It has been a while since I last posted. It has been a busy two weeks for me. A very good time ,because my son Curtis came for a visit. It was so good to have my boy around. My son helped very very much. He did so many chores that helped both Denise and I. We spent a day and serviced babyblue, my old hot rod truck. Curt got to drive babyblue the whole time he was here and now want's a hot rod of his own. We had a good day out with cousin John and did some fishing and went out on the big boat. We played wii golf and Curt kept getting frustrated because I kept beating him. The old man still has a little touch.
It was a tough two weeks though, as it was the hardest round for me. I was very ill and it lasted longer than any other round. I have only gotten one good day feeling wise this round. My blood counts are lower than ever before and I start off each round with less than the previous one. My Oncologist say's ( that as long as my platelet count is above 100 we are good to go for another round.) Normal platelet count is 140 up. I hoover around 100-110. My white cell count is low but still in normal range, but my red cell count is well below normal and hemoglobin is very low as well. I am being told as long as I can get out of bed in the morning then I am doing good.
I am going to do rounds 9-16 without the drug oxilplatin. That is the one that does all the nerve damage and makes me hot -cold sensitive. Hopefully I will feel better this next series of chemo. We will do another scan sometime in October. So the battle continues. I will continue to fight. I will get up and out of bed every morning as I have done so far and take the fight to the next level until Goliath can no longer go as far as me!!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wrapped in Love
I thank everybody for donateing a patch for my quilt. It is very special. You know what they say about the old and the young. I love my new blanky!!
I especialy thank Denise for this special gift. Denise came up with the idea, got everybody to come up with a special patch of cloth that had someting paticular to them. She then set about laying out the patches. It goes from center out, with my favorite picture taken at my sons wedding. It is of Me, Denise, My eldest Daughter Rachael on my left, my son Curtis, My daughters, Lauren to Curts left and Michelle.From there it is Mom on top, Dad underneath, Denise to the left and Karyn, my sister to the right. Surrounding that are my children's, then grandchildren's, son in laws , Mother and Father in laws, Brother and sister in laws, nieces, nephews, aunt, uncle's and even the dog Shelby. It is a beautiful piece of craftmanship and is surrounded in blue and black trim, my favorite colors. Denise took weeks to hand craft and sew this quilt for me. Making this quilt was a true labor of love. I can not exspress how much this quilt means to me. I am truly wrapped in love!!
I especialy thank Denise for this special gift. Denise came up with the idea, got everybody to come up with a special patch of cloth that had someting paticular to them. She then set about laying out the patches. It goes from center out, with my favorite picture taken at my sons wedding. It is of Me, Denise, My eldest Daughter Rachael on my left, my son Curtis, My daughters, Lauren to Curts left and Michelle.From there it is Mom on top, Dad underneath, Denise to the left and Karyn, my sister to the right. Surrounding that are my children's, then grandchildren's, son in laws , Mother and Father in laws, Brother and sister in laws, nieces, nephews, aunt, uncle's and even the dog Shelby. It is a beautiful piece of craftmanship and is surrounded in blue and black trim, my favorite colors. Denise took weeks to hand craft and sew this quilt for me. Making this quilt was a true labor of love. I can not exspress how much this quilt means to me. I am truly wrapped in love!!
Friday, September 4, 2009
A great day on the Delta.
I am glad to say that today is day four, Friday of round seven ,usually a hard day and I am feeling pretty good. The first four day's of each round are steroid days and I usually feel mentally whacked as well as physically rough. So far I am feeling O.K.
I spent the last couple of day's hanging with cousin John. Wednesday I just hung out in John's garage as he was working on his neighbours boat trailer. John and Don did all the work and I just sat around and played with the dogs ( I brought my my dog Shelby over to play with Bear, John's dog)It felt good to be out of the house enjoy friendship and getting to do guy stuff.!
