Close One Chapter, Start a New One...

So Saturday ended my last treatment cycle! Melissa came down to the hospital and watched the Michigan game with me (another pitiful performance, even in a victory), and I got done about 2:00 or so. The nursing staff threw me a little "graduation party", with cake and balloons and bubbling cider. It was quite nice. I'm counting on this being the last of these parties - I'm kinda sick of them. :-P In the evening, Melly and I went to Olive Garden for dinner, and basically just chilled at home. We watched a little football, and some of "My Best Friend's Wedding", and overall hung out.

Around 8:30 or so, Melissa went in to take a bubble bath, and I told her I was going to curl into bed and watch SportsCenter. Well, instead I threw a blanket in the backyard, and then left a note for her to come outside after her bath. When she came out, I actually proposed to her! And she said yes! So we are officially engaged! We've been talking about it for a few weeks, and I finally "manned up" and popped the question. More details to follow :-)

dpbuck = Bad Blogger

Okay, so today is day four of my fifth treatment cycle. I have been a combination of 50% busy and 50% lazy over the last month in not updating my blog. Once again, I apologize to all, and will attempt to catch everyone up. Last time we left our erstwhile hero, he had escaped the dungeon of The Garden, and defeated the PET Scan dragon, and was now set for another journey into the depths of the third floor of Kadlec Medical Center…

On Monday August 11, I checked back into the hospital for my fourth cycle. Everything got started as normal (read: as screwed up as usual). I was put into a room with a non-functional shower, and then didn’t have my chemotherapy orders in the system yet. So, despite arriving at 10:00 AM, I didn’t get started until after 3:00 PM, and then had to change rooms in the middle of the evening. Total pain in the butt…

On Tuesday Morning, Dr. Weeks stopped by, and he was just BEAMING. He said that the results of my PET Scan were OUTSTANDING. Because they looked so good, Dr. Weeks expects that I will only need two more cycles instead of three. Needless to say, that is fantastic news. It is still expected that I will have to do radiation afterwards, but if I can only go through five cycles instead of six, I’ll take it!

Despite the good news, I had a pretty rough treatment week. I was nauseous and tired the entire cycle, and had some major homesickness. Friends and family stopped by to cheer me up – my parents, Kim and Gary, Suzi, Amy – and Melissa came back down on Friday night. All the friendly faces lifted my spirits, though I looked and felt like crap.

My recovery period after the cycle wasn’t too bad, though. Melissa was here the entire weekend to keep me company, and by Monday afternoon (discharged on Saturday) I was feeling pretty good. I still decided to take it easy and not return to work until Wednesday August 20, especially since I was traveling up to Vancouver for Melissa’s family’s golf tournament this weekend. I felt I should save up my energy so I could suck less. The tournament was a good time (minus the first three holes), and I actually played halfway decent. It was a little hotter than I expected, which took its toll on me, but overall I had a fantastic time.

I put in a full week of work August 25-29, and actually felt great all week long. I felt really back to normal – work every day, dinner at my parents’ house, poker. I even got out on my rollerblades and got a little exercise in (hockey season’s coming!). Melissa came down on Thursday night, and we had a nice weekend. We had dinner with Michell and Herb on Thursday, and dinner and a movie with Ryan and Sarah on Saturday. Very, very good weekend.

(Please note that this will be the only mention of Michigan and Rich Rodriguez’ “high-powered” spread offense. I mean, 36 yards rushing?! Are you kidding me?!?!?!)

Monday September 1 (Labor Day), I checked back into the hospital for my fifth (and final!) cycle. Melissa was here until Tuesday, and then she had to head back home for the first day of school. (She teaches preschool, remember?) Dr. Weeks discontinued one of my drugs (the Doxorubicin), as he felt I no longer needed that drug. I still had all of my other drugs, and that didn’t really affect my cycle. I felt pretty good through Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday was not so good, especially in the evening. I was tired and nauseous for most of the day, and just didn’t have the energy to do anything.

Wednesday, Dr. Weeks stopped by, and I asked him some more questions about the radiation treatments I have coming. He expects that I won’t start radiation for a month or so after my final cycle, and he will be referring me to a radiologist to get that rolling. That month delay works well for me, since I have work trips to Florida and Ohio this month. Overall, though, Dr. Weeks is thrilled with the way everything has gone.

And that catches us back up to today, Thursday September 4. The NFL Season starts tonight, so I am looking forward to Giants/Redskins tonight. I have TWO MORE NIGHTS in the hellhole, and then I (hopefully!) never have to come back. Melissa will be coming back down tomorrow night as well, which of course will lift my spirits.

Thanks for being patient with me as I finally get caught up. I hope to hear from everyone soon!

Full Speed Ahead

Yesterday I had my PET Scan. I've been through this process a dozen times before, so this is old hat for me. The technician (not trained to analyze the data, but can certainly look at it and see differences) told me that the scan looked "a million times better than last time". I guess that's good news, though I will save judgment until talking to Dr. Weeks next week. Today I talked to Scott at Dr. Weeks office, and he told me that everything looks good on the scan, and we are set to go at 10:00 AM on Monday.

Halftime?

