Proton Experience

Open Message to Cal Jones

2006-02-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I last posted, but there have been some interesting developments. Our local paper wrote an article about this blog and prostate cancer. The reporter wrote a nice article and the response has been heart warming. I am grateful that the message of early detection had this exposure. Contrary to popular opinion I was walking my dog in the picture, not a muskrat.

I again apologize for an open message as the blog format doesn't allow me to respond privately to messages received in the comment section. Cal asked what the " Brotherhood of the Balloon" was all about. Since I was a rookie blogger I was not sure of the ground rules on some of the more sensitive information regarding treatment. I cautiously avoided describing one part of the treatment that would likely be unsettling for some readers. That said as fair warning, I want to answer Cal's question. In order to protect the lower intestines during treatment a device is inserted into rectum and filled with water, which absorbs any stray radiation particles. It is known as a balloon, and is inserted just prior to every treatment. It is uncomfortable, but I wouldn't describe it as painful. You are glad when it is time for it to come out at the end of the treatment. The "Brotherhood of the Balloon" or BOB was formed by a patient to provide ongoing support for proton patients. The brotherhood welcomes proton patients who have experienced the wonders of the balloon procedure. The website, protonbob.com, also provides detailed information about proton radiation treatment and descriptions of patient experiences for the general public. The website provided me with valuable information as I was making my decision for which I was grateful. Thanks Cal for your question and good luck. If needed, I can be reached at rlowe@nwi.net.

Open Message to Dave

2006-02-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

I have discovered one of the problems with a rookie blogger. Dave wrote a comment and asked a very good question. The problem is that I don't know how to respond to him privately without his e-mail. I have decided to answer his question with a brief post, which is very likely not the best but all that I know how to do. Dave asked me why I choose to go to Southern California for treatment. There are a number of treatments available for prostate cancer, most of which are available in Wenatchee. Before I go further a quick disclaimer, I am not a trained medical professional and can only offer my opinions as to what I thought was best for me and my family. The choice of treatment for prostate cancer is a very personal one and I will share what I was thinking, and what I choose may not be the right decision for others. Being at Loma Linda I learned that every patient is different, with a lot of factors that need to be considered when selecting a treatment. The other thing that is important is that there is no treatment for prostate cancer that does not have a risk of side effects.

Now to answer Dave's question. The radiation treatment available in Wenatchee is the more conventional form of photon radiation and seed implants. The treatment available at Loma Linda is proton beam radiation, which utilizes a different kind of sub-atomic particle. There are only a couple of facilities that offer this kind of treatment and Loma Linda was the most experienced and had the longest track record, nearly ten years. It was my judgment that proton radiation treatment provided the same curative effect as surgery and had a lower risk of side effects. It is important to note again that any treatment has the risk of serious side effects. There is a much more scientific analysis of this treatment at the following website: http://www.llu.edu/proton/patient/index.html

The proton treatment has some disadvantages. Having to being away from home and work for about 10 weeks is difficult. The costs of travel and living are not paid by your normal health insurance plan so it can put a strain on your budget. It was not an easy decision, I have had a number of friends that have recently been treated locally and have been happy with their results. In the end the patient testimonials available at protonbob.com and the data indicating a lower risk of complications weighed heavily in my decision to go to Loma Linda.

Dave, thank you for your comment and I hope I answered your question. If I can help you further in some way please feel free to email me at rlowe@nwi.net. I know you are making a difficult decision about how to treat your cancer and I wish you the best of luck.

Mission Complete

2006-02-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

It was not smooth, but the final treatment was completed on Thursday. Whoo hooo! The accelerator had broken down on Wednesday just after my treatment so all the gantries had been put out of business. We were busy getting ready for the trek home and did not realize that the outage was expected to be for an extended period of time. We went to the Wednesday night patient support group meeting and I had just given my brief "graduate" speech when it was announced that the machine was down for an indefinite period of time. There was stunned silence in the room as people realized what that meant for the four of us that had one foot out the door. It also meant that people that had not gotten a treatment that day were looking at the dreaded "double dip", two straight days without treatment. They requested that we be patient and wait for them to call us before coming in for a treatment. Since my treatment was scheduled very early in the morning I decided to follow my morning routine and hope for the best. When I arrived at the infamous Level B I was greeted by an eerie silence, only low background music that I didn't even realized played in the waiting room as it is usually very noisy. It was Carly Simon and apparently, after all these years, she still doesn't have time for the pain. Speaking of time, it looked like we were going to have a lot of time as the technicians told me that it was one of the main magnets that was down. It was overheating, which indicated an internal short. The treatment staff began to determine what the patient sequence would be when the machine came up. First came the children, then any new patients that were supposed to receive treatment the previous day, then next came anybody that had not received treatment the previous day. This made logical sense to me but was relatively bad news as it looked at one point like we may have to stay over the weekend. When they explained the situation to me, I thanked them for working hard for everyone and trudged back to the very empty apartment. This had to be the low point for the adventure because when I got home it was clear that Ruth had either a case of the flu or some kind of food poisoning. She was not feeling well and even if I had gotten my treatment it was doubtful if we could travel.

