John's 1st Day of Radiation/Chemo

Hi all. John speaking. Today I began radiation and chemotherapy. All went well. Radiation only took 15 minutes or so. It was painless and minimally inconvenient. Karen watched me from the control room with the wonderful technicians and Dr. Russell Green (my gifted radiation oncologist).

Then I swallowed my first daily dose of 140 mgs of Temodar, my chemotherapy tablet. That's going to take a little getting used to. It makes me a little queasy and fatigued. Ice cream helps with the queasiness. It's also a very expensive medicine ($1,400 a week retail). Thank God for good prescription insurance. The cost to us is so minimal it's like paying in monopoly money. I think insurance companies and the pharmmaceudical companies create a lot of paper revenue and expense for accounting purposes with this type of charge. I'd be interested in knowing the true cost of this medicine.

I'll be on these two therapies (radiation and chemotherapy) for six weeks. Then the radiation is done and the chemo gets increased for 6 months (I think). Once the chemo goes solo, I will use it for 5 days in a 28 day cycle with 23 days in between for recovery.

What then? I pray for a full recovery. Karen prays with me, as does Ashley, Justin, and my family and other loved ones. I know you all do too. I read in Lance Armstrong's book "It's Not About The Bike" that he's agnostic. I couldn't survive without my faith in God. In that way, I feel I am more fortunate than Lance.

That's all for now.