The Morton Girl Connection

One of the most recognizable icons of the 20th Century is the Morton Girl on the blue salt box with her big umbrella and the catch-phrase “when it rains, it pours”. She has had several Extreme Makeovers; the last one looks at least 20, if not 30 years old. Being the nostalgia nut that I am, I vaguely remember mailing away for a set of 4 ceramic mugs sporting reproduction pictures of the Morton Girl through the years. The only one still in my cabinet is the one from 1914. She looks so quaint; so different from the one on the box today, but still has that huge umbrella, shielding her from the pouring rain. We all need an umbrella to shield us in time of need.

PDT
These three initials have been on my mind constantly the last week: As I think of my husband: Permanent Dirty Trick (or Pretty Damn Tough)
As I am driving: Poor Drivers Tailgate
(Morton Girl Connection: the air-conditioning in my car went out)
As I think of my husband: Pain Denies Tranquility
As I open our phone bill: Phony Dialing Target
(Morton Girl Connection: we got “slammed” and our phone bill tripled)
As I think of my husband: Preserve Dad’s Tales
(A good connection: one of our neighbors gave Earl a journal for him to write things he might want the kids to know)
As I get Government bullshit from Social Security: Postponed Disability Trust (Morton Girl Connection: after I gave them all the info they asked for, they actually sent Earl a form to fill out that asks what he can no longer do; I wrote that he can’t do ANYTHING, including EATING.)
As I think of my husband: Pharmacies, Doctors, Tube
As I fall asleep trying to get on the internet: Poky Dial-up Technology
(Morton Girl Connection: All messages disappeared from my Inbox for the 3rd time in 2 months)
ALL OF THE ABOVE “CONNECTIONS” would have thrown me in to a tizzy 3 months ago. Now I know how trivial they are, compared to what Earl is going through.

What these initials really stand for is:
Photodynamic Therapy
Our appointment with Dr. Warren on August 1st was to discuss having a stent put in Earl’s esophagus to make an opening so that he could actually eat & swallow. What Dr. Warren advised us on that date, is that at this point, the only thing that would hold the stent in place would be the cancer. IF the chemo is doing anything to shrink or kill the cancer, the stent could slip out of place and would have to be surgically removed. Besides, a stent would not be the best choice for Earl, since there is nothing to stop liquid and/or stomach acids from coming back up if he reclines or even sits down within a couple hours after eating, not a good choice for someone who tires easily. Dr. Warren then advised us of the procedure of Photodynamic Therapy, or PDT, and Earl “signed on” right away, stating that he would take quality over quantity at this point. We will go back to Rush on Tuesday, August 9th and Earl will receive an injection of a drug called Photofrin (porfimer sodium) in his port. The drug invades every cell in his body, but healthy cells have no trouble casting it off, whereas cancer cells cannot get rid of the drug. We will then go home, and return on Thursday, August 11th, when Dr. Warren will activate the drug with a non-thermal laser inserted in a scope down Earl’s throat. The activation has to be done in a window of 40 to 50 hours after the injection of the very-costly drug. (I spoke to one of the case nurses at our insurance, and it appears that the drug is covered. If it was not, we would still do it and pay it off when we get the money—it is that important to Earl (as it would be to ANYONE who has not swallowed anything since June 23rd.) The procedure has an 85% success rate. Since it was such a long-shot that Earl contracted this deadly cancer, I dearly hope he is not in the other 15%.
A major consideration of this procedure is the main side-effect of the drug: it causes the body to be extremely sensitive to light for 4 to 6 weeks. Earl will not be able to have any exposure to direct sunlight or even strong indoor lights, such as reading or examination lights, as he would suffer severe burns on any part of his body. He has to wear long sleeves, long leg pants, hat, sunglasses, and gloves home from the hospital after the injection. Also, he is scheduled for his 2nd round of chemo the following Monday, which will probably make him too sick to even want to eat, once the swelling goes down after the laser activation. Earl’s dream dinner of boned & buttered lake perch at Tiebel’s will have to wait at least a week after our 31st Anniversary on August 17. Maybe we should borrow the Morton Girl’s big umbrella to keep off the late August sun in the car on the way to Tiebel’s.

As I again think of my husband: Pray Death Transcends