another day another stick

Well gang - another step closer to starting to get rid of this bad demon. Had a port installed this morning at 9am. Was home around noon. Morphine is great. Was given just enough medicine to make me feel good and not feel any pain. Just felt pressure as the good doctor made the incision and then moved some muscle to put in the port. It runs straight in the vena cava vein which runs directly into the heart. Back to the morphine - after surgery, no pain, could eat and swallow and felt great. However, all good things must end as the half life of this medicine was just a couple of hours. I feel my body adjusting to the port and gather it will take a couple of days to fully adjust. But the good news at this point is no more sticks in the arm. All sticks in the future will be through this port. So the stick pain should be considerably less. It's not that I can't take the sticks, it is just something I don't like to do. I guess any shots will also be through this port. I think this port and I will become good friends for quite a while!

Is it a good thing when the out patient nurses know you by first name? Spent another two hours up there today with Judy. To show you how well morphine works, she gave me a turtle candy and it was great! Midland Memorial is the greatest once you get to the caring staff.

Slept for a few hours this afternoon and then got to trade port stories with my 2 year old grandson who had a port of his own for several months. He and his port were not the best of friends. "Pops has a booboo," he says as we played. He truly understands about being sick! Amazing for a two year old!

Hopefully tomorrow morning we will find out the results of the CT and PET scan this last week. Not that it will matter as the chemo is pretty heavy. Tomorrow's talk will be with the radiation doctor so will find out when that will start. The radiation will be to kill the cells in the neck. Chemo is for the rest of the body. It seems so long since Feb 4 and although it will be a rough road, I am anixous to get it started!

I hope all of you had a great day. If nothing else, it has made me appreciate every breath I take, every image I take with my eyes, every word with all those I know and love. Too often I think we take life for granted. Believe me, something like this makes you think about what God has given us and that we should never take it for granted!