Thursday was a great day. I got unhooked from my infusion bottle(always a good thing) and I went from the infusion center straight to John's house and picked him up in Babyblue(my hotrod truck) and John drove us out to Holland Tract Marina where he births his beautiful 30ft, Trojan boat. It is a dream boat. Flying bridge, fabulous cabin, great back deck, full canvas and twin motors. We are talking styling!!! We slipped out of it's birth around 10:00am and cruised out to John,s favorite fishing spot. John let me have the helm on the out bound leg . It's a thrill being up on that flying bridge looking over the bow and cruising such a beautiful craft. We anchored up and set about fishing off the back deck. Sitting in nice chairs, drink in hand or in the refrigerator, gently swinging on the anchor. I do enjoy fishing with John, he just loves fishing and gets excited every time he put is line in the water. He is just fun!! I brought leftover pot roast and taters for lunch which John warmed up in the micro wave and we grubbed up pretty good around noon and took a small fishing break at slack water. Shortly after lunch the tide changed and the fishing began again. We pulled anchor around 2:00pm because we ran out of bait. We fed the little strippers mostly but John caught a couple 16 inchers. Keepers have to be at least 18 inches. Maybe it is a good thing we ran out of bait or we might still be out there.!! I am looking forward to my son Curt's visit which is comming up in a couple of weeks, We are going out with John and hopefully Andrew for a fishing trip on the that beautiful boat. That is the start of the fall stripper run. Maybe we will get the big one!!!
I am glad to say that today is day four, Friday of round seven ,usually a hard day and I am feeling pretty good. The first four day's of each round are steroid days and I usually feel mentally whacked as well as physically rough. So far I am feeling O.K.
I spent the last couple of day's hanging with cousin John. Wednesday I just hung out in John's garage as he was working on his neighbours boat trailer. John and Don did all the work and I just sat around and played with the dogs ( I brought my my dog Shelby over to play with Bear, John's dog)It felt good to be out of the house enjoy friendship and getting to do guy stuff.!
Thursday was a great day. I got unhooked from my infusion bottle(always a good thing) and I went from the infusion center straight to John's house and picked him up in Babyblue(my hotrod truck) and John drove us out to Holland Tract Marina where he births his beautiful 30ft, Trojan boat. It is a dream boat. Flying bridge, fabulous cabin, great back deck, full canvas and twin motors. We are talking styling!!! We slipped out of it's birth around 10:00am and cruised out to John,s favorite fishing spot. John let me have the helm on the out bound leg . It's a thrill being up on that flying bridge looking over the bow and cruising such a beautiful craft. We anchored up and set about fishing off the back deck. Sitting in nice chairs, drink in hand or in the refrigerator, gently swinging on the anchor. I do enjoy fishing with John, he just loves fishing and gets excited every time he put is line in the water. He is just fun!! I brought leftover pot roast and taters for lunch which John warmed up in the micro wave and we grubbed up pretty good around noon and took a small fishing break at slack water. Shortly after lunch the tide changed and the fishing began again. We pulled anchor around 2:00pm because we ran out of bait. We fed the little strippers mostly but John caught a couple 16 inchers. Keepers have to be at least 18 inches. Maybe it is a good thing we ran out of bait or we might still be out there.!! I am looking forward to my son Curt's visit which is comming up in a couple of weeks, We are going out with John and hopefully Andrew for a fishing trip on the that beautiful boat. That is the start of the fall stripper run. Maybe we will get the big one!!!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Fiasco for three hundred ...Please Bob.
What was ..David stay in hospital?
I ended up having an over night stay in hospital Saturday night. It began with me believing that the people in the hospital, like Doctors and nurses would actually know what they doing. Saturday suddenly my blood pressure went whacko and sky rocketed to dangerously high levels and stayed up for a long time. I told Denise to take into hospital when my blood pressure was at 177/133 and holding. I got light headed, it was hard to breath, my hands swelled up,and I needed to sit down. I am thinking blood clot or stroke or may be even heart attack. All the instructions on what to do in case you need urgent care I have received either in paperwork or verbally from my oncology nurse. On weekends call the advice nurse. Well we both tried. Denise phoned on her cell phone from the house and we were on hold all the way to the hospital. We were in line at emergency when the advice nurse finally came online. Her advice was to go to emergency. we informed them up front that I was an oncology patient and was receiving chemo. They immediately isolated me. We waited two hours to get moved into a room . We arrived at 11:00 am and it is now 1:00pm. I had to undress and get into the hospital gown and get on the gurney. They are like airline seats to me only they are flat. I am way to big and my feet hang over and my ass goes numb and I am very uncomfortable.
