Friday, January 18, 2008

My First Treatment

Finally, one month since we first met with Dr. Hecht at UCLA, I have received my first treatment. I was injected on January 16 with a drug called Sandostatin LAR. It is a long acting drug that I will be getting once a month. There is a list of side effects but so far it hasn't been bad at all. Here are a couple of pictures from the injection room.






The room was very nice. This is actually the room where they do all the chemotherapy injections. Each seat reclines and everyone has their own LCD TV and Direct TV box. This is a new medical facility so everything is still very nice and clean. You can click on the pictures to get a better look.

Although I was very nervous to get the shot, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought. The worst part was when the nurse was explaining to me why the needle was so big. I don't usually look at the needles (I'm a little scared of them). I've been reading about the drug and I have heard from several sources that the actual injection can be rather painful due to the thick nature of the drug they have to push into the muscle. Luckily, I didn't find the injection to be that painful. They gave it to me in my ass and it was over very quickly. Thank God baby got back because that needle was BIG and they went DEEP!

The rest of the day, and even now, my ass has been rather soar at the point of injection. They say the side effects will last as long as the drug is in my system. I'm not sure how long that is. The only other side effect so far came yesterday when I got a little nauseated. I had to lay down for bit but it soon passed. If that is all the side effects I get I will be a very happy boy!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You look very handsome and holy cow!! that needle is big. I have to see that if it was given to me I probably would not feel it at all, you know with all the padding! LOL I love you so much. Take care ok. Love, Heather

Anonymous said...

I am very proud of you and what you are doing with this blog. I have a number of medical people and paients that find this material very helpful. I refer to this blog 2-3 times daily along with sending it to various professionals. I had my molor extracted the other day and the dentist has a son at ASU studing raidology for cancer patients and now is reading this blog daily along with physical therapists.....I am so very proud of who you are as a person and proud of how you are taking this blog and structuring it for the good of many............i wish you had been on my staff at the Human Development and Research Institute....I LOVE YOU--Dadurhjll

Anonymous said...

Ok, I was doing really well with this blog until I hit the picture of the LARGE needle. Being somewhat Needlephobic myself, the ENLARGED picture of the syringe gave me the cold sweats. :-0 WTF, is that a needle or dagger.
On a more serious note, keep up that great positive attitude, well written and documented blog. Looking forward to more informative updates.
LIVEstrong, Mind over Body

Anonymous said...

This really is a well written BLOG. It's very informative and certainly shows your good attitude. I spoke with a medical friend of mine recently who said that a person's positive attitude was more than half the battle when dealing with cancer. Keep it up and you will live a long and happy life free of cancer.