Wishing everyone an early happy New Year!
So what's been going on in my life?
We had a small scare last weekend... I was experiencing this pain in my side. I woke up with it Friday and it still didn't go away by Saturday. So my doctor thought it would be best if I got it checked out. Even if it was just for my own piece of mind.
They started poking me and they first thought it was my Gal bladder, then my liver. At one point the surgeons sounded like they were ready to remove my Gal bladder! We stayed overnight, and when all was said and done, it turns out the pain I was feeling was just a side-effect of the chemo I had earlier in the week. It causes the liver to become inflamed slightly and hence the pain. By the time I woke up Sunday morning, I felt fine.
Another wonderful thing to report is The Mouthsores Are Healed!!!
at least for now! They shouldn't be rearing their ugly head anytime again soon... if at all!
As for my schedule, it's pretty great. The going pace seems to be 1-2 days of chemo followed by roughly 1-2 weeks of rest. So unfortunately I fear that the updates to this blog will start becoming few and far between.
We're out of the woods now! It should be a coast to the finish line!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
No News Is Good News!
Merry Christmas
or
::Insert Other Holiday Greeting Here::
As the title states, no news is good news!
My first maintenance cycle has started, and no problems to report!
This year I can say, without a doubt, that I have received the greatest Christmas gift EVER!
All my counts are up, I feel good, and the Doctor says I look great. I'm healthy and I'll be able to spend my entire holiday at home. No trips to Sloan and no backpacks to lug around. Hopefully I can use this time to gain back the 10 lbs I lost during my latest Sloan "vacation." I shouldn't have a problem with that, after all we do have our 7 fish Christmas Eve dinner!! (If you don't know what that is, just ask an Italian)
But seriously,
I am incredibly thankful this Christmas.
The sheer outpouring of love and support that my family and I continuously receive has been incredible. So many people have gone above and beyond and have helped to make this burden easier to bear.
Finally, there is one last omnipresent deity that deserves a standing ovation...
I wouldn't have been able to get through any of this without God. He has surrounded me with the right people, put me in the right place, and given me the physical and mental strength I need to keep going. I am so thankful for His grace, It never stops! It's blessing, after blessing, after blessing!
He truly is amazing... I guess that's why he's God :-)
or
::Insert Other Holiday Greeting Here::
As the title states, no news is good news!
My first maintenance cycle has started, and no problems to report!
This year I can say, without a doubt, that I have received the greatest Christmas gift EVER!
All my counts are up, I feel good, and the Doctor says I look great. I'm healthy and I'll be able to spend my entire holiday at home. No trips to Sloan and no backpacks to lug around. Hopefully I can use this time to gain back the 10 lbs I lost during my latest Sloan "vacation." I shouldn't have a problem with that, after all we do have our 7 fish Christmas Eve dinner!! (If you don't know what that is, just ask an Italian)
But seriously,
I am incredibly thankful this Christmas.
The sheer outpouring of love and support that my family and I continuously receive has been incredible. So many people have gone above and beyond and have helped to make this burden easier to bear.
Finally, there is one last omnipresent deity that deserves a standing ovation...
I wouldn't have been able to get through any of this without God. He has surrounded me with the right people, put me in the right place, and given me the physical and mental strength I need to keep going. I am so thankful for His grace, It never stops! It's blessing, after blessing, after blessing!
He truly is amazing... I guess that's why he's God :-)
Friday, December 15, 2006
Home Sweet Home!!!
Oh man, it has never felt so good to be home!
Finally, After 13 days I finally made it home from Sloan!!!
The last few days have been a bit trying...
It all started with my disappearing cell phone. (We think it somehow ended up in the garbage) Next, they moved me to a different floor because they needed the beds on my (The Peds) floor. To take the cake, I was bumped for an MRI for two days!!
To make matters worse, the floor I was moved to had no internet access. Combine that with no cell phone, and I have been totally incommunicado since Wednesday night. Cut off from the world!
