Getting Better

The PET scan I took on Monday came back completely clear which means most of the cancer is gone. To make sure it gets the "Finish Him!" treatment I have two more chemo sessions (one after today) and then I will switch to 4-6 weeks of radiation. It should be much easier than chemo and will consist of getting a "laser" shot at my neck 5 times a week for 10-15 minutes. Throat swelling will be the side effect, but that's a trade-off I'm more than willing to make.

The Summer of John

The Good: I'm halfway through.

The Bad: The aftermath from #6 has been rougher than most.

The Ugly: I've spent so much time on the couch there's a Homer-esque indentation that spans the length.

Seriously, I feel like George after the Yankees blew him out when all he did for the summer was sit in his recliner, eat, watch TV and repeat. I even noticed some lack of leg strength today when I arose to make the mighty hike from the couch to the kitchen for yet another H2O infusion. The hair follicle count is beginning to match up too, but I can't complain about that because it has held out way longer than expected. Needless to say I haven't been spending much time on my feet the past week and I'm pretty sure "Christine" means "Bringer of Whatever John Asks for" in some type of Indian (feathers not dots) dialect.

Tuesday night finds me having sat upright most of the day and able to walk up a whole 10 stairs without having my heart pounding for 10 minutes afterwards. It's wild how much the chemo poisons me, but as I've said all along, the week I feel good is enough to make me forget how much I felt like crap. It's get me through. Well, that and NBA Championship rings (coming this November).

In the meantime I get to catch up on my TV (the Wonder Years is on ION twice a night people!) and stay out of the South Texas summer heat. Hopefully I'll be back scaling mountains and having late nights again with all of you real Topeka people in the fall.

Chemo #6, Christine's perspective

Well, that wasn't wonderful, but to be fair it wasn't horrible either. We had a new nurse, Cindy. She seemed very competent and nice enough, but she wasn't Rosie. Sigh. Rosie was super wonderful and made us all feel better through the last 5 chemos. She switched locations to be closer to home and is no longer with the CTRC. Anyway, Cindy's been a chemo nurse for 24 years and I'm sure we're in good hands.

Our appointment was for 9, but John didn't get his first chemo drugs until 11:45. He, and the rest of us, were very antsy. He was all hooked up with no drugs to put in the port. Apparently the chemo room has 23 chairs but only one hood to mix chemicals under. Which means the poor pharmacist can only go one patient at a time. We have the first time slot of the day, and since we were so late the afternoon patients were VERY backed up. Susan said the waiting room was standing room only. Susan packed good sandwiches and we had lots of snacks. Food makes things more bearable .

John had a rough time today. Because of the late start, there was a HUGE lag between his Emend (anti nausea meds to be taken an hour before chemo) and when he actually got the drip started. He looked bad from the beginning of treatment and halfway through he put away the laptop, pushed the seat back and tried to sleep. Cindy the Nurse said that the treatments begin to hit harder around #6. He seemed to be very nauseous but refused meds to help. What didn't help was the poor gentleman who walked in the clinic and immediately started vomiting. His IV wasn't even hooked up! He, not surprisingly, continued to yak off and on throughout his treatment. I felt bad for him but I also felt bad for the rest of us who were listening to him. The nurse didn't blink, she said that's what he does.

John got home and went straight to bed. I hope he sleeps off some of the "ick" and feels good enough to watch the Spurs game tonight. Traditionally Thursday and Friday aren't that bad, however, I think it might be a little rougher this time. His WBC count was low (I think 3.3) and he had a Neulesta shot to make new white blood cells grow. That usually equals miserable headache and a miserable weekend for John. We'll just wait and see. GO SPURS GO

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.