"The report is great!" Dr. Dormady gleefully announced as he entered the room where we waited for the lung CT scan and brain MRI scan result. "The immunotherapy is working for you!" he further added. He explained that Gohan's cancer is stable after the immunotherapy treatment, there was no pseudo-growth of his cancer as expected in most NSCLC patients. His blood report also is better than the last time with every value within normal range! Praise God that Gohan's body is responding favorably to the treatment. With the great news, we will continue with the immunotherapy every two weeks to control his cancer.
Immunotherapy #4 and #5
His quality of life has also significantly improved, as such that we can comfortably go on short trips without worrying too much about his energy level. We had gone to Portland, OR again for his work and this time we took half day off to visit Multnomah Falls, one hour away from his company. Noted that this is the first time Gohan did something other than work in the 80 plus trips he has made to Portland. Gohan had been such a hard worker, but he has learned the value of work life balance, and I am there to make sure he does it! With periodic breaks, he was able to hike 1.2 mile to the top of the beautiful falls. It was an exhilarating experience! We have decided to hike once a week in our neighborhood hills to rebuild his strength that was lost during chemotherapy.
Visiting Multnomah Falls - first leisure outing in Gohan's 80+ business trips to Portland
Incidentally, at one of the vista points, Gohan missed his steps and fell to the ground, hitting his back on the pavement. He was OK except for a sore tail bone, but I was alerted because being an athletic and agile man, he has never fallen in the 40 years that I have known him. Due to the unusual fall and also because of his recent complaint of not being able to see clearly at night, we decided to see an ophthalmologist. To our surprise, Dr. Shahinian found that his right eye has cataract, which explained for his fall as his visual field was impaired by the cloudy lens. The cataract was likely caused by the cancer treatment in particular the extended use of Dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, during his chemotherapy and brain radiation. This is a bummer because it may affect his mobility. Fortunately, a common and effective solution is available when and if his cataract gets worse, i.e. artificial lens replacement through cataract surgery. For now, Dr. Shahinian prescribed him a pair of eyeglasses to aid in his distance vision. It helps that he looks handsome in his eyeglasses which compensates for the small inconvenience wearing it.
The enterologist checked his ears have recovered well, but the ophthalmologist found cataract
The video team for the El Camino Hospital cancer video came a week ago to film us, which gave us a taste of celebrity's life, albeit for only 4 hours. The team of four were very kind and sensitive to Gohan's needs. The director gave us instructions such as"walk slowly, ...now look at each other, ...now smile,...". We were asked to repeat each action several times. I guess that is what is called NG and we had plenty of that. They even filmed our shoes while we walked. Looking at my worn-out hiking shoes, I regretted for my procrastination in getting a new pair. I hope that the audience will see me as a real hiker by my dirty old shoes. At the end of the filming, the team told us that they should be able to produce 1 to 2 minutes of film from the 2 hours shooting. Wow! Did we have that many NGs? Guess we can't be movie stars after all. Regardless, we are tremendously grateful and honored to be the receiver of the time and efforts of the project team.
Meanwhile, we are merrily getting ready for the upcoming gala this Saturday May, 21!
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