Family and Friends
I just finished my second full week of treatments. I'm almost 1/2 through, 12 out of 28 done (OK 42.8%). And, so far so good. I am still feeling human, still have an appetite, haven't gotten tired, my strength and endurance are about where they were, and, of course, I look marvelous. The only problem I am experiencing right now is like a bad sore throat you get during the winter along with some occasional restriction problems passing food. It isn't serious yet but a bit difficult.
One of the doctors this week put me on a liquid Lidocane which helps to numb the throat right before I eat. It helps for sure. It is short lived but gets me through meals. As long as the situation doesn't get any worse I should be able to deal with it using the Lidocane. They also issued me some pain pills, vicodin, which is the same stuff Dr. House is hooked on in the TV series House. I hope to not get to the point of needing those.
We had a pretty good week. On Monday evening we had dinner with Annette's youngest son, Kelly, and then got a chance to watch him rehearse with the Big Band he is the lead singer with. On Tuesday evening we had a chance to meet and catch up with an old shipmate of mine from boot camp. We just found each other via Facebook and here he lives very near Durham where I go for my treatments at Duke. We hadn't seen each other in 39 years. We had a great time catching up and plan to meet again. He hasn't seen me in 39 years and even he said I look marvelous, just like I did way back in Cape May, NJ 39 years ago. OK so I lie a little bit now and then. I've put on a few pounds since then. However, I do have more hair now that he would recall back then!!!
Also on Tuesday we killed some time going over to Highpoint, NC to visit the world's largest furniture store. Highpoint is the center for furniture in the US in case you didn't know. We had bought some furniture there back in 1992 when I was finishing up my career in the Coast Guard. At that time it was huge, 250,000 sq ft of space. Chump size compaired to today as it is now 1.6 million sq ft of space. It is something to visit, and a great place to shop, if you ever need furniture. Check their web site out at FurniturelandSouth.com - it is an experience for sure.
Annette came home on Wednesday night after my treatment to attend her final board meeting as the Chairwoman for the local American Red Cross after her two year tenure. I drove her down, stayed over night, drove back on Thursday and home again this am. All went well for both of us.
Guess that is it for another week. Keep those prayers coming my way, they certainly are working!!!!
Drew
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
"I'm so lucky"
Every time my brother, Rocky, and I talk he keeps saying to me, kiddingly, "you're so lucky" going through all these treatments. And, while he is just saying it in fun, today I got a real sense that he may be more of a prophet than I gave him credit for being. I just finished my first full week of radiation treatments and so far everything is going great (knock on wood). I am now 25% through my second round of treatments (7 down, 21 to go) and so far so good. I am not experiencing any nausea nor tiredness so far. I truly believe that all the prayers that are being said on my behalf have had a very positive affect on my situation. Keep it up everyone, please.
The reason I say I am lucky is in part due to a woman I spoke with just today at the radiation treatment waiting area at Duke. Her husband was in being treated at the time. I had been talking with another woman when this one overheard me and came to talk with me. She said her husband (close to my age) had the same type of treatments I had before, he even had the same team of doctors I have, and he had his esophagus removed way back in October, a full 8 months ago. Well he hasn't been able to eat ever since, has lost 60 lbs., was pushed in on a wheelchair by his wife, hasn't felt good since the surgery, and has been on a feeding tube ever since the operation. He looked terrible and old. His wife said to me "they wish he never had the surgery." His cancer has come back, it is spreading, and his prognosis isn't good. Then on top of all that she, who was probably in her early 50's, said the really sad part is they have a 13 month old "surprise" baby. Shocking. It was a real awakening for me. All I could think of is that could have been me. If God hadn't stepped in when he did who knows where I would be today. Thanks again to all of you who continue to pray for me.
On Wednesday I saw one of my medical oncologist who was very encouraged by my progress. Yesterday I saw my radiation oncologist who spent about 10 seconds looking at my bare chest and back and said "you look great." You and I both know that what he meant to say was "you look marvelous:)" So, yes Rocky, I think you're right, I am so lucky!!!!!
Now I think sometimes my mother doesn't really believe me when I say I am feeling good so I am going to attach a couple of new pictures that were taken a week ago when we took our boat out with Annette's oldest son's family up on Jordan Lake about 1.25 hours from our home. That's me tubing and waterskiing. This week Annette and I played golf twice during the day up in Durham, went in the pool at the hotel, went out for dinner with Annette's oldest brother, Ike and his wife Diana, and last night we went to a Duham Bulls (Triple A farm club) baseball game. See Mom, I really do feel good.
I keep on knocking on wood each time I say I am feeling good because during the first round of treatments back in February/March, I made the mistake of telling one of my doctors that "if this is as bad as it gets I can handle this no problem." His response was "it can change in a hurry." Well all of about 2 hours later, after an allergic reaction to one of the chemo drugs, I was hospitilized for two days with a fever, terrible chills, and a horrible all over body rash. Then I felt like hell for the next 5 weeks. I've learned to keep my mouth shut or knock on a lot of wood.
That's it for this update. Annette and I hope you are all well. Thanks to all who keep sending us cards of encouragement and, of course, for your continued good wishes and prayers. Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.
Signed
One Lucky Guy, Husband, and Dad
Saturday, June 6, 2009
And now for Round Two!
