10-27-2010 blowin' in the wind

10-27-2010 blowin' in the wind

Outrageous winds here in Illinois the last two days. Today was at least dry and I couldn't resist riding my bike in it.

It was 45 % very difficult, 45% ridiculously easy and 10% somewhere in between. As per my earlier posts from my cell phone, today was the fastest I've ever ridden at 41 MPH . We don't have any big hills around here, obviously. And 38 in the flats was ridiculous. I was laughin' like the madman that I am.


Anyway, I honestly had a blast, no pun intended. Some may think it was ill-advised, but I don't think so.

I think it was stupid.

But it was fun. Soon winter will put the ki-bosh on the bike riding and so you gotta get while the gettin's good. Fall is primo bike riding weather.

Then I came home and my (great)niece Hallie needed help with her algebra. Algebra. She's 9 years old. I didn't flunk algebra til I was 14. Hot damn tamale man, the poor kids these days!

It was Wacky Wednesday at school, and Hals had the look goin' on:

She's a sweetie and I'm fortunate to have her and her 2 brothers in my life.

**

Word is my mom is bustin' out of the nursing home tomorrow and going back to her own home, sweet home. Great news and she's pretty happy about it. And so am I.

**

Later.

New pers. worst wind hindered flats zero three mph. wait new pers worst wind hindered uphill zero pt five mph. MakeItStopMommy!

New personal best wind assisted flats three eight mph. wait new personal best wind assisted dhill four one mph. Who'sYourDaddy?

Gale force winds in illinois? that does it im goin bikin!

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10-26-2010 update

10-26-2010 update

Since last report:

Friday after work I got a quick 14 miles in on the bike, felt really good except for a little head/lung congestion.

Saturday afternoon I started to feel a little under the weather. Sunday was a no-energy, lay around the house all day, day. Felt like I was getting the flu. Monday I felt a little better, this morning (Tuesday) better still.

Julie thought my malaise was due to the chemo. Then Sunday evening Austin didn't feel good. Monday evening into this morning, Julie didn't feel good.

So, I think it really may have been a mild flu. After I got my counts yesterday, it was obvious that I'm susceptible.

The watershed event is that my wbcs did NOT come back up this time after chemo, first time ever. They came up an average of 48% previously, this time they WENT DOWN 3%, so I must be reaching some kind of critical mass with respect to chemo tolerance/affect/etc.

WBCs are 3.1, RBCs 4.68, HEMO 13.8, platelets 156, gran abs 1.2, so the WBCs and the grans are low, lowest recorded so far.



If you look at the charts, you can see how my WBCs and grans stayed down (see circles around WBC and grans abs).




This is what that nurse was telling me way back when, about "petering". Yes indeedy, I AM PETERING! Just tell the world, why don't I?

The nurse told me to avoid crowds of people, take care to wash my hands, etc. since my WBCs are on the down-low.

She also asked what my temp was when I didn't feel well. Told her I didn't know. Was criticized roundly. She took my temp, it was ninety six point such and such.

Anyway, I'm supposed to watch my temp and call if I've got a fever. But I can only do that if I take my temp. So we should buy a thermometer, maybe.

Thanks for reading m' 'blog!

Peter Ing

10-20-2010 Randomonia

10-20-2010 Randomonia

While the Missus and I were waiting for the doctor pre-chemo on Monday, I told her I thought my wbcs would be between 3 and 3.5, based on studying the chart I've been keeping. When Dr. R. came in, I told him I figured my wbcs would be low. He asked why I would think that. I told him I'd been charting my levels. He told me not to do that and laughed.

Then he said wbcs were 3.2 and I looked at Julie smugly. She said, 'Well, you were wrong. It wasn't 3 and it wasn't 3.5'.

When you've been married to her for 24 plus years, you realize there's not even any point in arguing. It would only make your head hurt.

Anway, I asked the good doctor if the Prednisone is what brings my levels back but he said "it's just your body". He said he didn't think I'd have to have the neupogen.

Inserting my updated chart right HERE would be nice, wouldn't it? I'll try to get to that.

