Treatment day +2 and I’m doing pretty well. I’m a bit tingly and tired but that’s about it. As advertised we skipped the epirubicin for this treatment and possibly for treatments #7 and #8 as well. But that decision will be driven by the results of the MUGA scan I’ll be having this Monday morning at 10am.
One small surprise that came in conjunction with omission of the epirubicin is that Dr. Richards felt a neulasta injection wouldn’t be needed with this cycle. I’m going to be sure to stay home this entire next week until my blood counts are checked at my next office visit on Monday, June 8th.
Other then that background I guess the only other bit of news is that yesterday was my 50th birthday. I’m one of those that views age as just a number but there’s definitely something about this one that feels a bit different. Considering the convergence of major life events such as my miracle #2, Sasha’s high school graduation, and then the birthday does justify a bit of pause.
I’ll be posting some b’day pics that I’m sure you’ll all get a kick out of.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Miracle #2.... "complete treatment response"
For those of you that haven’t already heard, the PET/CT results came back as “complete treatment response”. Chalk up miracle #2!! I know that I’m pushing my luck with asking but how many of these do we get? LOL.
As far as other details are concerned, Dr. Richards wants to do 1-3 more treatments before we shut down the treatments altogether. On one hand while I’m both mentally and physically past needing these treatments to be over I also know that I’ll get peace of mind by knowing we went the extra mile to drive every last cancer cell into remission.
One twist to the treatments, however, is that we’ll be proceeding with only 2 of the 3 chemo drugs. The epirubicin will be omitted going forward. This is because one of the potential side affects of epirubicin is heart damage. I’m trusting that the other two drugs will be able to finish the job just fine and I’m glad to be able to have the epirubicin stopped at this point. I’m scheduled for a MUGA scan on June 1st and that will shed some light on any affects that the epirubicin may have had on my heart.
Finally, and as I’ve said several times before on this blog, thank-you to each and every one of you for all of your prayer and words of encouragement and support that came via email, text message, cards, letters, Facebook comments, etc. There is no doubt whatsoever that I am a very blessed and wealthy man.
I will continue to post information here through these next few treatments and I look forward to keeping you all informed as I transition to trying to get my girlish figure back while actively cycling with the Mintz’s Mentschen.
As far as other details are concerned, Dr. Richards wants to do 1-3 more treatments before we shut down the treatments altogether. On one hand while I’m both mentally and physically past needing these treatments to be over I also know that I’ll get peace of mind by knowing we went the extra mile to drive every last cancer cell into remission.
One twist to the treatments, however, is that we’ll be proceeding with only 2 of the 3 chemo drugs. The epirubicin will be omitted going forward. This is because one of the potential side affects of epirubicin is heart damage. I’m trusting that the other two drugs will be able to finish the job just fine and I’m glad to be able to have the epirubicin stopped at this point. I’m scheduled for a MUGA scan on June 1st and that will shed some light on any affects that the epirubicin may have had on my heart.
Finally, and as I’ve said several times before on this blog, thank-you to each and every one of you for all of your prayer and words of encouragement and support that came via email, text message, cards, letters, Facebook comments, etc. There is no doubt whatsoever that I am a very blessed and wealthy man.
I will continue to post information here through these next few treatments and I look forward to keeping you all informed as I transition to trying to get my girlish figure back while actively cycling with the Mintz’s Mentschen.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
BIG day
Tomorrow is a BIG day. I’m trying to not say VERY big (for obvious jinx reasons…) but this particular PET scan has taken it’s time in getting here.
As is the case with chemo it has a cumulative affect. And with that said things have been noticeably different in recent weeks. No, not ugly as the weight loss was for me last year but some of the side affects of this EOX protocol have definitely become a bit more pronounced. The Hand-and-Foot syndrome from Xeloda with it’s constant tingling, and even mild swelling, has been a bit uncomfortable. And this protocol is also taking a lot out of me. I typically pass out on the couch after dinner and/or go to sleep for the night by 9pm.
So, after battling to get the insurance pre-certifications this week I was finally able to call and schedule the PET. When Betsy (yes, I’m on a first name basis with even the staff at Princeton Radiology) asked me when I wanted the PET scheduled I quickly responded with “as soon as possible!”. I was shocked when she offered first thing tomorrow.