Diagnosis started with the insertion of an IV needle . Apparently no one is qualified to access my port so I had to endure getting stuck seven or eight times in the course of the stay. Well it took a couple of long attempts and they finally got one established in my left hand. I hate IV needles because I am a very hard stick. Now going on 2:00pm a blood sample is drawn. We had to wait a couple more hours to get back the labs on the blood work. It was decided that everything was ok but very low except my hemoglobin. It had dropped from 16 to 10 in just two weeks. Doc was concerned that I was having a blood loss.Doc however ordered both a chest x-ray and then a c/t scan to rule out blood clots in the lung. The x-ray was uneventful but the c/t scan almost broke my right shoulder. I have had several c/t scans and told the tech that I could not put my right arm up due to a replaced shoulder joint. I had to have it down to my side. He was told three times. After he got me positioned on the part that you lay on he had me put both arms up. He asked if I could do this? I replied, yes but only if this is as far as it will go. I can not rotate my shoulder further back. Ok he said and went to his control booth and pushed the "IN" button and In we started to go rotating my arm back. I screamed at the top of my lungs to stop. I kicked the machine ,I yelled NO ,NO, NO, STOP ,STOP ,STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!! The blithering idiot came running out of his booth asking Whats the matter? Boy did I have a few choice words for him!!! After all this it is now 9:00pm . Both scans showed clear. Doc now decided to do a manual rectal exam and he didn't even buy me a drink! He said I had gross bleeding and that he was going to admit me over night and turn me over to a gastroiterologist and that I needed a blood transfusion. Another blood draw was done prior to admittance.
I finally arrived at room 331 ,a private room no less ,at around 11;30pm. Poor Denise was with me for all of this She however got to slip out around 5:00pm or so for a bite to eat. I however have not had any thing to eat or drink since 9:00 that morning. Needless to say, I was getting hungry and grouchy. Food was about the only thing on my mind now. Just feed me,please! You know it's bad when all I can think about is food and not sex.!! Damn, have things changed!!!
I was put on a no food or drink order until I get an all clear from the gut DR. which wasn't going to a happen until later that morning. Now at near 2:00 am the nurse came in with the blood and hooked me up and actually started the transfusion before checking the computer.She, in a panic had to stop the transfusion because my hemoglobin count had gone up on its own and was now high enough not to need the transfusion. They were going to give me two pints blood. The first pint is now ruined and has do be wasted. The second can be returned and kept.
After all this and talking to the gut DR. and the house DR. that there was nothing really wrong except that all of my problems are side affects of the chemo. That high blood pressure spikes and bleeding from the rectum are normal. It makes me think if the cancer doesn't kill me the treatment will.
I took round 7 today. My blood count was very low and it fell a lot from round 6. I will probably need a transfusion or maybe take a week off before round eight can commence. The chemo is taking it's toll. My oncologist will take me off the Oxailplatin for round 9-16, then back on for round 16-24. Wow, how many rounds can I do!!!!
What was ..David stay in hospital?
I ended up having an over night stay in hospital Saturday night. It began with me believing that the people in the hospital, like Doctors and nurses would actually know what they doing. Saturday suddenly my blood pressure went whacko and sky rocketed to dangerously high levels and stayed up for a long time. I told Denise to take into hospital when my blood pressure was at 177/133 and holding. I got light headed, it was hard to breath, my hands swelled up,and I needed to sit down. I am thinking blood clot or stroke or may be even heart attack. All the instructions on what to do in case you need urgent care I have received either in paperwork or verbally from my oncology nurse. On weekends call the advice nurse. Well we both tried. Denise phoned on her cell phone from the house and we were on hold all the way to the hospital. We were in line at emergency when the advice nurse finally came online. Her advice was to go to emergency. we informed them up front that I was an oncology patient and was receiving chemo. They immediately isolated me. We waited two hours to get moved into a room . We arrived at 11:00 am and it is now 1:00pm. I had to undress and get into the hospital gown and get on the gurney. They are like airline seats to me only they are flat. I am way to big and my feet hang over and my ass goes numb and I am very uncomfortable.