During my last treatment cycle, Dr. Weeks told me that he wanted me to have another PET Scan to see how we're doing. Well, that is a very expensive procedure, and must be run through my insurance company before they actually do the process. So, Dr. Weeks submits the paperwork requesting the test to the company, and once it is approved, the hospital calls me to set up this test. Well, on Wednesday they called me to try and set up the test for Tuesday August 5. Well, That is supposed to be the second day of my next treatment, so I instead scheduled it for Tuesday August 12. No problem, right?

Today I saw Dr. Weeks again (I have an appointment with him every time between cycles), and I told him about all this. He decided he wanted to have the PET Scan done BEFORE my next cycle, not after. So I called the hospital back to try and move the appointment back to the 5th. Well, they had no slots left for me on the 5th, or on the 7th. (They only do this test on Tuesdays and Thursdays.) I pleaded and begged and told them I HAD to have this test next week. The girl on the phone I talked to said she would see what she could do and would call me back. Well, she called me back like twenty minutes later, and was able to squeeze me in on the 7th.

So what this effectively does is give me an extra week off before my next treatment starts. Almost like a "halftime". I will have the PET Scan on Thursday August 7, then check into the hospital to start the next cycle on Monday August 11.

Boat Races

I had a very solid recovery this week, and was actually able to get back to work on Tuesday and Wednesday for half-days, and back working full days on Thursday and Friday. I still struggled a bit to get out of bed in the mornings, but once I got going, I felt fine, and even got out and exercised a little the second half of the week.

Melissa and her parents came down for the weekend, as this was the big tourist weekend in the Tri-Cities. We had the annual hydroplane races on the Columbia River. My company put together a little potluck/picnic in a private beach area on the course, and we basically went out there and hung out in the sun and ate and overall enjoyed the races. Normally this time of year the temperature is well past 100, but the weather was absolutely perfect: low-90's with a breeze. By the end of the weekend I was definitely out of gas, but this served as a nice distraction to my treatments.

Locked Out

I was discharged from the hospital this afternoon after completing my infusion of Cytuxin. Amy, my nurse, did a great job of getting me out of there as soon as possible, and my mom took me home around 2:30. I actually felt better than I did at the end of my last treatment, which was good. I spent the evening playing poker (took down a $3/90 donkament), and rewatching Game One of the Wings/Penguins Cup Finals Series from last month. Overall, I just vegged.

Funny story from last night (Friday). So, at Kadlec Hospital, they have this area called "The Garden", which is this little fenced-in, outdoors area with flowers and trees, a fountain, and some benches. It can't be more than 25' x 25', but is definitely a nice place to go to get some fresh air after being cooped up in my hospital room all day. Well, The Garden closes at 9:00 PM, but the way the door to The Garden had previously worked is that it was locked going into it starting at 9:00 PM, but you could always get back into the hospital. Well, after I finished my infusion on Friday, I went down there at like 8:57 PM and went in there. I sat on one of the benches and called Melissa and chatted with her until 9:15 or so. Well, I went back to the door, and wouldn't you know that it wouldn't open! I was locked in The Garden!

Well, after about 90 seconds of being confused, and another phone call to Melissa to share my "situation", and another 2 minutes of pulling on the door, I decided that I would have to hop the fence to get out. Well, luckily there's an area where the fence is only 3 or 4 feet high, so it wasn't too difficult. Anyway, following hopping the fence, walking around to the emergency room entrance, through registration, back through the maze to the B Elevators, up to the third floor, and back down the hallway, I finally got back to my room with a story to share...

Round Three

Once again, I should apologize for falling a little bit behind in my blogging. Spending 6 out of every 21 days in the hospital puts me way behind on getting everything done that I need to, and unfortunately this gets pushed to the back.

I am currently sitting in the hospital on day three of cycle three. The last couple days have been pretty much the same at the start of each of the last two cycles. I came in on Monday morning and had the Rituxan, then started on continuous infusion of Etoposide and Doxorubicin. Overall I've felt pretty good, though today (Wednesday) was quite up and down. I've kinda gone back and forth between sleepy and wide awake, and I've battled some nausea today. This evening, during the half-hour "break" I get, I was able to take a shower and walk around "The Garden" for a bit, though it was quite warm and I couldn't stay out there very long. On the way back up to the room I did stop by the chapel and said a couple of prayers. It is quite peaceful in there.

Overall, the last couple of weeks have gone pretty much as expected. I have my six days of treatment, leaving the hospital on Saturday, then I return to work on Wednesday, where I put in a few hours each day to finish the week, and the following week I'm back to 40+ hours. Compared to last summer, I don't get as sick as last time, but I am feeling crappier for longer.

I am pretty much ready to head home, though. Even though it has only been three days and two nights, I am majorly homesick right now, and am missing being snuggled in my own bed. That being said, I really don't have too much to complain about (except for the fact that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on TV right now), and am actually doing better at this point than I thought I would.

Apologies to All

So, I have been absolutely horrible at keeping up with my blog over the last couple of weeks. My second round of treatment has come and gone, and I just couldn’t motivate myself to post. I apologize to all, and let’s see if I can catch everyone up.

On Monday June 23, I checked back into Kadlec for my second of six cycles of chemotherapy treatments. After some confusion over whether I was going with a21-day or a 28-day cycle, we decided to stick with the planned course of action and roll in the 22nd day. Melissa was off all week before her summer preschool classes started, so she came down to take care of me for the week. We checked me into the hospital at 10:00 AM, and by 2:00 PM they had started with the Rituxan. This is the same drug that I’ve had each of the last couple of Mondays, and it is pretty much old hat for me at this point.