So 8:15am it is. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have high hopes. But either way, at least we’ll know where we stand once we have these results.
Thanks for all of the prayers and words of support.
As is the case with chemo it has a cumulative affect. And with that said things have been noticeably different in recent weeks. No, not ugly as the weight loss was for me last year but some of the side affects of this EOX protocol have definitely become a bit more pronounced. The Hand-and-Foot syndrome from Xeloda with it’s constant tingling, and even mild swelling, has been a bit uncomfortable. And this protocol is also taking a lot out of me. I typically pass out on the couch after dinner and/or go to sleep for the night by 9pm.
So, after battling to get the insurance pre-certifications this week I was finally able to call and schedule the PET. When Betsy (yes, I’m on a first name basis with even the staff at Princeton Radiology) asked me when I wanted the PET scheduled I quickly responded with “as soon as possible!”. I was shocked when she offered first thing tomorrow.
So 8:15am it is. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have high hopes. But either way, at least we’ll know where we stand once we have these results.
Thanks for all of the prayers and words of support.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Pre-treatment hello
Well tomorrow is treatment #5.
I’m raring to go but admittedly hoping that this treatment is either the last one or very close to it. We’ll be starting the process tomorrow to schedule the PET/CT scan and I expect that it will fall sometime the week of May 18th.
Aside from that there isn’t too much new to report on the medical front.
As far as family goes there’s a lot happening. Bailey finished her spring semester at Indiana Univ. today and will be home next week. And as you can imagine Sasha is counting the days to high school graduation, summer vacation, and her adventure at Colorado State come late August. She registered for her classes last Friday and is all set to go. The only big decision that is pending for her is whether or not she gives the CSU RAM marching band a go.
I’m raring to go but admittedly hoping that this treatment is either the last one or very close to it. We’ll be starting the process tomorrow to schedule the PET/CT scan and I expect that it will fall sometime the week of May 18th.
Aside from that there isn’t too much new to report on the medical front.
As far as family goes there’s a lot happening. Bailey finished her spring semester at Indiana Univ. today and will be home next week. And as you can imagine Sasha is counting the days to high school graduation, summer vacation, and her adventure at Colorado State come late August. She registered for her classes last Friday and is all set to go. The only big decision that is pending for her is whether or not she gives the CSU RAM marching band a go.
And as for Erin... well, she's still living in Fairfax, VA and working at the Canadian Embassy just a stone's throw from the White House.
Tough for Amy and I to get our heads around the fact that Erin is 23, Bailey is 20, and Sasha is 17. We're going to be empty nesters in a few short months! OMG.
It’s been a little while since I posted a picture so below is one that Gary Vencius was able to take of the small Mintz’s Mentschen crew before we started on our ride and before I totally bonked to the point of having to call Gary to come rescue me. There actually was a good side to the sag and that was having the chance to chat with Gary and Joanne’s incredibly cute sons.
To be continued…..
It’s been a little while since I posted a picture so below is one that Gary Vencius was able to take of the small Mintz’s Mentschen crew before we started on our ride and before I totally bonked to the point of having to call Gary to come rescue me. There actually was a good side to the sag and that was having the chance to chat with Gary and Joanne’s incredibly cute sons.
To be continued…..
Joanne Vencius, me, Doreen Dunnigan, Dan Nies, and Dan Gerstenhaber all Jacked Up!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Humbled but still living STRONG
Today was an important day.
Although I remain as positive as ever, and try to live each day with the best LiveSTRONG spirit I can muster, today I endured a very humbling experience. It was an experience that dealt me a heavy dose of reality. As a realist I see this as a good thing but it made me feel badly for my Mintz’s Mentschen friends that had to care for me instead of being able to enjoy a bike ride in glorious summer-like weather.
All of my faithful blog readers know that I’ve generally been feeling “well” and that when the weather and treatment timing has aligned that I’ve been able to sneak in bike rides in the 20-25 mile range. And that is exactly what was planned for today; a 25-mile ride out of Washington’s Crossing. The one significant wrinkle though, and one that I truly was very conscious of before the ride, was the near 90-degree temperature and cloudless sun-filled skies.
