Plan of Action

Tomorrow will be the beginning of my seven week treatment plan. This is how it is currently planned for now, and if everything goes well, I will be done on March 20th, the first day of spring. Week one will be just an infusion of the trial drug that I have mentioned in previous post. You can paste these links, until I figure out how to hyperlink them for now, if you want to know more about these drugs. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/cetuximab It takes about an hour to infuse, and this will occur for once a week for all of the seven weeks. Then next Monday, which is going to be a huge week for me. It is the start of my radiation treatments and the first of two, of what you would call chemo treatments with the drug cisplatin. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/cisplatin . The radiation treatments will last about 20 minutes each, and are once a day, Monday through Friday for six weeks, with two on Fridays, and those will be six hours apart. So all together, I will be getting a total of 36 radiation treatments, 7 drug infusions with cetuximab once a week, and 2 infusions with cisplatin. The cisplatin infusions are on the eighth day, and the 22nd days of treatment. If all goes well, and I am sure it will, this should be enough treatment to eradicate all the cancer cells, which are currently multiplying in my tonsil area as I type this. I will be closely monitored during all of this of course, with various scans, to make sure it is all going according to their plan. The tumor's DNA will slowly be destroyed and eliminated (with extreme prejudice) and then a recovery period, with continued scans scheduled for future months and years. The side effects vary with each person for the drugs taken, but the radiation side effects are pretty predictable. They are the crappy ones that I am mentally trying to ready myself for. Although my radiation treatments are focused and accurate. They are using what is called IMRT on me, the area around the tumor, which is relatively small, has a lot of sensitive soft tissue around it. I will not go in to the details now, but they surely do suck. I am guessing it will be a couple of months after March 20th, before I get even get back to being anything resembling my former self. Like I have stated before, I know this is beatable and will be beaten. Every doctor I have spoken to, sees no reason why this "virus" should not be eliminated with the type of treatment regiment that I will be receiving. Its going to be hell of course, but its the price I am willing to pay. It has definitely been a educational couple of weeks since my diagnosis, but the more I learn, the more comfortable I have become with the fact that I will conquer this, and I am getting the best treatment out there. Again thanks for the all the support from friends and family, and to all the people who are currently praying for me. Your words have been kind and encouraging.