So here I sit — getting treatment number 9. While the side effects get worse, my attitude seems to get better. As you can probably imagine, I can’t wait till this is done! My oncologist says that my body is tolerating all of this surprisingly well. My final treatment day is October 10th and I will get this dreaded central line removed that day (yea!).
Moving forward I will have one final PET scan and quarterly blood work to monitor my blood markers. I will have another colonoscopy and from those results they will put me on a monitoring plan.
So all is well and I have much planned after all this. Getting back to an active lifestyle will be at the top of my list. Back to riding, working out and living life.
Thanks again for all of the continued support!
So we are having some daddy daughter time today.
Working on treatment number 8 this week. My oncologist has decided to pull the Oxaliplatin from my treatment due to the neuropathy that is occurring. I have made it through more treatments with Oxaliplatin than most and he is very impressed with how my body is holding up through this process. This is exciting news for me because I have the most side effects from the Oxaliplatin. So the hope is that my 4 remaining treatments should go much easier than the first 7. No more hypersensitivity to cold (as soon as the current effects wear off). Ice cream, here I come!
In other news — had a great trip to San Francisco last week (pictures here). The family is back from Texas for a while so it has been so great to see the kiddos again!
Thanks for hanging in there with me. 4 more to go! I have my last pump disconnect and hopefully the removal of my central line on October 9th. Much partying to ensue afterwards.
Well I just couldn’t take it any longer. I’ve been wanting one since they first came out and it was time to bite the bullet. So I received my new iPhone 3G 16G last week and I love it so far. I just cannot for the life of me understand why in the hell they did not include MMS support with the device. Yea, I understand — “just send it via email..” blah blah. I’m still dumbfounded by this. Also there isn’t a copy/paste function?? How did that slip by?
Other than those issues, I’ve really got no complaints (so far). And I there has been rumors of Apple coming out with an MMS in a future update (really surprised that it didn’t come with V2). The app store is greatness, but can we not get a native ssh app? There are telnet and TN5250 apps..?? Maybe I need to suck it up and write one. Time to learn Objective-C.
Ok, the updates have been admittedly slow. I’ll work on that. Meanwhile I face another treatment week this week (treatment #7). The side effects continue to remain longer after each treatment. I am still feeling the effects from my hyper sensitivity to cold today, almost a full 2 weeks from receiving my last dose of Oxaliplatin. Icy cold drinks just taste too cool to drink — which really stinks because it’s freakin hot outside! My taste seems to becoming more affected with each treatment. It feels like I’ve been chewing on aluminum cans, and that doesn’t go away. The nausea is pretty consistent, but usually manageable throughout treatment week.
Work has been super-crazy and it’s tough keeping up with all that’s going on these days. I just don’t seem to have enough time to work it all in and it’s really hard to focus in on all of the details that I need to focus on.
I want to reach out and say thanks to each of you who email me, post a comment or just talk to me on a daily basis with your support. It truly helps to keep me going. I want thank my family who all keep very close tabs on me. And a special thanks to mom — I look forward to my “keep my chin up” cards that without fail arrive on Monday before treatments. And last but not least, my Bentonville homies (you know who you are) for keeping the time flying.
Kicking ass — 5 more to go.
This week’s treatment marks my half way point. Six down and six more to go. Blood counts are still strong compared to other people that go through chemotherapy. The nurses attribute my strength against the drugs to my youth. The side effects continue to get stronger as does the dread of the treatment itself — but I realize that there isn’t anything to do other than continue to battle through it and it will eventually come to an end.
I’m still really pumped about my genetics test for Lynch Syndrome. I am absolutely ok with the fact that it was just dumb luck that I developed colon cancer at such a young age. At least I know that my children are not predisposed to develop the same thing now. I just need to continue to push on and get through the treatments
I continue to recieve positive notes and prayers from folks who read the blog. Each and every note puts a smile on my face. To realize that folks take the time away from their busy lives to reach out and say something (sometimes to a perfect stranger) is really touching.
Thanks for the support through this journey.
I have migrated the blog to a new server (crash). I’m finally migrating off of a very old PIII 500mhz powerhouse of a server onto a new P4 Xeon. You should see much improvement on speed and response. The content, however, will continue be mediocre at best.