Starting on Monday night, I once again had the four 24-hour infusions of Etoposide and Doxorubicin. I got a little bit of a late start on everything, so they didn’t get me going until after 9:00 PM, which means that it is around this time each day that I am done and get to take a short break – enough time to take a shower, go for a short walk, etc. For the most part this all went pretty much as expected after the first round. I felt pretty okay for most of the week, except for Thursday. I felt really sick most of the day, and just could not bring myself to do anything. I was nauseous and tired, and my body ached all over. It was kind of an anomaly, though, as Friday I was feeling better. Very strange.

For the most part, Melissa and I just hung out in my hospital room and played games most of the week. We played Scrabble, as well as Cribbage and Golf, and another random card game called Rage. I pretty much dominated Melissa at Scrabble, but she got her revenge in the other games, including a beatdown on me and my parents in a card game called Phase 10. We had a good time just hanging out, as well as watching Season Five of 24. Suzi, a friend of mine from when I first moved to the Tri-Cities, stopped by on Friday bearing a smile and a gift of gummy worms. It was great to see her, as she is currently taking classes at WSU so I don’t see her much. She is working for the summer for us, and she brought warm wishes from everyone at the office.

On Saturday I had the final drug infused – Cytoxin. This drug makes me a little nauseous, but overall not too bad. At this point in time, I actually felt okay, but just wanted to go home. I was so antsy and fidgety, but the nurse was able to get this done quickly and get me discharged by 2:00 PM. It was so nice to be home. On Saturday night, Melissa picked up dinner from Casa Mia and we finished watching 24. Then on Sunday night, she grabbed dinner from PF Chang’s and we watched “The Princess Bride”. Through the weekend I felt okay, just extremely hot. I was working to stay hydrated, as it was well over 100 degrees outside, and of course the chemotherapy drugs made my body work overtime. Anyway, I had the AC cranking, and was chugging Gatorade, and made my way through it.

I’m planning to head back to work on Wednesday, though the boys and girls at the office have everything running smoothly, so I don’t necessarily feel like I need to rush back. I have to go back to Kadlec every day this week for my Neupogen shots again, but only through Saturday this time. After that, I have blood work scheduled for next Monday, and an appointment to meet with Dr. Weeks on the 10th. Aside from that, I am going to stay cool, stay hydrated, and go from there. Two down, four to go…

My Choice?

So, I had a pretty solid weekend. I was a little sore from the Neupogen, but overall felt good. Melissa and I had a nice relaxing weekend, watching movies and episodes of 24 all day Saturday and Sunday. Today, I had my next round of Rituxan. The treatment went very smooth - Melissa and I watched the US Open playoff (She was rooting for Rocco, and I was rooting for Tiger), which helped pass the time. Afterwards, we had lunch, then I took a nap and she headed back to BC. Through the evening I felt fine, except ridiculously hot. I'm afraid to get my Utilities Bill next month - I've been cranking my AC non-stop...

I talked to Scott, Dr. Weeks' nurse, about the change in my schedule from 21-Day Cycles to 28-Day Cycles. Scott said that Dr. Weeks did that because of the Rituxan - he wanted to do four "loading doses" before resuming with the treatment. This confuses me. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, indicates 21-Day Cycles. That was the plan he laid out back in May. This was the plan that the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance agreed with. This is what all documentation given to me said. This is what just about every website out there says is normal for the R-CHOP treatment.

Anyway, Scott followed up with Dr. Weeks for me, and Dr. Weeks said that I could go with either - my choice. So of course I immediately said I wanted 21-Day Cycles. 1) That was the plan from the beginning, 2) Friends and Family have planned travel schedules around that assumption, and 3) 21-Day Cycles get me done in September instead of November. Scott said that was fine, and left me at that. But this still feels kinda strange. I talked to Drew to see what he had to say, and he finds it very odd too. He's going to discuss with some of his doctor buddies in Oakland and get back to me if he gets any advice, as he is not too familiar with this regimen. I also left a message with Dr. Petersdorf at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and I plan to talk to Dr. Weeks directly tomorrow, instead of through Scott. I will keep everyone posted, but it looks like all is going as planned for 6/23.

Wandering Aimlessly

I returned to work on Tuesday morning, and was able to put in full days the rest of the week. I felt pretty good all week long, though I tended to fade a bit at the end of the day. On Tuesday night I battled a severe case of insomnia, but made up for it with solid nights on Wednesday and Thursday.

Each day, I had to head to the hospital for the Neupogen shot to trigger my bone marrow to produce white blood cells. They said I would need to do this for 7-10 days after each treatment. The shots themselves aren't too bad, but since they trigger the bone marrow to work overtime, they said that the main side effect would be some bone pain. Through the first part of the week I felt fine, but by Thursday afternoon my back and shoulders were starting to hurt. On Friday, I woke up to pain all over - from my shoulders down through my back and into my hips and legs. At work, sitting in my chair was very uncomfortable, and I had to get up and walk around the office several times to feel better. I'm sure my officemates were thinking I was just wandering aimlessly. But after heading home from work, I popped a couple hydrocodone and felt much better.

I still need to talk to Dr. Weeks on Monday to straighten out my schedule, but I am still expecting to start my next round on the 23rd. Until then, Melissa came back down this weekend to hang out, and I have the Rituxan infusion on Monday.

