Tough decision

This was a decision NOBODY wanted to make. Jimmy talked with Dr. Lonial several times and with Dr. Esiashvili, the radiation oncologist (she's Russian and everybody calls her Dr. Natia, her first name, because her last name is so hard to pronounce), and they say my case is a toss-up, and it was up to us to decide.

I chose to have radiation. We are already six months into this enduro, and a few more weeks don't matter if it puts the final nail into the coffin of this nasty disease. Chances are that all the chemo I had wiped it out, and this doesn't insure that I won't have some sort of cancer again some day down the road. But I wasn't able to have Round 8 of the chemo, and Jimmy and I feel that this will give us more peace of mind.

We had the preliminary appointment this afternoon, and they drew all over my abdomen with an indelible marker so they can zero in on the cluster of lymph nodes where this all started. Wednesday we go back for my first treatment, and I'll go five days a week for three weeks, a week less than we had thought.

We came back from Highlands yesterday. Jimmy enjoyed going out with friends several nights, but I ended up mostly lying around the house, hacking and coughing every breath. That cold I caught settled in my chest and has been hard to shake, but the worst seems to be over.

I'm finally getting eyebrows again! They look like smudges of soot. I think my eyelashes and eyebrows falling out bothered me more than being bald-headed.