Port in a Storm

Today I had my Medi-Port inserted. This is the last preparatory step before I go in for chemotherapy and immunotherapy on Monday. The port means that I will not have to go through the painful process of getting an IV inserted for every chemo session, every CT contrast injection, etc. Both I and the frustrated folks who have to find a vein will be glad about that. However, it's kind of gross to have this thing implanted in me. I try not to think too much about it.

Readers may have realized over the course of the previous paragraph that I am a very squeamish person. Not about everything—I can handle things like dirt and cow manure with the best of them. But blood, no. As I spoke to my surgeon about the procedure this morning, it occurred to me how different he and I are in this respect, and what a very good thing this is. I am so glad there are people in the world who are different from me!

This is just one of the very many ways in which I have come to appreciate doctors, nurses, and medical technicians in a new way recently. Where would we be without them?

Meanwhile, I am resting up from the procedure and the anesthesia, and doing fine. For the relevant value of "fine."

Heartfelt thanks to all who have reached out with good wishes to me or my family recently.

No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition

It's been three weeks today since I first learned I had mesothelioma. Nothing—not a year of illness, not a range of perplexing symptoms, not even a CT scan that showed a "mediastinal mass"—prepared me for my biopsy results with the diagnosis. 

Talk about an "oh shit" moment.

As they say, No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

I've decided to keep this blog to document my journey, to keep my friends and loved ones updated, to inform those who want to know more about what it's like to have mesothelioma, and to serve as a catharsis for me. Do join me in my journey if you can relate to any of those purposes. In line with the title of this blog, there may be the occasional profanity. It's one of the first things I have learned about mesothelioma: it brings out the profanity in a person.

That's because it's so rare, so deadly, and (in cases like mine) so completely unexpected.

I'll have more to say about all that in future posts.