Have made tremendous strides. Feeling great. The chemo seem to have shrunk the tumor already. I’ve got a full appetite and can eat just about anything. I don’t even need to take the enzymes. I’m having minimal side effects from the chemo and have full energy. The only thing out of the ordinary is some weird tingling in my feet and fingertips. I feel so good I stopped taking painkillers. And I was finally able to deliver Kaki’s bed, which I made for her at Christmas.

The only negative experience so far has been withdrawal from going off the painkillers so quickly. Consulted with the doctors and we came up with a schedule to wean me off them more gradually.

Felt good enough to go to the Sing-a-Long Wizard of Oz at the Castro Theater with my ma, my brother, Kaki and Calum.

But first, I have to have an access “port” installed in my chest. I will be essentially plug-in-able for the duration of the chemo. That’s at 10 am. Chemo starts at 1 pm. 5 hours of chemo at the hospital followed by 48 hours with a pump at home.

Slept for three days afterwards. Totally wiped out.

My cousin Stephen arrives from Washington, stopping to spend time with me, my mother and brother on his way back home to Korea. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day! Great to have him. Hoping he brings his red-haired leprechaun luck.

Managing pain. Worst managerial job ever. Not able to eat much. Been given a schedule of painkiller cocktails, and a scrip for digestive enzymes, which I will need in order to eat, since the tumor seems to be preventing my pancreas from producing them. At one point taking 160 mg of Oxycodone a day. We call it the Rush Limbaugh. I have no idea how he did his radio show on this stuff. Anxious for chemo to start.

I wish I could get over-the-counter chemo at Walgreen’s. Alas, it’s all Snuggies and Sham-Wow’s.

Released back into the wild. Chemo starts in a week and a half.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Monday, March 7 2011 joins the line of other Black Mondays in our nations history.

At the hospital, awaiting the results of the ERCP ultrasound scope. Four days  of waiting, enjoying the fine hospital food and the total lack of fresh air from the sealed windows.

The nursing staff is fantastic and the stay has been overall excellent. My room resembles walk-in camping at Burning Man. There is a steady stream of visitors in and out. Lots of laughs. According to the nurses, this place has become known as “The Party Room.”

That said, this place can sometimes feel like a psych ward. My neighbor (we call him Chief because he looks like the Chief from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) barks like a dog at sunset every day.