Thursday, November 25, 2010

25th - Treatment Went Almost Flawlessly

Just  a quick update on yesterday's visit to Dr. Frenette's office...

Stuart and I saw Dr. Frenette for about 15 minutes for an exam.  The only issue he responded to was the numbness / tingling in my feet.  He said it was a side-effect of the Vinblastine and that he wanted to keep going for one more treatment and then assess whether my dosage needed to be reduced.  Other than that, he was ok with the other issues I reported.  We scheduled the interim PET scan for Monday December 6th at CMC Main hospital...big day for me.

Treatment today went almost flawlessly.  In the midst of the treatment, the nurse came over to break the bad news that there is a nationwide shortage of Adriamycin (the red stuff).  The doctor recommended a substitute drug in the same "family" called Epirubicin.  I signed the waiver and moved on.

I am feeling ok today and will try my best to pound down some Turkey and fixings...I will be saying a big thank you to each of you during my pre-meal blessing.

4 down...8 to go...

14 comments:

  1. Dan thanks so much for the updates...you continue to inspire. So, for a little trivia, December 6th is not only your interim PET scan, it is also St. Nicholas Day. To ensure my mom has not been making up my life-long German family tradition of putting our shoes out before going to bed on Dec 5th and awaking to find treats, I did a little internet research for you. Turns out because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, St. Nicholas was known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus. While on the German tradition webpage, I happened across an article about pickle ornaments used as decoration on Christmas trees- how could I resist that read?? Apparently, when decorating the Christmas tree, it is traditional to hang the pickle last, hidden among the branches. The first person on Christmas Day to find the Christmas pickle receives a special blessing for the year and an extra gift. So bottom line, hoping St. Nicholas lives up to his reputation this December 6 with a gift of great PET scan results and hope you find the pickle ornament on this year's tree.

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  2. Lori - I love it...I will be leaving my shoes out on December 5th and will hope my wife plays St. Nicholas. I do like pickles, but will have to see about hiding one in the tree! Thanks for keeping up.

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  3. Dan...thanks for the update and hope you managed to get some Turkey down. I'm going to move past the pickle comments, although the fried variety at Big Daddy's are fantastic!
    I will be seeing your Hokies Sat night so let me know if I need to perform some funky Deets-Hokie ritual for you.
    Cheers

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  4. Ray - I did actually sit down at the dinner table on Thanksgiving. I made it to a second helping, which I thought was pretty good. Now, as for my Hokies, I think they may need some help against Florida State's passing offense...perhaps if you wore a Hokie mascot head ala Lee Corso?

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  5. Big D...I love ya man but there is no way I put a stuffed turkey on my head. Maybe I'll just wear the Hokie-colored sweater I picked up at Old Navy recently.

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  6. Wild Card - you gotta love the fact that your boys have SOMEHOW won 10 straight to end up on the cusp of the BCS. After that JMU disaster, I would NEVER have thought this possible. My wife's family is 100% FSU, so I will have you know that I won't be doing a lot of gobble-gobbling come Saturday. It doesn't mean I don't love you - it just means I don't want to riot on my hands come Christmas. And besides, the only match-up that matters to me this weekend is UCF vs. Southern Methodist in the C-USA championship! U-C-F! Let's Go Knights!

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  7. Ray & Sam - you both need to dig deep and find a way...a better way than you have thus far...to root for my Hokies on Saturday. We absolutely stunk up the home court last night and lost to Purdue in OT...so I NEED this one on Saturday. There is always swimming/diving and other non-revenue sports I suppose.

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  8. Hi Dan

    I work for Bank of America in Camberley and we were all shocked when we received the news.

    I have found your blog this evening and whilst I was reading your blog I have laughed and felt sad too, but mostly have felt uplifted that you seem to be doing well and progressing along well too.

    My Mum had a close shave with Lung Cancer 2 years ago which was very distressing for us all but she got through it by being positive and fighting and not giving in and she is doing wonderfully well and as it turned out it was not cancer thankfully but we did go through the mill at the time as she underwent a dangerous for her age 9 hour operation.

    Anyway, I am so glad you are doing well as I have said and I know that everyone here is wishing you well and thinking of you.

    I look forward to your next post and keep fighting..

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  9. Katie - thank you so much for the message. I am sorry to hear when anyone goes through something difficult medically, so all the best to your Mom for years and years to come.

    Please keep up the positive thoughts...I think about Camberley quite frequently, which like your nose itching, means hopefully someone there is thinking of me too.

    The fight is on as always and I will post again soon. Stay tuned.

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  10. Dan - who are these Hokies, the only Hokie I know is the Hokey Cokey lol

    I will have to google this I am intrigued....

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  11. hey Dan!! Have your name in big orange letters on the calendar today...catherine was wondering what special thing was happening today..our family is praying for great results!!! For some reason, some of my comments are not getting to you. Please know you are on our mind often and so proud of you for your hard fight! can't wait to hear the results! hello to stuart too!!!

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  12. Katie - let me know what you find out about the Hokies! They will change your life for the better :) Hokey Cokey is a dance in the UK if I'm not mistaken...we do a similar dance, but call it the Hokie Pokey...

    Cambre - sorry I didn't reply to your comment sooner...as you know the results of the test were great, so please thank Catherine and Blake for participating in the calendar marking!

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  13. The Hokies are as I suspected an American Footbal Team at Viginia Tech, possibly thinking you may have gone to University there - were you a Hokie Player??? they are going to meet stanford in the 77th Orange Bowl and they are top of the Coastal table....The official definition of "hokie" is "a loyal Virginia Tech Fan". There is a Hokie Bird - dear Lord this just gets better and there is songs I am so going to raed on, I may even have to tune into some sort of sports channel to witness their prowess - is that the right word......???

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  14. Katie - I love the amount of research you did. I was not a Hokie football player (far too small), but did do track & field there. You will need to root for them to beat Stanford in the Orange Bowl. After all, what chance does a singular Cardinal have against a Hokie Bird?

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