Another Week Down...

So, this is the week where I feel good. So, I have been enjoying it and trying to keep the next week out of my thoughts. Rachel and I are off to Lake Chelan tomorrow for a few days with the Roupe's and some other cronies, so I am excited for that. I think this will be my only vacation until this whole thing is over with.

A couple days ago I went to the hospital for a CT/PET scan to see the progress from the chemo. I meet with my doc next week to go over the slides and to see how well the chemo is working for me. I am pretty confident that it is working very well because the doc cannot feel any lumps on my neck. So, I am curious to how big the lump in my chest and the lumps in my spleen are now.

Because this is my good week, I feel great and my mind is in a good place and I have energy. On the weeks of chemo and after I get chemo I feel like shit!!! I don't have much energy for anything. I usually stay positive but it still brings you down for a bit. I think just the constant feeling like shit for 5-7 days starts to take its toll on you, but once you finally get through it, you kind of forget about the past week. The only things that really gets to me are certain smells, the thought of going to chemo treatment, and the needle that goes into my port. I have never had a problem with needles, or pain, but for some reason the connection of the port makes me feel so sick. Oh well...I don't think I have another option.

Overall everything is going according to plan, and thank god for health insurance. I can't believe how much this would cost if I didn't have insurance. 4 treatments down, 8 more to go! I will keep you posted on the results from my last body scan.

Have a great weekend!

Just a Quick Update...

I will write more later this week.

I had my 4th treatment yesterday and my white blood count was back to normal at just over 5,000. Right now I feel like crap, and I can't wait for the next couple days to roll by so I start feeling better. I only have 8 more treatments to go, I wish it could go by faster. I know everything is working for the best and I know I will be cancer free by December, so I will keep pushing through. Besides that, I am all good.

I will update you all later this week with more fun stuff...

Round 1, Cycle 2 Down the Hatch...

Yesterday I was able to have my third chemo treatment which is the start of my 2nd cycle, each cycle is 2 treatments. Right now I am actually feeling ok, which is nice. I felt like complete crap yesterday when I got home from my treatment but I just crashed on the couch and laid low. Yesterday my blood tests showed that my white blood cell count was low again, but high enough to have my treatment. Three weeks ago it was at 400, yesterday it was at 1000, and the doc would like to see it above 1500. Because I have lower white blood counts I will be getting a "booster" shot to elevate my count. I think the name of the shot is Nulesta, and apparently this makes my bone marrow create more white blood cells. Because of this, the nurse was telling me that I will feel sore in my larger bones for the first few days after each shot. Each shot will be given to me the day after each chemo treatment.

When I had my check up with the doc yesterday he was very please with my progress and is very excited to see that the lump on the left side of my neck appears to be so small he can not feel it, and the cluster on my right side of the neck has been reduced significantly! I will have a full body scan next month to get a better idea of how everything is going. This is all great news and it just shows that my body is reacting very well with the chemo treatment. I will still continue the same schedule and I will most likely follow up chemo with 4 weeks of radiation.

This past weekend I had family in town from Spokane, and it was great seeing everyone, especially my grandma. I was happy to see her make the drive over the mountains to come visit. It just tells me she will be just fine to fly down to New Orleans next April for the wedding. My uncle helped my install the A/C unit in the family room, my aunt cooked up some delicious enchilada's, and my grandma brought over her famous biscotti's. It was really nice just being with the family. My parents even washed and waxed my car, I can get used to all these perks ;)

I am really excited for the 4th of July, and I really hope I am feeling well. My buddy and I have acquired a full arsenal of fireworks. It is great having the best hookup for the best fireworks you can get your hands on. A friend of ours is a wholesaler for the fireworks you can't buy at the local stands. I think we have about 250 artillery shells, 5 cakes and a bunch of other crap. Sorry to ramble about my 4th of July stuff, but as you can tell I am pretty pumped! I will be careful, and you can guarantee that because I am not allowed to drink alcohol...

