Portland Wi-Fi Works

Took a few minutes to figure out how to configure the wireless settings. Thunderstorms all day today in Atlanta (where I change planes), so I suspect it will be a long day. At least it isn't foggy in Portland. Don't know how long it will take to get internet access once I get to Germany so this will probably be it for a while. I will pass on phone numbers via Jennifer.

In Portland

Got into the Red Lion Inn about 3:30PM. They will let me park my truck here as long as I want for $4 per day, half of what the airport charges, sounds like a good deal to me. I'll head over the airport (or should I say flughafen) at 6:00AM and hopefully arrive in Mainz about 17 hours later. There are supposed to have wireless internet access at the airport, I'll have to give that a try while I'm waiting.

Reservations Please

Getting my trip setup. Will be flying from Portland on the 31st of March and arriving in Frankfurt on the 1st of April. Assuming we use the normal protocol I will have the in-patient parts on April 4th-8th, 25th-29th, and May 16th-20th. I won't actually be done until the end of May.

I plan on coming home for a week between the 1st and 2nd cycle to clear my head. Most people don't start to have serious effects until the 2nd cycle. I plan on staying between the 2nd and 3rd cycles. If I feel up to it I will take the train down to Switzerland. I got an email recently from an engineer at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) with some questions regarding a product I sold back in the early 1980's which they are still using. Not sure if I can help them out, but would be neat to get a tour of CERN. CERN is currently building the world's largest particle accelerator. I also have a friend near Zurich that I haven't seen since the early 1990's.

Getting Closer

I called Thomas at MedGermany on his cell phone around 2:30 this morning to make sure things were progressing. He verified that he has all the information required and is in communication with the clinic regarding scheduling. Seems that about 30% of the world thinks March 28th is some sort of holiday, so we are hoping to start treatment on April 4th. Seems like anytime I want to go on holiday I get cancer, while anytime I need a doctor, they are on holiday (either physically or mentally, or both).

The report from Dr. Nichols' assistant at OHSU starts out "History of Present Illness: This is a pleasant 48-year-old man who noted...." I guess it's true, you can't tell a book by it's cover.

If you're interested in the details: "CT scan reviewed here at OHSU reveals lymphadenopathy, most greater than 1cm and several greater than 2cm in the mediastinum, the AP-window, paratracheal, pretracheal, consistent with a distribution associated with metastatic testicular cancer. In addition, there are multiple pulmonary metastases suggesting the hematogenous spread, also characteristic pattern of recurrent testicular cancer." In other words, I've got balls in my lungs.

Waiting to go

I got the diagnosis on Friday the 18th of metastasis of the testicular cancer from last year into the lungs. I had already contacted MedGermany about chemo but will be Faxing my formal application for treatment to them on Sunday.

The treatment will most likely be three cycles of what they call "BEP", standing for the three chemicals: Bleomycin, Etoposide, and Cisplatin. Each cycle is 3 weeks long, with 5 days of intravenous Etoposide and Cisplatin and 16 days off. The Bleomycin is given as an injection once a week. There are other posibilities, for instance some people react badly to the Bleomycin.

That's it for now, will know more in a couple of days.