Your Mama

The Theraspheres radiation treatment is scheduled for January 24 at UPMC. Almost the entire surface area of the right lobe of my liver is now wrapped with cancer. The smaller left lobe appears to remain unaffected. The strategy is to deliver a knock-out punch of radiation only to the right lobe and leave the healthier left lobe untouched. It is a one-shot deal; not the typical series of daily radiation stretched out over weeks that most people imagine. The irradiated glass beads are delivered to the liver through a catheter inserted in the femoral artery of my upper thigh. The procedure itself will feel no different than the chemoembolizations that I have had, except this time they are filling the arteries of my liver with radioactive beads instead of chemo drugs.

After the treatment, there will be one night in the hospital for observation. The day after my discharge I plan on returning to Los Angeles, from that point on my treatment and care will be taking place out there. In my commitment to savor every moment of every day of health, I have decided that I would rather do my savoring in the sunshine. In LA, I will be surrounded by my partner, our two dogs, and all of the friends that have been part of my life during the past 18 years that I have lived there.

My mother will be flying with me to Los Angeles to help me through the post-radiation fatigue I will be experiencing. Bobby and I live in a downtown LA loft; he has already put up a movable room divider to provide more privacy to the living room where she will be sleeping. It is a great space with lots of light, ceiling-to-floor windows, and city views, so she will not be roughing it too much...and a child needs his mother at times like these. I am certainly no different.