Diagnosis started with the insertion of an IV needle . Apparently no one is qualified to access my port so I had to endure getting stuck seven or eight times in the course of the stay. Well it took a couple of long attempts and they finally got one established in my left hand. I hate IV needles because I am a very hard stick. Now going on 2:00pm a blood sample is drawn. We had to wait a couple more hours to get back the labs on the blood work. It was decided that everything was ok but very low except my hemoglobin. It had dropped from 16 to 10 in just two weeks. Doc was concerned that I was having a blood loss.Doc however ordered both a chest x-ray and then a c/t scan to rule out blood clots in the lung. The x-ray was uneventful but the c/t scan almost broke my right shoulder. I have had several c/t scans and told the tech that I could not put my right arm up due to a replaced shoulder joint. I had to have it down to my side. He was told three times. After he got me positioned on the part that you lay on he had me put both arms up. He asked if I could do this? I replied, yes but only if this is as far as it will go. I can not rotate my shoulder further back. Ok he said and went to his control booth and pushed the "IN" button and In we started to go rotating my arm back. I screamed at the top of my lungs to stop. I kicked the machine ,I yelled NO ,NO, NO, STOP ,STOP ,STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!! The blithering idiot came running out of his booth asking Whats the matter? Boy did I have a few choice words for him!!! After all this it is now 9:00pm . Both scans showed clear. Doc now decided to do a manual rectal exam and he didn't even buy me a drink! He said I had gross bleeding and that he was going to admit me over night and turn me over to a gastroiterologist and that I needed a blood transfusion. Another blood draw was done prior to admittance.
I finally arrived at room 331 ,a private room no less ,at around 11;30pm. Poor Denise was with me for all of this She however got to slip out around 5:00pm or so for a bite to eat. I however have not had any thing to eat or drink since 9:00 that morning. Needless to say, I was getting hungry and grouchy. Food was about the only thing on my mind now. Just feed me,please! You know it's bad when all I can think about is food and not sex.!! Damn, have things changed!!!
I was put on a no food or drink order until I get an all clear from the gut DR. which wasn't going to a happen until later that morning. Now at near 2:00 am the nurse came in with the blood and hooked me up and actually started the transfusion before checking the computer.She, in a panic had to stop the transfusion because my hemoglobin count had gone up on its own and was now high enough not to need the transfusion. They were going to give me two pints blood. The first pint is now ruined and has do be wasted. The second can be returned and kept.
After all this and talking to the gut DR. and the house DR. that there was nothing really wrong except that all of my problems are side affects of the chemo. That high blood pressure spikes and bleeding from the rectum are normal. It makes me think if the cancer doesn't kill me the treatment will.
I took round 7 today. My blood count was very low and it fell a lot from round 6. I will probably need a transfusion or maybe take a week off before round eight can commence. The chemo is taking it's toll. My oncologist will take me off the Oxailplatin for round 9-16, then back on for round 16-24. Wow, how many rounds can I do!!!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The middle rounds.
Although I had great news last week I still have to put in the hard work of the middle rounds. It is becoming fairly consistent in the progression of each round. The progression roughly goes, Infusion day starts with me feeling my best but ends feeling weird and its the first of four steroid days. Day two-seven gets worse each day. The chemo is doing it's job. By day five or six, well those are my really hard days. But then comes buttermilk day. That day is midday, day seven this round. It is where I finally feel by body start to over come the chemo and start to recover. I can drink buttermilk the magical elixir. Although I am ahead on the score card, this fight is not over by a long way!
My Cousin Wayne came to visit for Saturday night and Sunday morning. It was a great visit and we made the most of every moment!We talked about family,life,music and took a little cruise in the hot rod and saw some of the delta. It was over way to fast!