Change of Plans?

So I was thrown for a bit of a loop this morning. I went to the hospital for my daily Neupogen shot, and while I was there, Dr. Weeks' office called me and told me that he wanted me to have the Rituxan infused weekly for the next four weeks, rather just at the start of each of my cycles. Not a big deal, as I can have that outpatient, so I headed over to the Cancer Center at 2:00 to have this infusion.

The Rituxan is an interesting "drug". No nausea, only a little fatigue, but it causes my heart to race pretty quickly, and they have to keep an eye on me during the treatment to make sure that nothing goes wrong. (Nothing did.) I finished that around 5:00 PM, and then was REALLY thrown off.

Suzie, the chemotherapy nurse, brought me a schedule of appointments that I will have. Each Monday for the next three weeks is Rituxan - no problem there. However, they have me set to start my next cycle on June 30 instead of June 23. This completely confuses me, as I was told that these were 21 day cycles, and the calendar even says "C2D1" on the 23rd (cycle 2, day 1). I asked Suzie about this and she didn't have any answers. She was given this by Scott (Dr. Weeks nurse), and I would need to bring it up with him, so I will call him in the morning. I've got people making all sorts of travel/vacation/work plans based on a 21 day cycle this summer, so I need to get this straightened out ASAP.

Once I got home, I got really, really hot again. I basically sat around all evening in my basketball shorts, playing poker, IMing with Melly, and eating ice cream. Melissa has decided that I need to have a 30th birthday party. A big one. In Vegas. So we began planning a 30th Birthday/End of Treatment Extravaganza the first weekend of December. Save the date!

Overall, I'm feeling much much better, and am on target to return to work on Wednesday.

I *HATE* Needles

So, Melissa had to leave extra-early this morning, and I got up to see her on her way at 7:00 AM. Though I was really, really tired, it wasn't until 8:30 or so that I was able to fall back asleep. I finally got up around noon or so and took a shower. My mom came by to give me a ride back to the hospital for my Neupogen shot. I have to have this shot every day between treatments to encourage my bone marrow cells to grow. I could get the shots from the pharmacy and give them to myself, but I HATE needles, and there is no way I could inject myself. (Guess you'll never have to worry about me being a druggie, huh?) So my mom and I headed back over to Kadlec where I received the shot. After that I came back home.

Overall, I felt okay through the day - a little tired and sore, and I was ridiculously hot all day. But I cranked the AC, and ate lots of ice cream, and just tried to stay cool. I watched random sporting events most of the day and evening (Mariners/Red Sox, Cubs/Dodgers, Texas A&M/Rice and UC Irvine/LSU baseball, Lakers/Celtics), and basically lounged on the couch. After chatting with Drew on the phone, and talking to Melly on IM, and playing a little poker, I headed to bed hoping I could stay cool all night.

The Most Comfortable Bed In The World

This night of sleep was much more restful than the night before. I slept until 6:00 AM or so and then kinda got caught in between. I was too awake to fall asleep, and too tired to get up. I sort of fell asleep again until 8:30ish, then sent Melissa a text message and had her swing by. They started me on a "hydrating" IV around noon, and also gave me some Kytril (anti-nausea meds), which made me fell kinda weird. I got all fuzzy and sorta tired. I tried to fall asleep, but once again was in that weird in-between state.

Around 2:00 PM they started me on the Cytoxin. The drugs didn't immediately have too much of an effect on me, but as the afternoon wore on, I started getting more and more nauseous. I tried to fall asleep, but couldn't, and instead had some ice cream to calm my stomach. And some more ice cream to calm my stomach... And some MORE ice cream...

Around 5:00 or so all the drugs were done, and I was set to be discharged. Kadlec is a wonderful hospital, and they take great care of their patients. But they have the ABSOLUTE SLOWEST DISCHARGE PROCESS EVER!!! They told me around 5:15 that I was set to be sent home, and they just needed to finish up the last orders. Well, it was almost 7:30 before we were finally able to leave.

Melissa and I headed home, and I took a shower while she made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (my request). Then we had some ice cream and watched an episode of 24 before we headed to bed around 9:00 PM. Just climbing into my own bed was FANTASTIC. Soft sheets, my comfy pillows, and I was able to sleep on my stomach. For that one night, that was the most comfortable bed in the whole wide world.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Overnight on Thursday night, the IV machine infusing me with the drugs had some issues with the Etoposide. Every hour or so, there ended up being lots of small bubbles in the IV tube. Obviously they don't want these bubbles injected in me, so the machine starts beeping loudly everytime this happens. Very loudly. Wake the dead loudly. Well, it had happened a handful of times during the week, but through the night on Thursday night/Friday morning, it happened like every hour. This of course led to one of the worst nights of sleep I ever had.

Through the morning Friday, I battled through fits of nausea and fatigue, but overall felt pretty good, all things considered. I watched the Red Wings victory parade online, which was fantastic. (Except for when Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick got up there to speak. He's in the middle of a pretty brutal text-messaging/mistress scandal, and was booed lustily. I actually found it kind of humorous.) My mom swang by in the morning, and in the early afternoon Almondy and her son Remy stopped by to see how I was doing. She brought me a little bag of goodies, as well as well-wishes from the rest of the office. I am excited to get back to work and see everyone again.

