1%, Huh?

Well the last few post-chemo days haven't been a whole hell of alot of fun.
Lots of nausea, tiredness and gas in my hips that just doesn't want to go away...
And to add to that, looks like I'm one of the 1% of people on Zofran (the stronger anti-nausea medicine) who are allergic...great...

About sums it up......

Well day one is in the bag...

Spent the day getting operated on and getting injected with great cell killing chemicals.

It was a long day and we both came home exhusted. Lots of thanks go out to my dad who came up at 6:30 in the morning to get the kids off to school and generally just hold down the fort.
Thanks Pop!

Luckily the 3 1/2 hours of chemo went by quickly thanks to our John Candy movie mini-marathon!

Starting to feel a bit of the side effects. Cold drinks feel a bit raw on the roof of my mouth and the cold raw air today is tingling in my figers a bit. Tomorrow and Thursday we'll really start to see what happens.

On a plus note, I now get to wear one of these great fanny packs for two days every other week:


I know you're all jealous, but if you get colon cancer, you can wear one too. I now have to wear a pump for two days that will slowly realease another medicine to help me out. This one may be the the one that gets me really sick...we'll see...

Talk to you all later.

Awesome Day Yesterday

I was able to go out for a my first mountainbike ride with Andy, paul and Paul's son Ryan. Great time, thanks!
Then hung out at night with good friends and cheap beer! Gotta love it.
I've got to be at the hosptial by 6:45 am tomorrow to start the chemo-day marathon!

Just a quick check in

Not much to talk about health wise today.
Noah has a stomach bug that is giving him nausea and 101-103 fevers. The poor guy wants to just cuddle with me but thankfully he realizes that I can't afford to get sick right now with chemo starting Monday. "Comforting from a distance" is what it's all about right now...

WARNING..BIKE GEEK STUFF RIGHT NOW !!!!

Since money is a tad on the tight side right now, I'm rocking my old school "classic" On One Inbred this year.
It's a great riding bike for the $. I still need to tweak the sizing a bit and put air in the tires.
For anyone who cares, I'll update ride and bike info as I go along.
Race wise, it looks like I'm going to half to put off the April 10th goal and shoot for the 18th in Farmington. The 10th is the end of second chemo cycle and the 18th is right before the third, so I should be all set there.
Yeah, I know I have to figure out how to make the pic bigger...


Now I'm just reaching for stuff to right about. I see you all later!

Kinda funny...

In my head anyways....

Nothing new to report today.

Quick update...

Went for a PET Scan on Friday. More poking with a needle and drinks that taste like ass, but the results were negative, so that's some good news, finally. (Edit here: I guess I should have told everyone what the PET Scan was for... Basically they were looking to be sure that since there was cancer found in my lymph nodes in that area, they wanted to be sure that none of it traveled to other areas of the body through the lymph node system.)

Also finally got some nausea medicine...what a difference!

Spent Friday night hanging out with my brother and nieces. Between HDTV, Wii and being able to fall asleep on the sofa, I didn't think he wanted to leave! Plus I can't forget the delicious lasagna from some great neighbors!

I think it's time to clean the garage and get the bikes rolling again!

A condom ??????

Well that got your attention, right? I'll explain that in a minute.
Anyways, I meant to post about my trip to the oncologist sooner, but then yesterday I came down with a crappy sinus infection that I had to get rid of ASAP, so there was alot of calling around to my team of physicians ( that sounds good...) and a visit to the doctor's to get the right anti-biotic.

Chemo starts on the 22nd on a program called Folfox. I won't bore you right now on what the medicines are, But let's hope they do their job. The program consists of me going in on Monday for about 4 hours then they'll send me home with a small pump that will give a steady low dose of more chemicals. Then after 46 hours, I'll get it unplugged and be good for another week and a half.

Couple of side effects I may have to deal with though.
One is nausea. They'll give me medicine to combat that and they assured me there won't be any vomiting. Good to know....
Another possible side effect is a reaction to cold. I guess some people experience "pins and needles" feeling when they touch, breath or eat cold. Looks like my summer plan of drinking beer and eating ice cream while sitting in an air conditioned room will have to be put on hold. Good news is that the feeling can be counteracted by touching or eating something warm.
The last one (well almost the last one... wait for it...) is that mouth sores are also a possibility. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm EXTREMELY susceptible to canker sores, so that one's pretty much a guarantee... which really sucks.

I guess I'm doing ok with all of this. I think the longer I wait, the harder it gets. But in the end, this will make me a stronger person, our relationship stronger (like that's possible...) and gives you an appreciation for what you have.

Oh yeah, the condom thing (which could be filed under "side effect")... Well we're reading info about the chemo (OK Connie was reading) and it mentioned you should use a condom while "making love" (as my wife like to call it... I prefer a couple of other terms) so the partner doesn't recieve any of the chemicals. That's something I never would have thought of.
Well that's it for now, I have to run to CVS just in case Connie has a change of heart....

Strange day today

Yeah, today is a weird day feelings wise.
Yesterday I was a bit worried that I might have done some damage to myself the night before when I "accidentally" tried to pick up Luke. It was late at night and I wasn't really thinking. I was awfully sore yesterday. I think it was just gas redeveloping because today the area feels ok.
I do have to say that the insicion is pretty tender today which makes getting around very sucky....
The other thing I'm realizing too, is that I'm in this holding pattern right now. It's weird, I have this potentially deadly disease in my body and I can't really do anything about it right now. I really have no knowledge about cancer and when people ask me questions or I read forums, I have no idea what to say or what anyone is talking about. Makes me feel "unprepared" for what's next. Trying to find info on the internet is hard because alot of times you don't know who to believe or what's right or even what pertains to you.
I have my first real appointment with the oncologist on Monday. Hopefully this will be the start of getting the knowledge and answers I need to continue on.

Ahhh...comfort

Well the staples came out yesterday... 16 pinches that hurt like hell. Things are much more comfortable right now. I actually get to wear pants now...yipee! Underwear still hurts though, so yes ladies, I'm going commando for a couple more days!
Dr. Matino says everything looks good, but still no real lifting for 2 more weeks.
Called the oncologist this morning because I haven't heard anything yet. Sounds like we were both waiting to hear from each other so wires got crossed some where.
I have a few more weeks before they can start anything yet anyways.
I'm ready for chemo, kind of looking foward to it in some weird preverse way, maybe just to get it all over with.
Going to try to work in the garage tonight to clean it up and get my bikes cleaned up and running. Money's really tight so no new bike this year. Gotta work on my welding skills to get building again.
Hope to ride this weekend if the weather's nice enough.....

Tuesday can't come fast enough

Well tomorrow the staples in that pretty incision of mine come out...Thank god.
It's hard to prepare yourself physically and mentally for chemo when you walk around sore and uncomfortable all day.
Plus I won't have to wear that ass ugly night shirt anymore!!!!