Treatment #3 underway

Treatment #3 yesterday definitely left me with the feeling of, “OK, we’re not in Kansas anymore…”. But other then feeling totally washed out and a bit loopy I’m generally feeling OK. It hasn’t affected my eating yet and nausea is under control thanks to both Emend and Zofran.

I have an appointment for 2:30 this afternoon to get a Neulasta shot that will hopefully keep my white blood cell count from going into the dumper. It worked with the last treatment so hopefully even with the increased chemo dosage we’ll see positive results.

More to follow as events occur.

Thanks to all for the emails and texts. They mean more then you know.

Simple pleasures

The weather didn’t quite live up to what was forecasted for yesterday but I was able to seize the opportunity of a relatively warm and DRY Saturday during a period where I’m feeling well for a bike ride. Yes, you read the correctly. Dan Nies accompanied me yesterday for a short and flat 20.5 mile ride that, as you can imagine, was totally enjoyable. The fresh air and exercise was terrific.

If the weather cooperates I may actually be able to do it again next Saturday. The next treatment doesn’t begin until Thursday, March 26th.

White blood cell count looking good

So, there’s good news and bad news…..

First the good news. The neulasta injection I had last Friday is doing it’s job and my white blood cell count was 7.5 when I had my office visit with Dr. Richards yesterday. That’s a far cry from the 0.8 that played a part in landing me in the hospital. Considering that normal range is 4-12 I feel “safe” for the remainder of this 3-week treatment cycle. I'm still on Xeloda through next Wednesday.

The bad news is that this next treatment is likely to see a significant change in dosage. I’ve looked down the barrel of a dosage increase before and it all worked out fine so I’m not shaking in my boots. I'm definitely a little nervous though since I know that the dosage change will likely push me into the downside of side affects. I’ll be riding those zofran pills hard to get me through it!! LOL.

Sasha rode shotgun on my visit to see Dr. Richards. I enjoyed having her there to meet Dr. Richards, my favorite nurse Beth, and the office staff. Dr. Richards even gave her a quick tour of the treatment area while I was working with the office staff to deal with insurance company junk. And for those of you that are wondering, NO, Sasha didn’t watch when Beth accessed my port to take the blood chemistry. LOL!

This next week should be quiet although I’ll post any news that’s fit to share. The one bit of excitement will come on 3/19 when we head into Manhattan for Amy’s birthday and to partake in an Allman Brothers concert at the Beacon with our friends Elisa and Joe.

Treatment #2 Underway

Here's a quick post to let you know how things are going now that treatment #2 has begun.

Dr. Richards dialed back the dosage a bit for the two IV drugs, Epirubicin and Oxaliplatin. We had already gone with a scaled back dosage for treatment #1 because at the time, as we all now know, I had a cold and slightly lower white blood cell count. The idea for round #2 is obviously to try and keep the treatment from having the same extreme affect that it had last time on my white blood cell count. In addition, we decided to be very assertive with using Neulasta as a WBC booster and I'll be going back to his office on Friday, 3/6 at 3:15pm for a Neulasta injection.

So... that's the deal. At the moment I'm feeling generally OK. A bit washed out and tired but with a little help from a zofran pill I'm mostly keeping things even keel right now.

One thought that just came to mind is that people have been asking me about the college decision for Sasha and where that stands. As happened with Erin and Bailey when they made their decisions there was a "this is it!" moment on one of our recent visits. And that occurred at Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO. The campus was terrific and Sasha was accepted as one of 75 incoming freshman to the Bio Medical Sciences program as part of their honors program. That this all included a nice chunk of $$ also didn't hurt, lol. Can't let this one go... the final part of the tour had us visiting with an academic counselor in the bio med program as well as with a faculty member. Sasha and good ole dad were able to endure, with flying colors, the professor taking us through a dissection lab where there was not only table after table of dogs that were actively getting dissected but there were also a horse and ox hanging from chains and well on their way to full dissection. Yep, quite an unexpected experience for sure.

More status on the chemo front as things develop in the coming days.

Thanks to Amy's Army and everyone who has reached out with words of support. I enjoy and appreciate every bit of it.

Please remember that the Mintz's Mentschen is once again mobilizing for participation in Lance Armstrong Foundation LiveSTRONG Challenge events this year. Right now we're registered for the August Philly event and I hope to ride, minimally, the 10-mile distance as I did last year. There's a lot of time between now and then so hopefully I'll have the opportunity to go a bit further this time around. At the top of this page there's a link where you can go to my personal page to make a donation. Given the state of the economy I'm hoping to get lots of small donations this year. Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated.

LiveSTRONG!!
Jack--