16th Cycle, 24th Week – We’re Done

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I finally got the definition of “cycle” right. I am now in the 2nd day of my 16th and last cycle of chemo. Today is Saturday and I just got my pump removed. That’s it, no more chemo for now, and maybe forever.

This coming Monday I get another blood test and a CT scan, then talk with my surgeon, Dr. Rocha and my oncologist, Dr. Picozzi, and we’ll be talking about surgery, which is almost certain to be a Whipple procedure, and if you’ve been keeping up here, you know what that is.

I’ve been drilling in on all the things I should prepare. I’ve gotten the stuff to live on the first floor, for the first couple-few weeks. I’ve been adjusting my diet. Since I’ll probably have to wait after the chemo to let my liver clear out, I’ve got something over a month before it can happen. Plenty of time to prepare.

My friend at the hospital gave Melissa & me a squeeze toy that’s essentially a life-sized model of a pancreas. It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

Here’s that pancreas toy, I’m holding it over its proper location in my gut. Just imagine it tucked in there just a couple of inches in front of my spine, under the stomach. The knobby “head”of the pancreas is in my right hand, to the left in the picture. That’s where the tumor is. All of the tumor and most of the rest of the head will come out in the surgery. BTW, I took this yesterday so I was still wearing my folfiri pump. Just got it off today.

GAWD a month off!!! What to do, what to do?