Recovering from the weekend

Hello all,

Well I got healthy enough to take chemo this week. My white blood cell count went from 0.9 to 4.1 during that extra week of rest. That was fantastic. They did however back off another drug in my cocktail to help me stay more on schedule and not make my bone marrow have to work so hard to make the blood cells I need. That means we have backed off on  2 of the 3 chemicals. Matter of fact, the third chemical, 5FU made me sick this week after taking treatment. This is the last chemical they give me and I was sick within the first minute of the 5 minute push before putting the ball on me. It was like a gut bomb and it went right for my stomach. We tried to go to dinner after-wards to take advantage of a birthday dinner coupon, but I had to leave before my food was served. Cheryl and Paige ate and then came home with my food. It tasted good the next day.

Well I didn't want to miss the football games this weekend, but with chemo getting screwed up I knew I would normally fall asleep during the 3/4 quarters of the Packer game. So I had Cari take me to Brad's house where there would be lots of friends and cheering to keep me awake. It worked so good, that I stayed awake until 10pm. I took a shower and was asleep in 10 minutes. I hope I can do this again for the Superbowl, it would be sad to host the party but never see the game or our friends.

Thanks for reading and have a great night,

Jeff

Tuesday's Weigh-in

Hello all,

This week we kicked it back up to 166lbs. Keeping food inside you will make you gain weight come to find out. The only thing that pissed me off this week, was that I was not able to take chemo last Friday. Battling the stomach flu dropped my white blood cell count way below what was needed. I am back on the wagon of taking all my vitamins and seeing if I can help boost the system to be able to take chemo this week. If I can't they may opt to give me shots to help boost the count. I did go snowshoeing Sunday for some exercise, we did about 4.5 km and I was not tired after-wards -- good sign. I am starting to not like the feeling of the chemo in me, but I hate to miss an opportunity to kill cancer. The nose bleeds were down significantly this week and so was the numbness in the toes and fingers. I also didn't have any mouth sores after this latest round and that was great to enjoy.

That is all this week, everything is building towards Friday. Talk to you all later,

Jeff

Weigh-in Tuesday

Hello all,

Just tipped the scales at 162 lbs. Well I am finally over the stomach flu. My immune system can't fight shit apparently and I needed a bit of help. Friday I went in for my normal blood draw and needed to get a bag of IV fluids in me. It was like putting a quarter in me because I felt great after-wards. The cramping went away and I was able to go out with friends Saturday night for a massive steak dinner. I couldn't eat much as I was afraid of getting rid of it within minutes, but the constitution stood strong until morning. I did have a small cranberry and vodka with a touch of lime with dinner and man did that shit taste so good. I only had one, maintaining doctors orders of moderation, but it was my birthday so what the hell. I was glad to make it to 43. Sunday I went out for sushi and ate big. Life is back to normal.

I did miss ice fishing with my friends on Saturday though and that really made me mad about being sick. This was an annual thing for us to go ice fishing on my birthday and I felt like I let the troops down. The good news was they caught lots of fish, but I really wish I would have too. I have found that the cold is really getting to me though, so good health is important. The more I take this FOLFOX the more the hands and face are sensitive to cold and sometimes it just hurts when we are this cold.

Getting ready for round #9 Friday. It's a great chance to kill cancer, but I have to tell everyone that I am getting much more sensitive to the treatment. I tried explaining it to Cheryl as feeling like a sensation of feeling it move through my body. I haven't gotten really nauseous yet, but it feels like I could especially on the Saturday. Just a general feeling of yuk in the whole body. Taking chemo and having the stomach flu may have amplified it, but man that treatment was rough. That reminds me, I got some bad news this week. Before I had my first treatment, I had a company come out and replace my piece of shit garage doors. The owner gave me an install date on the same day as my treatment. I explained that I needed it the day before and the reason why. He was very kind to share that he had liver cancer too as well as some lung and lymph nodes. He told me the about his battle between running his company and doing chemo. Great employees was the key and made the days he missed not so bad. He had battled for 3 years and was even going so far as to look and mess with natural cancer fighters in herbs and diet. January 6 he died, Cheryl pointed it out to me in the obit section of the paper. It brought tears and a real sense of sadness to me. The battle never ends --- I hope none of you even get started.

Be healthy all my friends and remember to get your colon checked.

Good night,

Jeff

Still have the stomach flu

I hate being sick. Normally I would never have to take anything, but this cancer/chemo combo really shorts my immune system. I did a weigh in last Tuesday and by Wednesday I had already lost four pounds. It was like a free colon cleanse. YUK. With the sickness I dropped from 170 to 163. 

I have more treatments scheduled for chemo and another PET scan scheduled for 2/4/2011 followed by a meeting with the Oncologist on 2/9/2011. This should be the big pow wow and see the real images for the progress being made. I hope the good luck train continues.

I had goals of making it to Xmas and New Year and I made it. This Sunday I turn 43 and have my goals set to the summer. Paige's birthday is in May, my nephews birthday is in June, Cheryl's birthday is in June, our 20th wedding anniversary is in June and I have a wedding that I really want to be at in June as well. They say to have goals in short periods helps to keep a good attitude and that time frame is packed with cool stuff to look forward to.

Well that's the update, thanks for reading.

Jeff