APPOINTMENTS-A-PLENTY

By TEAM ANISSA

November 3^rd, 2014

Week 16

November 3, 2014

We’ve been riding this cancer roller coaster for 16 weeks. With each climb to the top we get a new view and it seems that the track gets a redesign as well. The once constant is our inability to exit the ride. I’d give anything to have some creepy carnie employee greet us at the bottom and let us know which direction to go upon exiting.

This week begins with a trip back to UCLA on Monday to meet with Dr. Philip Beron, Head Radiology Oncology. After being shown a somewhat outdated youtube video (shot in 4:3 ratio) all about the pros and cons and process of radiation Anissa met with Dr. Beron. Not much to reveal here. He’s a great doctor, practicing in a great facility with a great team and great state of the art equipment. Everything but the actually act of being radiated sounds…well… great! What’s not great is the idea of traveling close to an hour in LA traffic for a 6-minute treatment – 5 days a week for up to six weeks. It would take more time to park than it would for the treatment itself! Anissa and I both agreed that if the best treatment were 4 hours away – we make that commute. There’s no question there. Thankfully, Anissa will not have to deal directly with this treatment for a few months but it was a good introduction regardless.

Anissa began physical therapy this week – the first step in treating her arms limited range of motion as well as the painful cording condition – Anissa scheduled an appointment with a vascular surgeon to discuss (and ultimately schedule) the installation of a portacath. Dr. Conrad, the vascular surgeon discussed the options. None of which seemed like something Anissa wanted to do… but I don’t think anyone really wants to go through any of this. Her options were: a) do nothing and just use her veins as is for the chemo infusion. b) have a PICC line which would need to be kept dry and clean 24/7 or c) a portacath. Which is basically an access area with a catheter running to her jugular. Anissa choose door #3. Surgery was immediately scheduled for the following week, just 3 days prior to her first chemo treatment.

I’ve mentioned before the incredible support Anissa has received. The amount of people Anissa has access to who have been through this is overwhelming. Isabella has a friend in her grade whose mom went through this. Anissa had breakfast with her this week and the information and advice shared was incredible. One of the tidbits shared was that your teeth can possibly come loose. This is another side effect of chemo. So, with this Anissa made an appointment for a dental check up… because apparently she hasn’t seen enough doctors. Add another Doctor’s appointment to the list this week.

The highlight and most certainly the bright spot this week was Anissa’s visit to her office at DreamWorks Animation. When we arrived, Anissa got out and headed over to the cafeteria area while I parked the car. I parked and made my way to the Starbucks on the DWA campus. I left with my coffee and made my way over to the outside seating area to meet up with Anissa. As I turned the corner, I spotted Anissa sitting there over lunch surrounded by a dozen or so colleagues while a steady stream of others came by to say hi to her. I slowed my pace in order to take in the beaming smile on Anissa’s face. It was the most alive and energetic I’ve seen her since this whole thing began. It was great seeing Anissa this happy. Happy seems to come in small doses these days – and this was one huge dose of happiness. What was great about being there with her was that I got to see old friends who we’ve both known for many years (Anissa and I met while we were both working for DreamWorks a whopping 17 years ago) and countless others who I’ve only heard about and was able to finally put a face to.