No treatment today due to Boston trip

Alrighty,

Being the good husband I am, I deferred treatment until Friday in order to take my wife to Boston for the Red Sox Parade. Fun was had by all, even though I am an Orioles fan :) As long as the Yankees didn't win, that's all that counts.

Update after #6

I pretty much have had cold symptoms for the past 3-4 weeks. No fever (should i get a fever over 101.5, the docs would like me to go to the emergency room, since my white blood cell count is so low), but just runny nose, light chest congestion and light sore throat. I can't seem to kick it, and I'll just assume it's because of my compromised immune system, but it's becoming a drag.

I just got over the sore mouth for this past treatment. I had been super tired also, but I expect that to be over soon too.

Live blogging from treatment #6 (halfway point)

With all the good news from last week's PET Scan, I have renewed energy. So here's to not passing out during the final hours of today's push.

10:00am et: Aloxi is getting his drip on and I am getting my surf on. This should be quick.
10:25am et: Ativan and Decadron are in, just flushing it through currently.

10:55am et: Thought I would keep a running tally of my White Blood Counts. I am getting not getting an WBC booster unless I get sick. And to date I have been fine. I'll try to keep this updated.
11:05am et: Adriamycin is through and the same with the Vinblastine. Loading yo Bleomycin at this tine.
11:15am et: Bleo is done and now we are waiting on the big boy. DTIC. This is where I start to feel it.
11:40am et: Hitting the wall....rolling over for a quick nappy.

7:46pm et: Needless to say I hit the wall, woke up and got the fudge out of there. After the last med I am racing to get out. We left around 12:30pm, so not to bad. I am not feeling terrible at this moment but I did nap today real good. 6 down, 6 more to go.

Just in time for Halloween

Get your own Jonny Red skeleton. Here is my x-ray. Check out my port on the left (my right). You can see the catheter from it and everything. I think it runs through to the heart. I can jump rope with that damn thing. (Note to self: Ask for it back once it is removed). I also have a boat load of dental work too....brush those teeth kids.

How I am feeling post-pet scan and pre treatment #6

Obviously the #'s for this week are a little skewed due to the good Scan results. I am implementing a new therapy for my "innards" care of MJ over at My Life With Hodge. I am also going to work on my "keep my mouth from getting nuts" routine, by implementing some advice from Kelly at Chemopalooza. I'll let you know if there is any change. If those chill out, I will be 9.5's across the board BABY! For those who want to keep score from home, I am also going to post a graph of my White Blood Count from treatment one on out. TMI, I know.

Pet pics

Okey dokey. So I have the CD with the Scan results and the radiologist's notes. Here is what he wrote in short:

He summarized my July 13th Scan and then stated: None of that abnormal activity is apparent on today's examination. The CT portion shows some bulky nodes still, but these are now metabolically inactive (not cancerous).

He then went on to mention some weird anatomical stuff he found (anomalous vein descending the aorta) before mentioning that there was a spot just to the right of my belly button that lit up. It had no correlating enlarged node or organ with it on the CT Scan and it is not consistent with the regression of Hodgkin's. They (the radiologist and my oncologist) had no explanation, but would like to see what it looks like on the post-treatment scan in Feb. I am cool with that. I highlighted it in the pic.

Blue skies. So the news from Dr. Houck on the PET Scan was great. There is no "light up" in the chest any longer. A CT Scan done at the same time does show two nodes still enlarged. Dr. Houck expects this to continue to shrink down in time as it heals. There may also be scar tissue that will show up on all CT Scans for me from here on out. We will know that it is scar tissue and not tumor because it will not be cancerous, growing or metastasizing (future pet and ct scans).

I will try to get some pics up of the scan when I get the CD. There was a small light up on the pelvis, not around any known anatomical tissue. They believe this is an anomaly and will just look at the post-treatment scan to confirm this. It is not in a place that Hodgkin's would metastasize to and wasn't on the initial scan, but thought I would note it for everyone.

More info to come...

What's in the scan Stan?

PET

Got my Pet Scan today. Obviously, we won't get the results for a couple of days, I will post them and hopefully get a copy of the deal by the end of the week. Fingers crossed that things look good. For whatever reason, the nausea for the last few treatments has been getting worse. I have not actually thrown up yet, but it sure does feel like I will. I am just in a general malaise of nausea, hot mouth and tiredness. I am trying to mix up what I am doing, eating, drinking, etc. In the meantime, I feel like a log who doesn't want to do much. Not a good place to be in when you've got some kids to tend to. Jess and the rest of the family are doing a great job, I just feel crummy and useless at times.

Alright, update to come upon results.

Peace.

If you're nice, I may let you pet my port.....

Live blogging for treatment #5. Today was a Dr's visit prior to treatment, so we are starting later. I haven't done the PET scan yet, so no results to chat with him about.

10:39am ET: Giving me the Aloxi for nausea with a Decadron kicker on the back side. The Dec is fattening me up. I was 221 when I checked in 2 months ago, and now I am a svelte 234. If we were on Sesame Street I would be brought to you by the letter O. No roid rage tho, so I guess I have that going for me.


19:34pm ET: UPDATED Well so much for live blogging. Schlabers ended up picking up one of the kids from preschool and while she was gone I slept. Despite the meeting with the Dr today, the whole deal went pretty fast, which is mad appreciated.

Sorry for the lame no-posts. They are trying to get the PET scan scheduled ASAP, so the results of that should be next.

Going into Treatment #5 and the Pet Scan

Treatment #5 is tomorrow and I did not get my PET scan done before it. No biggie, I was on vacation and it didn't work for my schedule, but I will plan to do it sometime after #5. I have updated the "how I feel" chart. Steady at an 8. Again, it's taking me about 5-7 days to shake all the ill effects of the treatment, but they aren't that bad. Fire mouth and stomach issues could be much worse.