Day 25, 2nd PET Scan

I have my port installed.

The procedure went very smoothly. I can't ride my bike until it heals, because of the risk of infection, so that kind of sucks. The doctor said I could ride again in 5 days, so Sunday I should be good to go. One bad thing: it's on my right side, and it is kind of sore, so when I'm a passenger in a car I hold the seat belt out. Minor inconvenience.

My mom and I went to go see "Moonrise Kingdom" yesterday. I like Wes Anderson. Saw Bottle Rocket before Rushmore was even out, and knew that guy would be a film maker to follow. It was good to see Ed Norton and Bruce Willis in roles they don't normally portray. Additionally, one of the many previews starred Bill Murray as FDR in "Hyde Park on Hudson". Could be a solid one, or it could end up suffering from trying to stuff too much into one film. Murray looks like he's going to be good.

Today I'm off to get another PET scan, which is a scan to see if there's been any change in the tumor's growth. The goal, ideally, is to see some shrinkage as well as get a baseline to compare against when I start the FOLFIRINOX. I'll do periodic PET scans during chemo (or chemo breaks) to monitor its shrinkage. Like the Seinfeld episode where George has his nether regions exposed and the horrible truth of cold + male genitals = shrinkage is revealed, I expect Toomie to be receding into oblivion.

See ya! Wouldn't want to have in you in me anymore!

Before the actual scan I get injected with some radioactive glucose. The nurse comes in, and the syringe is surrounded in lead. I try to make the Hulk come out after getting injected, but it hasn't worked yet. Needless to stay that stuff has to circle around for a bit before they do the actual scan, so I'm bringing a couple movies to watch: "Mission to Mars" and "The Thing" (remake). Yes, both cheesy sci-fi films, of which I am a fan.

Note on Skyrim: loads of fun, but jeez did Bethesda do a poopy job on QA-ing for the PS3. So far I've seen hanging loads, poor script execution, items that vanish in the gaming ether, and in one  horrible instance the game froze during reloading from an auto-save. I'd just done major battling, and picked up some cool stuff, closed out some quests, and then out a no where a giant sabre cat did me in. I hadn't done a full save...no big deal I thought...I have the auto-save. Queue tears of deep regret. I now I have to replay that entire sequence. Wait...I get to replay that entire sequence! Sweeeeeet. It's all on how you look at it.

Note on FOLFIRINOX: just confirmed with the treatment center that I start the new regiment on Monday. I'm going to be getting pumped full of cancer poison, and the process there will take about 6 hours (I also get to leave with a pump that cycles more in for the following 48 hours). She told me to dress warm. One of the drugs is supposed to make me feel super susceptible to the cold, so I get to dress freakishly warm during the summer. I'm going to be "that guy" you see walking down the street in triple digit weather. If you were to stop and talk to me I'd probably complain about how chilly it is, and could you please hurry up and open the door to the Peet's, I need a cup of hot coffee.