10 down 2 to go.... I sitting in the living room of my parents cottage in Greenville right now. Everybody else is sleeping. Even the dogs.... I had my treatment yesterday, and it went pretty good, I still have the pump until Saturday morning.
We came up here for Abi's birthday in a couple of days. Today is Angela's and my 16th anniversary! Hard to imagine that that much time has passed. I guess when you marry the help-meet that God made for you things like time become irrelevant. It's been a good run so far...
After talking the the nurses yesterday about the surgery details (as much as they could give me), I found out that surgery is going to be at the end of August at the earliest. That becuase I need to come down from the chemo a bit before
They start hacking out bits. Looking at probably 8 weeks of recovery...
Friday, June 27, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
Got the results from my CT scan yesterday.
If we're Facebook friends, you already know this... But I had chemo treatment number 9. 3 more to go! I also met the my doctor. He said the ALL of the tumors are shrinking. Some of the numbers were from 3.7 cm to 2.6 cm. all of them were similar to that. So the game plan is complete the 3 chemo treatments, then a CT and a PET scan, then surgery. The plan at the moment is the cut out the whatever tumors are left in my liver with a laser (not on a sharks head that I'm aware off), and at the same time fix the colon. (Probably some lymph nodes too, but he didn't say that...)
So things are going really well. In fact last night was only the second night I've lost sleep over this, but this time it was because of excitement...
God is good.
Cheers!
So things are going really well. In fact last night was only the second night I've lost sleep over this, but this time it was because of excitement...
God is good.
Cheers!
Friday, May 30, 2014
8 down. Next up: CT scan.
Sill have the pump on from number 8, but feel remarkably well so far. Still tired all the time, of course but that's part of the gig. In a week it so, I get a CT to really see how thing are going. I am optimistic that there will be great progress. I'm not expecting them to say I'm cured or anything like that, but I do think there has been real progress, and I'm just looking for confirmation....
I cannot overstate how well this has gone so far. That not to say that it really stinks at times, or that it hasn't been the biggest challenge of my life. Compared to what I thought this would be, it's been almost a breeze. God has seen me though so far, and I expect the same going forward.
Short update this time, but not a lot to say. Thanks for all the encouraging words, and prayers! That's the best thing people can do for me at this time.
Cheers!
I cannot overstate how well this has gone so far. That not to say that it really stinks at times, or that it hasn't been the biggest challenge of my life. Compared to what I thought this would be, it's been almost a breeze. God has seen me though so far, and I expect the same going forward.
Short update this time, but not a lot to say. Thanks for all the encouraging words, and prayers! That's the best thing people can do for me at this time.
Cheers!
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Whoops!
I broke my pump last Friday night. Spilled chemo all over my coat. The craziest part is that I got it on my hands, and it burns the skin! Pretty freaky to put something INSIDE you that is that caustic... I'm feeling pretty good this week (probably because I missed out on some if my dosage.) the bad news in all of that it they will probably give me extra next time...
We'll just have to wait and see. One more treatment before the new tests. I know that things are shrinking, I can actually feel it! If I jogged a little a few weeks ago, I could feel the tumor rubbing against my abdominal wall. I noticed last week that I can no longer feel it! So hopefully the same thing that's happening to my colon is happening to my liver... Once again, we'll just have to wait and see.
Short post this time. Gotta go to work!
We'll just have to wait and see. One more treatment before the new tests. I know that things are shrinking, I can actually feel it! If I jogged a little a few weeks ago, I could feel the tumor rubbing against my abdominal wall. I noticed last week that I can no longer feel it! So hopefully the same thing that's happening to my colon is happening to my liver... Once again, we'll just have to wait and see.
Short post this time. Gotta go to work!
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Half way! And my first complication...
I've had several people give me a hard time for not posting anything for so long... Frankly, there hadn't been anything to say! Everything had been just about picture perfect. (At least for what you can expect on chemo!)
So treatment number six is over. I got the pump removed this morning. As I said above, I hadn't posted anything, because there was nothing say... Well so much for that! First off, I am officially half way through this round! 6 of 12. Secondly, I had my first scary moment during this past treatment. I was about an hour into everything, and I started to get tightness in my diaphragm area, at the same time my hands started to itch really bad, and my head (under my hair) broke out in hives. My scalp felt like a golf ball, it was so lumpy! Angela had just gotten back from taking Morgan, out friends kid, to the bathroom or something. We had Morgan with because of a family emergency for them. She's an absolute doll! Anyway, when Angela got back she could she something was wrong immediately. My face was flush, and I'm sure I had an strange expression in my face. She called for the nurse, and they reacted very quickly.
It wasn't the first time they had seen this. I has an allergic reaction to the meds, they gave me a shot of Benadryl, a steroid, and avastin (I think that what it was called). Anyway, it worked the hives went away, and all the other symptoms. Of course the Benadryl, put me out like a light. I slept thru the rest of the treatment. They are going to give me those meds every time from now on. Which means I'll be passing out at every one... Not real happy about that. I don't like that feeling, and I'm not one that likes to sleep the day away...