Besides all that, I am just trucking away, and I now only have 9 treatments left to go! If I can stay on schedule I will be done with chemo in early November and hopefully be done with radiation before the end of the year! I know the schedule and the way my body reacts is out of my hands, but with the booster shot, I am really hoping that we can stay right on path. There is nothing more that I want is to be done with the treatment, but I know the only way I will get healthy and be able to live a long healthy life is to go through this. So, I have no problem going through treatment for 6 months, and if I have to do it again in the future...Well, I will cross that bridge when I get there.

For me it is so easy to motivated and to stay positive because of the people who surround me. I must thank each and every one of you for following my journey, sending me notes, calling me, texting me, and stopping by. I have so many things to look forward to in the near future and I am so excited for all of it. I know there will be more ups and downs along this path, and I still have a ways to go, but if I can continue to feel this good, then I will have no problem kicking the shit out of this cancer! I am just happy that we found the lump when we did, and that there is a cure for this crap!

I didn't have a picture to post of myself, so I decided to post a picture for all you Obama lovers!

Round 2, Cycle 1 Completed!

Round 2…
Yesterday went well, my blood count was up so I was able t finish my first full cycle of chemo! One full cycle down, and five more cycles to go. The past couple of weeks have been going well for me, as my energy has been pretty good except for a few days here and there were I feel pretty tired. I have been taking it pretty easy lately and just have been taking care of myself so I can stay on schedule as much as possible.

This past weekend was nice and relaxing. We were able to take advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and went out on the boat. I felt fine the whole time and even enjoyed some O’Doul’s. I hope the weather will finally break soon so we can get some more time out on the boat.

My hair started falling out a couple days ago, so instead of it slowly falling out, Rachel took the clippers to my head. She did a pretty good job except for the fact that she didn’t realize that the #1 blade protector had fallen off and continued to shave my head with no blade cover. She had to shave my head again because of the length difference. It really wasn’t a big deal because I will be bald soon anyways. It is definitely weird having a shaved head, but it is super easy to get ready in the morning, not like it was hard before.

It is so hard to explain how your body feels once the chemo has been administered. It doesn’t feel like any illness I have ever had, but my stomach feels weird and my body plays tricks on me. If I am stationary for a while, I feel fine. But if I move around, sometimes I get a little loopy. I have had hiccups three times since I got home yesterday from treatment. I slept most of the afternoon yesterday, and I slept in pretty late this morning. I think a good way to explain how my body feels is that I feel like I have extra weight pushing down on me, hopefully that makes sense.

I have never been a huge soccer fan, but I am enjoying watching the World Cup, it is nice having live sports on the TV in the morning! That and On Demand have been helping me relax lately, and I am super pumped that Whale Wars is back for another season. If I had the chance I would love to go on a six month expedition on the Sea Shepherd. If you have not seen the show, check it out on Animal Planet.

I am still continuing to work, and work is going well. At the same time, if you know of anyone looking to purchase or sell a home, please let me know. I am always looking for new business, and any referral is much appreciated.

Please feel free to ask my questions about my cancer, treatment or anything else. I try to respond to everyone and if I have not, I apologize about that. I hope to have a more humorous post in the near future, today I am just feeling a bit tired. I hope all is well with everyone, and it will be nice to see some of you this weekend at Brock’s Softball game.

Week 2...

Week 2 of Chemo…

This is a good week as I do not have treatment this week, but I do have lab work. I have to go to the oncologist for blood work to make sure my blood counts are up. I am sure they are up as I have only been in treatment for one week…So, this afternoon I will go in for a blood draw and I think that is about it. Overall I am feeling pretty damn good right now! I get tired by about 4-5pm in the afternoon and I find my self sleeping a bit more. I think the first few days were rough because of the steroids they put in my body and my body didn’t know if it was tired or if it wanted to rock out! Now, I feel pretty much normal except for the fact that all of my fingertips have this numb tingly feeling all the time now. I don’t know if it is the medication I am taking or if it is the chemo. We are thinking it is the Allopurinal I am taking for my liver.

