Let The Treatment Begin

On January 31, 2014, we met with Dr. Gullion. Remember, he is the oncologist who wears a heart pin on his shirt.

It was a bitter-sweet meeting, as both of us hoped I was cured.

Anyway, we discussed my situation and decided to begin treatment on February 5.

With Susan’s advice, I decided to have acupuncture with Dr. Marty Rossman each day before the chemo infusion. I am responding well to these treatments.

The first day of chemo on February 5, 2014 lasted 7.5 hours! I had cisplatin,  gemcitabine, and lots of anti-nausea drugs.

I spent the first hour meditating and then began the process of hydrating myself to minimize the effect of the chemotherapy agents.

I was visited by friends and even took a couple of walks around the atrium of the building.

All in all, things went quite well, except at night. Because of the dexamethasone in the drip – one of the anti-nausea drugs, I was up all night. I meditated. I wrote. I read. I did everything but sleep. Weird!

The herbs and supplements recommended by Michael Broffman arrived by special messenger (Carolyn) and I begen taking them with the kitchari Rachael had made.

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Hospital Stay

The surgery (TURBT) took place on January 7 and I was in the hospital for three days and two nights.

On the evening of January 7, I suffered a severe pain in my left kidney. Some say it was because I didn’t let the nurses give me enough pain killer medication, but it could have happened even with it. The pain went away soon after a nurse injected some medication in my IV.

The pain has not returned and I made it through the rest of the hospital stay without incident.

It was a blessing to have Rachael prepare kitchari – an Aruyvedic composition of mung beans, rice, vegetables, and spices. Each day, she brought an new kitchari and they were all wonderful. You know how atrocious hospital food can be!

Visitors made my stay in the hospital much more comforting.

On the morning of January 9, Dr. Neuwirth came into my room and announced quite confidently, “You have muscle invasive bladder cancer and you should go see Dr. Maxwell Meng at UCSF” – all in one sentence.

By some miracle or perhaps a sense of urgency, we got in to see Dr. Meng, with CT scans and biopsy samples, the very next day.

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Copyright © 2004-2018, Jerome Freedman, Ph. D.