Chemo and Test Results

It has been quite a while since the last post.  I know many of you follow this to see how I am doing and are interested in progress.

Early in the morning of March 16th, I woke up and used the restroom.  While going back to bed, I passed out and fell on a space heater we had going in our bedroom.  I was kind of banged up and had a pretty extensive second degree burn on my abdomen.  We went to the emergency room at the University Hospital.  They took some x-rays and did a CT of my neck area to make sure nothing was broken since I had some pain in both my neck and arm from the fall.  They also treated the burn and made appointments at the burn clinic the next day.  The conclusion was that I passed out because of dehydration and some anemia resulting from chemotherapy.

Since then we have made weekly trips to the burn clinic. Until just a week ago we changed the dressing twice a day, but now we changed medicines and are doing the changing just once a day. It is healing, but it's taking twice as long because of the chemotherapy.  It is a really slow process with another six to eight weeks to go.

After the ER evaluation, we went back a few days for our regular appointment with the oncologist (nurse practitioner on this particular visit).  That day, we skipped the infusion of chemo drugs and instead did a blood transfusion with hydration at the infusion center. I have had blood transfusions before, but I noted how doubly careful they are these days.  They verbally double-checked between two nurses all the various things on the paperwork and on the actual bag of blood to make sure it is exactly the right thing.  They monitor vitals every fifteen minutes while it is dripping in, making sure there is no allergic or otherwise adverse reaction.  I did fine with the transfusion and immediately felt lots better.

Since then, I've had three more chemo infusions and things seem to be going along with them.  We've seen the therapy dogs a couple more times.  A young cancer survivor (about twenty years old) and her mother came by, stopping at every infusion chair to say hello and give out a gift card for ten dollars worth of gasoline and a candy bar or treat.  We didn't know she was a survivor until we asked the nurse later.  All she had said was "we hope these things make your day a little brighter as you deal with this stuff in your life."  It was pretty touching, especially after we knew a little more about her.

The last two chemo infusions have been positively different in a couple of ways.  Our son Alex came for a visit from New Mexico and went with us to the infusion on April 15th.  He said he wanted to get a picture of how it all works; now he knows what the 5-6 hours entails.  He helped pass the time and we appreciated his visit, as well as the many "honey-do's" he took care of for us at home.

On that same day, Alex and Kath walked over to the Primary Children's Hospital to see my niece and her husband, Candice and Cache Summers, and their new baby who is in the newborn intensive care unit there.  The baby had some complications at birth, and that facility is the best one in the Intermountain West to deal with serious pediatric problems.  It was my parents' favorite charity because of excellent care to both baby and family.  Anyway, Candice and Cache came to the Huntsman Center to visit me during infusion.  It also helped pass the time for me, and gave them a break to think about something else for an hour in their lives.  Thanks Alex, Candice and Cache.

At the infusion center we've also made the acquaintance of a young man who volunteers there, passing out snacks and running errands.  His name is Erik and he is an accountant but going back to school to be a doctor.  When Kath was "friending" him on Facebook, she discovered they had a common friend: a young man from Los Alamos, Keith Morgan.  Erik is Keith's cousin, and Keith and I served in the church together in Los Alamos as team teachers in Primary about ten years ago.  Keith is now in Austria doing a change of station for the Lab.  Yesterday, Erik showed me a Facebook post from Keith Morgan: a picture of his family holding up a sign wishing me well in the fight with cancer.  I sure appreciated that.

Yesterday we also got results of the tumor marker bloodwork and the CT scan that was done earlier in the week.  Both showed that the chemotherapy is working again.  Lesions in the lungs are smaller and fewer.  The tumor marker is down to half of what it was in December.  I am encouraged by this good news and hoping for another remission in the future.

I want to close by again thanking all those who are supporting me in this fight.  It makes it easier for me to keep a positive attitude, which according to the doctor, is a major key in the battle.  Your e-mails, text messages, phone calls, good thoughts, prayers, and even Facebook messages all the way from Austria make such a difference to me.  Thanks for all your support and things you do.  I cannot really express how much I appreciate it.

More and More Chemo

Since the last post, I've had two more chemotherapy infusions: one on March 4th and another on March 11th.  I also saw the doctor on March 4th.  I asked the doctor if he thought the ache in my side would subside and the cough would go away with the chemotherapy and he said it definitely should. He expects I'll notice a difference when this cycle is done. We're scheduled for cycles into May now. We'll do another CT scan in a few weeks.

Also on the 4th, I signed paperwork to get the gene mapping started.  That is supposed to take about two weeks so we'll know that information by the next doctor appointment. At the end of the day, we were approved for 100% funding -- that big bill is going to be covered by Medicare, the supplemental insurance, or by "Foundation Medicine".  If you're interested in the details of why we are doing this gene mapping, the website for Foundation Medicine has more details on that.  In general it will give us the targeted options for exactly the type of cancer that I have.  It's like moving from a shotgun to a rifle shot.

The chemo side effects are a bit different this time compared with a year ago.  Last time, the cancer fatigue slowly built up over the 19 separate infusions.  This time, it all came back at once after the very first infusion.  I'm just tired, with a kind of fatigue I have never experienced from just being busy.  It just never really goes away, no matter how much rest I get.  Oh well -- the time gained is worth it.

I continue to be amazed and thankful for my strong and broad support system.  Of course Kath and my kids lead that group.  Friends and family from across the country and neighbors here are also a big part of it.  A text, e-mail, phone call, drop by visit, or other thoughtful gesture means a lot and I am humbled by your support.  Thanks again.

Some Chemo

Since the last post, I've done a needle biopsy from my lung on February 10th and had two chemotherapy infusions on the 12th and the 19th.

The biopsy was done under CT so they could be sure to include one of the lesions that have now shown up in my lungs. They were there previously but had gone away during the previous rounds of chemo. They're really tiny, but lots of them. The belief is that they are the cause of the coughing I've had and likely the ache in my abdomen. The plan is to also do gene mapping on them, so we can have better options when choosing a clinical trial.

We got the pathology results of the biopsy and they are indeed the cause of the coughing and are related to the cancer. You'll recall that I've been at Stage IV since the early detection so this is really no surprise. The gene mapping is not yet done.

The chemo infusions were the same as earlier. Bloodwork was good so I got the full doses of the drugs. We had several visitors during infusion on the 12th. First the University of Utah cheerleaders came by talking to each chair with valentine wishes. There are forty chairs and beds so it took a while.  A little later a couple of room mothers (I assume) from an elementary school in West Valley City brought everyone some handmade valentines and a roll of mints or candy. Later the Spirit Team from the University brought valentines to each chair.

On the 19th, a therapy dog training handler brought her dog and went to each chair asking if we wanted to pet her dog. Most people did. At the end of the infusion they gave me an on-body-injector for a shot of neulasta. It saves an extra trip to get a 30 second shot of the drug that stimulates the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells so I'm good to go again for more chemo again in two weeks. The injector is just stick to my upper arm and 27 hours later it gives me the shot. You peel it off when it's done and throw it away. I can just imagine all the engineering that went into this gizmo with the timers, clickers, flashing lights, and completion indicators.

I really appreciate all the prayers, e-mails, texts, phone calls from so many people. It really helps me to keep a positive attitude about all this.

I'll end with the text from "Will," an elementary student who wrote the following on his valentine to me. The first letter on each line spells SUCCESS. He'll be president some day.

See your goal.
Understand the obstacles.
Create positive mental picture.
Clear your mind of all self doubts.
Embrace the challenge.
Stay on track.
Show the world you can Do It.