Last Friday I had to meet with the Radiologist to talk about the chances of having to do radiation after my 6 months of chemo was completed. Well…it looks like I will have to do 4 weeks of radiation after I am done with my chemo treatment. I wasn’t surprised by this and what the doctors have determined is that the large mass on the right side of my neck is a cluster of lumps and is classified as “bulky” which means that most likely the chemo will break down the lumps but there will most likely be some residual of the lumps. The only way to completely get rid of it is to zap me! Honestly, the radiation sounds much more appealing compared to chemo, so I have no problems having to do 4 weeks of radiation after chemo. It would be 5 days a week for about 20 minutes a day. The side effects are not too bad and most of them are temporary, but I could have some permanent issues with my thyroid. But there is a very simple fix with medication for that, so I am not worried about that at all. When you weigh out the pros and cons and keeping the goal in mind to be cancer free at the end of the treatment it is a no brainer to move forward with the radiation treatment at the end. If everything goes according to plan I should be all done by mid January and hopefully skiing in Whistler sometime in February. Oh yeah, it will be nice to enjoy a cocktail then too!

This past weekend was great, Rachel’s parents flew in from Louisiana and spent memorial weekend with us. We had a great time just hanging out and doing a little work around the house. Actually Rachel put her dad to work! Mr. Randal ended up installing a TV in the guest room and also added a ceiling fan to the master bedroom. I am pretty excited for the fan because the upstairs of the home can get pretty warm in the summer. Rachel and her mom (Miss Verelda) enjoyed the outlet mall in Marysville and we all had a great brunch at Salty’s on Sunday. I put the chuck wagon on and threw down some good eats; I would love to eat that food every Sunday! Monday Miss Verelda cooked up some amazing food, Chicken something (I wish I knew how to spell it, but I think you would pronounce it like Free Cason, but I am probably way off) it is like a chicken gumbo, but a little thicker with potatoes and she also adds egg to it. Of course it is served over white rice and it tastes so good! We had a great time just hanging out talking about the wedding and just relaxing. I am very excited to be a part of their family and I feel extremely lucky that my family and Rachel’s family all get along so well.

Thank you all again for messaging, texting, calling and stopping by. I am amazed of how many people are keeping me in their thoughts and I will always be grateful of your support. I will keep you all posted!

My First Chemo Treatment.

First day of Chemotherapy…

Wednesday was my first day of chemo treatment and the process really isn’t that bad, I don’t recommend you go out and try it, but I really wasn’t that bad. My chest is still bruised so the nurse injected me with lidacaine to numb up the area before she put the inch and a half long needle into the port in my chest. I didn’t feel a thing this time! I received a number of different injections through the IV; the first was antibodies with anti-nausea medicine and steroids. Then I received a test of Bleomycin to make sure my body didn’t have a reaction, I didn’t have one so that was good. After that they gave me Adriamoycin and Vinblastine through a syringe that is hooked up to my IV. Once that was done I was hooked up to a drip bag of Dacarbazine that takes an hour to drip into my body. Once this is done I received the final dosage of Bleomycin. I might be getting wrong if the Vinblastine was the one that took an hour long and the Dacarbazine was through a syringe. But I think you all get the picture…The cancer center is really nice and everyone that works there is very friendly. I just watched the Discovery Chanel and hung out with Rachel.

I felt great going home, and I felt really fine when I got home. Rachel and I needed to clean the house because her parent’s fly in today so I helped by vacuuming the area rugs. That wasn’t a great idea, when I was done I started sweating pretty heavily out of my head. I sat down for about 20 minutes and when I stood up I felt really light headed and dizzy. I took some medicine to help with nausea and drank a bunch of fluids. I felt much better a few hours later, I felt I had a touch of the flu but I was not throwing up or anything. I was curious to how I was going to sleep through the night, but I had no problem falling asleep. I woke up at 4:30 this morning with a stomach ache and didn’t fall back asleep until about 6ish so that was the only hiccup.

