The Chemotherapy Treatment: Day 2

We started my second day of Chemo with a trip to Taco Bell for breakfast (yes, some Taco Bells out here serve breakfast), a trip to Target for band-aids, a stop at Barnes & Noble (I picked up two books my Michael J. Fox and two by the late Tim Russert), and ended with a stop at the oncologist's office for treatment.  

Part of my treatment day includes a blood draw that is analyzed in the doctor's office.  These blood draws are to monitor my blood, especially my White Blood Count.  On Non-Chemo dates I also have to go in and have blood drawn & analyzed.  Last week, my counts were very good, and today they were good, too.  My White Blood Count was a little low, but the doctor wasn't too concerned about it.  My other counts were also encouraging and my doctor told me he was very happy with my progress.  He was also surprised that my night sweats had stopped 3 days after treatment and that the lymph node under my arm was drastically smaller than it was two weeks ago.  He remains optimistic that there will be no cancer in me when I have my next PET scan at the end of June.

Treatment today took a little longer than I expected.  Based on my start time, I was hoping to be done about 12:15 or 12:30, but the final drug took about an hour and a half to drip, which pushed my departure time after 1 o'clock.  I spent my treatment time watching episodes from Season 2 of The Office and reading more of John Grisham's Playing for Pizza.  When I returned home, I felt more tired than I did two weeks ago, so I took a nap and woke up in time to watch the start of the Yankees/Tigers game on ESPN.  

Rachel's mom has been here this week, helping around the house and providing damage control to the plants and flowers Rachel can't seem to keep alive.  She's also been kind enough to take me to Chemo today and stay with me the next 2 days while Rachel is at work.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and positive vibes.  1 cycle (2 treatments) down, 5 cycles (10 treatments) to go...but who's counting?

-bw

The Return to Work

I know I haven't said this enough, but I work with the BEST people on the planet!  The staff at Jordan has been extremely supportive throughout the last two months and I know they'll be there for me if I need them as I go through treatment.  (Don't get me wrong, I know the rest of you are there for us, too!)  

It was definitely interesting to get back to work yesterday.  I had some anxiety as the morning went on about how I would be able to handle working after spending the better part of five days in bed.  Somehow, I was able to survive the day (and the 100 degree temperatures) and make it back to the peacefulness of our house.  I was in bed by 8:15 Monday night, and Rachel's words this morning were, "You were out by 9."  

Today I felt a little better a work and I'm sure tomorrow will be even better.  Of course, I'm stuck flipping between the Angels/Tigers, Ducks/Sharks, and Lakers/Jazz games tonight while trying to keep my eyes open.  I won't be surprised if I wake up at 3 AM with the Sham-wow! commercial blaring on the big screen.

I go for my weekly blood draw tomorrow and my new glasses should be in soon.  More later...

-bw

The First Recovery Weekend

It is hard to believe that Wednesday I had my first chemotherapy treatment.  The only side effects I've had of the treatment so far has been a little bit of exhaustion.  I've had some trouble sleeping, but nothing too serious.  My hair hasn't fallen out yet, but I'm sure that is coming in the weeks/months ahead.  Also, my stomach has been cooperating with the medication to allow me to keep down whatever food I eat.

The last five days have been spent pretty much lounging around the house, drinking a lot of Gatorade, watching a bunch of TV, reading the newspaper, and eating whenever I get hungry.  By Day 5, "cabin fever" had set in and I was ready for some errands (a trip to Target, CVS, & Staples) and asking for a chore or two.  

It has been warm here the last 2 days.  It is currently 92 degrees and they are calling for 92 again tomorrow, followed by some high 80s before the 70s return at the end of the week. We've been running the air conditioner this weekend, and I'm sure the heater will be back on in a week when the temperature is only in the 60s.

Well, that is all for now.  The Ducks face the Sharks in game 2 of their series in about an hour and a half and I need to eat dinner and get my stuff ready for tomorrow, as it will be my first day back at school...wish me luck!

-bw

The E-mail Responses

So, I'm at home relaxing today and hoping to get caught up on some E-mails.  Unfortunately, Yahoo! is having trouble loading new and reply messages, so I can't reply individually to E-mails right now.  I am able to read them and will respond when Yahoo! gets their act together.

-bw

The Chemotherapy Treatment: Day 1

My primary care giver, Zoe. She turned 8 two weeks ago today!

Today was my first day of chemotherapy. Thank you for all of your cards, prayers, and positive thoughts. I felt each and everyone of you with me as I sat in the treatment chair for 4 hours today...and it really wasn't as bad as I had envisioned it to be.

I met with my oncologist before starting treatment and he said everything was looking good. I then went into the treatment room (a large room with 18 chairs in it) and met up with my nurse. She got me situated and patiently described the drugs she would be giving me throughout the next few hours.

If you get squeamish, skip the next paragraph.

I started with an IV drip of Benadryl, followed by an IV of anti-nausea meds and Saline solution to circulate the meds throughout my bloodstream. That was followed by a test of the chemo drugs to make sure I didn't have a reaction. After 20 minutes of no reaction, she pushed 3 of the 4 drugs over the next 45 minutes before starting the last drug, which was an IV drip that took an hour and a half to drain. She promised that next time I'll probably be there between two and a half and three hours.

