Mayor Bob O'Connor underwent his first chemotherapy treatment yesterday afternoon, and his administration remained optimistic about his recovery.

		Related article Despite cancer treatments, it's business as usual says mayor's office

A briefing by doctors treating the cancer-stricken mayor is set for this morning at UPMC Shadyside, where he is a patient.

A press release by the mayor's office yesterday afternoon quoted Mr. O'Connor's doctors as saying he was "in good condition" and that "his chemotherapy treatment was well tolerated."

A grim-faced city administration, meanwhile, prepared to do business despite his cancer.

City technologists began plans to turn his room at the hospital, and his Squirrel Hill home, into virtual mayor's offices. Aides cleared his busy schedule, even as they hoped he might make a weekend appearance.

Every effort was made to paint a picture of a mayor still very much in charge. "This is a temporary inconvenience, as far as he's concerned," said mayoral spokesman Dick Skrinjar.

The 61-year-old mayor was diagnosed Monday with extremely rare primary central nervous system T-cell lymphoma. He has two primary tumors, and two smaller masses, on his brain and brain stem.

Mr. O'Connor yesterday received the first of possibly six biweekly treatments with high-dose methotrexate, a powerful cancer-fighting drug. The amount is so enormous that it will penetrate the blood-brain barrier to get to the lymphoma cells in the brain, spinal cord and spinal fluid, said Dr. Stanley Marks, director of clinical services at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

While the drug is administered, "he could have some nausea or vomiting," the doctor said. The mayor would receive antiemetic medicines for that.

In a week or so, there may be indications that the chemotherapy drug is suppressing the bone marrow, impairing kidney function or damaging the liver.

To block those toxic effects, the mayor will get a "rescue" drug called leucovorin, which is given 24 hours after the methotrexate.

The mayor's kidneys and liver are functioning normally, and he is being given fluids and other agents to help his body clear the methotrexate. Once that drug has dropped to very low levels, the leucovorin and fluids can be stopped and he can go home. The process will take about 72 hours.

Mr. O'Connor will be taking an oral cancer-fighting drug called Temodar between his methotrexate treatments. Temodar can cause mild nausea and vomiting, and bone marrow suppression.

"We're going to be giving him a relatively low dose and we don't expect his [blood] counts to drop that much," Dr. Marks said. "I think he'll be fine."

The doctors are worried that the drugs, particularly the high doses of steroids, will worsen Mr. O'Connor's duodenal ulcer, which was diagnosed last week and is being treated.

"But we really don't have a lot of options," Dr. Marks said. "We're hoping that in the next few days he's going to start to show a response [to chemotherapy] and then we can quickly taper him off the [steroids]."

Mr. O'Connor likely will be hospitalized for several days every two weeks, and will probably spend more time at home than has been the case since his January inauguration.

Even with the high-dose chemotherapy, Mr. O'Connor is not likely to shed his distinctive white mane.

"I can't guarantee it, but there's a good chance he won't lose any hair," said Dr. Marks. "That's a trademark and everyone's worried about it, including his wife."

Efforts were under way to make sure the mayor could work from both his home and hospital room.

The city's Computer Information Systems department prepared a laptop that can connect to the city's network from anywhere.

It includes wireless networking so that he can get into the hospital's system and get online from there or at home and that allows him to use the Web from anywhere, even a moving car.

"Whether he's here, across the street, or across the country, he'll be in the city network," said Howard Stern, the city's chief information officer.

UPMC Shadyside is one of five hospitals in that system in which patients can conduct wireless computing, at no charge. UPMC provides the service to a few dozen patients a month, said Mark Hopkins, its chief information officer for academic and community hospitals.

The hospital's system can't accommodate videoconferencing, but the city is preparing to wire the mayor's home so he can join staff meetings from there.

Mike Bauer, the city's network manager, said communications between the mayor and city government will go through an extensive security system. The system can tell if a message is coming from a city computer, asks for the mayor's password and user identification code, and runs the encrypted data through a server with a firewall.

The administration's hope is that nothing much will change.

"With Mayor O'Connor's management style, he's not handcuffed to a desk," said Mr. Skrinjar.

The mayor is technologically capable of signing documents electronically. City Solicitor Susan Malie said she wasn't aware of any plans to have him put his imprimatur on documents via computer, and that the practicality and legality of that would depend on the nature of the documents.

Yesterday, city Senior Secretary Marlene Cassidy, an aide to Mr. O'Connor since 1997, took key documents to him and met with him to rearrange his schedule.

He was scheduled to participate in yesterday's ESPN Radio "Mike and Mike in the Morning" broadcast, but canceled. He also missed the red carpet parade prior to yesterday's Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

The city did not send a replacement. "Nobody would even pretend to substitute for the mayor of Pittsburgh," said Mr. Skrinjar. Before the game, the Pirates posted a message on the scoreboard offering the team's "thoughts and prayers ... for a quick and speedy recovery."