Good news everyone!

After three months I went up to North Dakota, too early to be back Taylor and I both agreed, to get checked up.  I was to get a PET/CT and a PFT test.  It was Taylor, Dad, and myself going up again.  We stayed at the Air Force base like my Dad always does since it is cheaper.  We arrived on Sunday, the 15th and left for home on the 17th.  We had two early days while we were there, which were tough since I am currently working nights for the remainder of my summer.  Even with that we managed to wake up at 6:30am both days.

Monday was a busy day, waking up at 6:30 being ready to leave by 7.  Once we arrived at the cancer center I checked in and we headed down stairs.  After a short wait I was called back to get the labs drawn, radioactive junk put in, and an hour of waiting in a small dark room.  While I was doing this Dad and Taylor went off to get some breakfast at Perkins.  I tried to nap while I was in there, but to no luck.  I couldn't fall asleep.  Eventually I was let out, instructed to use the restroom and then brought to the room to get the scan, and after an uncomfortable 30-40 minutes I am done.  We leave to run a few errands, get some breakfast for me, and visit my friend Eric for a few minutes.  After this we are back at the hotel, and I can't stay awake any longer and lay down, Taylor and I take a nap.

When we wake up we head back to the cancer center to get the results of the PET/CT.  This is when Dad says that he is a bit nervous, and I don't blame him.  After we get there we were brought back to the exam room fairly quickly.  After the nurse left the doctor came in just minutes later.  He goes over a few things and we look at the scan.

We are told that there isn't any thing PET positive any longer, I am rid of the cancer.  When we got the news Dad and Taylor both say " Yess! " :)

So, I guess that makes me a Cancer Survivor.

Now I will see the doctor every 3 months for check-ups and CT scans every 6 months for a few years.  What I need to do now is stay this way for 5 years, because then the odds of it coming back are very slim I am told.

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The next day was another early morning for the pulmonary function test.  More breathing into this tube thing, and one thing I had not done before.  Walked around at a quick pace while they monitored my oxygen level.
After we went to check out at the hotel, visit the commissary, and check out a garden before heading back to see the lung doctor.  When we go back we are given more good news!  My lungs aren't as good as they were before I started treatment, but they are within a normal range.  This is very much improved.  The doctor isn't sure if they are as good as they will get or if they will continue to get better.  I'll do another PFT in 3 months to find out, but other than that he doesn't think I need to do anything else.


So there you have it, Cancer defeated, lungs recovering.  Hope you are all doing well.

Chemotherapy Done. Next steps.

Since my last post I have completed my last chemotherapy.  So that is all done and over with!  After that I had a couple weeks to relax and just focus on school.  Then on the 16th I went in for a PET/CT scan.  Today on the 18th I went in to the doctor for labs and to visit about that scan.  The news that I got wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it wasn't exactly bad news either.

The PET scan showed that I am -mostly- negative.  There were two spots that were brought up.  First, there is apparently a enlarged lymph node in my chest, however it is not PET positive, which I took as means it isn't really a problem.  Second, there was something in my neck still.  Two nodes were asymmetric, one was larger than the other.  This is what they want to look at closer.  So tomorrow morning, April 19th, I will go in to the hospital for a CT scan of the neck.  My oncologist was going to schedule an MRI of the neck, but was told to just do a CT scan instead.  I will also do another pulmonary function test to see how my lungs are after going through chemotherapy.

So that's where everything is at right now.

Chemotherapy # 11

At this time I have completed 11 of 12 sessions of chemotherapy.  Only one more to go, and I am excited to be done.  As soon as we landed coming back from Arizona we met up with my dad at the airport and he drove us to the cancer center for my chemo.  We got there a little early, but I checked in anyway.  After a short wait my labs were done and we went to talk to the doctor.  Then we went to chemo.  For the first time since my last chemo in Saint Cloud, Taylor was able to come.  It was nice having her there.  She won't be able to go to the last one, because of classes however.  Everything went fine, and we were out of there within a couple hours of arriving.

On the  23rd I had to go see the ENT who did my surgery.  Taylor came with.  After a quick checkup with him feeling my neck he asked if we had any questions or anything.  I asked if we could see the latest PET scan, because we had not been able to see the images before - only hearing/reading the report.  He showed both my first one, and the latest one.  Hearing the news on the report before was good, but actually seeing it for ourselves was awesome!  There was a lot of stuff in me on the first scan, and on the latest one it was pretty much nothing.  It was really neat to see, and he told us that I can go to records and have them burn the images on a disc for me.  I thought that would be cool, and plan on doing it.

Only one more chemo to go, this coming Friday.  Can't wait to be done.

Chemotherapy #10

I am finished with 5 out of 6 cycles of my chemotherapy.  With only two more to go I am pretty excited for it to be over.  It is not fun to go through, but very much needed.  This time my Dad and I were accompanied by Timmy.  He had some time off so he decided to come up with my Dad for the chemo, which was awfully nice of him.  This time the it seemed like it took longer.  I still did homework, and my Dad and Timmy both had their own TV to watch.  Timmy used the one that was for me.  The doctor did forget to order one thing, an anti-nausea medication so that took a little time to get it sorted out but even without that it still felt longer for some reason.  It was also the latest session I've had.  Normally it is earlier in the day.  It won't however be the latest, the next one will be even later because of our flight.

