My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

The bad news is that the experimental treatment with a small radiation dose was not
effective, although the mass did initially shrink.
I received a call from Dr. Flam's office delaying the start of chemo to next Wednesday.
After visiting Dr Stobbe, I went to see my CPA who has my tax audit under control.
Some good news. I have made it to within 1-2 points of the 2500 I need to become a
Gold Life Master at Bridge. I will get there before the Chemo begins.
I hope to post again to describe the insertion of the port from the patient point of view. I
have inserted many ports, so the difference in perspective should be interesting.
This morning, there were flowers on our doorstep. Beautiful roses.
Thanks Bonna.
Posted by David Shuster at 07:31PM (-07:00)
Port Inserted Today
Monday, April 25, 2011
We arrived at St Agnes Medical Center at 7:00 AM.
I met Joe Cerillo, a longtime colleague with whom I have worked 20 years or more. He is
a technologist who works in interventional radiology. He told me he just completed chemo
for non-Hodgekins lymphoma. He had a port which was recently removed. I wonder if his
disease is the result of radiation exposure. For that matter, I wonder if my condition is
also caused by radiation exposure. I know there is a relation with sun exposure.
I met Dr. Nguyen, an interventional radiologist. He has placed more than 300 ports. He
likes to place them in the subcutaneous tissues of the right upper chest. That was fine
with me as the left jugular vein is scarred by the radiation treatments. The procedure
went off on time and without incident. It is a duel lumen power port, meaning that there
are actually two ports to inject, so two drugs which may not mix well can be injected
simultaneously. It is capable of receiving injections from a pressure injector such as the
type used to inject IV contrast for CT scans. It looks like it is made of plastic so it will not
interfere with CT or MRI imaging. The port itself sits on my upper right chest wall. The
catheter is tunneled to the lower neck where it enters the jugular vein.
Thee procedure was completed by 10:00 AM and I was able to leave shortly after 11:00
AM. It is now 1:00 PM and there is no pain from the incisions. I have no memory of the
procedure itself, due to the effects of Versed and Fentanyl.
Joan Rivers described "Jewish Natural Childbirth" as follows. Put me out with the first
pain and wake me up when the hairdresser comes.
This was the "Jewish Port insertion."
As I will not begin chemo until Wednesday, I will have a buzz cut of my hair tomorrow.
That way, I will not have to worry about sweeping up falling hair.
I hope to post a picture of myself tomorrow, pre chemo with a buzz cut.
Posted by David Shuster at 01:08PM (-07:00)
I get a Buzz Cut
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Chemotherapy begins tomorrow. I decided that I don't want to wait for my hair to fall out
so I got it all cut off today. Here is the new hairless me.
My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer
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