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.