After she left, I dozed on and off a bit until around 5:00 PM, when the infusion of these drugs finished. I was unhooked from the IV machine and was able to take a shower. Getting up felt pretty good, but after the shower I got really, really hot. I sat around in my boxers for a while just trying to cool off. After 20 minutes or so, I felt better, and was able to get dressed. I wouldn't be hooked up to the final drug (Cytoxin) until Saturday morning, so I had a "free" night of not being hooked up to anything.

Around 6:30 my girlfriend Melissa came over. She had driven down from British Columbia today after working, and would be here until Sunday morning. It was certainly great to see her, even though I looked and felt like crap. We walked down to "The Garden" to get some fresh air. It was raining, which kinda sucked, but actually felt good and helped me cool off. We wandered around for a half-hour or so before we went back to the room and I had dinner. By this time I was fading fast, and though I tried to watch the Stanford/Cal-State Fullerton baseball game, I fell asleep around 8:30 or so.

Melissa gave me a soft goodnight kiss and headed back to my house for her "guilty pleasure" - a bubble bath and an issue of US Weekly...

Stanley's Coming Home

Tuesday was worse than Monday, but still not too bad. I was really tired most of the day, and just slept on and off all through the afternoon and evening. My parents came by in the evening, and we played cards and watched TV. To this point, I'd been really tired, but nothing else really - no nausea or vomiting or anything like that, so I guess it's "so far so good".

Wednesday I felt somewhat decent. My parents, as well as Kim and Gary, stopped by to see how I was doing, which was very nice. I did sleep through most of the morning, but I woke up about midday amped for Game 6 of the Red Wings/Penguins series. Despite the disappointment from Monday night, I was cautiously optimistic that we would be able to finish it off. And we played very, very well. It was nice to see us go in front, and then smother Pittsburgh and take away all of their scoring chances. If we could have stayed out of the penalty box, we would have shut them out. As it was, once Hossa's last gasp effort (that wouldn't have counted anyway) went wide, I jumped up and down and danced and celebrated another Stanley Cup. This was different than the previous three in my lifetime - Those three teams were built simply by the "Yankees Method" of just spending more money than everyone else. However, we earned this Cup, as the salary cap instituted after the lockout forced us to go a different direction. Either way, it was sweet as sugar, and I spent much of the next day shopping online for championship gear (shirts, hat, coffee mug, etc.).

Unfortunately today (Thursday) was the worst day of the week. I had my first serious bouts of nausea, and just felt awful all day. There were moments where I wanted to fall asleep, but felt too nauseous to sleep. My parents popped by separately during the day, and Tim, TJ, and Gabby stopped by in the evening for an unexpected surprise. For those who haven't followed my blog from the beginning, Tim is my boss, and his son TJ was diagnosed with Lymphoma about six weeks before me last spring. He has since been given a clean bill of health, which is wonderful.

After they left, I got up and took a shower, then wandered down to "The Garden" at the hospital to get some fresh air. It was very nice just to get out of my room for a few minutes. It made me feel better for a while, but after getting back to my room, I started feeling not-so-hot again, which led me to crash earlier than normal.

Exhausting Day

So since I didn't have to go into the hospital until 10:00 AM, I went into work for a couple of hours to get a couple of projects taken care of before I disappear for a week. I was quite tired, and I probably should have just slept in, but whatever. I checked into the hospital at 10:00, and was led up to room 316. I got all comfortable into a pair of scrubs and a t-shirt, climbed into bed, and turned on the TV preparing for the treatment to start immediately. Well, they told me that it wouldn't get going until 1:00 PM, which gave me three hours to do nothing. I fired up my computer and got some work done until 1:00, when they came in and hooked me up to an IV through my port. They started me with some saline-substance for hydration, and then some benadryl to put me to sleep for a while (per my request). Around 2:00, they started me with some Rituxan, which is the first chemotherapy drug. The drug would take about four hours to feed into my system, then I would be started on the infusion of the other drugs.

I fell asleep shortly after this started, then woke up in time for Game 5 of the Red Wings series. They quickly fell behind 2-0, and I was very frustrated. At around 6:30, the nurse came in to hook me up to the other drugs. These are Vincristine, Etoposide, and Andriamycin, as well as a couple different drugs to help combat nausea. These chemo drugs will be fed into me continuously (24/7) over the next 5 days. I'm kinda interested to see how this all goes, and how I feel. I have a feeling that constantly being tethered to these drugs will annoy the crap out of me.

As they took the time to change the drugs, I decided to take the opportunity to try and change my (and the Wings') luck. I ditched the t-shirt I was wearing and put on my Steve Yzerman jersey. And it worked. We bounced back and took a 3-2 lead in the third period. I got very excited and was basically bouncing off of the walls. I wasn't noticing any side effects from the drugs (other than having to go to the bathroom every half-hour), but I got very very hot. The nurse brought a fan in to cool me down.

As time ticked down into the last few minutes I could taste the Cup victory. That is until Pittsburgh scored in the last 35 seconds to tie it up and just crush my spirit. Though the Wings dominated the first two overtimes, I was quite despondent, as I just KNEW we were going to lose this game. And sure enough, halfway through the third overtime, Jiri Hudler took a reckless high-sticking penalty, and Pittsburgh scored on the powerplay to win it. I collapsed into my bed. Just exhausted from the days events. Within minutes of the game ending, I was fast asleep, as the day had definitely taken a physical and emotional toll on me.

