Monday, September 17, 2012

Fallout Boy - Day Five

Bad day today... not so much from the radiation; I think I'm over the hard stuff from that; but I have got to get back on thyroid meds as soon as possible because I am dying here on the hypothyroid effects.

That and the money problems caused by this cancer are really kicking our ass today; but that's life.

Again, it's better than dying.

Date         Time HR D Dose 
9/17/2012 10:00 92 0 530
9/17/2012 10:00 92 2 19  
9/17/2012 10:00 92   3   6    
9/17/2012 10:00 92   6   1.9 
9/17/2012 10:00 92   12 1.1   
9/17/2012 14:00 96 0 485
9/17/2012 14:00 96 2 20  
9/17/2012 14:00 96 3 6    
9/17/2012 14:00 96 6 1.7 
9/17/2012 14:00 96 12 1    
9/17/2012 18:00 100 0 470
9/17/2012 18:00 100 2 17  
9/17/2012 18:00 100 3 5.8 
9/17/2012 18:00 100 6 1.5 
9/17/2012 18:00 100 12 0.8
9/17/2012 22:00 104 0 415
9/17/2012 22:00 104 2 16  
9/17/2012 22:00 104 3 4    
9/17/2012 22:00 104 6 1.7 
9/17/2012 22:00 104 12 0.9

At this point, the 3ft, 6ft, and 12ft distance measurements have become inconsistent. The environmental reflection, absorption, residual etc... are within the margin of measurement error, and the changes in background levels, so they're not going to be particularly accurate at this point.

I could average the errors out by taking five measurements, dropping the high and low, and averaging the middle three... but really that's too much hassle. the 3, 6, and 12 ft are all under 5 uSv/h at this point, which is in the safe zone for my wife, so I really don't care much. She can sit on the same couch with me; just at the opposite end. In a few days, she'll be able to sit next to me on the couch.

What's really important to me right now, is the torso contact measurement, which I'm measuring at the junction of neck and torso (a couple inches below my incision); the highest point of radiation concentration on my body (it falls quickly down to somewhere over 100 within a few inches, and between 20 and 60 over the rest of my body; higher in sensitive areas with lots of blood vessels, lower in extremities etc...).

Again, it's very clear the slope of change has shallowed dramatically; both hourly, and the 24hr day over day:

Distance -- 9/13 ------ 9/14 ----- 9/15 ----- 9/16 ----- 9/17
0                 >1000    >1000     790       580         485

2                 >1000    240           70       38          20  
3                 800        40            15       7            6    
6                 600        22           5.3       2.5         1.7 
12               480        9             2.4       1.1         1    


From differential scanning, around many areas of my body, that high toros contact number could indicate that I've still got a large mass, or large concentration of cancerous tissue somewhere in my neck or upper chest. We'll know when they gamma cam me on Thursday.

That may indicate I need a second dose... We'll know better on Thursday... Or more likely Friday or Monday, after my endocrinologist and radiologist consult...

Or it could just mean the tissue is still dying and hasn't purged out enough yet. It has only been 105 hours since I was dosed after all.

We'll see.