The Brain Game Day 3-4

After two bouts of brain radio surgery I was becoming an old pro as the masked man with the x-rayed head so I thought I would combine the 3rd and 4th treatment into one post.  There was a lot going on the last two days and, interestingly, a lot of it did not involve my sessions at Duke.  On Wednesday morning our host Rick Wilson was doing a little repair work on one of the doors in the house.  He is very handy and does excellent work so I was surprised to see him walking down the hall with his thumb wrapped in a paper towel which was slowly tuning pink.  It turned out he had nipped his thumb on the table saw and one glimpse at the wound told me that it was time to head to the ER for an expert opinion.  So off to the UNC hospital ER we went which completed our circuit of hospitals (Duke, Veterans Hospital and UNC).  Out visit involved a lot of waiting around and we were glad to be there to keep Rick company.

The Man With a Red Thumb

The hospital at the University of North Carolina is huge and the emergency room is busy so the three of us waited for a few hours until Helen and I had to leave to get to Duke for my treatment.  We had fun telling that to the nurses at UNC - "Take good care of Rick, we have to run to Duke for brain surgery".  So off to Durham we went.  When you have radiation at the Cancer Center they have valet parking so you just pull up and walk in.

Valet Parking at the Cancer Center

A quick trip downstairs to Radiation Oncology passing some inspiring words along the way.

Words to Inspire

After checking in it was just a short wait before Rick came to fetch me back to radio land where I donned my plastic mask and said goodbye to a little more of that nasty hitchhiker in my head.  Thanks to the wonderful organization of the Cancer Center we were out the door and on our way back to Chapel Hill in just 45 minutes.  When we got back in the car we gave Rick a call.  He was still in the emergency room and just could not help himself from pointing out that I had gone to Duke and had brain surgery in lest time than it took them to bandaged his thumb.

After a crazy day like that we all were glad to lay low at the Wilson residence.  I tried to get a good nights sleep but the steroids were back playing havoc with my sleep along with a headache that would come and go.  After the radio surgery is over I can ween myself off the steroids and  I look forward to the day I no longer have to take those nasty pills.

Thursday, day four, was pretty much a replay of the day before without the drama of accidental cuts and ER visits.  I am really getting used to the treatment now and almost fell asleep mask and all while I was being treated.  Afterwards Helen and I headed to Raleigh for a visit the State Fair where we learned that anything and everything can and will be fried and offered up as food.

If It Moves, Fry It!

We sampled some of the deep fried fare and it all tasted like deep fried nothing - yuk.  It seems like everyone comes there just to eat this stuff because it was about 90% food stalls and 10% other stuff.  We specifically wanted to check out the Yesteryear Exhibit where Helen found some great stuff to bring back for the Mercantile so the trip was a success.

Tomorrow brings the last of my radio surgery treatments and, hopefully, the end of my brain tumor.  We also have meetings scheduled with my radio oncologist Dr. Patel and my oncologist Dr. Hanks so by tomorrow evening I hope to have a pretty good picture of where I stand now and what the plan is for going forward.

It has been a long week and both Helen and I miss our home in Todd.  It was cold up in the mountains today with spits of snow, sleet and rain - a sure indicator that winter is coming around the corner.  After dealing with the traffic, congestion and "me first you second" atmosphere that sometimes exists in all urban areas I am so looking forward to getting back to our peaceful but always interesting and inspiring life on the banks of the New River.

J