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 #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.  

Chemotherapy #6 - Half way there

First of all, sorry this is so late.  I just got back to school and have been very busy with studying.  The next one shouldn't take as long to get up.

I am now half way done with my chemotherapy.  I have finished 6 sessions, or 3 cycles.  In a couple days here I will start the second half of it, and soon after get re-staged.  Hopefully everything is going according to plan and my staging can be lowered.  As a reminder to anyone, I am considered Stage 3bs.  I am curious to see how my spleen is now compared to before starting.  I'll have to do a breathing test again too at some point, to check how my lungs are keeping up with everything, because this can cause toxicity to them.  I don't think I am having problems with that though.

For my 6th chemo I was in Saint Cloud.  This is probably the last of my chemotherapy to be done in Saint Cloud actually.  The rest should be up here in Grand Forks as I finish up the school year, as there aren't anymore big breaks to go home for.  (Besides spring break, but we have other plans for that.)  The same people as usual were with for it.  This one seemed longer to me. The time was pretty much the same as the others here, but it just felt longer to me.  My dad and I both fell asleep during this visit.  Taylor did not, so it must have felt even longer for her!  She will be coming to visit after class during my sessions up here in Grand Forks, I'll just be skipping class that day.  I only have one class on the Friday and have talked to the professor about it already.

One thing that is very upsetting to me since this last chemo is the metal taste.  I've been getting it for awhile now after chemos, but it usually went away after about a week.  This time it stayed up until just about a day ago real strong, and now lingers slightly.  My next chemo is in just a couple days.  I didn't get a break from this metal taste in between like before, so that is disappointing to me because it makes food, and even just anything much less enjoyable.  I hope this isn't something that will get worse.

Chemotherapy #5

I  had my fifth Chemotherapy on December 23rd, two days before my 23rd Birthday!  This time though I decided to do something differently.  For the labs before the actual chemo I normally was getting the blood drawn from my arm, when I had this port sitting there in my chest that I could have used this whole time.  This time I asked if I could use the port, this way I would only get poked by one needle during my visit instead of two, and I don't know about you... but that sounds okay to me.  After a quick call from the lady checking me in it was set up.  I went to the room where I get the chemo and they poked me, took the blood, and left the needle in there to use again for chemo later.  This was the only new thing for the chemo process.  After that, went out and talked to the doctor and then waited for chemo.  I got a single room again for this session, which is nice I think.  It didn't have it's own (shared) bathroom though which would have been nice this time.  It was the three of us once again, Dad, Taylor, and of course me.  Samantha showed up for a little bit too which is always nice.

Turns out my hypothesis on the chemo here in Saint Cloud vs in Grand Forks wasn't correct.  After this last one I did a little sick on a couple days, and on others feeling like I will -- which I think is worse.  Luckily I have two anti-nausea medications and one is stronger than the other.  It has been helping, I try not to take it unless I need it though.  Which has been lately.

One other thing, I have noticed some hair occasionally in the shower and other places like on my computer or something.  So it seems like it is starting to fall out, and I and others have noticed it looking a lot thinner.  I still got plenty of hair, just looks thin.

That's it for now, hope you're all doing well.

Chemotherapy # 4

Hey guys, sorry this post is so late.  I'll try not to do that for the next one coming up on Friday.

Anyway, on December 9th I had my 4th Chemotherapy, which brings the end to cycle 2.  Dr. Gorouhi said that typically he would re-stage me after the 2nd - 4th cycle.  He has chosen to do so after the 4th because I am home for Christmas break for the whole 3rd cycle.  I'll be doing both of those here in Saint Cloud.  When I am re-staged I will have my second PET scan and they well hopefully put me lower than my current stage.  If things are going well we just continue, if things aren't going as they should he may introduce radiation into my treatment.  Let's hope that is not the case.

My company for this session of Chemotherapy were my dad, Timmy, and Taylor.  Taylor came a little late because she had a study session to go to, as it was the Friday before finals week.  When she got there though it was great.  I had a huge chair again so she could sit in there with me.  Nothing unusual about the Chemo process it all went normally, but they did tell me that my white blood cell count is low and that I am not to eat certain foods, including some veggies and fruits because of it.  Also I was given a handful of masks to wear.  I don't want to wear them though.  I will if I have too.  When school starts up again in January I will sit away from others in case they are sick.  I will just have to keep my hands real clean all the time.  Hopefully I don't get sick!