By Thursday at noon things started to turn around. Ruth had been able to sip some 7-up and keep down some crackers. I talked to my technicians and they were thinking the repairs may be complete within a couple of hours and they wanted me close by. I went back in, and all the children who were being treated for cancer were in the waiting room. My stomach did a couple of flip-flops seeing them all together as I had only seen a couple of the children in the early morning. They had decided that they were going to treat anyone with only one to go after the children, since they had more treatment slots available than they had expected. It was odd feeling as I walked out of Gantry #3 for the last time, it was more numbness than the exhilaration that I had expected. I was very moved by the kindness of some of my patient friends who waited in Level B to wish me well and briefly celebrate my last treatment.

When I got back to the apartment Ruth was feeling a little better so we finished packing and headed across the north edge of the Los Angeles basin to catch I-5. It was somehow fitting as the smog was very dense and had a noticeable effect on our eyes and lungs. As we climbed the Grapevine hill out of Los Angeles the air quality improved as did our spirits. The weather looked good all the way home and we felt confident the trip would go well, if there were enough rest stops along the way.

After a short night just north of Sacramento we blasted home on dry roads and clear skies and arrived at Wenatchee at 9:00 pm Friday night. The final tally was about 1200 miles in 22 hours of driving. It was great to be home, I don't think it ever looked so good.

I will put together some thoughts together early next week as the final post on this adventure. Right now I am going to walk through the house and savor the feeling of being home.

Is it only two to go?!

2006-01-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

Treatment number 42 is in the bag, only two remaining. The technicians were kind enough to take some pictures today just seconds prior receiving a treatment. Across my head you can see the laser lines that they use to begin the alignment prior to the beam starting. The black box is the CT scanner that they use to do the final alignment. This rotates 90 degrees each treatment as they shoot a shot from above and from the side to position the nozzle located on the left. This particular treatment was unique as the machine delivered about 7 "beeps" and then was silent for quite a while before it finished up. The key word there is FINISHED.

This will likely be the last post from Southern California. We returned the equipment today that gave us internet access at the apartment. We are posting from the library in Redlands, CA, a very nice facility with beautiful architecture. There are a number of "last times" this week as we get ready to head home. We will be going to the Tuesday night potluck for the last time and it is customary for the "graduates" to give a short speech.

There are four of the morning group that are finishing this week and we have all been plotting our trip home. One of them is from Woodinville,WA and they are going to take a slow pace along the Pacific Coast Highway for about a week. Others are stopping along the way to see the sights, however we have chosen the rapid deployment strategy and see how long we can drive in two consecutive days. We are ready to be home and hope to make the trip in two long days. The weather along the way has to cooperate, and so far it is looking good, but not great.

Thanks for the kind notes and thoughts you are sending our way. They mean a lot to us.

Clubhouse Turn

2006-01-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

The week ended on a high note as treatment number 40 was completed right on schedule. The technical staff had worked very hard Thursday night to make all the necessary repairs. Everybody, patients and staff, seemed relieved to have the machine up and a weekend in sight. There are only 4 treatments remaining, if everything goes well we will be done Thursday morning. The side effects so far have been very mild, most noticeable are small round "sunburn" marks on both hips. They are not painful, but a gentle reminder that this is the homestretch as most patients don't see these until the last week. We have been going out to nice dinners with a number of patients that are finishing at the same time. These dinners are very festive as we are all glad to be going home. After we get home from dinner I do have some melancholy moments as these people have become good friends, I will miss the daily contact. They have led amazing lives, and more importantly have a forward looking outlook that is an inspiration for me.

We headed to Encinitas on Friday for the day with the family. Piper continues to grow before our eyes, the time we have spent with her and her parents have been one of the blessings of this adventure. Speaking of adventure, on our late evening drive back to Redlands we made a wrong turn and were headed to Mexico on I-15. We were listening to a book on tape, and I failed as the copilot as I had dozed off just as we were making the exit. I woke up a bit later and saw we were on a 6 lane highway, with another another 2 under construction. Through the post cat-nap fog we were able to turn around and make it home. We have decided that we are going to do a bit more pre-flight planning for the trip home. We have also decided that if we need me to be copilot that there will be a ban on the books on tape. Those babies put me down, and quickly.

We are beginning to pack and prepare for the trip home. We were able to cram everything in the car on the way down, I am not sure it will all fit, we may have to figure out what Brown can do for us.