***

The first day after chemo, yesterday, the 19th I had some righteous hiccups. Right on schedule, and then they turned into the Horrible, Vile, Bile Burps. (I think I might need a mint!). So enjoyable! Not. My intent is not to gross you out, only to record my journey, I assure you.

So, last evening after eating, I broke into those dreaded Bile Burps for a while. Then I watched some TV and I really wasn't tired, so I took a Lora'(zepam) at some point. Still didn't feel sleepy. Right at midnight the Missus came out in the living room where I was watching TV (DVR, Oliver!, 1968, I had never seen it, great music, dark plot) and ordered me to come to bed. I didn't believe I could sleep because that pill doesn't usually work so well for me.

Ever the obedient hubby, I climbed into bed with Julie and Lora'. Slept like a freakin' log. More on that later. I rolled out at like 6:00, which is WAY LATE for me. And actually I would have gone back to sleep if I weren't such a slave to my job!

On my way to work the Missus called me and asked if I remembered her waking me up during the night. No, not the vaguest memory of that. Well, she'd just checked in on fbook (what the hell, it was already 6:30 AM, you gotta get your fbook on!) and learned that a building had exploded (!) in town, probably about a mile from our house, shortly after midnight. She claims she woke me up and asked me if I heard anything and I said no. I have no recollection of any of that.

Click HERE for link to story.

When it blew, they heard the blast in Plano, 5 miles away, but Chemo_Boy and Lora' slept right through it. Dead_To_The_World. OK, maybe I shouldn't describe myself that way, it's a little creepy given... well it just has a bad feel to it.

Lora' is tiny but mighty. She's on the left. Penny on right. Best I could do with my cellphone.

***

After work tonight, I jetted out for a nice fall cruise and had PLENTY of energy. There was a nasty WSW wind but I only had to fight it for half the ride, I rode with_wings_on the other half.


Had a great ride with a good cadence, wind notwithstanding. It's always good to feel like something's nipping at your heels to pace you and tonight it was the sun. I run the same handful of courses all the time for a variety of reasons (traffic, terrain, proximity, convenience) and so I have a pretty good feel for how far I could go and allow myself to return to civilization just before dark. I do have lights but don't really want to be caught out in the country after sundown.







With Sir Elton John playing in my head ("don't let the su-u-un go down on me...") I legged out 19 miles, getting home safely before it was too very dark.





























I made it a point to cruise past the blast zone and capture what Lora' and I slept through.


"911 Operator, what's your emergency?... What do you mean, leveled?"

Luckily no one was hurt and I hope the guy (it was a lawyer's office) had the foresight to store his backup files offsite.

But if someone needs to be sued for this, you know the guy will be all over it like a cheap (law) suit.

Thanks for checkin', and if you smell gas, get the hell out of the house!

S.

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10-18-2010 PET SCAN READOUT / CHEMO NO 5

10-18-2010 PET SCAN READOUT / CHEMO NO 5

As per the short post I sent from my cell phone earlier, the PET SCAN results were GREAT! "Wonderful response" to quote Dr. R.

To quote the results: "no pathologic uptake demonstrated". My take is that this means that no cancer cells took the radiated glucose... because there were no cancer cells present to take it. (!)

(editor's note: I put a scan picture in here, it's easier to read. Click on document to view in larger format, use browser back button to return here)





Last PET scan, they went fishing and found a lot of fish to take the bait. This time they went fishing but no fish took the bait. Because there are no fish!

Dr. R. was very pleased but cautioned me that my treatment is not done. I still have to have CHEMO NO 6 and then the maintenance treatments for the next 2 years to insure that the little gremlin-bastard-mother-scratchers don't come back. Also, I'll get another PET scan after the regular chemos end and the maintenance begins, and then more, but I'm not sure of the schedule on those.

He said the maintenance would be like this: For 5 consecutive days, one time every 6 months I would get ritauxin (sp?) only. Each treatment would last about 5 hrs. So... that's not what I was expecting. Presently I spend 1 day out of 21 getting chemo. I guess I was thinking it would be 1 day out of 180 days.