::Sigh::
But now I'm home!
Everything is said and done.
My scans looks great and my mouth is healing nicely.
I couldn't ask for anything more!
Back to Sloan on Monday for the beginning of the end of my treatment!
Next week we enter the final phase of my treatment that will go for the rest of the year. My Doc says that the past three weeks have been the toughest and that it should be all downhill from here! From now on, I'll know what to expect as I will repeat the same schedule every 50 days.
Time for some much needed rest!
Finally, After 13 days I finally made it home from Sloan!!!
The last few days have been a bit trying...
It all started with my disappearing cell phone. (We think it somehow ended up in the garbage) Next, they moved me to a different floor because they needed the beds on my (The Peds) floor. To take the cake, I was bumped for an MRI for two days!!
To make matters worse, the floor I was moved to had no internet access. Combine that with no cell phone, and I have been totally incommunicado since Wednesday night. Cut off from the world!
::Sigh::
But now I'm home!
Everything is said and done.
My scans looks great and my mouth is healing nicely.
I couldn't ask for anything more!
Back to Sloan on Monday for the beginning of the end of my treatment!
Next week we enter the final phase of my treatment that will go for the rest of the year. My Doc says that the past three weeks have been the toughest and that it should be all downhill from here! From now on, I'll know what to expect as I will repeat the same schedule every 50 days.
Time for some much needed rest!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I'm Really Bad At This
Wow, I'm really bad at this entire "blogging" thing. A lot has happened recently and I'm sorry I haven't let you guys know about it! Every time I try to write an update there is so much stuff to write about! I look at it all, and just say "Ehhhhh.... Tomorrow"
But here we go!!
Friday
I was pretty out of it and slept most of the day away. As the night approached I developed a fever. This guy was a champ! Through the night my fever went as high as 105!! We were putting ice packs everywhere. We had them on my legs, on my back, on my stomach, under my arms, on my neck, and of course on my head.
My dad tells me later that I was pretty out of it. As I would start to fall asleep I would be making these different hand gestures along with uttering the randomest things.
At least he didn't try to fry an egg on me.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
The way I see it, Friday night was the turning point with this entire episode.
White Blood Cell Counts:
Saturday - 100
Sunday - 600
Monday - 4,000
That's right!! I am no longer Neutropenic! I am once again a healthy individual.
Today I also went for a CAT Scan.
This is the first scan since the initial diagnosis. ::Crosses Fingers::
all
Tuesday
WBC = 11,000
I also the noticed the Double vision retreat! My vision still feels a little "off" but now I can actually look at someone with both eyes!
Now for the big news... The results of the CAT Scan!
We could not have asked for better results! The report from the radiologist said that everything in my liver, spleen, and kidneys seems to be all cleared up! If that isn't enough, the tumor in my pelvis has also shrunk tremendously! We couldn't' have asked for any better news!
Wednesday
WBC = 13,000
That should be about as high as it goes. We're going to stop the meds that keep the white blood cells rising. We don't want too many :-)
Yesterday, we went for a PET Scan. The PET Scan gives us a more general birds eye view of the cancer in the entire body. The Doctor said that the results here were again, Amazing! Hopefully when I come back next week I'll be able to see the actual images side by side.
Final Thoughts
I've been at Sloan for quite a while now (11 days?), but everything seems to definitely be moving in the right direction. The greatest news of all is seeing how the cancer has responded to treatment after only 43 days. That has brought a tremendous amount of joy and comfort to my entire family.
I'm still dealing with the mouth sores, but the pain meds do a great job at controlling the pain. At this point most of the sores have blistered up, however there are still a few nasty little guys giving me some grief.
At this point we're hoping to get me home for Friday night. I can't wait for that!!!
Thanks for being patient everyone! And besides... Good posts come to audiences that wait! :-)
But here we go!!