Dang Power Supply

2006-01-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

We are headed down the homestretch as treatment numbered 39 was completed today. The countdown has not been easy as equipment problems have caused chaos all week. The most serious was when the power supply was the problem on Tuesday which has seemed to cause computer and equipment problems the rest of the week. I have not missed a treatment, but have had to be patient to get them done. If the accelerator was a football team it would have been flagged for numerous false starts. Yesterday my original treatment time was 6:15 a.m. and the treatment finally occurred at 8:00 p.m. In the meantime, there were a number of attempts that were foiled at the last moment by equipment problems. Things have been so smooth that I had forgot how hard it can be when you struggle to get a treatment. The worst was watching some of the people in the waiting area trying to get their very first treatment. I tried to counsel them to be patient, but it seemed funny that I would try and tell anybody about the virtues of patience. Chaos reigned again this morning as my treatment was delayed, with false starts and offside penalties, for three hours. I also am taking a lot of good natured ribbing about the fact that I seem to be in the building when problems occur.

Ruth and I had a chance this week to visit an Air Force museum near March Field. The museum was interesting as it had over 50 aircraft from WWI to present day. One exhibit detailed the exploits of a Thaddeus Lowe during the Civil War. He apparently was the first to use an aircraft, a balloon, to do reconnaissance during a battle. The exhibit described him as being hard headed, so I don't think he is related to our family.

We have begun to prepare for our trip home. There are about 5 of us that started just after Thanksgiving that will be completing next week. As much as I want to be home it will be difficult to say good-bye to some of these men as they have become good friends. It has been very enriching for me to spend time with them and I know the friendships will change as we all go home. It is clear that we do have a common bond that is strong as I have gotten calls from recent graduates to ask how I am doing and to offer encouragement.

Single Digits

2006-01-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

Treatment number 35 was completed Friday, and it was a milestone as we only have nine to go. As one of my fellow patients said, " Single digits, must be nice". The week seemed to go really fast as the treatments were completed like clockwork. I gave up my early morning treatment slot for a patient that was finishing up on Thursday and it was interesting having a treatment in the middle of the day. Most of the other patients in the middle of the day are the newest arrivals, and they had a lot of questions for me because of my "senior class" status denoted by a red dot on my badge. There are so many things on your mind that first week and it made me appreciate how well my treatments have gone.

My fellow patients continue to be the richest part of this experience. One who finished treatments this week was a women that had a tumor wrapped around her spinal cord. I was amazed by her spirit and warmth throughout her treatment. Over 80% of the patients here are men being treated for prostate cancer. She attended all of the support group meetings and always seemed to have a smile on her face. I asked her if she got tired of these meetings listening to guys talk about their prostate. She answered that it wasn't about the content of the meetings, it was to be with people that understand what it is like to fight this disease. Her fight will be much harder than most of us but I think, and hope, she will win.

I also had a chance to talk to three former patients that were back in town for checkups. Two of them fly out in the winter, play some golf, and get a checkup. They were all doing very well which is good to hear. They took a lot of time to talk to a man that was in the waiting room considering this treatment. It seems like yesterday that I had all the same questions and insecurities regarding proton treatment; it's a difficult decision. At this point it feels like a really good decision for me.

I decided not to do the 1/2 marathon last weekend as my body, and my wife of 30 years, sent some pretty clear feedback that I needed to consider training for next year's race. Several people mentioned road work, along with the carbo loading might be in order. Peter and Karen participated along with 5,000 of their closest friends. They both said it was quite an experience as the race wound along the ocean in Carlsbad, CA. Peter and his friend Zeke also decided to do pushups at each mile marker, don't ask me why. I was proud of Karen as this was a longest race she had done. As you can see from the picture they received "participant" medals for their efforts.

P.S. Treatment 36 is completed, only 8 to go. A friend from Brewster, WA finished today and they are on the road home. They are great people and were fixtures for the morning gang and it was bittersweet to see them leave today.

Double 3's

2006-01-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

Treatment 33 was accomplished today, things have been very smooth this week. I still have only very minor side effects so we are very happy at the position we are in as we head down the homestretch. I am gaining the dreaded reputation of being the one that somehow breaks the machine. Yesterday my gantry went down shortly after my treatment, the second time that has happened. It is all in good fun as my fellow patients are asking that I move my treatment to the last one of the day.

It is very interesting to be out and around so early in the morning. Most days I head out the door at 5:30 am in order to be at the hospital by 1/2 hour prior to the treatment. There are two things of interest that I have noticed this week. The first is that there are about 8 people who I call "commute sleepers". They arrive at the hospital parking lot about the same time as me, then lay their seats back and go to sleep. They have a difficult commute and they cannot count on being at work on time unless they leave very early. So they leave in time to miss the heavy traffic and catch some sleep before their shift. The second is that there are people here that apparently make a living by going through dumpsters. Ruth knew this was happening as we put out some unwanted items and she bet they would be gone by the morning. I lost the bet and was curious what was going on. Yesterday I saw a very new truck with custom sideboards parked at the dumpster. Four men were methodically going through the garbage and pulling out items that they must sell somewhere. These observations have made me appreciate even more my 3 minute commute in Wenatchee to a job with a great company.

