2nd - Bald Heads and Cleavage

Stuart and I got to see Dr. Frenette today and talk a bit about what to expect from the coming weeks as I complete my treatment.  I will share some detail with you on that topic, but first I want to say thank you to a few people and share a few of my more notable recent experiences.

Thank you to the Freemans for bringing us a wonderful Penne Pasta with Vodka Sauce.  For those of you who know the Freemans, this is their signature dish and it did not disappoint.  Thank you to Bridget Ruller, for watching Cooper this afternoon.  You should all know Bridget by now, as I thank her just about every time I write, which might explain the toy she sent home with Cooper today.   Picture our four year-old sitting in the kitchen playing the loudest portable Spiderman pinball machine you can imagine.  Bridget, it is coming back soon!  Lastly, thank you to the Clarkes and to my parents for visiting and helping around the house, it helps more than you know.

Since I have last written, one of my favorite pasttimes has been watching college basketball.  My alma mater, Virginia Tech, has a slightly above-average basketball program.  Watching them is great fun, although it is an emotional roller-coaster.  As a case-in-point, these underdog Hokies beat the #1 team in America (Duke) on Saturday night and then quickly followed it up by being soundly whipped by Boston College last night.  I do love them anyway and will watch anxiously as they play in the annual season ending tournaments.

Watching those college athletes has kept me motivated to continue my endless walking loops around the neighborhood trying to stay in shape and keep my heart beating.  Going for speed is really no longer an option, so I tend to breath in fresh air and appreciate my surroundings more than anything else.  This past weekend was particularly nice, and I found myself appreciating the landscape and thinking of the coming Spring.  There is a certain parallel between the arrival of Spring and my completion of treatment that lifts my spirits.  As I was walking, I saw quite a few planes overhead, which made me think of traveling and returning to work.  I have missed my extended family at Bank of America quite a bit while I have been "grounded," and I am certainly looking forward to reconnecting with everyone very soon.

The last notable experience that I have to share came in a normal conversation with a woman.  She could not help herself from taking in the beauty of my now completely bald head.  Her eyes met mine during the conversation, then they went to the head, my eyes, the head again and so on.  It dawned on me (as I ignored whatever it was she was saying) that this is what a woman who shows too much cleavage feels like when talking to some men.

Are bald heads like too much cleavage?

So, on the appointment with Dr. Frenette today.  The biggest question on my mind was what the odds of a recurrence are and what the course of action would be if it happened.  The short answer is that the odds are relatively low, and in that unlikely event, the next step is to have one huge shot of chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant.  Dr. Frenette and I both feel very good about my prognosis, so this will be the last you hear me talk about recurrence. 

We also spent some time discussing what the next steps are after my final treatment on March 17th.  There are a few items scheduled to wrap-up the treatment, including a final PET & CT scan on April 11th, an appointment with Dr. Frenette to get the results on April 13th and a small surgery to remove the port-catheter in my chest shortly thereafter.  For those that may be reading this to understand "the Hodgkin's experience", I finally did post a picture of the port-catheter in an old posting (click here).  After my April 13th appointment, I will see Dr. Frenette for a follow-up CT scan every 4 months for the next couple years and then slightly less frequently for another few years.  At that point, the likelihood of recurrence is so small, that you begin to use the word "cure".

Treatment #11 is tomorrow morning, wish me luck.

26th - The Goal Line Is In Sight

A big thank you to Stuart's parents, Bill and Cathy, for spending the past few days with us in Charlotte.  It helps tremendously to have extra hands around when I am not feeling well.  Thank you to Bridget Ruller, as always, for being Cooper's favorite babysitter this morning while Stuart and I went to Dr. Frenette's.

Now, on to the best news I have heard in a long, long time.  The results are in from Monday morning's PET/CT scan and things look very good.  No metabolic activity was identified during the scan (a.k.a. no abnormal cell growth).  It also looks like my lymph nodes are about as small as they are going to get.  Those two facts together have led Dr. Frenette to decide I can stop my treatment after 6 months.  Unless something really odd happens, it looks like my last treatment will be on March 17.  I called my Mom on the way home from the doctor's office and she pointed out the obvious irony of the date...St. Patrick's Day...a day of luck (and faith) for any Irishman.

I am so happy at this point, I do not quite know what to do with myself.  It has been all about the "what-if" over the past few months and now I need to start to focus on finishing treatment and on "survivorship".  This is the phase after you survive cancer when you need to readjust to having other priorities in life.  Lance Armstrong put this really well in his book, when he said:

"How do you slip back into the ordinary world?  That was the problem confronting me after cancer, and the old saying, that you should treat each day as if it might be your last, was no help at all.  The truth is, it's a nice sentiment, but in practice it doesn't work.  If I lived only for the moment, I'd be a very amiable no-account with a perpetual three-day growth on my chin."