Although I had great news last week I still have to put in the hard work of the middle rounds. It is becoming fairly consistent in the progression of each round. The progression roughly goes, Infusion day starts with me feeling my best but ends feeling weird and its the first of four steroid days. Day two-seven gets worse each day. The chemo is doing it's job. By day five or six, well those are my really hard days. But then comes buttermilk day. That day is midday, day seven this round. It is where I finally feel by body start to over come the chemo and start to recover. I can drink buttermilk the magical elixir. Although I am ahead on the score card, this fight is not over by a long way!
My Cousin Wayne came to visit for Saturday night and Sunday morning. It was a great visit and we made the most of every moment!We talked about family,life,music and took a little cruise in the hot rod and saw some of the delta. It was over way to fast!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Extra Extra Read all about it!!!!
Home troops are winning major battle!!!
I recieved the first scouting report yesterday while recieving round 6 at the infusion department.
We have reduced Goliaths troops by 50%, yes you read it right ,by half. All my tumors have been reduced !!!!!!
The tumor in my lung was 28x24 mm and is now 16x12mm.
The biggest tumor is the mediastinum ( the one in my chest right under where the windpipe branches to each lung.) was 54x26mm and is now 25x15mm.
The pretreachel aggregate were 30x19 and now are 23x15. These are the two tumors on the left side of my neck next to the windpipe.
The tumor on the right side of my neck next to the windpipe has shrunk as well. the report just states,( other indivual nodes are smaller as well.)
The report also states,(No new pathological or enlarged lymph nodes or masses seen at this time.)
The good news continues in the fact that so far my body has been able to keep up with reproducing both white and red blood cells . Both are staying in the slightly low but normal range. All other perameters with my labs are good.
The report also shows that Goliath has not spread into my liver
What does this mean. It means that the chemical attacks are devistating Goliaths minions and his supply lines are failing and he has no reinforcements to deploy.
We on the other hand are reproducing reinforcments and able to deploy them and our supply lines are strong!
This goes to show that we are winning the battle right now. This does not mean we have won the war!! There is still a long way to go, However I did state that at round four we were turning the tide. This first report deepens the resolve of this awakend giant. It makes everthing I am going through worth it!!!
We were exspecting to just hold Goliath back and stall him for a while. A really good report would have been that we are giving him a good pounding and beat him back a little.
This report is over whelmingly good news. This is even beyond my Dr.s exspectations. She e-mailed with with the good news rather than wait until the 31st of Aug when we have an appointment.
I am highly encouraged now and plan to carry on the fight.
All the prayers and good wishes and positve thoughts from all my family,friends and well wishers are definatly proofing positive! The proof is in the numbers. I feel it in my being daily and want to thank every one . It is all this love and support that give me the resolve. My support network is very large and I apreciate it greatly. I apreciate each and every one of you. I am fortunate to have so many love and care for me! Let's keep it up!! WE, I mean all of us are winning. I Love you all.Thanks.
Home troops are winning major battle!!!
I recieved the first scouting report yesterday while recieving round 6 at the infusion department.
We have reduced Goliaths troops by 50%, yes you read it right ,by half. All my tumors have been reduced !!!!!!
The tumor in my lung was 28x24 mm and is now 16x12mm.
The biggest tumor is the mediastinum ( the one in my chest right under where the windpipe branches to each lung.) was 54x26mm and is now 25x15mm.
The pretreachel aggregate were 30x19 and now are 23x15. These are the two tumors on the left side of my neck next to the windpipe.
The tumor on the right side of my neck next to the windpipe has shrunk as well. the report just states,( other indivual nodes are smaller as well.)
The report also states,(No new pathological or enlarged lymph nodes or masses seen at this time.)
The good news continues in the fact that so far my body has been able to keep up with reproducing both white and red blood cells . Both are staying in the slightly low but normal range. All other perameters with my labs are good.
The report also shows that Goliath has not spread into my liver
What does this mean. It means that the chemical attacks are devistating Goliaths minions and his supply lines are failing and he has no reinforcements to deploy.
We on the other hand are reproducing reinforcments and able to deploy them and our supply lines are strong!
This goes to show that we are winning the battle right now. This does not mean we have won the war!! There is still a long way to go, However I did state that at round four we were turning the tide. This first report deepens the resolve of this awakend giant. It makes everthing I am going through worth it!!!
