I had my first radiation therapy session on Monday, September 21st followed by a trip to the Oncology department to get my infusion pump installed. I was scheduled to begin a one week session of Chemotherapy in addition to Radiation therapy. By Monday evening about 6:00 PM I was home and Anne Mary was making dinner for us.

I was amazed at how mobile I was. The infusion pump was about twice the size of an Apple Iphone, it had about 10-12 feet of tubing which was connected to the port I had installed in my chest. The other end was attached to an IV bag which held my entire week of chemotherapy drug, which was prescribed for me. It is called 5FU. The entire package fits inside a small fanny pack. I could carry it in my hands or strap it on. Every 2 ½ to 4 minutes, the infusion pump would “whirl” and another 0.12 ml of the drug was pumped into my body.

After dinner, I believe it was about 7 PM I went to bed. It had been a psychologically stressful day full of new things that I'd never experienced before and I was honestly nervous about what I was in for. I slept very, very well, awaking at my normal 4:50 AM. It was as normal a day as could be expected under the circumstances. I was dissuaded by the medical people about taking a shower, so I went into the bath room and used “baby wipes” to clean myself up as best I could. I had my “fanny pack” with me and had almost no trouble negotiating the process.

I decide to work from home this day, because I felt like I wanted to “monitor” my situation before I subjected my co-workers with my set-up. The only awkward part of the situation was the tube that sticks into my chest port makes my shirts bulge. Wasn't sure I could really use a dress shirt for that. Wasn't sure how others would feel seeing part of my medical apparatus is public view.

So I worked through the day and it was a fairly normal working from home day, but by 3:15 PM in the afternoon, when my work day officially ended, I was wiped out. Just felt fatigued, nothing more no real side effects, just fatigue. But I went to my radiation appointment as I was scheduled. That all went well and we returned home. We prepared and ate dinner and then I decided to go to bed. It is 06:30 PM. That is pretty early even for me.

I slept like a dead man that night. I know I got up to use the restroom several times, but when I returned to bed, I was back to sleep in seconds. That is also not normal for me, getting back to sleep so quickly.

At 4:50 AM Wednesday morning when the alarm went off, I was so incredibly tired, I knew I would not have a productive day at work. I doubted that I could work thru the entire day, so I decided to sleep in and call in sick. I think I rolled out of bed about 06:30 AM, mostly because I was restless. I was still tired, but I also wasn't going to be able to sleep. I went downstairs, logged into my laptop and email my boss that I wasn't working that day. About 07:15 AM Anne Mary left for her job and I was watching TV and surfing the Internet from my laptop.

Sometime between 08:15 AM and 08:30 AM I started getting this ache in my chest. I had been lying on the floor while using my laptop. I find it incredibly comfortable, but I'm sure it is not ergonomically correct position for a 58 year old man to be in. I repositioned my body and the ache left. I was still feeling quite fatigued as I mentioned earlier, so I went to the couch and laid down. I was asleep in minutes.

I'm not sure why I woke up. I don't recall having the chest ache. I think I just woke up normally. But in minutes the ache in my chest returned. This time changing body position didn't help. Damn! I knew I was going to have to call the doctor.

Now the delima occurred. Which doctor do I call? I have so many now. So, I decided to call the “Visiting Nurse” facility we have with Group Health Coverage. But from past experience I recall the message that first plays when you call them goes something like “.....If this is a life threatening emergency, Hang Up and call 911......”. Was it life threatening? I don't know. It didn't really hurt that badly, but I was concerned. It was an unpleasant pain. I recalled thinking, “Well I pay my taxes for 911”, so I decided to call them, the 911 people.

It was about this time that my eldest daughter had arose for the day and was padding around in the kitchen, where the phone was. I pointed my finger at her and commanded, “Don't freak out when you freak out”, as I reached for the phone. “I'm dialing 911!”.