Further philosophy can wait for another day...today it is an all-out celebration.  Please celebrate with me, you each deserve it for being such wonderful support partners in this so far.

22nd - John Larroquette...From a Distance

Thank you to the Kerrins' for bringing us an absolutely delicious pot roast over the weekend.  I will be enjoying the left-overs for days.  Thank you to Stuart's parents, Bill and Cathy, for coming down to keep us company and help out around the house.  Thank you to Shelley Typrin for the good-luck amber necklace.

Time has flown by over the last couple of weeks.  It is hard to believe that I am headed to see Dr. Frenette on Wednesday for my fourth treatment, which is the end of my second "cycle".  This one carries some additional significance, as it is protocol to follow the second cycle with a PET scan to check treatment progress.  The scan is not scheduled yet, but I suspect it will be next week at the hospital.  I am optimistic about it, but I would be lying if I did not admit to being nervous as hell.

As I mentioned in my last (very short) post, my third treatment went "fine".  I have come to expect a new experience (or more) each time I visit Dr. Frenette's office and this trip did not disappoint.  As I was sitting in the treatment chair waiting for my blood tests to come back, I found myself getting nauseous over just being there.  Apparently it is a pretty common phenomenon called "anticipatory nausea", which is when you get sick over the thought of something that has not even happened to you yet.  Next time, I will be taking the anti-nausea medication before I go into the office.  That said, the "hangover" from treatment was a little longer this time and I ranked the days following it as:

Friday: 5
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 4
Monday: 5
Tuesday: 6
Wednesday: 8 (fyi, I consider 8 "back to normal")

Since then, I have been feeling much better and my activity level has been pretty good.  I have done some work off and on from the house and have been walking regularly.  The walking is getting a little slower though, as I have developed tingling in both my feet.  Apparently, this "neuropathy" is a common side-effect of the Vinblastine (the "V", in ABVD), and there is not much you can do about it, other than stop that part of the treatment if it gets to be too much to handle.  I will certainly mention this to Dr. Frenette on Wednesday, but if history is any indication, he will not be impressed. 

During my last visit to Dr. Frenette, I complained of continuous pain in my groin, which I was afraid was lymph nodes acting up.  Rather than examining my groin, he carefully studied my neck...from his chair which was four feet away...and said I was fine.  Works for me.  Stuart has told me multiple times that Dr. Frenette reminds her of John Larroquette, of Night Court fame.  I can see it, from a distance, and his good sense of humor probably adds to the comparison.

Can you see the likeness?

Talk to you soon and Happy Thanksgiving!

2nd - Need a Pick-me-up?

Thank you to Cheryl Johnson for being my underground supplier of People magazine and to Bill & Cathy Clarke for the "Team Deets" hats.  A special thank you to my brother Doug for keeping me company during my treatment on Friday.

If you are thinking "I thought he was supposed to get treatment on Thursday?" you are in good company.  The visit to Dr. Frenette's started just fine (weight, pulse, blood pressure, etc.), but came to a complete stop when the results of my bloodwork came back.  I felt great, looked average as normal, but apparently the previous treatment had wreaked havoc on my immune system.  My white blood cell count was insanely low, as was my Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC).  These cells are particularly important in fighting off infection and are the first responders to the traumas your body might experience, so you do not want to go without.

Fortunately for me, modern medicine saved the day again.  Dr. Frenette ordered up a shot of Neupogen and sent me home to wait for 24 hours.  Neupogen is aptly named, since it is designed to quickly increase your Neutrophil count, through stimulation of your bone marrow.  It is strong stuff and made my bones ache like I got hit repeatedly with a baseball bat.

I was naturally pessimistic upon arrival to Dr. Frenette's on Friday, thinking that there was no chance of receiving treatment and that my prognosis was tanking.  Jennifer, my oncology nurse for the day, was more optimistic however.  As she told Stuart and me, "I would bet the farm he is getting chemo today".  Why did she think this?  Neupogen works great in young, "otherwise healthy" people.  If I had a nickel for every time I heard that description of myself, I would be a young, rich, "otherwise healthy" person.  She turned out to be right though.

This treatment was a little quicker than the last, maybe 3 1/2 hours all told.  The side effects were similar...fatigue, nausea and that crazy pain in my mouth.  I graded the days as:

Friday: 7
Saturday: 5
Sunday: 4 (I did manage to force myself out to trick-or-treat with the kids for a few minutes)
Monday: 6
Tuesday: 8

Keep your good thoughts and prayers coming.  1 cycle down, 5 to go.