We had a great weekend, the picture today is of the sunset at Swami's Beach in Encinitas, CA. There was an unusually low tide at sunset so we went for a stroll along the tidepools as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful sunset and you can see from the picture I enjoyed the company.

Words you don't want to hear while in the "pod"

2006-01-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

This has been an interesting week, with 30 treatments complete. My treatment protocol was modified beginning with #29 to make the exposure slightly smaller. All of the physical equipment was ready for the changover but there is a data file with the new protocol that would not load on the gantry computer. They had hoped to have it fixed by 9:30 a.m. so I went back to the apartment and had some breakfast. When I got back at 9:00 they called me back at 9:10 for my treatment and got me all set in the pod and then one of the technicians said, "Uh Renaldo, I hit the big red system interrupt button." Let me tell you, these are words you don't want to hear when you're laying there in a very uncomfortable position. They tried to restart the gantry but it took too long and I had to get out of the pod without being treated. About an hour passed before my third and successful try for treatment #29 was completed. This is something I hope doesn't happen again. This morning's treatment went off without a hitch so we should be back on the right road.

We had friends of ours from Wenatchee over for dinner Wednesday night. Their son is at Loma Linda after receiving a liver transplant. Their son came near to death as a result of a toxic reaction to Tylenol. They were recovering from the emotional shock as they had been told over the weekend that their son was likely not going to make it through the weekend. Against all odds a perfect donor liver was found in Ohio and the transplant saved his life. He remains in critical condition, however when we were having dinner the surgeon called to say that a number of vital organs were showing unexpected recovery. We also got to see the look on our friends face as they got to speak briefly with their son over the phone. They have shown courage and heart that I cannot properly describe. The father shared a story of sitting in a conference room while the medical specialists discussed whether their son would live or die. I can't think of a darker day for a parent but yet they persevered and felt that their son had been given a new life. They have a great attitude and stamina and they will need both as their son recovers and adjusts to his new life.

One element of this liver transplant drama was that the son did not have health insurance. The surgeons and hospital administrators made a very difficult decision to do the transplant. At the end of the meeting there was a simple mission statement by the lead surgeon, "save his life". In a world of managed care, HMO's, and more business like approach to medicine these people made a purely humanitarian decision to make the attempt to save his life. It is likely a hospital foundation will fund a portion of the costs, estimated to be in excess of $2 million. I was awestruck by the generosity of Loma Linda Hospital. It forces one to think about your own individual committment to those in need. I have put a picture today of the hospital grounds so that when I look back at this post some day it will help me remember their committed generosity.

This has been a week of shock, reflection, and difficult treatments. However, the sun is shining today and we are headed to San Diego to spend time with our entire family and celebrate a birthday. I am determined to savor every moment of their health and vitality, even if it means I can barely walk into treatment on Monday. My mind is saying I want to do the half marathon tomorrow with the kids, but my wife and my body are giving a little different feedback. Maybe I will join the pasta feed and see how it goes from there.

Thanks again for the kind notes, encouragement to update the blog, and the well wishes. They mean a lot to Ruth and I.

Proton Accelerator Tour

2006-01-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

Treatments 23, 24, and 25 are complete, all rather smoothly. This was a week where a large number of patients were finishing their treatments so there was quite a shuffle in the schedules but mine has remained the same. Doesn't appear to be a lot of demand for the 6:15 am treatment slot.

Saturday was the Accelerator tour which they give once a month. This was our first chance to see the tour as they did not have one in December because of the holidays. To say the least it was an amazing sight, the mechanical equipment that supports the treatment was some of the most complicated I have seen. It was crammed into a relatively small space, about the size of a basketball court. There was high pressure piping, vacuum lines, huge magnets, and large power supply cabinets. The power supply cabinets were very similar to the control cabinets at a power plant, except that the power was coming in rather than going out. From the equipment tags it looked like there was about 5MW of load for the magnets that accelerate the protons alone so my guess that the total load for the hospital complex is 15 to 20 MW total. Their load must be a power managers nightmare because it pulses every 4 seconds with about 3 MW of load to jump start the protons which must be very hard on the electrical equipment. The craftmanship of the piping, wiring, and piping was very good, it was all clearly tagged with safety devices and operating instructions. They quoted a goal of 98% availability, which is very aggressive considering the kind of specialized equipment they maintain. The technicians did a good job of explaining the equipment if you have an engineering background. For instance, they described the amount of protons in a typical treatment as 7.6 x 10 ^23 . The guy next to me asked how much was that and I answered, " a lot" and he was satisfied. They mentioned that most of the outages are caused by computer hardware and software issues, with actual mechanical equipment failures being rather rare.

