Reality Show?

OK, things are about to get kind of crazy around here.

Here's how it all started. I got cancer. I blogged about it. I shared that blog on Facebook, and emailed a few friends and family. They shared my blog, and started sharing my story with others who are joining in the battle. Within the first two weeks, I had over 5,000 hits. And you have to have the address to find it. You won't find it by googling "cancer blogs" or anything.

So that's weird. And sweet, really. I love knowing how many people are affected by my words and following my story.

One night, I got a FB message from a high school classmate (James Jansma), who is a cameraman for KSFY, a local news affiliate. He is not much for words (hence the behind the camera work), but it appeared to me that he was really moved by my first blog entry, and when the KSFY peeps were sitting around trying to come up with human interest stories or something, he might have mentioned this blog. He asked if I would be interested in having KSFY sort of document my story. He promised they would be nice, and gave me a reporter's number.

I called a couple of days later, and left a voice mail, and didn't hear back for about a week, so I figured they had decided not to do the story. No skin off my nose! I've got bigger fish to fry right now!

But yesterday, I got a call from Mark Roper (whom I'm about to get to know pretty well, it seems), and he wanted to know what kind of treatment activities I would be doing next week. Interestingly, that's when the "fun" begins.

So the news is going to coming to my port placement operation on Monday, my wig consultation on Tuesday, my first round of chemo on Thursday, and possibly even my haircut on Friday.

The PR people at Avera will make sure that I have a Patient Advocate added to my team to protect my dignity and whatnot. The cameras will not follow me 24/7 (I don't really think I'm that interesting), but will touch on peak moments of my treatment. And while I will not shy away from showing the harder parts of treatment, if I don't feel like being on camera, I won't.

Back to port placement on Monday. Here's a good description of a port from Avera's Be A Survivor website:

A port consists of a tube (catheter), attached to a dome-shaped chamber.  The device is surgically implanted under the skin, with the dome placed in the chest or arm, where it will be easily accessible for injections through a needle.  The catheter is threaded into a large vein, where rapid blood flow will dilute the drug, and keep it from damaging the lining of the vein.  The whole device will be completely covered by skin, so it will not interfere with your activities.  You can swim, bathe and exercise freely.

Ports can also be used for drawing blood, thus avoiding needle sticks of the arms during clinic visits.

So, I'm having this thing implanted on Monday morning. They assure me it's not a big deal of a surgery. It will be located about 3 inches below my left collarbone. I've been told to mention that my neckline would like to be preserved with minimal scarring, because I wear a lot of fancy dresses. :)

I will not go under general anesthesia (so no intubation, which I like because of less risk to the vocal cords), but they will use a local and put me in "twilight sleep."

Watch me sparkle!

Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I'll probably talk through the entire surgery. Poor surgical team!