Hello Family and Friends
Just an update to let you know what transpired this past week. Annette and I ended up taking two daily trips up to Duke on Thursday and Friday. We would have stayed overnight if we had know we would need to return on Friday but we didn't find that out until we were there on Thursday. This was to learn about the planned next round of treatments for me since surgery is out of the picture. Well, I'm going back to radiation and chemo treatments which will likely be 6 weeks long again. It was so much fun the first time we thought we might do it again!!! Oh well, the alternative is much worse.
We met with the chemo and radiation oncologists on both days. Also I had one more CT/PET scan on Thursday and a CT/Sim scan on Friday. Fortunately, this time, the PET scan did show the new tumors up at the top of my esophagus and NOwhere else. The chemo doctor said she believes that they (about 12 small tumors) showed up this time (bright images of radioactive sugar) where they didn't a month ago is likely due to the fact that the surgeon had taken several biopsyes (sp?) of them just prior to the planned surgery last month. The act of doing that likely created scarring and, as a result, the tumors showed "activity" which in turn allowed for the sugar to attach to them and be noted. Sounds plausible huh?
As a result of that, on Friday I had to have the CT/Sim scan wherein the radiation team draws the tattoos on my body as reference points and the rad doc will then do his "planning" on where the techs are to shoot the radiation treatments this time around. It was so much fun to get two more IV's this week for the contrast solution and to get to drink the lovely tasting contrast solution, twice more, as well. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, that stuff taste great huh:(?
I start my new round of 5 1/2 weeks of radiation treatments next Thursday. I will only be taking one chemo drug this time, orally (7 double whopper sized pills/day), which is Xeloda. I pray that I may not experience as much nausea from this as the last time as it was the infusion chemo drugs that made me feel so crummy.
By the way, thank you to all of you who have been paying your taxes on time. My Xeloda alone was just over $4K this time not counting the other drugs they gave me for nausea prevention. Oh, I am also planning on taking a ginger supplement daily based on a recent article in the paper my daughter sent me showing the positive affects of ginger for chemo patients fighting nausea. I'll take anything to not feel like I did before.
We may try and do it a little different this time and maybe drive up on Monday return home on Tuesday, return on Wednesday and stay until Friday. This will give us at least a little time to take care of the house and our plants. That way we will only have to stay over 3 nights vs. 4 or 5 depending on if we went up on Monday or Sunday night. It will be a pain again, all this traveling, but again, the alternative is much worse.
We continue to ask for your prayers and well wishes for us as we continue to travel this bumpy path to full remission (hence the title of this blog). The love and support we have received so far is truely amazing and much appreciated. God is guiding us down this path to remission. We always love to hear from you tooooooo...
Love
Drew & Annette
Just an update to let you know what transpired this past week. Annette and I ended up taking two daily trips up to Duke on Thursday and Friday. We would have stayed overnight if we had know we would need to return on Friday but we didn't find that out until we were there on Thursday. This was to learn about the planned next round of treatments for me since surgery is out of the picture. Well, I'm going back to radiation and chemo treatments which will likely be 6 weeks long again. It was so much fun the first time we thought we might do it again!!! Oh well, the alternative is much worse.
We met with the chemo and radiation oncologists on both days. Also I had one more CT/PET scan on Thursday and a CT/Sim scan on Friday. Fortunately, this time, the PET scan did show the new tumors up at the top of my esophagus and NOwhere else. The chemo doctor said she believes that they (about 12 small tumors) showed up this time (bright images of radioactive sugar) where they didn't a month ago is likely due to the fact that the surgeon had taken several biopsyes (sp?) of them just prior to the planned surgery last month. The act of doing that likely created scarring and, as a result, the tumors showed "activity" which in turn allowed for the sugar to attach to them and be noted. Sounds plausible huh?
As a result of that, on Friday I had to have the CT/Sim scan wherein the radiation team draws the tattoos on my body as reference points and the rad doc will then do his "planning" on where the techs are to shoot the radiation treatments this time around. It was so much fun to get two more IV's this week for the contrast solution and to get to drink the lovely tasting contrast solution, twice more, as well. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, that stuff taste great huh:(?
I start my new round of 5 1/2 weeks of radiation treatments next Thursday. I will only be taking one chemo drug this time, orally (7 double whopper sized pills/day), which is Xeloda. I pray that I may not experience as much nausea from this as the last time as it was the infusion chemo drugs that made me feel so crummy.
By the way, thank you to all of you who have been paying your taxes on time. My Xeloda alone was just over $4K this time not counting the other drugs they gave me for nausea prevention. Oh, I am also planning on taking a ginger supplement daily based on a recent article in the paper my daughter sent me showing the positive affects of ginger for chemo patients fighting nausea. I'll take anything to not feel like I did before.
We may try and do it a little different this time and maybe drive up on Monday return home on Tuesday, return on Wednesday and stay until Friday. This will give us at least a little time to take care of the house and our plants. That way we will only have to stay over 3 nights vs. 4 or 5 depending on if we went up on Monday or Sunday night. It will be a pain again, all this traveling, but again, the alternative is much worse.
We continue to ask for your prayers and well wishes for us as we continue to travel this bumpy path to full remission (hence the title of this blog). The love and support we have received so far is truely amazing and much appreciated. God is guiding us down this path to remission. We always love to hear from you tooooooo...
Love
Drew & Annette
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