Friday
I was pretty out of it and slept most of the day away. As the night approached I developed a fever. This guy was a champ! Through the night my fever went as high as 105!! We were putting ice packs everywhere. We had them on my legs, on my back, on my stomach, under my arms, on my neck, and of course on my head.
My dad tells me later that I was pretty out of it. As I would start to fall asleep I would be making these different hand gestures along with uttering the randomest things.
At least he didn't try to fry an egg on me.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
The way I see it, Friday night was the turning point with this entire episode.
White Blood Cell Counts:
Saturday - 100
Sunday - 600
Monday - 4,000
That's right!! I am no longer Neutropenic! I am once again a healthy individual.
Today I also went for a CAT Scan.
This is the first scan since the initial diagnosis. ::Crosses Fingers::
all
Tuesday
WBC = 11,000
I also the noticed the Double vision retreat! My vision still feels a little "off" but now I can actually look at someone with both eyes!
Now for the big news... The results of the CAT Scan!
We could not have asked for better results! The report from the radiologist said that everything in my liver, spleen, and kidneys seems to be all cleared up! If that isn't enough, the tumor in my pelvis has also shrunk tremendously! We couldn't' have asked for any better news!
Wednesday
WBC = 13,000
That should be about as high as it goes. We're going to stop the meds that keep the white blood cells rising. We don't want too many :-)
Yesterday, we went for a PET Scan. The PET Scan gives us a more general birds eye view of the cancer in the entire body. The Doctor said that the results here were again, Amazing! Hopefully when I come back next week I'll be able to see the actual images side by side.
Final Thoughts
I've been at Sloan for quite a while now (11 days?), but everything seems to definitely be moving in the right direction. The greatest news of all is seeing how the cancer has responded to treatment after only 43 days. That has brought a tremendous amount of joy and comfort to my entire family.
I'm still dealing with the mouth sores, but the pain meds do a great job at controlling the pain. At this point most of the sores have blistered up, however there are still a few nasty little guys giving me some grief.
At this point we're hoping to get me home for Friday night. I can't wait for that!!!
Thanks for being patient everyone! And besides... Good posts come to audiences that wait! :-)
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The Numbers Are In
WBC is still zero.
Ya know: zip, zilch, nada, naught, nil.
Oh How I love you Microsoft Word Synonyms :-)
Let's see how I look tomorrow.
I'm also going to talk to the doctor... maybe we can raise the dose of the WBC med?
Ya know: zip, zilch, nada, naught, nil.
Oh How I love you Microsoft Word Synonyms :-)
Let's see how I look tomorrow.
I'm also going to talk to the doctor... maybe we can raise the dose of the WBC med?
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
So Much For A Weekend Getaway
Sorry for the lack of updates. I just enjoyed Sloan so much that I decided to stay for the entire week!
"So What Happened?!"
Seems my white cells haven't grown as fast as last time.... No more Superman ::tear::
But it really isn't just that... there's a lot more going on.
Well, does everybody remember those pesky mouth sores? They've been busy!
They get progressively worse each day... and it is not pretty. (Nick 0, Mouth Sores 1)
Saturday
The Doctors started me on my painkillers, but through IV. This brought tremendous more relief then taking the pills. (Nick 1, Mouth Sores 1)
Monday
So, the mouth sores were getting worse, and the painkiller wasn't cutting it (Mouth Sores +1 Point). So the doctors told me about this Pain pump (Nick +1 Point). Instead of giving me an IV Push of the meds every few hours, it injects a smaller dose continuously. If I feel some extra pain, for instance I aggravate the mouth sores, I have a little button to press to give me more. Don't worry, the pump will only allow me to hit the button so many times an hour. :-) it won't let me drift off into comatose land.
This seemed to start doin the Job (Nick 2, Mouth Sores 2)
Tuesday
I like to think of Tuesday as my trip back to the 60's.
Monday night into Tuesday morning I developed double vision.
When I say double vision, I don't mean the occasional splitting of an image.
No Sir!
I'm talking about two crystal clear images from my two eyeballs at all times!
