Cycle Nine - Day 1

Hello y'all, Greetings to PR/B readers. :-)

Good discussion with my onc Dr. Z. Good guy. One has to be ready for surprises in the onc biz - I am getting used to this and made a few mental predictions since my last chemo. I was on the money. The known options were, 1. stop after eight cycles , 2. continue until 12 - and the new one - 3. dump the oxaliplatin and continue until twelve cycles with the old standby 5-FU + folinic acid - acronymically speaking - from FOLFOX-6 to FOLF (version unknown). FOLF was the "old" chemo that did pretty good - no data on that old study - (chemo+surg+rad) vs (surg. + rad + no other chemo as far as I know). Dr. Z said it would take at least an hour to explain all the tradeoffs and studies on dosing FOLF.

So, I went in with the Super88 model also known as the SuperBaBa model since ba is eight in Mandarin Chinese. Ba is a lucky number in Chinese tradition. We got a laugh out of the BaBa model.

Well, I am always one for compromise - Full Monty vs. 70% Monty vs. No Monty. I like to keep my sexy Calvin Klein black underpants on and so I am now on 70% Monty as I write. So now I'm on cycle nine - maybe it is the Super BaBa model after all.

I walked from MGH to home due a fire on the red line and in the rain. Lots of people where doing the same - some walked from South Station to Harvard Square. Umbrellas were selling well. The rain was warm and I rather enjoyed getting soaked. Of course, the sun came out as soon as the umbrellas sold out - one of the few sure things in life (the umbrella guys have some connection to the higher powers). :-)