karenulijohn

Tomorrow morning, Harvey will have a CAT scan as part of the study to follow up on the first phase of the treatment.  He will “donate” more blood on Tuesday, and then, the following Tuesday we will meet with the oncologist to go over the results.  We are hopeful that the scan will not reveal any rogue cancer cells anywhere which will mean that his body is successfully annihilating the melanoma cells.  We hoped that we would not be making the trip to Sutter quite as often during the next twelve weeks, but we heard otherwise from the nurse who did the blood draw last Tuesday.  It turns out that the port itself needs to be “flushed” at regular intervals of every three to four weeks.   As always, he is taking this in his stride, and on the surface, seems totally unaffected.

I, on the other hand, seem to be experiencing all of the side effects that he is not.  Since I am a person who is susceptible to suggestion, I have been known to acquire symptoms of obscure diseases just from hearing about them or watching shows depicting illness.  Many years ago, Harvey banned me from watching “Dr. Welby, M.D.” when I told him that I thought I might have leprosy.  The episode of Dr. Welby a week earlier had been about a young girl who discovered a rash on her hand, similar to the one that I had.  Unlike her, however, I had not visited a leper colony.  After two episodes of “House”, Harvey made it clear that it was dangerous for my health to watch such a show.  I am, however, allowed to watch shows that depict autopsies, like “NCIS” and “CIS”, presumably because if I get one of those, I won’t know it.

As always, we thank you for your thoughts and prayers and support.