The Lord of the Cancer: The 3 Laser Zaps

My R-CHOP chemo was complete and i was so happy and excited to be done. But most important, I was returning back to work at the good ol VA! I was basically off from work mid January-mid June, with a couple weeks working here and there January and February. I was extremely rusty with work but just like riding a bike, eventually you'll get it. The great thing about working in the medical field is work does not skip a beat if you are on leave. So while I was getting chemo, I worried for a couple days how work was but then realized just like life, it must go on. So honestly, I definitely did not think about the stresses of my job. It's not like I really stress at my job, I kinda just sit back and laugh at the people who really do stress about everything. :) But it was great seeing my co-workers and my patients again. One of my patients even told me he had a running bet with another patient if I was to die or not. (I could put that in my blog right? No names = not breaking HIPAA regulations haha!) I definitely missed work and was glad to be back.

Way too much free time at work....

My next step in my treatment course was to have radiation. As with any unknown territory, I was extremely nervous about getting radiation as I heard from others who went through it that it was very painful. "It's like a bad sunburn. Your skin is going to peel. It's gonna hurt like hell." So I thought to myself, "Great, is there anything that I'm gonna go through that isn't painful? Why can't they have medicinal marijuana for cancer patients in Illinois? I sure would love to feel 19 again. Oh well."

My radiation oncologist was Dr. Bahman Emami. I looked him up before meeting him and found out this guy was consistently considered one of chicago's top docs. Cool! This dude is gonna cure me! Radiation was starting to sound easier and easier as the days were counting down to my consultation. The end of July 2011 I had my consultation with Dr. Emami, and in walks this oompa loompa looking guy. Lidia and I look at each other and I just shrugged it off. But the moment Dr. Emami started talking, he had this weird, introverted, I haven't been out of my house since the cold war type of humor. He was nice and friendly but definitely a very odd fellow. He talked about my treatment plan and that I would need radiation 5 days a week for 4 weeks. I was like holy crap, I just got back to work, how am I gonna manage this? He reassured me radiation was very quick and I would need to come back the next day to start the prep phase as I was to begin radiation the following Monday. I came back the next day, and the radiation tech made a mold of my torso as I would get radiation only in my chest. The way radiation works, it's basically a highly concentrated X-ray. You know how you have those water hoses and at the end of the nozzle you can turn it to make it spray or shoot out. With my understanding that was very similar to how the radiation rays would hit my body. I needed tattoos marked on my body so the techs would know each time where the machine would have to point. Before the lady tatted me up, I asked her if she specialized in any Chinese or Japanese artwork and if she could tat my daughters name on my arm or chest. She laughed and said that it was just gonna be a simple tiny dot on my sternum and on my sides. I was bummed because those were my first 3 tattoos. :( So those that know me REALLY well, I'm the biggest pussy in the world. As I got my first dot tatted on me, I jumped and yelled out. The radiation tech chick looked at me and said, "Oh...." Yeah my reputation was already ruined.

My Last day of radiation 8/30/2011

Monday-Friday throughout the month of August 2011 at around 3:30pm I would come into Loyola radiation oncology outpatient center for radiation. I would be done at 3:40pm....I know right? 8 minutes of changing and 2 minutes of radiation. I would lay down on my body mold and the radiation techs would align the machine with my tats,(I had to constantly correct my iPad because it only recognized tits not tats.) and ZAP ZAP ZAP! I was done! The best part was, I wasn't sick, I didn't feel pain and I was getting stronger everyday. It came to the point that I was getting so strong that after radiation, I was able to go to the OPRF track daily and start jogging. While I was on chemo, my onco doc put me on steroids so I blew up like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. So I needed to work off all that extra bloat as my wedding was coming up. It was also really nice to get out and start walking and jogging to clear all the stress that was building up the past 6 months with everything that was going on dealing with having cancer, feeling horrible that I wasn't able to take care of Daniela, and that Lidia and I were getting married in September.

Chillin at the taste!

Finally I thought to myself, the worst is over...my fight has concluded. My life can FINALLY continue after a major giant roadblock was set in our way. I cherished every moment I had with my family, and had a great summer. The days I felt strong, Dani and I would go driving around, I would walk her in her stroller, take her to the mall as much as I could. I would walk past the Disney store and cover her eyes so she wouldn't see what we were passing. The 2 of us also went to the taste one day and I was afraid I wasn't able to make it because I was afraid to be in giant crowds.(after going through treatments, and your blood counts drop, someone sneezing or coughing will freak the living crap out of you.) But going to the taste was a great experience for Daniela and I. While chomping down on a turkey leg, a group of ladies were next to me and one approached me and looked at me up and down. I thought she was gonna say something about my cancer because I was completely bald at that time but she looked at Daniela and started smiling. Now if some big black lady stares at you while you're eating a BBQ turkey leg you're gonna assume she's hungry right? But no, she comes up to me and goes, "oooooooo yo girl is sooo beautiful! What kind is she?" I didn't know how to respond because if I was to answer her correctly, she would get insulted if I said human. But I followed up, "I'm Filipino and my fiancee is Mexican." "Mmmmmmm-mmmmmm, beautiful..." was what she responded as she walked away. I had to get away because I really was convinced she was hungry and gonna turn Daniela into a giant lumpia and/or burrito.

Sorry bout the complete subject change but I'll always hold that memory dear to me, even though it was before radiation, that's when I started feeling my life was back to normal. That's all I wanted while going through cancer. My life to return to what it was in 2010. Now that I was finished, my onco doc told me I finally had a break and my next PET Scan was in October. I didn't care about it, it was now September 2011 and I was to marry the love of my life.....