While we were there we ordered some food, it was really late and only came right when we were ready to leave.  Our money was returned and also some $10 gift cards were given, along with the food also.  So free food, and $30 dollars worth of gift card.  Not to shabby.

I did feel pretty sick after this one, probably worse of all.  I am thinking that the Chemos in Grand Forks are a bit tougher on me since they give it quicker than in Saint Cloud.  Not sure if that is why, I want to see how I do after the next one in Saint Cloud.  In either case, I'm bound to not feel great regardless.

Next chemotherapy is this coming Friday, December 23rd.  I'll try to update that one right after.


Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays.

PS. Feel free to post comments everyone, it is nice to hear from you too.

Chemo 3, Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Chemo number 3 is under completed a week ago, with that I am half way through cycle 2 which will finish this upcoming Friday, December 9th.  For my third session I was again in Saint Cloud, at the Coborn Cancer Center.  This time things went a little more smoothly though, since it wasn't my first time there they had things more together and we ended up getting in and out of there a whole lot quicker.  Like usual when we first got there I signed in at the front and went for labs where they take the blood.  Then we sit and wait until they bring us back.  My company for the time was, as usual, my dad, and Taylor was able to come.  She'll be able to go to the next one in Grand Forks as well.  Samantha stopped by on her lunch break too.  I think she was actually able to leave at that time.  While we waited to go in my dad sat and read the newspaper while Taylor and I did a puzzle that was sitting out.  We didn't get very far on it, it was a harder puzzle with lots of blues.  This waiting felt long, but really it wasn't that bad.  Eventually we were called back and brought to the room.  Room 13, my dad wasn't a fan of the number he said.  This was a single room, where last time I had a double room.  It had a TV against a wall, instead of basically on the ceiling.  There was a private-shared bathroom.  It was shared between two rooms, though none of us ended up using it.

When the nurse poked the needle into my port she said that she missed, apparently there is a smaller area in there that needs to be hit.  So she had to pull the thing out and jab me again.  This hurts, but it is getting less sensitive.  I don't think it's bad enough to ask for the numbing cream.  After that things went smoothly.  There was no need to test one of the drugs this time since I had been through it previously so we were in and out of there in record time!  Saint Cloud does drip the last one a little slower than Grand Forks so I suspect next Friday to be even quicker.  I guess we'll see.

Update on the hair:  Still not really noticing anything, the other day I did see some hairs but it wasn't many.  It's still growing normally as of now, just shaved down.

The other things I did over break were have a couple Thanksgiving meals, and go out on black friday before the chemo.  On Thanksgiving day I spent it at Taylor's house.  Her family came over and we all shared a nice big turkey dinner.  I love turkey, and can't wait to get some more at our family Christmas.  There were these jello eggs, normally I don't go for jello but when they were like this I did.  I had three of them I do believe.  Not bad.  We also had another Thanksgiving meal on Saturday, at my brother Brad's place.  My dad, Brad and Samantha were there along with Chris (Samantha's boyfriend), Taylor, and Brad's family.  Wife Sarah, and kids Addy and Elly.  Another nice family meal.  We played the White Elephant gift game too.  It was a good time.

On Black Friday Taylor and I went out to Target, since they opened at midnight.  Really our trip wasn't worth it because neither of us got anything worthwhile.  When we did go though we arrived to a huuuuge line.  We ended up following some people and made our way into the mall and waited outside Target there.  This door wasn't going to open until everyone from the line had gotten in.  When the doors did open and people started running through the store Taylor and I watched from behind glass.  We felt like we were at a zoo, and had fun just watching the chaos.  We both bought some small things, and waited in the big line for the checkout and then headed home to sleep before chemo.  Samantha did buy a big television, she was one of the people running through the store who waited in that big line.  Glad she got it.