Overall I am so happy that I finally have the treatment going and start moving forward. I cannot wait for the next six months to be over, but I just have to take it one day at a time. I really hope I do not have to follow up chemo with radiation or more chemo, and I don’t think that will be the case. I just want to be healthy and back to normal before April 9, 2011 (that’s our wedding date, we are getting hitched outside of New Orleans at Oak Alley Plantation, the plantation home and grounds are absolutely amazing). The only time I get a little emotional right now is thinking about the wedding and wanting to be healthy for it and be able to celebrate it with my family, friends, and of course Rachel. I am positive I will be just fine by then, but It is just a matter of getting there…I just never pictured myself at the age of 28 having to go through this. But like all you have said, this is just a little speed bump to get over. Again, thank you for all your response and messages, they really mean a lot to me. I hope you all have great extended weekend and enjoy the time off! Cheers!

P.S. I have posted a picture of where the doc has cut me open. The top scar is where I had my lymph node biopsy and the scar at the bottom is where the put the port into my chest. You can kind of see the bruising by the bottom scar and that is from the doctor fishing the cord from the port to my main artery.

Chemo Starts this Wednesday...

It’s another update…
Here is the short version. Last week we received great news that the cancer is not in my bone marrow, so the cancer is in stage 3. I start Chemotherapy this Wednesday at Puget Sound Cancer Center.

Long version… (I apologize for lack of English skills, and if I wander with my note. I am just typing on the fly, bare with me) We were very happy to have the bone marrow test come back negative, this does not change my treatment in any way, but it does reduce the chances of the cancer coming back in the future, I still have Hodgkin’s and it is in stage 3. This was the first good news we have heard in awhile, so that was nice to hear! I have had numerous tests done to make sure I am in good health to go full speed ahead with my chemo treatment. All of my breathing, echo, and EKG tests came back very good and I am in very good health which means I get to go full speed ahead with the chemo and the ultimate goal to be cancer free in 6 months. One of the lumps that was found on the right side of my neck is actually a cluster of lumps and is about 10cm long, because of this there is a chance that the chemo will not complete get rid of this lump. If this is the case, I will have to follow up chemo with spot radiation treatment. I am meeting with the radiologist this Friday to get the talks started and to see what is recommended. Overall I am doing pretty well, I have received letters, emails, and phone calls from so many people and I truly appreciate all the thoughts, prayers, and concern. This just pushes me more and more to stay positive and to get through the next 6 months. There is no doubt in my mind that I will get through this, even though I know that this is not going to be some walk in the park. I am actually really nervous for my first treatment this Wednesday afternoon, I have no idea how my body will react to the chemo.
The type of chemo treatment I will be going through is called ABVD, if you want to learn more about what exactly ABVD is please check out this website as it provides all the information and side effects, it is pretty interesting stuff(especially to me because it gets to be my “buddy” for the next 6 months). http://www.lymphomainfo.net/therapy/chemotherapy/abvd.html The doc is confident I will lose my hair, so when it comes out I will post a picture of my round face all bald. The joke is I am going to look like a giant baby…Also the doctor is extremely confident and optimistic that I will be cancer free in 6 months. Hearing this from the doc is very relieving, but I still have to put my time in and I have to do my part to make sure I do not get sick and put my body in any danger. The chemo will break down my immune system, so it is very important I do not catch any illness over the period of treatment.
I had my first blood draw last week with the Port-A-Cath, and it was actually really painful because I had the surgery for it two days prior to the draw. My chest was still really sore from the surgery and my neck and shoulder were/are still sore from the first surgery. It still hurts to drive my car and the seatbelt rests right over where I had both surgeries. I wonder if my medical insurance will cover a personal driver. It is really weird feeling the port in my chest, and my body is still getting used to the foreign object that has been implanted into my chest. I guess now I know what it would feel like to have a boob job…
Some of you have asked what I am doing for work and if I am going to be able to continue to work going through treatment, and the answer is YES! There are going to be days where I am tired or sick, but for the most part I am really hoping that I can work close to a full days of work. It’s definitely much more stressful being self-employed, but I know I can get through this. If you know of anyone who is in the market looking to buy or sell a home, I am your guy! (sorry for the plug, but I had too).
Thank you for following my progress and I am sure this will get more interesting once the treatment begins, I will update you all later this week after my body has absorbed all the fun chemicals!