One Year Out and Pet Scans are still negative

Thought I would get that info out on the blog, since it has been a while. To those who may have found this, I hope the information is helpful. Posting it was cathartic.

Port issues all done

So my port developed some bleeding and clotting after I had it removed. This had to be removed and then left open to heal :(. So imagine a cigar width hole in you chest about half and inch or more deep open for approximately 2 weeks. Not joking. I had to pack it with gauze twice a day. In lay terms, "packing" involves PUSHING gauze into an open wound on one's chest. Weird feeling for sure. It has been healed now for some time, but the scar is probably a little more hardcore then it would have been.

All for now :)

Im-port-ant news

Man oh man. I am trying to close down this chapter of life, but not so fast. Over 2 1/2 weeks ago I had my port removed. Supposed to be business as usual, but afterward, I ended up getting a hematoma over the area (a big blueish/black golf ball size lump where my port used to be). I first went back to my general surgeon and he "let off" some pressure. He told me it would go away on it's own in a few weeks (WEEKS?). Then, after it "burst" on me, I went back and they removed (NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART)....3 raisin-sized clots and a bunch of old blood out of it. They packed it with gauze and gave me instructions for caring for it. After a couple of days, it started getting GREEN and now I go back today to hopefully get it all removed and restitched up.

Moral of the story: Don't take the port removal for granted.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Pet scans all clear

Had my scan yesterday and I got the results today. All clear three months out. I think this is the scan that most people worry about. I get the feeling, the farther out you go, the less it worries you. I can't imagine never worrying about it coming back, but I will take this for sure.

I do want to continue to post information here, because I think it is helpful, but I am trying not to use it as a personal site...mostly because I am boring :)

Here's to more boring...

Back from the Puerto Rico. Had a blast, made some money at the casino and tortured the liver a bit. We missed the kids and spent the entire weekend back taking them all over NoVa. They had a good Easter today and didn't eat too much candy. Check the old lady's blog for more on that.

On my front, I am shooting for my Pet Scan in a couple of weeks and have a follow up Dr.'s Appt shortly thereafter. I'll get the results and pics out as soon as I get them. Here's to Spring getting here finally!

Quick update and reflections

I have been feeling like a slug of late and find my attempt to diet impeded by my renewed interest in beer. I was "mostly" dry during treatment. Dry being alternatively used for being without alcoholic beverages and my mouth physically being a desert. Since my last treatment I have enjoyed a beer or two during the evening while watching my choice of sport. On top of that, during treatment, I lost my taste for diet sodas and increased my use of chocolate. Breaking both of those habits has proven to be difficult. Work is doing a pool for "biggest loser" and I joined it, so I now have financial motivation :)

I am doing fine. The trip to Puerto Rico is a couple of weeks away. Home life and kids are fine. Going through some transitions at work, but nothing too crazy. Other then a port flush a week ago, I haven't been back into the doctor's office. They are scheduling the PET scan for second week of April, so we are looking forward to that.

Quick observances now that treatment has ended:

- During the initial diagnosis and throughout treatment, I was extremely comforted by the fact that I got a good deal of life insurance (outside of work) when we had the girls. As a father to many now, I worried less about the financial impact of the worst case scenario. This could be one of the best decisions I have made. If I wanted to get life insurance now, I would assume that it would be pricey and difficult at the least. Take it for what it's worth, but young and healthy with young kids is probably a good time to purchase (at the least a 20yr term deal).

- The other running for the best decision I/we have ever made also is a insurance policy of sorts. My wife talked me into storing the cord blood from one of our triplets while she was pregnant with them. It didn't take much pleading and we got a little bit of a break in the upfront costs. The yearly costs seemed reasonable as well. We did so and Evan, our oldest by a minute, had the largest cord for harvesting. People read of stem cells in the news, and most of it is based on ideology. Most of it also talk about the cells originating from "pre-birth" donations, contributing to it's political question. Also, most of the focus is on all the things they "could" do in the future. However stem cell transplants are used daily as last resort treatments for blood cancers. These can be "cleaned up" cells from the same host or a donation from a matching person. One of the linked blogs on this post is for "Journal of a Prize Fighter" and he had one a few months back. It's a very neat process as it is the only transplant where the GRAFT rejects the HOST instead of vice-versus (i.e. the blood rejects you, not your body rejecting the blood). Anyways, to think that my son (who isn't exactly the most vocal dude out of the bunch) could have contributed to giving me, his mother or anyone of his siblings a possible option for future treatment is extraordinary. Made even more so by the fact that Hodgkin's is a cancer of the blood.

If the statements above mean anything it's that, in our case, we couldn't have scripted a better safety net for what I have went through recently if we had KNOWN it was going to happen years ago. I will credit my wife's persistence in getting this done for both cases.

I have made a bazzillion mistakes in my life, these would be in the small bucket of smart moves.

Marathon post over :)

Long time coming...

That somes it up. I feel like a big fat cat. BUT, I am growing hair back. It's a bit darker on my head and lighter everywhere else, but i'll take it.

I am feeling better now and I am now over two weeks out since my last treatment so things should be working their way out of my system. I am going to wait a week or so and start hitting the workout bike and watching what I eat. Turns out donuts and Cadbury cream eggs isn't as healthy as one would think.

Just sending a little update out that all is fine. I need to schedule my flush for this month in a week or so. Counting down the days till Puerto Rico and then my PET scan.