Ok then, Pluvicto!

I got up on Tuesday dreading the day ahead. Not the best way to start the day but sometimes unavoidable. I cursed myself for not taking a shower the night before and headed for the bathroom. Mid-way through my shower there was a giant crash. Ernie came racing in to find me sitting naked on my little shower stool sans shower curtain. The damned shower rod had crashed to the floor. Well, at least the adrenalin had finished waking me up.

We headed out shortly after and started our quiet drive to St. Louis. We were, at long last, getting a scan for Ernie to see how the Pluvicto treatments had gone. My legs were pretty shaky but I always have this belief that I can just will it away. We got into the lobby of Barnes and I had stop and sit down. Headed over to the bathrooms and then again stopped to sit down. This is why I need a walker with a seat. After some dithering I asked Ernie if he would get a wheelchair and ask the lobby concierge if there was someplace he could park my walker. I gotta say, all the workers there are super friendly. They said he could leave it with them so he came speeding back, as only Ernie could, with a wheelchair. I hate using it but I’m so glad I did. I don’t think I could have managed the distances otherwise. Off we went to registration on the third floor, back to a waiting room on the second floor.

The scan took several hours. It was a tiny, and very warm waiting room and every time I moved, my wheelchair squeaked. Fortunately it opened into a wide hall way so it wasn’t too claustrophobic.

Finally he was done so we trudged off to our hotel. I wasn’t crazy about having to spend the money to stay over but I also didn’t want to get the results over the phone. We’d found a good rate at the Cheshire and it was delightful. We were both exhausted at this point from a long day and the anxiety of waiting for test results. We tried not to take it out on each other and were somewhat successful.

All the Cheshire rooms are named after English works of literature. We got the John Gay room, author of the Begger’s Opera (later to be reworked by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill into Threepenny Opera…I love these tidbits). We moseyed down to the hotel bar, the Fox and Hounds, using the walk and sit method. Walk, sit, walk, sit, walk, sit. We finally made it and thanks to the heavens above, it was DARK!!! I really miss dark hotel bars. Now they’re all in bright lobbies with square little stools and ready to hand you a sandwich wrap as well. NO. I like old fashioned dim bars so I was inordinately happy.

It was incredibly dark, filled with leather couches and lots of wood, low lighting and some jazz in the background. And we had a free credit for drinks! So sat and slowly relaxed.

We ordered Greek food and it was great. Ernie lived in Greece as a middle schooler so Greek food always touches a chord within him. I got eggplant parmesan, which I don’t think of as Greek but I love it and will always order it when it’s on the menu, and a side of a dolmades. Ernie went with a gyros to erase the bad one he’d had here most recently, but as good as both were, the dolmades were king.

The next morning was rainy and we were both anxious. We worry in completely different ways, I worry constantly whereas he saves it up and then it’s BAM! We got there way early so passed the time with a Wordle and another word game or two, checked on my Pikmin, etc. We finally got called in late and continued to wait. We saw a radiation oncology nurse practitioner. She was nice but it really made me appreciate the oncologists who, when we are waiting on results, just tell us as they walk in the door. No, we went through how long she’d worked with the doctor, Ernie’s medications, this, that and the other thing. Finally she said, “Have you seen the results?” WHAT THE HELL? WHEN WOULD WE HAVE SEEN THE RESULTS? THE SCAN FINISHED AROUND 4 PM YESTERDAY!

Anyway, they were good. I know! It took awhile to sink in. The areas of bone with metastasis had no new growth and the numerous tumors in his liver had reduced in size or even disappeared.

We left in a bit of a daze. I think it will take a bit to sink in. We don’t know how long things will be stabilized but we’ll take it! We see Vasireddy tomorrow (infusion day) which will be good, and at some point we’ll see our medical oncologist at Barnes. I feel as though we just had a baby. All good but those hormones are fleeing your body leaving you unsure what to make of anything.

We’re getting there though, we’re getting there. Thanks for all the good wishes, prayers and practices. Love to all.

We might drink some champagne tonight!

Onward.

Top photo: all the offices look alike. Only the pattern on the chairs changes.