To do anything productive I need to close one eye, and because of my Astigmatism, I always close my left eye. I almost have it trained to close all by itself :-)
The next symptom I'll describe as "feeling the music" I had entered a very funky state of feeling. I felt very out there. Kinda like I should be living out of an old VW bus, wear a headband, and babble things about the "establishment"
Well now, we are building quite the list. We can also add random narcolepsy to this list.
Pretty much, I'll just start taking naps. Here, There, and Everywhere! I could be in a conversation with my dad, and I will slowly lose interest and just put my head down. It's actually pretty neat!
Saving the worst for last. The Painkillers didn't seem to be doing their job anymore. Either that, or the pain was simply getting worse. So we had to make a change!
Wednesday
Wednesday morning we got a hold of the "Pain Team!"
I kid-you-not. There are a group of doctors that are the "pain team." They came in to evaluate me.
We went directly to the pain team, because the rest of my symptoms are all side-effects of the pain med I was on. BTW, I should mention I was also on a super high dose.
They looked into my mouth and just like everybody else, they shrieked in terror. They recommended a new drug to be used in the Pain Pump. No longer wanting to feel like a hippy, I immediately agreed.
By 9:00PM I am only experiencing one hippy symptom. The double vision. The Doctor says that this is a common side-effect of all these pain meds. The medicine is doing an semi-OK job at controlling the pain but hopefully we can work out a better dose tomorrow!
So What About Those Fevers
As I mentioned, when you're nete Neutropenic and you have a fever, the Doctors need to make sure you don't have any sort of infection. So since Friday, They have been taking daily blood-cultures and pumping my full of a bunch of different antibiotics and antifungals.
Today my doctor is pretty confident in saying that the fevers are only being caused by the mouth sores, and nothing else.
"Great, Let's Get Rid Of Those Mouth Sores!!!!"
Well that's the tricky part. In order to get rid of the mouth sores, you need white blood cells. As the white blood cells grow, they will simply just flock to my mouth and begin it's invasion.
(I've actually turned this into a pretty cool battle scene in my head)
So I don't know what's taking those white blood cells so long.
I told them I would treat them to a greatn feast when they declare themselves a victory in this epic battle!!!!
When Am I Getting Out Of Here?
Not sure....
definitely not until I've grown some white blood cells.
I think once I have a good count, and the mouth sores start to heal I should homeward bound!
Until Then... Pray for those white blood cells!
"So What Happened?!"
Seems my white cells haven't grown as fast as last time.... No more Superman ::tear::
But it really isn't just that... there's a lot more going on.
Well, does everybody remember those pesky mouth sores? They've been busy!
They get progressively worse each day... and it is not pretty. (Nick 0, Mouth Sores 1)
Saturday
The Doctors started me on my painkillers, but through IV. This brought tremendous more relief then taking the pills. (Nick 1, Mouth Sores 1)
Monday
So, the mouth sores were getting worse, and the painkiller wasn't cutting it (Mouth Sores +1 Point). So the doctors told me about this Pain pump (Nick +1 Point). Instead of giving me an IV Push of the meds every few hours, it injects a smaller dose continuously. If I feel some extra pain, for instance I aggravate the mouth sores, I have a little button to press to give me more. Don't worry, the pump will only allow me to hit the button so many times an hour. :-) it won't let me drift off into comatose land.
This seemed to start doin the Job (Nick 2, Mouth Sores 2)
Tuesday
I like to think of Tuesday as my trip back to the 60's.
Monday night into Tuesday morning I developed double vision.
When I say double vision, I don't mean the occasional splitting of an image.
No Sir!
I'm talking about two crystal clear images from my two eyeballs at all times!
To do anything productive I need to close one eye, and because of my Astigmatism, I always close my left eye. I almost have it trained to close all by itself :-)
The next symptom I'll describe as "feeling the music" I had entered a very funky state of feeling. I felt very out there. Kinda like I should be living out of an old VW bus, wear a headband, and babble things about the "establishment"
Well now, we are building quite the list. We can also add random narcolepsy to this list.