Ruth enjoyed the tour as she teaches technology, it was fun for to hear what advances technology will make in the future in positioning of the patient. It will basically become much more automated, and they hope to be able to treat roughly double the amount of patients. My first thought is that they would have to make significant improvements in soft infrastructure such as waiting rooms, dressing rooms and patient communication if they wanted to come anywhere close to that goal. For some reason they haven't asked me about my thoughts on this.

The bottom photo today is of the pipe that carries, accelerates, and shapes the proton beam for Gantry 3, my little home for 30 minutes or so every day. I can hear various sounds coming from the "back room" as they prepare for treatment so it was fun for me to see the equipment. The top picture is of the area that they strip off the proton from a hydrogen molecule and dump in to the accelerator pipe.

I am still working on my theme statement for 2006. More on that later.

Mean, Median or Mode ?

2006-01-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

Not really any of these terms, but the halfway point, numero 22, was accomplished today. After refreshing my memory on the terms I am pretty sure none of the above apply. For some reason today I felt like the little boy that didn't want to go to school. Fortunately nobody wanted to listen to my "stomach ache" story so I trudged into the hospital. As usual, the techs and fellow patients were very cheery so my mood improved after finishing the treatment. On the way out from my weekly clinic appointment there was a 4 year old patient whose dad was bringing her in for treatment. He was also in a wheelchair as he had broken his leg. Let's just say that whatever had caused my "stomach ache" had been replaced with a much clearer perspective.

Our New Year's Eve started early as we went to a local British pub and listened to a bagpipe band. For some reason a lot of the patrons were crying, so Ruth and I joined in. Not sure what that was all about because I didn't recognize the tunes, except for "Auld lang syne". My guess is some of the tunes must be melancholy. We then went to a small party at another complex where a lot of proton patients live. It is a "retirement" home and we finally found a crowd where we can be the last to leave. It was fun, the fellow patients are a great group of people.

We had heavy rain and high winds this weekend, the pictures are of palm frawns that obstructed the road when we where driving yesterday. Ruth coined the term "palm frawn drifts" but somehow it doesn't roll of the tongue like "snow drifts". The other picture is of the sunset outside our unit, we have really nice landscaping in this complex and there was quite a bit of damage by the storm. It rained heavily on the Rose Parade, first time in 51 years. There was more than a little weather whining going on, not by us as we saw the freezing rain forecast for Wenatchee. We did not lose power at all during the storm, but our football viewing was interrupted for a couple of hours. It is important to carbo load during these outages as you never know if the power might go out.

We spent Saturday with the Ligotti's in Encinitas. Piper was very entertaining, her verbal skills are improving every time we see her. She gets very excited when we drive up and it warms your heart. She is a character, we love our time with her.

I am reading one of Lance Armstrong's book and a theme for 2006 is developing. I am thinking of replacing new year resolutions with a more flexible theme, further thoughts on this tomorrow.

treatnum=(treatmax*0.5)-1

2005-12-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

In other words we are one treatment short of being 50% complete. I have two daughters and a wife that make a living involving computers so I thought it would be fun to send them an equation today. I have also been reading that geeks are becoming cool, so along with blogging I are doing what I can.

Actually I thought of this equation this morning while I had my treatment, as I was trying to think of anything that would distract me. It was a bit of adventure as there were computer problems after I was locked down. There is a fan like mechanism that you can hear spin up to speed just before the protons begin to flow. Today the fan was running for a long time and then it stopped. It made me flash back to the approaches to EAT that are aborted and you go back to Seattle. It seemed like quite a while before they came in to tell me to lay still, they had to replace a power supply. It took another 15 minutes or so for the fan to start again, and then the "beeps" that signify radiation beam flow were very slow. They have told me before they have metering devices that sum the dosage and that some days there is a lower "flow" rate. By the time I got out I was heading to a restroom with great haste. They want you to have a full bladder when you go in for treatment, so any significant delay makes you uncomfortable to say the least. There is a story that makes the rounds of someone that laid there for 2 hours before receiving treatment. I personally think it is folk lore, as anything over 45 minutes and I would be calling for mission abort.

There are no treatments until Tuesday, so a long weekend of rain (really) and then back to the pod.

Hope everyone has a great New Year.

California Christmas

2005-12-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

We spent an unusual Christmas day which included a visit with Sulley Monster and a very scary "Twilight Zone" elevator ride (See above). The elevator ride drops you about 6 floors and this picture was taken near the middle of that drop. Ruth tells me that the gentleman in the lower left is flashing the gang sign "22" on the way down. I wouldn't know as I was just trying to keep my lunch down.