Hair Change

With a lot of the reading I have been doing online it seems that a lot of people started losing their hair after their second round of chemo.  Since I had just done my second time I thought I would just cut off my hair.  I kept reading people saying that it got hot and itchy when it was falling out, and I didn't want to go through that discomfort so I thought it would just be easier to cut it off.  Taylor's mom Cindy has been cutting my hair ever since Taylor and I started dating, even the summer before when we were hanging out a lot too, so I asked her to do it.  If it had started falling out before I got there I would have had it done elsewhere, but luckily that didn't happen.  Cindy wanted to have a little fun with it, here are some pictures of the night.

A before photo.

Me with blonde hair!

Side view mohawk, notice the back is still brown.

Front mohawk, looks odd.

BALD

Chemotherapy #2

So it has been a week since my second chemotherapy session, which brought me to the end to cycle one.  Two sessions is one cycle, and I'm set up for six.  This time I had my chemo done in Saint Cloud, because I was home for Veteran's Day weekend.  Taylor and I got to enjoy a extra day home, which was really nice, but it still went really quick.  Anyway the day started very early.  We had to be there at 8am for labs.  So we woke up nice and early, Taylor stayed over so she could come with.  When we got to the Coborn Cancer Center I thought the place looked nice, it was big.  The Altru center is smaller in Grand Forks.  We parked and went in. At the desk to sign in the lady had me sign of a few things since it was my first time at the place, and then she told me I was here for labs and to meet with the doctor.  I told her that I had chemo that day too, but she said I did not and that the earliest I can get in is Monday.  This was not a good thing, because Dr. Gorouhi wants me to do it every two weeks on the Friday, not even waiting a day.  My Dad was really upset about this and tried explaining what needed to happen, then the lady made a call to see why my chemo wasn't scheduled.  After a bit we were told that I was going to receive my chemo on this day, but the doctor just wanted to see me before it was on the schedule, or something?  I'm not really sure.  I was given a paper and told to go put it in this slot and wait for my labs.  Right away I was brought back and had my blood drawn.  The lady didn't use my port, instead she used my arm.  That was okay I thought since I would have another needle soon in the port for the chemo.

There was a lot of waiting now after the labs.  We got there around 8 and got into chemo after 10.  While we were waiting there was another mix up that had to be fixed, something with the insurance.  Something had not been done prior to our little sort-of-transfer to Saint Cloud.  It wasn't good, but the lady who told us about it got it fixed fairly quickly.  Needless to say it stressed my Dad out some more.  So far he wasn't too pleased with the Coborn Cancer Center.  He kept saying that the people at the Altru Cancer Center were friendlier.  I thought this place wasn't bad.  Another strange thing happened while I was sitting there waiting.  A girl who I worked with in my previous two jobs now works there.  She came out to call for a patient, and no one was coming up.  I recognized her and waved and she came over and called for the patient again.  I looked at her and she asked if I was the patient, so I asked if she recognized me.  She said no, so I said okay.  Then she walked off.  Taylor thought the whole situation was very awkward, I was okay with it.  Ha ha.  Finally though it was time to go back!  I was brought into room number 5, which was a double room.  There is just a curtain separating my room from room 6.  Room 6 was empty, however.  There was a bathroom right across from me so that was nice because if I have to use it I have to drag along this thing that I am hooked up to with me.  There was a small television in a weird spot, to l watch it you had to really look up.  Since it was my first time in Saint Cloud, or maybe because it was still cycle one I had to do a test of the bleomycin (the B in ABVD).  This time it was only a half hour to watch for side effects instead of an hour.  No side effects so we went ahead with all of the chemo real smoothly.

Chemotherapy # 2

I had a bunch of visitors this time.  My dad and Taylor were there with me the whole time.  Samantha came to visit, and so did my dad's friend, and I got to meet my great aunt who was there because she also had a form of cancer.  Also the girl who who didn't recognize me earlier popped in and apologized saying she knew who I was.  I thought that was funny.  Turns out there was a calender in the room that had a very old photo of my great aunt on it!  Crazy!  