With this last one I have gotten sick a few times, and had (still have) the awful taste in my mouth.  The taste is one of the worst parts of the whole ordeal, in my opinion.  Not sure if I said that at all already, and it probably won't be the last time.  It is really bad.  The doctor told me that my white blood count was the lowest it has been, in fact it was almost nothing.  This makes my plan to wear a mask in the airplane/airport sound like a even better idea.  I looked up some ways I could increase the count and will try some I think.  Hopefully it is up for my next chemo.

Tomorrow Taylor and I will take off from Grand Forks and land in Las Vegas a couple hours later where we will be met by her grandparents.  From there we will drive down to Lake Havasu City, AZ, where we will spend our week of spring break.  One thing Taylor and I are excited for is to dine at In-and-Out burger again.  Being in the nice warm weather will be really good.

Chemotherapy #9

I am done with 9 out of 12 of my chemo therapies.  I am ready to be done, have to get through three more and then hopefully I am done and cancer free.  This last one was the same as the few before, homework and got my dad his own recliner to sit in.  We did get the results of my latest PET/CT scan though, however we did not get to see the image.  The computer was real slow.  We were told that next time we will be able to see it.  The report was good news, the cancer is shrinking!  By a lot from the sounds of it.  I don't think I completely understood what he said, but I think seeing the image of the scan will help a lot.  He threw out these numbers for the sizes of the stuff inside of me, they were all a lot smaller.  The ENT that diagnosed and did my surgery said himself that he couldn't feel any lymph nodes in my neck anymore.  It's nice not to have a huge lump on the side of my neck anymore, I can live with a scar.  One of the nurses there at the cancer center who has been with this since I have been going there came by real excited after reading the report herself, so that made me and I'm sure my dad feel even better about it.

My oncologist did however say that when we finish my chemo therapies, and I'm assuming after another scan, will talk to a radiologist and see if they need to radiate anything.  Hopefully it won't be necessary, but I have been told by a few people that radiation is easier on you than chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy #8

February 3rd was my eighth chemotherapy, marking the end of cycle four.  Four more to go, two more cycles. This one, I think my Dad will agree, was the quickest we have been in and out of there yet.  Once we got in with the doctor it felt like time flew by.  I was given this stuff called Magic Mouthwash this time for mouth sores / sore throat.  It is really thick and tastes awful.  I've only used it once so far, and it made my mouth numb.  Kind of like at the dentist.

I like that I can pick the room we go into at Altru.  At Coborn they chose for you.  I got a room with two recliners again, one for me and one for Dad.  We both had our own TV's too, however I didn't use mine.  Just like last time I spent the entire time doing school work.  Have to keep up, don't want to fall behind.

My PFT and PET/CT scan now have dates on them.  Feb 13th - PFT.  Feb 15th PET/CT.  Also, our flight has been booked!  Taylor and I plan to spend spring break visiting her grandparents in Arizona.  This is something I am looking forward to.  We will go for the week, and I will come back and have I believe my second to last chemo, #11.  I will be wearing a mask on the plane, and Taylor says she will wear one too so I won't have to do it alone.  I have talked to the doctor about it back a month or so ago, but plan to bring it up to him again next time I am in to let him know that I'll be out of state for the week.

Chemotherapy #7

We're back in Grand Forks for this, my dad came up Thursday night and stayed until Saturday morning.  It was nice of him to stay an extra day to hang out with Taylor and I.  Anyway, for this session of chemo I was back in the Altru Cancer Center.  As with my last one I got my labs drawn through my port so I wouldn't have to be poked more than once.  This time we talked about getting scans and the breathing test set up again.  I am on cycle 4 currently, with the end of it being on February 3rd, this coming Friday.  The plan is to get a PET scan and the pulmonary test after the end of the 4th cycle.  Finally seeing how things are going will be nice, and having some real dates on them will be even better.

Chemo number 7 went quick I felt like.  It was still long, but we were out of there a bit faster than usual.. or maybe we were getting used to how long it took in Saint Cloud since they do things a little slower.  The whole time once I was in the chair I was studying for my Physiology class.  That is all I did this time, from the time I sat down til when I was finishing up.  My dad was the only one with me this time because since we are back at school Taylor has classes and work she has to attend.  I am sad that she won't be able to make it to the remainder of the chemo sessions, and so is she.  My dad as always says that he will be at all of them.  I choose a room with him in mind this time.  I knew that Taylor wasn't going to make it so I didn't go for the big chair that we can both sit in.  Instead I got a room that had a second recliner for my Dad.  He spent the time watching TV while I studied.  After it was done we got a prescription filled and then my dad dropped me off.  He went to nap while I did the same thing.  We would later meet to go eat at Pizza Ranch and then go see a movie.  It was my Dad, Taylor, my friend Eric, and myself for that.

As the days after went by I kept getting really warm at night and was taking my temp.  It was at 100.0 F on three separate occasions.  I was told to go into the hospital if I ran a fever.  (Apparently this isn't high enough to be considered a fever however)  Anyway, I went in with Taylor at 3AM and it was after 6 by the time we got out of there.  We had class in a couple hours. They ran a bunch of tests and everything came back normal, so nothing to worry about.