We also went to the Ontario mall the day after Christmas, what a crush of people. When we left around 1:00 pm you could hardly walk in the hallways there were so many people. Some of the cash register lines had 30-40 people waiting. Ruth commented that her ears were ringing after we left because of all the noise. There is a safety minute here, leave Randy at home next time.

The weather was great for Karen's visit, warm enough for her to soak up some sunshine. We really enjoyed her visit, she is a lot of fun. She had an interesting experience as she was leaving as someone attempted to steal her coat at the airport. She got the attention of security personnel and was able to recover her coat. I was proud of how well she handled the situation.

Treatment number 18 is complete. This one was not smooth as they had to recalibrate the machine a couple of times during the treatment. I had to lie very still for about 20 minutes, which I am told is not my strength. However, I was glad to get done as one of the other "gantry's" was down all morning due to technical problems and those patients were stacking up in the waiting room as I was heading out.

Ruth headed out today to visit the Ligotti's in San Diego for a couple of days. Being frugal I decided not to rent a car while she gone but would ride the bike instead. I just did the clock arithmetic for the morning treatment and I am currently questioning my judgment on this issue. I do recall, however, there is a good donut shop between here and the hospital.

We sure enjoy the comments and emails, thank you for making us smile.

Tour of Proton Center

2005-12-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

This is in front of the elevator I take to go down two floors to level B where I lay in this white "pod" and the porton beams shoot through me from the machine on the right.

Treatment number 17 is now in the books and shortly after finishing this teatment we drove to the Ontario airport and met Karen. On our way back to Redlands we stopped again at the treatment center where they gave us a quick tour. Ruth and Karen were able to sneak a peek back in the Gantry. Here are some photos that Karen took.

Go Tar Heels

2005-12-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

A fellow patient called yesterday and invited me to the USC v. North Carolina basketball game last night in downtown Los Angeles. We left Redlands around 3:30 and went through rush hour traffic and arrived at the USC campus around 5:30 p.m. I never thought I would meet someone that liked to get to events earlier than I did, but we had to wait about a hour for the gates to even open. We made a slight mistake at the McDonald's across the street as my proton buddy began yelling, " Go Tar Heels" at the top of his voice. He is from North Carolina, and was really into the event. However, this did not go over too well with a couple of rather large gentleman that were graduates of USC and we attracted the attention of the security guard. Yes, there is a security guard at McDonald's, and he was packing heat. We made a quick exit, me leading the way and my friend still yapping.

The game was really fun. College basketball is a great venue. I would guess that at least a third of the crowd was in Carolina Blue. Luckily we were in a section with nearly all North Carolina fans, many as rabid as my friend. Our beloved Tar Heels were upset by USC, making for a quiet ride home. We caught I-110 northbound out of the stadium and it was jammed with cars, six lanes wide, at 10:00 pm. I continue to be amazed at the volumes of traffic.

Treatment number 16 was completed without a hitch. Early morning treatments are definitely more prompt. Two gentleman were completing their treatments today so the mood was pretty festive in the waiting room. It is business as usual tomorrow, then a three day break over Christmas.

Happy Holiday to everyone!

Smooth Sailing

2005-12-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

Treatments numbered 14 and 15 have been completed. The process seems routine, very smooth sailing. The treatment time has been moved up to 6:15 a.m. each day and it is working out well. It seems the treatment is more prompt early in the morning. A lot of the very early appointments are guys that are completing their treatment. All are very excited to be near the end. Most have said they experienced very little in the way of side effects so that is good to hear.

We went to the Tuesday night potluck at Loma Linda Springs and it was interesting. There were a couple of women at the gathering that are being treated for rare forms of spine cancer with proton treatment. They seemed to be doing well and were very upbeat about their progress. Listening to them it makes you think you are "lucky" to have a more treatable form of cancer.

Somehow I ended up in charge of the Wednesday radiation patient golf scramble. The organizer is finishing up his treatment and on the way back to Florida. He told me it was easy. I have heard that before.

We are looking forward to having our youngest daughter Karen join us for the long Christmas weekend. She flies in on Friday and is excited to see some sunshine. There are no treatments on the Monday following Christmas so we have a 3 day "weekend".

We are hoping that we continue to have calm waters and the wind at our back.

Christmas tree in the 4 lane

2005-12-19T10:38:00.000-08:00

Treatment number 13 and the Monday visit to the clinic are completed. Everything is really going well. They have moved my treatment earlier and tomorrow it will be at 6:15 am. Even for a morning person this is a pretty early treatment as you need to be up for about an hour to empty the bladder and complete the refill procedure just prior to the treatment.

We went to visit San Diego again this weekend. Heard some interesting things on the radio on the way down. The first is that if you want to go to Mexico to get steroids you have to have a Doctor in Mexico write the prescription. Apparently it is not a good idea to take any weapons when you visit the Doctor. This was a radio advertisement by the Chamber of Commerce for a border city. I am thinking that carbo loading is a safer way to bulk up.