Anyway, all's well that ends well, as they say. I'm feeling pretty good right now, just waiting for some warmer weather. This cool/cold spring is the pits!
Thanks for all the encouraging words, prayers and comments.
Cheers!
So treatment number six is over. I got the pump removed this morning. As I said above, I hadn't posted anything, because there was nothing say... Well so much for that! First off, I am officially half way through this round! 6 of 12. Secondly, I had my first scary moment during this past treatment. I was about an hour into everything, and I started to get tightness in my diaphragm area, at the same time my hands started to itch really bad, and my head (under my hair) broke out in hives. My scalp felt like a golf ball, it was so lumpy! Angela had just gotten back from taking Morgan, out friends kid, to the bathroom or something. We had Morgan with because of a family emergency for them. She's an absolute doll! Anyway, when Angela got back she could she something was wrong immediately. My face was flush, and I'm sure I had an strange expression in my face. She called for the nurse, and they reacted very quickly.
It wasn't the first time they had seen this. I has an allergic reaction to the meds, they gave me a shot of Benadryl, a steroid, and avastin (I think that what it was called). Anyway, it worked the hives went away, and all the other symptoms. Of course the Benadryl, put me out like a light. I slept thru the rest of the treatment. They are going to give me those meds every time from now on. Which means I'll be passing out at every one... Not real happy about that. I don't like that feeling, and I'm not one that likes to sleep the day away...
Anyway, all's well that ends well, as they say. I'm feeling pretty good right now, just waiting for some warmer weather. This cool/cold spring is the pits!
Thanks for all the encouraging words, prayers and comments.
Cheers!
Friday, April 4, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Number 4 is in the bag. (literally)
Chemo session number four is done! Except I still have the bag stuck in my chest... (Gross, I know) I'll be completely done Saturday morning. Today went well. I love the nurse that takes care of me. Not only is she a great nurse, but she has a great sense of humor, and is just pleasant to talk to... I don't remember if I mentioned it in the last post, and I'm too lazy to go back and look, but she's the one who suggested that I take Prilosec OTC, and a B-complex vitamin. It made such an amazing difference! I'm hoping for a similar result this time around...
My dad came over and watched the kids when they got off the bus until we came home. I know they were really psyched to see him. It was cool that he stayed for dinner, too. I think this is a good time to mention that there's a group of ladies from Benthiem making dinners on the chemo days... I know SEVERAL people have offered to help out, and we have politely declined for now... I am truly astounded by the outpouring of support. There may be a day where we need to cash in some of those offers, but at the moment we doing better than I could have ever imagined! God is good.
I do feel bad about one thing right now... I upset my dad a little today. He had an incredible sense of humor about pretty much everything. He has a joke for every occasion... Except this... I was running through my gambit of cancer jokes, and stories about what I've experienced, and I didn't put much thought into what he might think about this. I am his boy after all. I should have just shut up, but I don't have a very good filter for such things... I can count the number of times I've seen my dad really sad on one hand. In my life. I have to add one more today.
This is probably the worst part of all this. I hate seeing everybody getting sad, or upset by my situation... I'm handling better than some of my friends and family... You wouldn't believe how many people I have to talk off the ledge! I've also gotten a bit of a laugh about how people yell at me for not knowing I had this condition earlier... (If I knew, I would have done something about it!)
Anyway, Things are going pretty good. I'll be tired tomorrow, but if things are like last week, I'll be able to carry on. Thanks for all the support, people. Thanks for the offers of assistance. Thanks for the prayers, and positive thoughts.
Cheers!
My dad came over and watched the kids when they got off the bus until we came home. I know they were really psyched to see him. It was cool that he stayed for dinner, too. I think this is a good time to mention that there's a group of ladies from Benthiem making dinners on the chemo days... I know SEVERAL people have offered to help out, and we have politely declined for now... I am truly astounded by the outpouring of support. There may be a day where we need to cash in some of those offers, but at the moment we doing better than I could have ever imagined! God is good.
I do feel bad about one thing right now... I upset my dad a little today. He had an incredible sense of humor about pretty much everything. He has a joke for every occasion... Except this... I was running through my gambit of cancer jokes, and stories about what I've experienced, and I didn't put much thought into what he might think about this. I am his boy after all. I should have just shut up, but I don't have a very good filter for such things... I can count the number of times I've seen my dad really sad on one hand. In my life. I have to add one more today.
This is probably the worst part of all this. I hate seeing everybody getting sad, or upset by my situation... I'm handling better than some of my friends and family... You wouldn't believe how many people I have to talk off the ledge! I've also gotten a bit of a laugh about how people yell at me for not knowing I had this condition earlier... (If I knew, I would have done something about it!)
Anyway, Things are going pretty good. I'll be tired tomorrow, but if things are like last week, I'll be able to carry on. Thanks for all the support, people. Thanks for the offers of assistance. Thanks for the prayers, and positive thoughts.
Cheers!
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