It's Go Time!

Well, we finally have a date. This evening, Dr. Weeks called me to tell me that he got the results of the tests. My heart still looks very healthy, and all of the infected lymph nodes are above the diaphragm. This is what we hoped for, and what we expected.

On Monday, June 2, I will check into Kadlec to begin treatment. Dr. Weeks wants me at the very least to have my first treatment in the hospital. We are in fact doing the "drip" treatment, where the drugs are fed to me slowly over a four-day period rather than all at once like last year. Because I haven't done that before, he recommends that I at least start with that process and see how I feel. And of course who am I to argue? So at 10:00 AM on Monday, I will head into the hospital and probably be there until Friday or Saturday.

I'm glad to be getting this process going. I've been feeling really crappy over the last few weeks. I've been really tired, and my back, chest, and arms have been hurting, especially over the last few days. I actually had really, REALLY bad back and shoulder pain last night while trying to fall asleep. I'll be happy to get this process going so I can sleep better...

I went to a bar with a couple of people from work to watch the Red Wings' game three against Pittsburgh and the Pistons' game five against Boston. Unfortunately both teams lost. The Wings played okay (not great and not terrible), and I still expect them to win their series and hoist the Cup. Unfortunately I think the Pistons are toast. They were absolutely horrible in the third quarter, and though they rallied, it really wasn't the effort you'd expect from a potential championship contender.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name...

I had my echocardiogram and my PET Scan today. This was the fourth PET Scan I've had in the last 9 months, and now the staff there all recognize me. It is like Cheers when I walk in there. Everyone knows me by name, and asks how I'm doing. They know I prefer to have the blood draw in my left arm, I need two Xanax instead of the regular one to calm down, and even that I snore when I fall asleep in the MRI tube. Dr. Weeks expects me to have PET Scans every three months for the next few years, so I guess I should get comfortable there.

Convenient Scheduling

At around 9:30 AM I received a phone call from the people to schedule me for my echocardiogram. I wanted to take care of it before I went up to British Columbia this weekend, so I scheduled it for Thursday at 11:00 AM. Almost as soon as I hung up the phone, Kadlec called me to schedule my PET Scan. Not only that, but they were able to squeeze me in on Thursday as well, at 1:00 PM. So I will be able to take care of both of these tomorrow. I think that could end up enabling me to start my treatments a week earlier. We will see...

On to the Cup Finals!

Dr. Weeks called me this evening to let me know that he had spoken to Dr. Petersdorf. Dr. Weeks was very excited that we are all on the same page, and is eager to get this show on the road. Dr. Petersdorf still wants me to have an Echocardiogram and a PET Scan, so I will still need to get those done. Dr. Weeks expects that the "Echo People" as he called them, will call me tomorrow to schedule that test, and the coordinators of the PET Scans will call me later in the week.

Dr. Weeks consented that the "4-day drip" treatment is the way to go. Now, Dr. Petersdorf had laid out that even though this is a continuous 4-day treatment, it could still be out-patient, as I would just carry around a walkman-like device to give me the drugs. However, Dr. Weeks thinks (at least at the start) that I should plan on this being in-patient. We will see how that works. In the meantime, I just need to get the two tests scheduled, then go from there.

In the evening, I watched the Wings finish off Dallas and move into the Stanley Cup Finals. Dallas put a little scare into me, especially with their performance at The Joe in game five, but we prevailed, and now tackle the Penguins in the finals. I'm expecting this to be a very competitive series, but of course I expect the Wings to come out on top. We have too much firepower, and too much experience to let this get away. And the Pistons get going in the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston tomorrow night! What a great time to be a Motor-City Sports Fan! (Except for the colossal disappointment that is the Tigers...)

Seattle in Spring

I had my consultation at the Hutchinson Seattle Cancer Care Center, or "The Hutch" for those in the know. I met with Dr. Stephen Petersdorf in the afternoon with my mom and Melissa by my side. I originally talked a couple of months ago with Dr. Effie Petersdorf (I can only assume they are husband and wife), one of the transplant specialists there. But now that it is likely that I will not need a transplant, I was sent to see a lymphoma specialist. Enter Dr. Stephen Petersdorf.

Anyway, Dr. Petersdorf was quite friendly, and explained things very well. After a physical, he described how I ended up in this predicament. There are four different markers that they use to identify what kind of lymphoma I have. Hodgkin's Lymphoma is positive for two of the markers, and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma is positive for the other two. Well, my biopsy last year indicated positive markers for three of the four. Still all experts agreed that this looked like Hodgkin's Lymphoma, so that's the direction we went. Well, it proved to be more of a hybrid "gray-zone" lymphoma, and this time, I actually was positive for three of the four markers, but one of them was different!

Anyway, Dr. Petersdorf agreed that the R-CHOP treatment plan was the way to go, though he did express one concern. One of the drugs in the treatment program is called "Adriamycin." This was actually one of the drugs in the treatment from last year. Well, this drug is proven to have some serious cardiac side effects if too much is taken too quickly, and two summers of chemotherapy with this drug worried Dr. Petersdorf. But he thought that by going to a 4-day "drip" treatment where I receive drugs slowly but steadily over four days rather than all at once, I could reduce the risk of side effects. He also said that he expected that Dr. Weeks could perform the treatments in the Tri-Cities, so I wouldn't have to relocate to Seattle for an extended period of time.