The second was the report of a Christmas tree down in the 4 lane of I-5 causing a large back up. I don't recall backing up any traffic when the trees have blown off my car.

We helped Emily and Peter put on a beginners adventure "race" on Sunday at Lake Hodges in Escondito, CA. Peter was the race creator and director and I am pretty sure my title was Assistant Race Director. Emily asked Peter to put this together as part of her birthday present. The event consisted of mountain biking, kayaking, navigation, basketball, and some golf. The participants really had a good time and it was fun to help with the event. Two of the racers were originally from Chile and they surprised us with a traditional Chilean meal at the end of the event . The first dish was pastel de choclo, similar to a shepherd pie or casserole, made with meat and layer of mashed corn. The second dish was de horno empanadas de pino which is traditional turnover pie. (de horno-baked, frito-fried, de pino-with a meat and onion filling, de queso-cheese, de mariscos-seafood) . It was really good. I stayed away from the hot sauce that went with it, and endured the "wimp" comments rather calmly. One of the technicians on Gantry 3 is from Chile and seemed to be impressed that we had tried empanadas.

I am off to try and find a few presents, a little earlier than usual but I seem to have a bit of time on my hands.

Sophomore Class of Feb 06

2005-12-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

Feeling really special today. I get to put a yellow dot on my badge denoting my "Sophomore" status as having completed 1/4 of my treatments. That is, I would put a yellow dot on my badge if I could locate it. It has been temporally misplaced. The search will begin in earnest prior to Monday, being sans badge is not a good thing. I believe it was misplaced during my bike ride into treatment yesterday or possibly the donut shop on the way back. Treatments numbered 11 and 12 went without incident. The morning schedule fits me well, I like getting it out of the way early in the day. The waiting room was filled with the music of Christmas carols played on the piano by the spouse of an incoming patient. This is an impressive couple, they had received the diagnosis just two weeks ago, had thoroughly researched the options, and made it out to LA from North Carolina to start treatment. A lot of people have chosen not to begin treatment until after the New Year, and they were more than willing to take a slot.
I spent most of the day yesterday helping out at the Christmas party for pediatric radiation patients. They had a great Santa Claus and hundreds of gifts to give to the little ones. A group of proton patients were enlisted to haul the presents from the wrapping area and then be Santa's helper. It tugged at my heart to see these kids, many of which have brain and eye cancers that are being treated with proton therapy. They have a wonderful spirit and show great courage. They loved seeing Santa Claus, and it was great to see the joy on their faces. I think the holiday spirit officially arrived for me yesterday. Our 14 inch (not foot) Christmas tree just hadn't done the trick.

We are headed to Encinitas to help with an adventure outing that Peter Ligotti is putting together for Emily. It includes biking, kayaking, hiking and some surprise events that I cannot disclose until after the race. If I disclose the other elements Peter will make me do intervals at the track, and that is not a good thing.

I can't think of anything catchy for Monday's treatment number 13. I would appreciate any ideas.

Perfect 10

2005-12-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Treatment number 10 went very smoothly. It is fun to meet the morning "BOB's", most of which are much farther along in their treatments. It was a pretty lively discussion this morning on the philosophy of the death penalty. Both sides of the spectrum were represented and it was still going on as I was leaving. It is surprising how many of the patients stay around the waiting room long after their treatment. I pretty much burn rubber when mine is complete. They said today that my treatment time will stay at 7:30 a.m. unless they tell me different.

The Proton Experience help desk (aka "Ruth") has figured out how to include pictures so our goal is to take some pictures this week of the treatment areas and post them here. The picture today is the outside deck of our small apartment this morning in Redlands. It is a one bedroom unit, about 800 square feet. The rent is about 2.5 times as you would see in Wenatchee. There are 6 units to a group and my guess is there is about 50 groups of buildings in the compound. We are the only tenant in our 6 plex, makes me wonder why they are raising rents.

We are going to fight through our head colds and play in the patient golf scramble this afternoon. It is supposed to be non-competitive, but I am pretty sure our group won last week.

Quick Nine

2005-12-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

You would think that a quick 9 would relate to a Sunday afternoon of golf, trying to squeeze a few holes before sundown. However, in this time warp it is knocking down two treatments in just over 12 hours. The Monday night treatment went smoothly, and then was surprised by a 7:30 am appointment on Tuesday morning. That treatment was delayed by a couple of hours, causing me to miss a meal for the first time in a couple of years. They told me that this was my "permanent" time which will be interesting.

We met a couple from Brewster that had started about a week earlier in the program. Turns out his brother owns the Western market in Wenatchee, we had a good chat about how cold the weather was back home. If it is any consolation a high pressure system has caused a bit of smog to settle in over Redlands, which is a new experience for us. Another patient we chatted with this morning owned a business in New York city that had been in his family for 100 years. They manufacture custom silverware for hotels and private clients all over the world. He was a kick to talk to, had great stories about his travels.