I think you all can guess the punch line at this point. I got to the 5.4 mile mark and was completely done for the day. Even after a rest in the shade there was no way that I could consider getting back on the bike.
So for as “good” as I feel I need to remember that I’m still on chemo and not quite to the finish line yet. A treatment on May 7th will be closely followed by a PET/CT scan. I don’t want to jinx things but at this point I can’t hide that I’m really hoping this scan is the beginning of the end to treatment. It’s really starting to cramp my style…. LOL.
Although I remain as positive as ever, and try to live each day with the best LiveSTRONG spirit I can muster, today I endured a very humbling experience. It was an experience that dealt me a heavy dose of reality. As a realist I see this as a good thing but it made me feel badly for my Mintz’s Mentschen friends that had to care for me instead of being able to enjoy a bike ride in glorious summer-like weather.
All of my faithful blog readers know that I’ve generally been feeling “well” and that when the weather and treatment timing has aligned that I’ve been able to sneak in bike rides in the 20-25 mile range. And that is exactly what was planned for today; a 25-mile ride out of Washington’s Crossing. The one significant wrinkle though, and one that I truly was very conscious of before the ride, was the near 90-degree temperature and cloudless sun-filled skies.
I think you all can guess the punch line at this point. I got to the 5.4 mile mark and was completely done for the day. Even after a rest in the shade there was no way that I could consider getting back on the bike.
So for as “good” as I feel I need to remember that I’m still on chemo and not quite to the finish line yet. A treatment on May 7th will be closely followed by a PET/CT scan. I don’t want to jinx things but at this point I can’t hide that I’m really hoping this scan is the beginning of the end to treatment. It’s really starting to cramp my style…. LOL.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sunday, April 19th
The weather this weekend was very much a tease as I wanted to get on my bike so badly. But, I opted for the group hug option yesterday morning when Amy and I stopped at Washington's Crossing State Park to say hello to the two Mentschen that were riding yesterday. It was nice to see Dan Nies and Stephanie Tobler but I know that my decision to not ride was the right one. The one side affect that hits me pretty firmly with each treatment cycle is the tingling in my hands/feet and that is accompanied with general muscle tightness in my calves. This makes even walking a bit of a chore for the first 3-4 days of each cycle.
But I did get out yesterday for a walk to the post office and the fresh air and sunshine felt terrific.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Friday, April 17th
Well, treatment #4 is underway. The dosage was increased yet again and I wasn't feeling all that great last night but after a good nights sleep I'm actually feeling "OK" this morning.
I get my neulasta injection this afternoon so let's hope that things remain status quo. I will be trying to fight through this so that I can take advantage of the good weather and the Mintz's Mentschen group on a short 25-mile ride out of Washington's Crossing TOMORROW. If it turns out that I can't do the ride I promised to be there for a group hug. LOL.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday, April 7th
For those of you that may be wondering how things are going have no fear. Things remain status quo and I’m actually feeling quite well.
The side affects from Oxaliplatin that are related to touching/drinking/breathing cold have been interesting for the first week of each treatment cycle but these are far from anything that is debilitating. And my eating has been affected only slightly so I’ve not lost any weight. My battle is actually with trying to keep from GAINING weight at this point.
I had a check-up with Dr. Richards yesterday and the Neulasta shot I had just over a week ago has done its job. My white blood cell count is at 7.3, well inside the normal range, and my hemoglobin and platelet counts are also normal. Tomorrow is the two week mark for this treatment cycle and the last day I’ll be taking Xeloda. Then a whole week without pills! What a treat.
That’s about it for now. It had been a while since I last posted a blog entry so mostly I wanted to let you know that all is well.
The side affects from Oxaliplatin that are related to touching/drinking/breathing cold have been interesting for the first week of each treatment cycle but these are far from anything that is debilitating. And my eating has been affected only slightly so I’ve not lost any weight. My battle is actually with trying to keep from GAINING weight at this point.
I had a check-up with Dr. Richards yesterday and the Neulasta shot I had just over a week ago has done its job. My white blood cell count is at 7.3, well inside the normal range, and my hemoglobin and platelet counts are also normal. Tomorrow is the two week mark for this treatment cycle and the last day I’ll be taking Xeloda. Then a whole week without pills! What a treat.