I guess I had never called 911 before, because I was surprised when the operator asked, Fire, Police, or Medical? "Ah Medical". I described the pain I was having and the fact that I was taking a chemotherapy medication. In about 4-5 minutes I had about 8 to 10 EMT/Firemen type people standing in my living room, asking me questions. Later I found out that there was an ambulance from the Shoreline district as well as our local Bothell district. I may have interruppted a training session (?), because one EMT person began the questioning, but later it was taken over by another EMT person, the one who would escort me to the hospital.

I remember looking up at Allison to see how she was emotionally handling my emergency situation. She had a huge smile on her face. I really think she loved having 8 – 10 hunky EMT/Fireman type guys hanging out in our living room. Our cats were totally freaked out by all of the commotion and had run like streaks of lightning to hide under the master room bed.

I guess my achy chest appeared on the EKG equipment to look a bit like a heart attack and I believe they told me that my the heart was struggling to pump efficiently. They wanted to take me in. OK, you are the experts. Lets go.

They strap me to the gurney and deposit me in the ambulance. That is when I saw both of the ambulances. Curious. Riding in a gurney in an ambulance is not all that comfortable. I think I felt every road bump and pothole in each street. I decided right then and there that Bothell needs to repave many many roads in my area. We passed by St. Bendans parish school at about 40 miles per hour, lights flashing and siren screaming . The EMT told me that they want to take me to Evergreen Hospital because they weren't sure that I could make it the 12 extra miles to a Group Health Hospital (in Bellevue). I said OK. I didn't feel that much in distressed and they seemed more concerned that I felt. But then again, they had the machinery and knew how to interpret the output better than I did. At Keysner Way in downtown Bothell, the main path to the freeway, was so bumpy I thought I was going to be thrown out of the gurney or that the gurney would tip over. But wait, I'm strapped in. Can it tip over?

On the freeway and speeding to the hospital, I'm looking out the back window of the ambulance and thinking how so unreal all of this seems. We arrive at Evergreen Hospital, which is a trauma center now. It is newly upgraded and refurnished. They wheel my gurney into an E/R theater in which there must have been 14-18 medical people, nurses, doctors, various technicians, interns etc. 3 different people were asking me questions, all at the same time, and I was doing my best to answer them, but then one of the techs asked me not to speak,

So I shut up. I think this tech was running a heart monitor or EKG machine of some sort, but the questions from the medical people kept coming. Finally, the tech asked in a much louder voice for everyone to shut up again. While all of this was happening, My groin was being shaved as they were prepping to pass a wire or some medical device up my leg vein up near my heart. They were going to inject me with dye and if it were necessary install a stint . They thought I was having a heart attack! I still thought all of this was overly dramatic. I didn't think I was having a heart attack, but what did I know? Never having had a heart attack, how would I know? Go with the flow.

They sent me to the OR. All of the operating room personnel introduced themselves to me and explained what they were going to do. They were going to inject me with this dye and watch on the screen. It would show any blockages in any vessels near and around my heart. OK, are you ready. Here we go.... and then it was over. There were absolutely no blockages. The procedure was over. It seemed like there was a sense of disappointment by the people in the OR.

No blockages. Remarkable for someone of my age. Is it because of my low cholesterol readings over the ages? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It was good to know my heart was in excellent shape.

My cardiologist was Dr. Wagner, a youngish very good looking female doctor with an infectious smile who made penetrating eye contact. She started telling me what they found and what they thought was happening to me. This would change over the next several days, but basically they thought I was having vasso-spasms in the area around my heart. It was probably caused by the Chemo drug 5FU and they wanted to disconnect my infusion pump. I agreed and they disconnect it, within 20 seconds. They had sprayed under my tongue with nitro glycerine several times that morning in the ambulance and in the E/R, and I don't remember feeling any relief from any of them, but when they hooked me up to an IV of nitro glycerine the cramping ache in my chest went away.

This is the best I've felt all day. They wheel me off to a patient room to hold me over night for observation. The good feelings I was having would quickly flip over. This day has just begun.

Continued.