I am feeling good, treatments seemingly have no effect. I did pick up a nasty head cold which everyone seems to go through as they get into the program.

Tomorrow is Bo Derek day, we are hoping that it will be a perfect "10".

Friday - Shut Out

2005-12-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to having my 8th treatment on Friday before heading down to San Diego for Emily's 28th birthday celebration. But when I got to the hospital I was met in the parking lot by another "Balloon Buddy" and told that no protons had been flowing all day. The other clue was the night shift technicians were both outside waiting for a bus. I went in anyway as I needed to confirm my Monday treatment time. There was quite a bit of confusion in the waiting room, two of the guys had their cars packed and were getting ready to return home as they were scheduled to receive their last treatment and had checked out of their accommodations. They couldn't bring themselves to leave, even though it had been announced that there would be no treatments. I felt sorry for them knowing that their stay would now extend over another weekend, which can be very hard for the guys out here without their wives. One in particular is a fellow Cougar that is a veterinarian in Eastern Oregon. Every time I saw him he had on his Cougar hat but Friday night it was pulled down over his eyes to hide his disappointment. He told me he had waited all day, having arranged the first appointment at 6:30 am, and finally conceded at 6:00 p.m. that it was not to be. In talking with other patients this happens once or twice during your treatment, but in some way it is good that they are very particular that everything is right before they deliver treatments.

The visit to San Diego was very relaxing, we really enjoyed seeing our family. They had a block party to make gingerbread houses, a tradition we started in our garage when the girls were little. They have great neighbors and it is interesting how much the neighbors interact. There are a lot of couples with young children, and it was fun to be around the kids and see how excited they were for the holidays.

Back to "work" tomorrow, hoping for a smooth No. 8.

Batten the Hatches- Frost Advisory

2005-12-08T06:15:00.000-08:00

The big news from Redlands is that the temperature almost got low enough to have frost. All the local channels were running banners at the bottom of the screen warning about temperatures possibly reaching freezing. Breaking news, the frost did not appear.
I have now completed six treatments and everything is going well. I am not experiencing any side effects. My time slot is now more consistent at 6:30 pm. The request is in for an early morning slot, but I am a relative "newbie" so I don't have much choice.
There have been some surprises over this last week. First is how many Vietnam vets are being treated here, apparently the use of Agent Orange is a proven risk factor for prostate cancer in vets. There is a lot of discussion of the war in Iraq and Vietnam in the waiting room. These discussions have prompted me to begin reading a book on the history of the Vietnam war. This is a change for this avid reader of mystery novels. The second surprise is how much both of us miss our work. We knew that we would miss the people that we work with, they are such great people. The mental challenge of work is a bigger part of our lives than we realized.
We really enjoyed the weekend in San Diego, about a two hour drive away. We got to spend some quality time with our granddaughter Piper. She is a real character and a lot of fun to be around.
The sun is coming up on the horizon, I will check for frost and keep you posted.

Two down, standing by for Number 3

2005-12-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Southern California. We traveled through a blizzard to arrive to sunny and warm weather in Redlands, CA. I started my treatments on Wednesday, and now have two complete. So far everything is going well, the waiting around is the hardest part. They had some mechanical problems earlier today, so this treatment is about a hour behind schedule. The waiting room has two internet connections so I thought I would try a post from here. The waiting room is jammed with people waiting so it is a bit hectic. Every time a name is called everybody thinks it is them and runs up to the desk. The lady, Levita, is very patient with everyone and somehow keeps a smile. It is a little like the gate agent trying to explain a delayed flight, it is not her fault but she is on the front lines. The people here at Loma Linda have been very nice, just as advertised. The biggest surprize so far is that the time of the treatments are not consistant. You get your time for the next treatment at the end of your session. Yesterday I was at 830 at night and today it was scheduled at 2:30. So far they haven't gotten between me and and a meal. They are calling my name, I think, and so will sign off.

Getting ready to go

2005-11-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

We are enjoying a family weekend before we drive to Southern California to begin my cancer treatment. We woke up today to about an inch of snow, which was fun for the family. We plan to leave Wenatchee on Sunday, November 27, 2005 and hope to roll into Loma Linda, CA by late Tuesday. My first radiation treatment is Wednesday, Nov. 30. Our physical address while in California is 1400 Barton Road, Apt #2106, Redlands, CA 92373. Please leave me a comment with a way to reach you if you wish to have my cell phone number. Thanks to Peter Ligotti for helping navigate the startup screens for this blog adventure. I am going try to give periodic updates as I go through this cancer treatment. We have really appreciated all the nice thoughts, cards, and baked goods that have come our way as we have prepared for the treatment. Next post will be from Southern California.