That’s about it for now. It had been a while since I last posted a blog entry so mostly I wanted to let you know that all is well.
Friday, March 27, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
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--
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--
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Time that wasn't
OK…. Let me see if I can catch you up on the events of the past two weeks.
As I had indicated in my last blog posts, things had reached a frenzied pace as we tried to complete our final college campus visits with Sasha in advance of my starting chemo. We returned from Colorado on 2/10, I had the medi-port inserted on 2/11, and then chemo began on 2/12.
Although the chemo process kicked off without a moment for a breather things were really very much under control. Nausea was controlled via the usual “as needed” use of zofran and decadron and the new side affects we were seeing from the new chemo protocol were little more then a nuisance. I was getting some minor tingling in my forearms/hands and issues related to touching/drinking/breathing cold were minor since I was working from home.
However, things started to get a bit interesting toward the end of that first week of chemo. Apparently the simple cold that I came home from Colorado with decided to “have a party”, as Dr. Lampert said, when chemo drove my white blood cell (WBC) count to a low of 0.8. By Friday, 2/20 my temperature hit a high of 102.3 and initially we were able to keep it in check with Tylenol. I ran a temperature on Sunday and then on Monday, 2/23 my temperature hit 100.9. We called Dr. Richards office for an emergency appointment and I kind of knew what was going to happen next. Dr. Richards said that if I was experiencing either a fever OR abnormally low WBC counts that we could have avoided a hospital stay. But that I had BOTH there was no way he could avoid admitting me to good ole St. Peter’s University Hospital.
We arrived at St. Peter’s late Monday, 2/23 and the process of poking, prodding, and constant IV antibiotics began. I had blood cultures taken as well as both a chest X-ray and CT scan to take a closer look at my cough. The oncology floor at St. Peter’s is brand new and because of my low WBC count I was classified as “neutropenic” and given a private room. As hospital situations go I’d view this as about as cushy as it gets. The oncology nurses were all absolutely terrific. In addition to the antibiotics I was also given daily injections of Neupogen to boost my white blood cells as well as a blood thinner to avoid blood clots.
The punch line is that the CT scan showed that I have pneumonia. Luckily the consensus of the doctors yesterday was that there was no reason to keep me in the hospital and they discharged me on Friday, 2/27. My WBC count had come up into normal range and I hadn’t run a temperature since early in the week. I will be on two different oral antibiotics for another 10 days and I’m trying to make sure that I’m coughing with gusto to keep things loose and to break things up as best I can.
I guess another punch line is that chemo treatment #2 will remain on schedule for this coming Thursday. As has been discussed with Dr. Richards, and the other doctors from his group that visited me this week, we will be tweaking things a bit to try and manage the impact of this chemo protocol on my WBC.
Another significant tidbit to pass along is that I’m officially back in hairless status. I noticed that my hair had started to fall out while I was in the hospital. Although I had an inclination to shave my head while I was there in the hospital there really was no way to do that very comfortably. Amy helped me with it this morning and once again I look a lot like the caricature on our Mintz’s Mentschen cycling jersey.
So, I’m sorry for the lack of information these past two weeks but you can see now how crazy it’s been. I will try to do a better job going forward. But thanks to everyone for the emails and texts as they helped to keep my spirit up.
As I had indicated in my last blog posts, things had reached a frenzied pace as we tried to complete our final college campus visits with Sasha in advance of my starting chemo. We returned from Colorado on 2/10, I had the medi-port inserted on 2/11, and then chemo began on 2/12.
Although the chemo process kicked off without a moment for a breather things were really very much under control. Nausea was controlled via the usual “as needed” use of zofran and decadron and the new side affects we were seeing from the new chemo protocol were little more then a nuisance. I was getting some minor tingling in my forearms/hands and issues related to touching/drinking/breathing cold were minor since I was working from home.