We were exspecting to just hold Goliath back and stall him for a while. A really good report would have been that we are giving him a good pounding and beat him back a little.
This report is over whelmingly good news. This is even beyond my Dr.s exspectations. She e-mailed with with the good news rather than wait until the 31st of Aug when we have an appointment.
I am highly encouraged now and plan to carry on the fight.
All the prayers and good wishes and positve thoughts from all my family,friends and well wishers are definatly proofing positive! The proof is in the numbers. I feel it in my being daily and want to thank every one . It is all this love and support that give me the resolve. My support network is very large and I apreciate it greatly. I apreciate each and every one of you. I am fortunate to have so many love and care for me! Let's keep it up!! WE, I mean all of us are winning. I Love you all.Thanks.
Friday, August 14, 2009
A recon on Goliath.
Today I had a C/T scan. A mid-battle scouting report on the enemies strength. We will review the scan on the 31st of Aug when I visit my oncologist. We will under go another chemical attack, round 6, and then assess the battle damage. We hope of course that we have destroyed a vast amount of Goliaths troops while taking on minimum damage to our self!
I said after my last infusion day that I was getting accustom to the drugs and that I didn't notice the side affects accumulating, well I was wrong!!! These last two weeks have been awful. There has not been a day that my innards haven't hurt. I don't mean just my digestive tract, I mean everything inside of me. My lungs, my heart, my kidneys, my liver, my joints,my muscles. I find it hard to breath, like there is weight on my chest and my heart pounds hard and my blood pressure sky rockets. I feel my blood pulsing against my veins and artery's and with each pulse the pain increases. I feel very heavy and my muscles very week. It is like lifting weights just to stand up. It takes so much effort just to move that I get exhausted just getting up and going to another room. Even the simple things in life like eating ,getting dressed, or any household chore take monumental effort. It is hard to understand how this is helping me. I might get four days this round where I feel ok enough to function. I am now getting to the really hard part where I go and let them hook me up again knowing what's to come just as I start to feel a little better. I will soldier on and keep fighting. I have gotten out of bed every morning and got dressed even if it is just shorts and an old tee-shirt , brushed my teeth, combed my hair and have made my way down stairs. I have driven my daughter to her activities and myself around to all I need to do. I am attending my daughters soccer games and other family functions. I am even going to go fishing with my cousin John on his big boat Monday while I have a chance before I take the juice again. As my son visualizes this battle, Ding,Ding, I am standing up for round six and there pulling the stool out from under my ass.
Today I had a C/T scan. A mid-battle scouting report on the enemies strength. We will review the scan on the 31st of Aug when I visit my oncologist. We will under go another chemical attack, round 6, and then assess the battle damage. We hope of course that we have destroyed a vast amount of Goliaths troops while taking on minimum damage to our self!
I said after my last infusion day that I was getting accustom to the drugs and that I didn't notice the side affects accumulating, well I was wrong!!! These last two weeks have been awful. There has not been a day that my innards haven't hurt. I don't mean just my digestive tract, I mean everything inside of me. My lungs, my heart, my kidneys, my liver, my joints,my muscles. I find it hard to breath, like there is weight on my chest and my heart pounds hard and my blood pressure sky rockets. I feel my blood pulsing against my veins and artery's and with each pulse the pain increases. I feel very heavy and my muscles very week. It is like lifting weights just to stand up. It takes so much effort just to move that I get exhausted just getting up and going to another room. Even the simple things in life like eating ,getting dressed, or any household chore take monumental effort. It is hard to understand how this is helping me. I might get four days this round where I feel ok enough to function. I am now getting to the really hard part where I go and let them hook me up again knowing what's to come just as I start to feel a little better. I will soldier on and keep fighting. I have gotten out of bed every morning and got dressed even if it is just shorts and an old tee-shirt , brushed my teeth, combed my hair and have made my way down stairs. I have driven my daughter to her activities and myself around to all I need to do. I am attending my daughters soccer games and other family functions. I am even going to go fishing with my cousin John on his big boat Monday while I have a chance before I take the juice again. As my son visualizes this battle, Ding,Ding, I am standing up for round six and there pulling the stool out from under my ass.
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