My great aunt when she was younger

POWER Portacath and my first Chemotherapy

THURSDAY:

Thursday was the day I was allowed to shower after getting the bone marrow biopsy which I was waiting for, however I wanted more sleep so I did not wake up early enough to shower.  Instead I woke up a half hour 45 minutes before my procedure, got ready, and went to warm up the Explorer.  When I got outside the windows were frozen.  After waiting 10-15 min of letting it heat up while I sat right inside the dorm watching it I decided it was time to go check it out.  Inside wasn't freezing anymore, but the windows were still frosted so I had to scrape them.  After that I got in and was on my way.  My destination today was to the Emergency / Urgent Care entrance.  When I got there I parked and headed in to check in at the front desk.  Immediately I was brought back instead of waiting for so long.  After that I was asked to sit in the waiting room and was there not even 10 minutes before someone came to get me.  I was brought back to the a room with a bed and was asked to change into the gown.  Only had to take off my shirt and shoes.  Then I crawled into the bed, where they gave me those warm hospital blankets.  Those are nice.  Now it was time for the I.V. (Should be the last!)  Everyone always comments on how great my veins are.  The nurse said if they had a student nurse around she would have asked if it would of been okay for them to poke me.  I would have let them, because if I get into the nursing program I will have to do it to people too, and my veins are big so it would be easy for them.  Soon after being hooked up with the I.V. and questions finished somebody came to take me away.  On the way we passed the place where I had my CT scan.

Power Port!

I was brought back to another room where I was greeted by a couple nurses.  They went over some stuff with me about what was going to happen and then I was moved again into the room for the procedure.  I was awake for the whole time, they put some sedating medicine through the I.V. but kept me awake.  A Power Portacath is what was being implanted into my chest. With this I won't have to be poked in my veins anymore.  This thing will be used for my Chemotherapy and for labs.  Pretty neat.  Anyway, in the room I transferred from the bed I was wheeled in on onto a thin operating table kinda thing.  Some lady did a sonogram to locate my vein that they wanted to use.  After everything was all set up they cut me open and put it in and I transferred back to the bed that I came in on.  The doctor said twice there will be a burn and a poke and at those times it did hurt, but other than that I didn't feel anything going on.  Was a real quick procedure.  After I was wheeled back to the first room I went to with the bed where I drank plenty of apple juice and water and watched the History channel for an hour before my buddy Eric picked me up.


FRIDAY:

Friday was the day I did my first Chemotherapy.  When I got to the cancer center I was with my Dad.  He came along, and says that he will be at every chemo.  He doesn't have to be, but if he wants to be there that is okay with me.  We talked to a nurse as usual first and after a little wait Dr. Gorouhi came in.  He was telling me that we could wait til Monday to start or start today.  Starting Monday would give a very accurate baseline, as I had a pulmonary test on Monday, but starting today would be just fine too.  I opted to go today, because of later scheduling and my Dad had already came up there for it and I just wanted to get it started too.  It was more convenient to go on the Friday I thought.  So that is what we did.  I was brought back to the Chemotherapy room and was told to choose a seat.  They had plenty to choose from.  I went with room number 7 I do believe.  We just sat there for awhile because they had to get everything ready for me.  A couple different nurses came by to talk and a volunteer came by with a menu that we could order food off of.  We both ordered some food that was supposed to come around 12:30ish.  After awhile I was hooked up through my port and everything started.  All I had to do was sit there, and watch TV.  I had the History channel on.  Taylor finished class and had a break so she came to visit for as long as she could.  She wanted to be there for the whole thing, but couldn't due to class.  She didn't miss much.  After about a half hour from when Taylor arrived our food arrived and Taylor had to head back to class and work.  The food wasn't bad, I had a personal pizza with fries and pretzels and chocolate milk.  I don't remember what Dad had, but he said it wasn't bad either.  He did have chocolate pudding though I remember that because it looked good.  While I ate the nurse pushed the 3 medicines into my port and then set up the last one which had to drip and would last about an hour.  During this time my buddy Brian Weyer got in town and came to visit.  He was already in Fergus Falls before so he didn't have to drive far to get there, but on his trip home later would have to go all the way back to St. Joe.  It was good to see him because it had been quite a long time, and anyone wanting to come visit me is welcomed.

Me getting receiving my chemo through my port

Not much to say past that.  Since Friday I have been doing just fine.  Tired, but some of my medication can do that and I've just been tired lately.  A good nap takes care of that though.