Five Alive

I am exhausted today. The Spurs kept me at work until after 3:00am and we got to the CTRC about 8:45am for chemo. It was close to a 16 hour work day followed up by little sleep so if none of this makes any sense I apologize.

Encouraging news from the doc today. She says that if my next PET scan is clear, I will stop chemo and switch to radiation. The scan will happen the last week in June. I don't want to get my hopes up just yet, but that possibility does brighten my day.

I'm in right now for treatment #5, which leaves some deadtime between treatments to talk about. The pattern that had begun to develop is feel decent on Thursday and Friday and then bad on Saturday and Sunday. Monday I begin to feel better and Tuesday is usually the first day that I make an office appearance. Wednesday I declare my "Game Night" worthy and then I feel good for a week which is just enough time to forget that I ever felt bad. Through all of it though I still manage to stuff my face with a considerable amount of food.

Four On The Floor

I'm back home and resting after having treatment #4. This session has gone way too easy so far and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Some of my white blood cells counts were down, which meant I got another Nuelasta shot. That really killed my sleep that last time I got it, but I fear no more since Ambien CR came into my life.

More to come later.

And We're Back

With my livelihood directly tied to the NBA playoffs, I become a busy man this time of year. That combined with times I don't feel well leave me booked and spent. Hence the lack of posts (you can probably throw in a touch of lazy as well). Christine also has the keys to this bad boy, so I am going to lean on her more to e-blast my condition when I am laying on the couch insisting that we might as well be living on the sun if we are going to keep the house at 72 degrees (I get warm post-chemo) and telling her not to ask me questions because it hurts to think. Needless to say, she puts up with a lot and will probably end up with a piece of jewelry of her choosing at the end of all of this.

The good news is that the last chemo treatment (#3 of 12) went better than #2. I didn't feel nearly as bad, but I did get to have my first crack at aversions. Little things would make me me shudder and get somewhat nauseous. Soap, my cell phone, water, the couch and a few other things weren't enjoyable for a few days. Also, for a little over a week everything I ate tasted like it had a spoon full of dirt mixed in. I'm still looking for the Mary Poppins song about that one.

I get to do it all over again May 17th. On the bright side, I do appreciate feeling well much more than I ever have. That usually comes about five days after my treatments. By "well" I mean how I felt before I had any of this going on minus a little energy.

FUN FACTS

I still have most of my hair. It's definitely thinning, but has yet to come out in giant clumps.

My sleeping woes are over thanks to Ambien CR. It's awesome.

The steroids (anti-nausea drugs) are still helping me find lost weight. My goal is to work out four times before my next treatment (May 31).

I Got Better

Having a bad cold and getting chemotherapy at the same time did not do me well. Saturday and Sunday I spent my time horizontal except for restroom trips due to a blinding headache on top of being extremely snotty. My head was pounding to the point that I couldn't effectivly make decisions for myself and thankfully Christine stepped in and called the doctor Sunday afternoon. The doc recommended that I stop taking the anti-biotic I was on (Cipro) which was waaaaay too strong and making me feel extra crappy and take 800mg of Advil ever six hours to help break the headache. That combo left me able to sit up on Monday and Tuesday and helped my headache back off from driving spikes to a dull throb.



Through all of this I'm also dealing with side effects from chemo and the Neulasta (white blood cell builder) shot I received, the worst of which was insomnia. Normally my plan of attack when I get sick to take enough drugs to put me in a light coma and arise when I feel better. This time it failed me. I was unable to sleep for more than 1-2 hours at a time and the sleep I was getting was very light. I would wake up at the drop of a hat or litterally the chirp of a bird.

As an added bonus, I was hot (also a chemo side effect). Even with the air cranked way down I couldn't get comfortable. My skin was even red. Once again Christine made a call to the doctor and this time it was recommended that I take some Benadryl to knock me out. Unfortunately it didn't work. So I took a Tylenol w/Codeine hoping that would crush me into a dream world of magic. Unfortunately that didn't work either. I was stuck in a waking world full of crappy TV and ended up watching a biography on American Idol's Randy Jackson. Look at what I have become!

