Monday, February 27, 2012

Live from the Chemo Room 19

I'm sitting next to a couple, around my age, and hearing the wife being told about the anti-nausea routine. Take this one starting tomorrow, take this one if you need it. She has throat cancer. Her chemo drug is similar to my "bad one" plus she has radiation treatment starting next week.

I gave them my 2 cents worth - stay ahead of the nausea. Take the "if you need it" one before you need it.

I'm one of the chemo vets now. I'm like Payton Manning, tutoring a young Andrew Luck, only I get paid about $20 million less. You don't want to be pushy, but when you see a couple heading into the unknown, you want to help where you can.

SInce I flew back from Europe via New York, I did stop by MSK last week to see the Wizard. She agrees with the treatment plan, and thinks I'm doing well, despite the recent suspicious specks in my lung. I trust Dr. Z completely, but it still feels better to hear from another expert, particularly one who does nothing but colorectal cancer treatment, that you're on the right track.




Thursday, February 23, 2012

Did you say you're a-peein?


A big ole jet airliner carried me far away to Europe this week. I needed to go to Czech Republic for work, and leaving a day early made the flights much cheaper, so I decided to reward myself with a stopover in Paris. Thanks to favorable winds, I had about 21 hours in the City of Lights. Luckily, the icy grip that had ensnared Europe for the last two weeks had just loosened, and I was greeted by a sunny day with temperatures around 45 F when I landed at Charles de Gaulle.
 
I got to my hotel around 2 PM, and quickly changed for my self-guided tour of the city. I decided to combine my need to do a longish run with my desire to see one of the world’s great cities for the first time. So following the advice of my boss’s wife, Marianna, I set out from towards the Sienne River. I saw all the big sights of Paris, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elyse. I even stopped in a McDonald’s – not to eat of course, but to see if Pulp Fiction was right about the Big Mac. You decide…

It was nearly dinner time when I got back to the hotel, so I showered and ventured out. Speaking no French, I wanted to find a good, non-touristy restaurant, and to take my chances with the menu. I found a suitable place, and sat down at le table pour une. The first waiter said something in French, and picking up on my blank stare, called over another waiter who asked me in 3 different languages if I spoke each one. Fortunately, English was one of the choices.

He welcomed me and explained that “the specialty of the house is beef, we have many choices of only the finest French beef.” As impressive as it sounded, I don’t eat things that can’t fly, swim, or look like they should be able to. I told the waiter, “I’m sorry, but I don’t eat beef.” His reply was priceless.

“Then you must have the veal, it is simply the best!”

Unless “veal” is French for “fish” I was pretty sure that wouldn’t pass my swim or fly test, so I went for the duck leg. Good call – it was quite tasty.

From there, it was on to Prague, and then a two hour drive to our office in Zdar nad Sazavou, a quaint little town of 40,000 people on the Sazavou River (but you already knew that, didn’t you) in southeastern Czech.  The work went well, and I was able to do something I’d never done before in my life. No, drinking beer at lunch wasn’t it, as I had done that a few times already, and in Czech, everybody drinks beer at lunch. I think they even have little beer boxes they serve with lunch in “childergarten” but I could be wrong.

No, it was skiing. In 45 years, I’d never found the motivation to squeeze my size 12’s into some 6 foot long planks and attempt to slide across or down the frozen tundra. As graceful as I am (sorry for those who just did a spit-take), I’d never tried it.  Our European GM, Jarda, is an accomplished cross-country skier, probably about the same level in that sport as I am in running. He provided me with all the proper gear and drove me to the edge of town at lunchtime on Tuesday where some well groomed and reasonably flat trails awaited. It took a while, and while I was no (insert name of famous cross-country skier here), I held my own. 

For a farewell dinner Jarda and our head of engineering, Ales, took me to a restaurant about 10 km outside of town, where the snow was piled about a meter high alongside the one-lane road we drive down to get to the restaurant. Jarda told me the chef had trained in some famous Parisian bistros, so I was looking forward to the meal. I was not disappointed. The wild duck breast appetizer tasted like what I remembered an excellent steak tasting like. The fish on risotto was outstanding, and dessert, well, judge for yourself.


That’s blueberry mousse, folks. Mmmm…

I’m writing this from the plane on the way to New York, where I’m stopping by to see the Wizard at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Then it’s off to Savannah for Adam’s all-state chorus concert, before finally returning to my own bed Saturday night.

