After consultations, tests, and trips to the OHSU medical oncology clinic (at the waterfront) and the up the hill to radiation oncology, the doctors have confirmed a treatment plan and timeline. They will use chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumor in the lung, and then do surgery to remove what's left, followed by a second round of chemotherapy. Lynn got a big notebook of what to expect during chemo, and we'll both attend a workshop next week on more details, to make sure we are doing the best we can on managing all the side effects of treatment. Lynn was not surprised to hear that he'd lose his hair, but (surprisingly) taken aback when he heard he'd lose his beard. Hasn't been clean shaven in years! All this is scheduled to start the day after Labor Day, so in the meantime we're getting ready. We went to the Portland Art Museum Rental Gallery and selected a landscape - Vicki Mintkeski's Beach Trees - for our downstairs den-cum-guest bedroom. This will likely be where Lynn hangs out after treatments, if he's too tired to climb the steep steps to our third floor bedroom. However the docs say stair climbing is good for him, so we'll see.
Beach Trees will hang in our home for about three months - providing something fun and imaginative to appreciate while daydreaming....and killing cancer cells.