Eventually most of the the drugs started leaving my body and on Wednesday night I got a solid five hour block of sleep. Most of the side effects are disminished and all I am left with now is snot. That's a double bonus though because I always need plenty of Puffs on hand for the NFL Draft.

I Am Completely Miserable San Antonio

First things first. I'm pretty sure I don't have strep. That means my finger pointing moves from Banksy (I'll make it up to you with a trip to Fire Bowl) squarely onto my wife. Mrs. Robbins obviously drug a head cold home from one (or more likely all) of her 170 seventh graders and now I get to enjoy the gift that keeps on giving. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't just received treatment, but for now it's kicking my butt. I spent most of the afternoon laying on the couch with a pack of ice on my head (click the picture on the right for a full view).

Everything else seems to be going OK though. I haven't had any nausea issues and the hunger pangs I had after the first round aren't nearly as severe. One thing I forgot to mention is that a few of the fingertips on my left hand have gone a bit numb in the past week or two. Mainly my thumb and forefinger. It hasn't affected anything (read: video gaming), but it does feel strange at times.

Thanks go out to Nicole for baking and hand delivering an awesome cake for me and Christine (pics of that on request).

Second Verse Same As The First

Things did not start off so great entering the ring before round 2. The night before I was scheduled to come in I developed sinus drainage and a sore throat. My immediate worry was that I caught the strep throat that is floating around the office in the cube next to me...(Daniel Banks I'm looking in your direction). Hopefully it's just some allergy that got kicked up while I was cutting the grass on Wednesday. Either way, I am now taking some antibiotics.

The chemo treatment room was pretty empty when I was ushered in just after 9am. There wasn't near as much waiting for a chair, or just waiting in general, this time around. I got to pick the same chair I was in last time and had the same nurse as last time (Rosie) which relaxed me. Doing the treatment in the morning will probably be my preferred method for the rest of the time. Everything ran quicker.

Over the course of my couple hours there the room began to fill up again with mostly elderly people. I find that many of them see me and say "You're so young!" I'm not quite sure how to take that yet. I don't know if they mean, "It's so sad that you're young and have cancer," or "You're so young and you won't having any problem getting past this."

The entire session I was tired. More groggy than tired actually. I don't remember it being quite like this last time, but I also did it after a good night's sleep and in the afternoon.

I'm home now and ready for a nap.

A Week Later

(I started this post on Friday, but didn't make it until Monday night.)

They say the effects from every chemo treatment could be different, but I learned an important lesson after my first session that will carry over through the next six months.

Rest.

The night I came home (Thursday, 4/5) I felt fine and even managed to catch up on some work after a brief nap. The next day I expected to wake up feeling horrible, but didn't. I didn't feel completely normal, but I also didn't feel like I needed to sit at home and rest. It's hard to explain, but I wasn't really displaying the side effects of the chemo treatment so I spent the afternoon at the office. Saturday was the same way, so I worked the game that night and then I went to do my radio show Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon I could hardly move. I didn't feel sick, but my stamina was less than zero. Even laying around on the couch was tiring. Monday I made an appearance in the office and then spent Tuesday and Wednesday working from home. Wednesday afternoon I finally felt 'normal' again. I still tire out quicker than normal, but I imagine that won't go away until the end of the year.

The bottom line is whether I feels like or not, I need to rest in the first couple of days after chemo.

NOTES

Within 24hrs after treatment #1 my swollen lymph node and body itchiness went away. They came back, but for a few days it was nice to see how quick the medicine works.

For about three days I shoveled everything I could into my mouth. The consensus is that the Decadron from my anti-nausea regimen made me a hungry hungry hippo.

The actual process of getting a chemo treatment was painless.

I still have my hair, but I am seeing a few extra strands lying around recently.

My PET scan from a couple of weeks ago confirmed that I am in stage two. It also showed an enlarged spleen, but it was within the limits of normal and was not believed to be involved with the cancer.