It’s been a good week so far. I hope you can say the same. 

Friday, February 17, 2012

Ear's the Update

If you read the title in a Cockney accent, you're my kind of reader!

Mr ear was better, but not 100%, so I called Dr. Z's office yesterday. I'm now taking Super Special Ear Drops which contain 2 more antibiotics and a steroid. So by Saturday, my left ear should be swollen to a size that suggests an otoplasty is in order.

Switching topics - here's an interesting tale from today's lunchtime outing to Jiffy Lube. There were two other customers ahead of me, one of whom was a 6' 8" guy with a buzz cut, who I'd just seen giving a copy of a book to the check-in person at the shop.

Tall guy, it turns out, used to play basketball at Auburn with Charles Barkley. He's an evangelist and author named Mark Cahill. Mark noticed the other customer's Livestrong bracelet and asked him if he had anyone in his family dealing with cancer.  The guy has lost his mom to cancer and his sister is currently battling. Mark offered some words about G-d's plan, and handed the guy a book. Here's where it gets interesting.

It was time for Customer 1 to check out. Mark stepped in fromt and said "I've got this." He paid for the man's oil change! Then he grabbed 4 more copies of his book, put $20 bills in each one, and gave them to the manager to pass on to the rest of the Jiffy Lube employees.

He gave me a pamphlet called "The Most Important Question of All Time" and told me I could have a free book too if I went to his website at www.oneheartbeataway.org The whole thing was strange, and I was left wondering what this guy's deal is. Why the $20 tips to all the employees? Why the free oil change for customer 1, but not for me (not that I needed it, but why?).

I never said a word about my own cancer, my book, etc. I'm debating sending him a copy.




Monday, February 13, 2012

Beckett anyone?

Waiting For Godot was one of those plays I never understood.* Waiting For Szabo is what happens when they work you in on an already busy Monday at Dr. Z's.

Nagging earache is the malady of the day, infection the Dx, Z-pack the cure.

Good thing, because the friendly skies are calling. Flying with an ear infection is no fun. Flying 8 hours with an ear infection would turn me into that toddler in 13-F, the one who sits right behind you cooing until they shut the front door and then begins to scream because mommy doesn't believe in the old adage "slip a little red wine in their apple juice before takeoff."

Drink up kid, and stop kicking my seat!

* - I didn't get Cat on a Hot Tin Roof either. Not a single feline, just a bunch of people. But Starlight Express... now that's greatness!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Live from the Chemo Room 18

Saw Dr. Z. All's good so far. We won't scan again for about 5 weeks, so I don't expect to have much news on my progress until then.

I don't think I mentioned the fun news I received from my insurance company when I went to restart my Xeloda prescription (oral chemo). The copay for a 14 day supply went from $35 in 2011 to, wait for it, two-hundred-and-fifty dollars and no sense! (neither the amount nor the word "sense" is a typo).  The logic, if you can call it that, is that there is an equivalent drug available that is delivered via a pump you wear for 3 days at a time. From what I've read, the pump is a pain in the butt, and there can be more side effects than you get from the oral drug.

The good news, and please share this with anyone taking expensive drugs, is that the manufacturer, Genentech, offers a program through which they will pay 80% of the co-pay amount, up to $1500 a year. Apparently, it's a fairly common thing for drug companies to do. The CFO in me admires the wisdom of this offer. Let's say you're the VP of Sales for the drug company. You've got this product that's worth $5,000 per prescription to you. You buy lunch for the staff of every oncology practice in the country, send the docs to boondoggles in Vegas, and your drug really takes off. A couple years goes by and the CEO says he needs you to generate another $100 million or else. The feedback from the satiated oncology practices is that some patients' insurance plans have really high co-pays for your drug, so they are using an alternative. "Hmmm," you think to yourself "if I make my drug cheaper, I lose revenue, and as I recall, that's bad. Man this VP stuff is hard!" You go home to your stay-at-home spouse, whom you under-appreciate and underestimate regularly. You tell him/her about the expensive drug and he/she responds with, "duh, send the patient a coupon." While that's the dumbest thing you ever heard, you do casually mention it to a coworker while waiting in the latte line the next morning.

A week later, a memo comes out announcing the co-worker's promotion to VP of Sales, the launch of the new co-pay drug card program, and wishing you well in your pursuit of new endeavors. You missed the point - picking up $1,500 a year for the patient allows you to generate $130,000 a year in top-line revenue. Duh.