Dr. Petersdorf planned to call Dr. Weeks on Monday and dicuss all options. In the meantime, he wanted me to have an Echocardiogram to see how my heart is doing, plus another PET Scan to see if the cancer cells had spread. So, I continue to wait, though it looks like we are getting closer to making things happen.

The Waiting Game

On Friday I heard from Jennifer Lindquist from the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and they wanted to do another consultation, this time with Dr. Effie Petersdorf, the lymphoma "expert" over there. Obviously, the results of the biopsy were a surprise to everyone (A good one, mind you, but still a surprise...), and they want to sit down and discuss options now. I could turn down the consultation and just go forward with the treatment plan that Dr. Weeks laid out briefly last week, but I'd rather get all my options. We set this appointment for Friday May 16 at 1:00 PM.

They say hindsight is 20/20, but I certainly think back to last spring, and though everything seemed straightforward then, part of me wishes I had gotten more involved with the SCCA last year, and gotten a second opinion then. Though the results may have been the same, it seems I was misdiagnosed last year. All my results were sent to other doctors to look at, and everyone was in agreement, but they weren't sent there, and perhaps I should have been more proactive and looked into that opportunity then. Well, now that I have a "second chance", I am going to take the opportunity to make sure that we can kick this thing once and for all.

Melissa's parents came to the Tri-Cities for the first time this weekend, and we had an absolute blast. We barbequed on Friday night, had lunch at my parents' house on Saturday afternoon, dinner at Anthony's on Saturday night, wine tasting at Bookwalter on Sunday afternoon, then dinner at PF Chang's on Sunday night, followed by a nightcap at Kimo's. It was a really nice weekend, and a good time was had by all.

Patience, Patience...

On Tuesday I had my appointment to see Dr. Cordero to make sure the incision from my biopsy was healing properly. He took the strips off, and everything looks good. There is a little bit of separation on the right end of the cut, but otherwise everything looks great. It is just a matter of time waiting for it to heal. In the meantime, I just need to keep it clean and dry.

We are still waiting to hear back from Dr. Weeks. He sent over all of my information to the Seattle Cancer Care Center, and they said they would get back to me in a few days. I talked with Scott (Dr. Weeks' nurse) and he told me he expects them to give me a call on Friday. Until then, I am going to kick back, relax, and watch the Red Wings kick the **** out of the Crapalanche! Break out the brooms!

Finally a Break?

So, after a few phone calls (First the oncologist, then the hospital, then the pathology department at the hospital, then the oncologist again.), I found out that they finally had the results of the biopsy. The receptionist at Dr. Weeks office told me that they couldn't release the results to me until Dr. Weeks "signed off on them." She said she would pass them to him with a note on them classifying them as urgent. She told me should would call me back ASAP. Well, ASAP turned out to be about 90 seconds. Dr. Weeks wanted to see me for a couple minutes as soon as I could get down there. So, I left work and headed to his office. When I got there and he called me into an office, he had a big grin on his face. The biopsy indicated that it likely isn't Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and is instead is probably what is called a "gray zone lymphoma" - kind of a hybrid B-cell lymphoma. I'll spare everyone the techno-babble and say this: Dr. Weeks believes that this should be able to be treated with standard chemotherapy rather than a stem cell transplant. This is great news! If I can get better without a stem cell transplant, that is obviously a great deal. Dr. Weeks wants to discuss with Dr. Effie Petersdorf, the lymphoma specialist at the Seattle Cancer Care Center, this diagnosis, but he is confident that I will be able to avoid a transplant. He will contact me once he discusses with them.

Clearly this news completely changes what to expect this summer, and relieves a lot of stress from me and my family. The road is still a difficult one, but it looks like we will be able to get through this much, much easier.

A Whole Lotta Nothin...

Went to see Dr. Weeks today to meet and discuss the results of my biopsy. Had my blood work done. Weighed in (194! I've kept the weight off that I lost at the start of the year...). Blood pressure, pulse, temperature all good. All that, then they come in and tell me that the results of the biopsy aren't back yet. Kind of a waste of a morning, but whatever. Turns out they sent it to a center in California to be analyzed, rather than Seattle like we thought. They're going to call me next week when they receive the results. So we continue to wait...

I'm heading to Olympia this afternoon for the weekend. Melissa and I are celebrating our six month anniversary, and on Sunday we're going to my sister's house for my nephew's second birthday. I've got an appointment on Tuesday morning to meet with Dr. Cordero for him to check out the incision from the biopsy. It looks good - much better than last time!

Left Mediastinotomy #2

I finally had the biopsy on my chest done today. I was a little nervous heading into it, as this was the same procedure from last March that stuck me in the hospital for four days. Last time, I had an adverse reaction to the anesthesia, which caused my lungs to fill with fluid. I certainly didn't want to repeat that process.

Well, the procedure went flawlessly, and by the evening I was feeling good enough to go home, though they wanted to keep me in the hospital overnight for observation. I didn't argue too hard, as I knew I was feeling fine, and would go home in the morning.

Melissa and I watched game three of the Red Wings/Predators series in my hospital room. The Wings dominated the game, but had a couple of untimely defensive lapses that cost them the game. I am not really worried about the Wings at this point - they should be able to finish off this series fairly quickly - but we will have to tighten up if we want to make a run at The Cup.

