I haven't offered any updates in a while. I didn't feel like sharing my condition, which I would describe as poor and unrelenting. We try to keep this cancer journal peppy and uplifting. The past 3 weeks didn't offer much material in that vein.

So, I'm going to give you the up-to-the-minute good news. This weekend (Jan 8-9th), I've felt better than I have since around Dec 20th. My prognosis hasn't changed for the worse. I tolerated my first chemotherapy session reasonably well. My oncologist seems onboard with my request to get residual DNA blood testing (Signatera) started in the near future. Perhaps best and most dramatic of all, the Durham Fire department was able to address the audible natural gas leak at our house - Neither death nor dismemberment for all present.

5/5 radiation treatments done. I was told to expect side delayed side effects such as fatigue and diarrhea, along with additional GI distress. I've pretty much ducked any of those consequences to this point - All I really have are calf cramps. Hopefully that continues. It makes me wonder if the damn radiation machine was even on.

Quick update - Which usually means I'm about to type 6 paragraphs. I feel fine. Still.

3/5 radiation treatments are done. It's an interesting process - I go down to the Duke Cancer Center basement and check in.

Note: If someone you know wants to be a radiologist, make sure they enjoy 1) basements, and 2) cashing checks.

Quick treatment update -

Communication failure imminent, in part due to high standard word count set by initial rambling journal entries, familial duties, schedule issues, and Christmas light installation regimen. Here's the quick update on what's on tap for my cancer treatment odyssey.

Radiation:

Wednesday I met with the radiation oncologist and the plain old oncologist. They explained what the plan was to treat my cancer. The plan was different than what I expected, but not excessively so.

The radonc wants to do a short course of radiation right away. This means 5 treatments over the course of 5 days. To do that, they first need to model my body and tumor a bit. So I'm scheduled to go in Friday AM and have that done.

Mini update: Lung and chest CT today at noon. Results were back before 12:30. Scan looks good! That is all for now. Nice to get good news from 2 tests in a row. Day at a time. ~Ed

tldr - MRI this AM in Cary - Purpose was to see if the spots on my liver in the CT scan look more like cancer or like benign hemangioma. In a first for this week, we got good news - The radiologist read says they favor benign hemangioma. 'Favor' strikes as mealy-mouthed, but seems to be radiology lingua franca.

The ceiling tiles throughout health care facilities are a uniform shade of sadness. OK, not exactly true - The sky view tiles in the Duke CT basement - Cloying, desperate, and nearly as saddening.

tldr: Preliminary diagnosis of stage T3N1 rectal cancer. Go get a colonoscopy if you haven't already.

Around July of 2021, I started noticing some blood in my stool. It started happening on a more regular basis, usually first thing in the morning. By August I saw a primary care physician for the sole purpose of getting a colonoscopy referral. The colonoscopy was scheduled for Oct 20th, which seemed like a long time to wait. I was able to convince someone at Duke to get me an earlier appointment, in late September.