I returned home after treatment, read some of the cards and letters and then laid down for a one hour nap. I could have slept longer, but I don't want to be up ALL night! I have gotten a second wind this evening, which was aided by Zoe coming over to visit. She'll be back tomorrow, and if I'm up for it, we might just have to go for a walk.

No puking yet...keep your fingers crossed!

-bw

The Vacation Photos

For one day on my vacation, I lost my Man Card.

Our awesome and fun-loving nephew, Hayden.

I got my Man Card back by eating this piece of bacon covered in chocolate.

The Tillamook Cheese Factory. The inner lane is cutting 2 pound blocks. The middle lane 1 pound blocks, The outside lane 8 ounce blocks. Once sliced, each block was weighed and shrink wrapped in the appropriate packaging. Very cool!

Pa & Am ready for lunch @ Rubio's on Day 1 of the trip.

The Vacation

Omar, Joel, Erica, Bryan, Sarah, & Rachel outside of Wings.

Sarah, Sam, Dan, Erica, Joel's arm, & Aunt Conni @ Erica & Joel's.

During Tillamook Head Hike.

I had to lift this so we could continue on the trail!

'Nuf said.

I'm posting all of the pictures at once, so they'll probably show up in some random order. I'll try to post captions once they're all up. We had a great time on the trip. We started out last Saturday and drove about 8 hours to my cousin's house in Auburn, CA (about 30 minutes East of Sacramento). We spent the evening with family, catching up, sharing stories of preparing for treatment, and overall, just having a great time. The next morning, we ate breakfast at my Aunt's restaurant, Wings, before making the 13 hour drive up to Seaside, OR. By the way, if you're ever in Auburn between 7am and 2pm, stop by the restaurant. [Plug!] Exit Bell Road from the I-80, go North. Turn right on New Airport Road. Wings is at the end of the street on the left.

We arrived at the resort Sunday night at 11:45. After checking in, hauling our stuff to the room, and solving a toilet issue, we were able to finally relax and get some sleep. Monday started off with a snack of an Elephant Ear (the best I've EVER had). We bought 2 to share between the four of us, one original (cinnamon & sugar and one with Bavarian Creabrought a trip to the grocery store and a hike at Tillamook Head, that was supposed to only last an hour or two. Instead, my dad and I went on a 3.5 hour, 5.5 mile expedition that would have made Lewis and Clark proud. The best part of the hike was being able to see two Bald Eagles soaring over the ocean and beach. Rachel & my mom made it through the first mile before turning around and going back to the car. If you look at the map from the link above, we started where Sunset Blvd. ends and walked all the way to Indian Beach. We returned to the resort, started to walk the "main drag" of Seaside and found that many of the smaller restaurants and all of the stores closed by 7:00. We ate dinner at Fultano's Pizza and watched UNC beat Michigan State in the NCAA Championship before returning to our room for the night.

We were able to sleep in Tuesday morning and then drove about 45 minutes south to Tillamook and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The TCCA is celebrating 100 years as a farmer-owned co-op. It is an amazing story, especially in the corporate takeover world we live in. We ate LOTS of samples and spent a lot of time touring the upstairs of the facility, where you can look down at the employees and watch them make and slice the different cheeses. If you ever get a chance to head to that area of the country, this is a definite "must stop" location. Oh yeah, they have a cafe right on site and the tour is FREE! There are also two ice cream shops that sell Tillamook's own ice cream...of course, we couldn't leave without trying some of that, either.

Wednesday was a relaxing day around Seaside. We walked (in a light rain/mist) down the main business thoroughfare, stopping in at little shops along the way. One store sold over 200 different types of bottled soda. The store next to it sold chocolate covered bacon, twinkies, and Pringles chips. Another store had 170 different flavors of Saltwater Taffy! We also visited the outlet stores (didn't buy much) before returing to the room for a relaxing evening.

We spent all of Thursday on the road and a good portion of Friday. We spent Thursday night @ Erica & Joel's and had dinner with them, Aunt Conni, & Sarah. Friday morning, we woke up and went to Wings to put some food in our stomachs before the long ride home. Speaking of long rides home, if you are ever on a long roadie try counti semi-trucks. On the way up to Seaside, we counted Wal-Mart, UPS, & Fed-Ex trucks. On the way back, we added Swift trucks. Just imagine the damage they could've done if we had been counting them from the beginning!

Going There:

Fed-Ex: 44

Wal-Mart: 33

UPS: 8

Coming Home:

Fed-Ex: 91

Wal-Mart: 97

UPS: 63

Swift: 100

I hope to post more pictures tomorrow :)

-bw

The Haircut

I know I promised vacation pictures (they're still downloading), but in the meantime, I had my brother, Brandon, shave my head today (at least down to 1/8 of an inch). Here are some before and after pictures. It took about 20 minutes and I think I lost 10 pounds in the process.

The Comments, Part II

We're back from vacation, but more on that later. I'm still receiving E-mails about people having trouble posting comments, so I've gone ahead and allowed Anonymous Comments. Please sign your posts so we know who is writing. Thanks!

-bw