However, things started to get a bit interesting toward the end of that first week of chemo. Apparently the simple cold that I came home from Colorado with decided to “have a party”, as Dr. Lampert said, when chemo drove my white blood cell (WBC) count to a low of 0.8. By Friday, 2/20 my temperature hit a high of 102.3 and initially we were able to keep it in check with Tylenol. I ran a temperature on Sunday and then on Monday, 2/23 my temperature hit 100.9. We called Dr. Richards office for an emergency appointment and I kind of knew what was going to happen next. Dr. Richards said that if I was experiencing either a fever OR abnormally low WBC counts that we could have avoided a hospital stay. But that I had BOTH there was no way he could avoid admitting me to good ole St. Peter’s University Hospital.
We arrived at St. Peter’s late Monday, 2/23 and the process of poking, prodding, and constant IV antibiotics began. I had blood cultures taken as well as both a chest X-ray and CT scan to take a closer look at my cough. The oncology floor at St. Peter’s is brand new and because of my low WBC count I was classified as “neutropenic” and given a private room. As hospital situations go I’d view this as about as cushy as it gets. The oncology nurses were all absolutely terrific. In addition to the antibiotics I was also given daily injections of Neupogen to boost my white blood cells as well as a blood thinner to avoid blood clots.
The punch line is that the CT scan showed that I have pneumonia. Luckily the consensus of the doctors yesterday was that there was no reason to keep me in the hospital and they discharged me on Friday, 2/27. My WBC count had come up into normal range and I hadn’t run a temperature since early in the week. I will be on two different oral antibiotics for another 10 days and I’m trying to make sure that I’m coughing with gusto to keep things loose and to break things up as best I can.
I guess another punch line is that chemo treatment #2 will remain on schedule for this coming Thursday. As has been discussed with Dr. Richards, and the other doctors from his group that visited me this week, we will be tweaking things a bit to try and manage the impact of this chemo protocol on my WBC.
Another significant tidbit to pass along is that I’m officially back in hairless status. I noticed that my hair had started to fall out while I was in the hospital. Although I had an inclination to shave my head while I was there in the hospital there really was no way to do that very comfortably. Amy helped me with it this morning and once again I look a lot like the caricature on our Mintz’s Mentschen cycling jersey.
So, I’m sorry for the lack of information these past two weeks but you can see now how crazy it’s been. I will try to do a better job going forward. But thanks to everyone for the emails and texts as they helped to keep my spirit up.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Woops... forgot this one.
I knew that I’d forget something in my long blog post yesterday…
Last weekend was going to be my last opportunity for some outdoor cycling for a while so I definitely didn’t want to miss it. Since we were leaving for Colorado early on Sunday that left only Saturday for the ride. The weather forecast was for some warmer temps that on Saturday should have been in the mid-40’s so I was excited to hit the road as it had been a full month since I had been out for a ride.
Dan Nies and Stephanie Tobler joined me for the ride at Washington’s Crossing but of course the weather didn’t quite live up to the forecast. I think when we began the ride the temperature was a slim 31 degrees and mostly cloudy. As you might expect a few choice words were tossed around as we began the ride.
But, as is almost always the case the ride turned out to be an excellent one. We covered 26 miles including a couple of Washington’s Crossing climbs and by the end of the ride the sun broke through to warm us up. Bottom line is that the ride was everything I had hoped for. An opportunity to be on the bike, enjoying the outdoors, getting exercise and feeling alive, and most of all experiencing that all with good friends.
Priceless… LiveSTRONG.
Last weekend was going to be my last opportunity for some outdoor cycling for a while so I definitely didn’t want to miss it. Since we were leaving for Colorado early on Sunday that left only Saturday for the ride. The weather forecast was for some warmer temps that on Saturday should have been in the mid-40’s so I was excited to hit the road as it had been a full month since I had been out for a ride.
Dan Nies and Stephanie Tobler joined me for the ride at Washington’s Crossing but of course the weather didn’t quite live up to the forecast. I think when we began the ride the temperature was a slim 31 degrees and mostly cloudy. As you might expect a few choice words were tossed around as we began the ride.
But, as is almost always the case the ride turned out to be an excellent one. We covered 26 miles including a couple of Washington’s Crossing climbs and by the end of the ride the sun broke through to warm us up. Bottom line is that the ride was everything I had hoped for. An opportunity to be on the bike, enjoying the outdoors, getting exercise and feeling alive, and most of all experiencing that all with good friends.
Priceless… LiveSTRONG.
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