creatively delicious cooking.
Saturday, Aug 24th
It's early Saturday morning. This weekend will be packed with visits with friends, a crafts show, and a block party tomorrow, so here's a quick update.
I've now completed three weeks of radiation treatments with four more to go. So far, the main side effects have been s sunburned forehead and a sensitive scalp. My very short hair is slowly falling out. The chemotherapy is also going well. Otherwise, my bruised hand is slowly recovering and I'm generally felling well altho, those who observe me closely will notice that my balance is a little off.
Well, it's time to start the day and head off to Caffè Verona and the Farmer's Market. I hope you all have fine weekend too.
Sunday, Aug 25th
Whew! We had a very busy weekend, finishing off with the new, down-sized block party. In past years the block party had grown to include people from many neighboring blocks and had become a big event with entertainment, activities for the kids, talent shows, lots of provided food, etc. This year we limited it to just our one block (ok, we included a couple of families on an adjacent street) and made it pot luck with minimal organization. I enjoyed the resulting party and people were already talking about doing it again soon. Judith and I had actually planned to host this party earlier in the summer, but it had to be postponed when I ended up in the hospital. I'm happy that party finally happened and it turned out so well.
I'm still generally feeling fine. I was pretty unsteady and nauseous when I got up this morning, but my condition gradually improved during the day. Daily radiation treatments resume on Monday morning. I've now completed three weeks, with four more to go. I expect to lose the rest of my hair this week, but so far I haven't had any serious side effects. Let's hope my luck holds. Good night, folks.
Thursday, Aug 29th
No major changes these days. I'm about halfway thru the radiation and associated chemotherapy treatments. I am tolerating it well -- slowly losing what little hair I have left. My forehead is getting sunburned from the radiation. Surprisingly, my ear canals are getting sunburned also and itch quite a bit. All in all, though, there have been no serious problems so far.
I had a most wonderful lunch yesterday. Before I retired two years ago, I was a human interface designer at Sun Microsystems. The designers there have an informal seminar over lunch every couple of weeks and I was invited to the seminar yesterday. I went, hoping to hear an interesting talk and meet a few old friends. I was nervous about the lunch before hand, however, because I thought it might end up being embarrassing for everyone.It turned out that there was no scheduled speaker, but instead the room was filled with friends and colleagues from my years at Sun, like a big surprise party. It was great to talk and laugh and catch up with everyone. I was deeply moved by the warmth and caring from everyone. And they topped it off with some fantastic presents that will ease Judith and me thru the difficult days that loom ahead. Don't believe it if anyone tells you that engineers don't have emotions. They come thru in the clutch. Thanks again to everyone who came, and especially to John for organizing the event.
One of my brothers and his wife are arriving tomorrow afternoon for the Labor Day weekend. I haven't seen him for a year and a half and I'm looking forward to the visit.