Five More Days of Chemo - Part Deux

Five more days of chemo.
(Written on 10/23/2007 - couldn't get the wireless to work at the hospital)

But at least I’m prepared this time.

You see last time (9/24/2007) I was told I wouldn’t start until 10/1. Showed up at the hospital to get my port installed/imported(?) and was told by a doctor I was going to start that day. Well, this still wouldn’t have been too bad if I wasn’t laying flat on my back and about to be knocked out for surgery. Timing. It’s what’s needed with all good “jokes.”
So this time, I am ready. Or as ready as I can be for five days of chemo. Sweet gowns. Sitting on my butt. Hospital food. See earlier post it’s actually not that bad. I ate some wicked fried catfish for lunch today. Now if they would serve Coke instead of Pepsi…..

I have a great set of nurses. We actually know the daughter of one nurse. The other nurse is Mae. She’s a jewel. Great attitude. Recognized me with no hair. “Oh, you got a hair cut! Did it fall out? You have a great looking head. I’ve seen some. Oh My!”
Anyway back to five days in the hospital. It’s not the chemo that bothers me it’s just being here the entire time. I miss my kids, my wife, my job, a normal life. Well as normal as my life! Dr. Shah tells me I may be able to do outpatient next time. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I have at least five books to read. Tons of thank you notes to write. Actually have some work to finish up. But I assume I’ll be a little stir crazy Friday. Looking at the clock, it’s 6:25 and I just finished a treatment cycle. So I should get out on Saturday at about this time. I hope I don’t miss the kids in their costumes.
I will miss the KLC Character Parade. I was going to dress up as The Man with the Big Yellow Hat from Curious George, but my beautiful wife came up with an awesome idea. How about Charlie Brown? We could draw the one strand of hair on the back of my head. That would have been an awesome costume. Maybe next year. Ummmmm, no. I’ll have hair next year.

Since I haven’t blogged in almost two weeks, I’ll have to let everyone know about the little get together my old school threw together for me. Tomorrow I’ll blog about that….

Until next time, “A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.” Proverbs 17:17. I’m blessed with tons of brothers.

Shedding Winner: Me!

If you have ever owned a Golden Retriever or know someone who has one, you know that their hair tends to clump when they blow their coat.

Well, human hair does NOT do that. It just sorta lays all over the floor and doesn't congregate like dog hair.

Just to give you an idea of what my bathroom looks like: you know how pine needles sort of just lay about all over on top of each other. Imagine a fine layer of dark brown hair.

I've been okay with the majority of this so far, but this hair thing is freaking me out.

At least my wife came up with a great idea for a Halloween costume. Charlie Brown. She'll drawn the hair on for me. At least the single thread.....

Hair today, Gone tomorrow

It has started.

The hair loss.

Probably started a couple of days ago, but now it has really started.

Noticed yesterday getting out of the shower. Did my usual "hairtug" to check for hair loss ( a paranoid reality now) and pulled out a bunch of hair. So I did the first thing any man would do and called my wife.

She sympathized for a moment and compared my hair loss to our Golden Retriever's shedding. Looks like I'll be using the vacuum a lot more in the next couple of weeks.

Many, many questions now:

• Do I shave my head?
• Is there any point in using shampoo?
• Does it really matter if I shave?

Some good things - so far.

My eyebrows do not seem to be going.

Neither does the hair on my legs.

On the other hand....

I'll answer the question my brother-in-law Adam was dying to know:

Yes, all the other hair does fall out.

LOL, Are you satisfied?????

He's enjoying this because I've been teasing him about losing all his hair before I lost mine. But at least mine is chemically enhanced as to his being natural.

Side Effects....

Today were my first major side effects of any of the medication I've had pumped into me.

After chemo you receive this shot of Neupogen which stimulates white blood cell growth.

My Uncle Mike - who wet through chemo a year ago for brain cancer - told me one side effect would be pain in your joints.

Holy Moley was he right.

I woke up at about 4:30 and got up to use the bathroom. As soon as I got up I felt pain in my hips and lower back. Progressively got worst for about 30 minutes before I popped some Tylenol. That didn't help either. Popped another Tylenol (the 3rd!) and that finally made the pain bearable.

Went to Sunday School this morning and made it through that - but left the kids and wife there and picked them up later.

Taking some more pain killers right now, then on to watch the Bucs-Colts game.

I'm gonna try to go to work tomorrow, but this pain is incredible.

Chemo - The Start

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been.

The doctor's had been back and forth about starting chemotherapy, but we weren't sure if and when with the transplanted kidney.

We finally got word from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa when and what to start after we found out the cancer had metastasized to the lung. This was whirlwind as the spot started as a spot and then grew and turned into about 20-30 spots.

Like I said - Moffitt was awesome. The main doctor we worked with was Dr. Fishman. Funny, intelligent guy with a quick wit. Some of my fave lines from him:

• Talking about checking for sterility after the therapy: "We'll check for swimmers after a couple of months."
• As I got up to leave after our first meeting: "Whoooa! You are freakishly tall!"

Definitely lightened the entire situation.

So...... Chemotherapy. Chemo. Poison.

Actually started on September 25, 2006. Did it inpatient at our local Florida Hospital. Great service, great people, good food. What? Yeah, good food.

Anyway....

No sickness. No hair loss (yet....). Well, no more than usual for a 39 year old man.

I actually went back to work at the Kindergarten Learning Center on Tuesday, October 2. I'll blog about that later - I work with a bunch of wonderful people!

But I had some trouble on Thursday at about 4 a.m.

The wife and daughter picked up a stomach bug and I finally got it. Knocked me down and cleaned my clock. It's Saturday and I'm enjoying the Petit Le Mans, but I'm still beat.

Next round of chemo is set for October 15. Let's see how it goes.

BTW- I have received so many prayers from so many people. I appreciate every one who has been praying for my complete recovery and thank God for carrying me through this on His shoulders.