Bad Timing

I was scheduled to have my biopsy on the mass in my chest today, but woke up overnight sick. I had a pretty high fever, and was throwing up, and certainly was not in position to have surgery, so it was postponed until Monday.

By the middle of the day, I was feeling much better. I'm not sure where that came from, or why I got so sick so suddenly, but whatever. I'll be just fine by Monday.

Consultation Day

So my mom, my new (well, new to the blog - it's been six months) girlfriend Melissa, and I met Dr. Robert Witherspoon at the Seattle Cancer Care Center (http://www.seattlecca.org/) in Downtown Seattle. He basically echoed everything that Dr. Weeks said, and spoke that the Stem Cell Transplant would be the best course of action. While he didn't tell us a ton that we didn't already know, it was great that everyone (Dr. Witherspoon, Dr. Weeks, and us) were all on the same page. We also got a tour of the facility. It is an absolutely beautiful building, and looks to be a very state-of-the-art facility. Overall, this calmed us down tremendously.

Dr. Witherspoon laid out a timeline of what we could expect. He requested a biopsy of the mass in my chest (the nodes in my neck were not large enough to biopsy), which would take a few weeks to get and analyze. After that, I would run through a couple rounds of chemotherapy here in the Tri-Cities before heading to Seattle to have some of my stem cells harvested. This would be around mid-May. After that, I would return home for a couple of weeks while everything was set up for the summer. Then I would return to Seattle in early-June to start the transplant process. I would likely spend the next 10-12 weeks there running through the transplant process. The actual transplant would be in mid-June, and the next 8-10 weeks would be recovery.

Overall, I feel great that there is a gameplan now. I've spent the last 7 weeks on pins and needles worrying about what is going to happen. I was basically sitting around knowing that I was "sick" but nothing was happening to get better. I spent the rest of the weekend with Melissa and her family in Surrey (suburb of Vancouver, BC). We had a great time, and it was nice to take my mind off of the whole situation for a couple of days.

Ultrasound

I had the ultrasound on my neck. The jelly was cold, and despite the technician's best efforts, she got it all over my shirt, and I had to go home and change afterwards. Lame.

Good News

I met with Dr. Weeks to discuss the results of the bone marrow biopsy. Everything looked great. i.e. the cancer cells still were not in my bone marrow. That means that I will likely be able to have an "Autologous" Stem Cell Transplant. I will be able to use my own cells for the transplant rather than depending on finding a donor. That type of transplant has a lower risk of side effects (Like some kinds of transplant rejections. A lot of those lead to - gulp! - death).

Dr. Weeks referred us to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to meet with their specialists to get a second opinion and basically discuss my options. I started talking with some of their Patient Care Coordinators, and scheduled an appointment for April 4 to meet with a doctor there.

In the meantime they wanted me to have a biopsy on some of the lymph nodes such that they can get a better idea what they are dealing with. The scan in February indicated that their may be some cancerous nodes in my neck, and they wanted those biopsied. However, it is unclear if those nodes were big enough to get a good sample. I scheduled to have an ultrasound on my neck on March 19 to see if the lymph nodes would be big enough to biopsy. If they're not, then I would have to have another biopsy on the mass in my chest.

Out of the Playoffs

We played our league semifinal game and lost 5-3. Losing sucks.

Bone Marrow Biopsy II

I had my bone marrow biopsy at 7:30 in the morning. It went completely as expected - I was drugged up, so I skipped work, and was a little sore. My hockey team happened to have our first playoff game at 9:00 that night. I asked Dr. Weeks if I could injure myself any more by playing. He said no, and as long as I could withstand the pain, I could play.

That night, I downed a couple of Percoset and headed off to the rink to play. I was a little sore during the pregame skate, but once the game started and I got some adrenaline going, I was fine. I had an assist and was a +3 as we won 7-5 to advance to the next round.

Uh Oh...

So, not much had happened for the last few months. I had a PET Scan in November, and it indicated that something might be happening in the left mediastinum (the area in my chest where I had the mass before), but it was too small to tell what was going on, and Dr. Weeks recommended I wait for a couple of months and have another scan.

On February 14, I went in for another PET Scan, and made an appointment for March 6 to discuss the results. Well, on February 20, Dr. Weeks' nurse Scott called me saying that the doctor wanted to see me ASAP. Needless to say, I believed that was not a good thing. I made an appointment to see him the next day.

My mom and I went to the appointment today expecting bad news, and unfortunately that is what we got. The mass in my chest had grown back, suggesting a recurrence of the Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Dr. Weeks was not only concerned with the fact that it looks like the cancer cells came back, but with how quickly and aggressively it seemed to happen. He proposed that I would likely need a Stem Cell Transplant to fight them off this time, as it seems like the chemotherapy treatments would not be effective in completely eliminating the disease.

My mom and I spent about an hour with him, going over the basics - What is a Stem Cell Transplant? Why would I need one? Where would this take place? Long-Term Prognosis? I won't go over everything we talked about, but I have found that the Wikipedia page for Stem Cell Transplants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_transplantation) is pretty thorough and clear, and is actually a pretty good source of info.

Anyway, we made plans to have another bone marrow biopsy the next week to determine if the cancer cells had spread to my bone marrow. That was set for next Wednesday, February 27. After the results of that, we can start to set up sort of a gameplan.