Pretty much, I'll just start taking naps. Here, There, and Everywhere! I could be in a conversation with my dad, and I will slowly lose interest and just put my head down. It's actually pretty neat!
Saving the worst for last. The Painkillers didn't seem to be doing their job anymore. Either that, or the pain was simply getting worse. So we had to make a change!
Wednesday
Wednesday morning we got a hold of the "Pain Team!"
I kid-you-not. There are a group of doctors that are the "pain team." They came in to evaluate me.
We went directly to the pain team, because the rest of my symptoms are all side-effects of the pain med I was on. BTW, I should mention I was also on a super high dose.
They looked into my mouth and just like everybody else, they shrieked in terror. They recommended a new drug to be used in the Pain Pump. No longer wanting to feel like a hippy, I immediately agreed.
By 9:00PM I am only experiencing one hippy symptom. The double vision. The Doctor says that this is a common side-effect of all these pain meds. The medicine is doing an semi-OK job at controlling the pain but hopefully we can work out a better dose tomorrow!
So What About Those Fevers
As I mentioned, when you're nete Neutropenic and you have a fever, the Doctors need to make sure you don't have any sort of infection. So since Friday, They have been taking daily blood-cultures and pumping my full of a bunch of different antibiotics and antifungals.
Today my doctor is pretty confident in saying that the fevers are only being caused by the mouth sores, and nothing else.
"Great, Let's Get Rid Of Those Mouth Sores!!!!"
Well that's the tricky part. In order to get rid of the mouth sores, you need white blood cells. As the white blood cells grow, they will simply just flock to my mouth and begin it's invasion.
(I've actually turned this into a pretty cool battle scene in my head)
So I don't know what's taking those white blood cells so long.
I told them I would treat them to a greatn feast when they declare themselves a victory in this epic battle!!!!
When Am I Getting Out Of Here?
Not sure....
definitely not until I've grown some white blood cells.
I think once I have a good count, and the mouth sores start to heal I should homeward bound!
Until Then... Pray for those white blood cells!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
A Weekend Getaway
What a week my family and I have had.
It's been pretty crazy to say the latest.
Luckily, I get to have the weekend to myself and I only have to trek into Sloan for a few routine exams next week.
Ya know, I felt so good about this weekend, I decided to take a trip...
Destination of Choice: Sloan
That's right... Unfortunately I'm spending the weekend admitted at my favorite cancer research center.
"Why Nick?"
Well, currently I'm neutropenic (which is expected after last week's chemo).
Whenever you're neutropenic and you come down with a fever, you need to be admitted for observation and to make sure you don't have an infection of any kind.
So, Friday night I came down with a 102 fever and off to Sloan we went! But don't worry about me. I do the same thing at Sloan that I do at home: Eat, Sleep, Watch TV. It's just new scenery.
Hopefully my white counts come up by Monday and, as long as the fevers go away, I'm outta here!!
But for now, I need to get some rest.
Good night All!
It's been pretty crazy to say the latest.
Luckily, I get to have the weekend to myself and I only have to trek into Sloan for a few routine exams next week.
Ya know, I felt so good about this weekend, I decided to take a trip...
Destination of Choice: Sloan
That's right... Unfortunately I'm spending the weekend admitted at my favorite cancer research center.
"Why Nick?"
Well, currently I'm neutropenic (which is expected after last week's chemo).
Whenever you're neutropenic and you come down with a fever, you need to be admitted for observation and to make sure you don't have an infection of any kind.
So, Friday night I came down with a 102 fever and off to Sloan we went! But don't worry about me. I do the same thing at Sloan that I do at home: Eat, Sleep, Watch TV. It's just new scenery.
Hopefully my white counts come up by Monday and, as long as the fevers go away, I'm outta here!!
But for now, I need to get some rest.
Good night All!
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