The general outlook

Having the one week postponement of chemo is kind of nice.  I used the extra week to drink a couple of ice cold beers and consume a few ice cream cones. Well, yesterday was to be the make-up infusion and once again, my platelets were too small in number to proceed.  They like a score of 100 (100,000) but will proceed if it is 80 or better.  The two week score was 56 and now the three week measurement was only a small improvement, up to 65. So I have another chemo-free week to look forward to.  It stretches out the total course of 12 cycles well into fall.  My bone marrow needs to get it in gear and start cranking out the platelets.

So what after that?  I asked my doctor (I'll call him Dr. Ken in the future so I don't have too look up the spelling of "Krajewski" again.  If you are reading this in your head, it is pronounced "Cry-you-skee".)  Dr. Ken says that I'm pretty much on chemo for the rest of my life.  There will be some breaks but they will always be about weighing quality of life against fighting potentially active, fast-growing cancer.  We kind of have to guess when the cancer is taking a break so I can take a break too.  Fortunately this current regimen affords me some pretty good quality of life; a week to 10 days of mild inconvenience followed by another 10 days of relatively robust living.  He'll likely keep me on this regimen after the 12weeks as long as the primary bad side effects don't get worse; those effects being Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN) and the platelet level crashing so low as to induce internal bleeding.  The "platinum" class of drugs cause the former and the 5-FU class the latter. The neuropathy has been present since my first course of chemo 2 years ago and it is a little difficult to tell if it is getting worse.  One day feels just like the next.  Fortunately I only feel numbness, not pain.  We may switch from the external pump infusion to the oral (pill) option after the 12 cycles.  We put off the next CT scan until October 28 since I feel strongly that chemo is working.

I also got involved in a ArtPrize project with some out of town artists who needed a little video assistance.  Their large installment at the UICA meant every moment for them devoted to construction so they brought me in to do a little shooting and a little editing for the "Orientation" video that shows to the viewers as they enter the space. Artist Micah Silver and I drove to Toledo last week to record Hollywood Director, Brett Leonard (best known for his 1993 sci-fi film, "The Lawnmower Man".)  This week I worked with Micah's collaborator, Adam Schoenberg, to score the piece and make edit decisions.  It was a fun diversion and it was nice to be plugged into ArtPrize in some small way.

I can see my breath these days in the mornings as I go out to feed the goldfish.  It is a good reminder of being alive against the odds.  Even Dr. Ken remarked that it was unusual for  a stage 4 esophageal cancer patient to be looking and feeling this good after 2 and a half years.  Two years is considered an exceptionally long prognosis.  I'm up there withe the miraculous cases and showing no signs of failing.  It is good to be alive and looking forward to the next natural cycle of life.