Whatever it is, it's a small price to pay and I'm not complaining, merely 'blogging.

Julie went with me so she could hear the results and we were both obviously very happy.

She stayed a while with me and then went on in to work. After I got done with #5, I went to work til about 4:30. So everything went fine. One little thing: During chemo I got the most god-awful, bitter taste in my mouth. Can't get it to go away. Tried everything, brushing my teeth, chewing gum, all that. Flavored liquids taste really bad. I've avoided eating familiar foods and I'm hoping it goes away soon. I've gotten it before, but never so soon. And my WBCs were 3.2! I'll try to post the chart soon.

So, where's my head at? I wasn't sure what to expect this morning, but that was the best news I could have gotten. My head is spinning, for sure. I don't want to say "I'M CURED" because I think that jury will still be out for a while. But I am more optimistic and hopeful than I've been anytime in the last 4 months. I felt good about how it was going, but I needed the experts to validate that.

Last PET scan was July 2nd. What a difference 3 and 1/2 months can make, huh? The miracles of modern medicine and all that.

When Dr. R. told us the news, I said "Lucky man, good doctor" and that's truly how I feel. Lucky that my cancer was treatable, lucky that I responded well to the treatment, lucky so far that I really haven't been very sick. Lucky to have a really good doctor with a good team behind him. Lucky to have support from friends and family.

It's not over yet, but it certainly doesn't look good for the opposition!

THANKS SO MUCH to everyone for all their support. Everyone has been great and I appreciate it and love you all for that so much. Your support and good wishes have been off the charts, honestly.

Shortly after I was diagnosed, I wrote that "The world looked a little different after I was first diagnosed."

It looks a LOT different after getting the readout today.

Pet scan shows quote wonderful response endquote. all good. Lucky man with good doctor.

10-17-2010

10-17-2010

My comments yesterday about feeling better than I have in a long time were really made specific to biking. The last 2 times before that ride, I didn't have much energy. But yesterday, I felt a lot better.

Other than that, the only other thing I have noticed lately has been the headaches I mentioned. And at this point they are gone. So tomorrow they cycle begins again. Not the BI-cycle, the CHEMO-cycle.

The thing I'm wondering is whether they will send me home if my counts are hideously low. I guess I might find that out in the morning.

I'll try to do a post to the 'blog during chemo if I get the scan results.

***

With this being breast cancer awareness month (I think, there's pink ribbons everywhere, and all the NFL games are pinked out), there was an article in the Tribune about breast cancer victims being overwhelmed with the cost of treatment.

link HERE

This gets to what I had talked about briefly before, what do cancer victims do do if they don't have insurance or if the coverage is not sufficient?

My ritauxin is the most expensive chemo drug I get. I think each IV is $7600. I'll get 6 of those over the course of my treatment. So there's $45Gs. My lump-ectomy surgery was $23K, facility only. All in, my total med bills for this will easily be over 100 Large. Ouch. And that wouldn't include the maintenance part. Thank God and Greyhound I have pretty good health insurance (coverage-wise) and I only need chemo one day out of 21 for only 6 cycles.

Me and my big mouth. I better wait until I get the PET scan results before I start rejoicing too much.

***

Speaking of all the press Breast Cancer Awareness month gets...... how does the NFL decide to do a whole month for that? Nothing against the charity (or the NFL, it's their decision) , I'm sure it's a good cause and all. But what about Leukemia, what about skin cancer, what about juvenile diabetes, what about child abuse prevention, birth defect prevention?

Those other charities must be envious that they can't get a month from the NFL, huh? I won't pretend I know how the selection process works, because I don't. But it seems like the Breast Cancer Awareness folks must have the best sales staff.

That last sentence sounds sick when I re-read it. But probably accurate, too.

***

Today was another great fall day. We took Austin, Tessa, and Jack to Starved Rock. We had a great time. I want to ride my bike there sometime, the hills would be a blast.


***

Thanks for stoppin!

10-16-2010

10-16-2010 Beautiful fall day in the land of Lincoln. Beautiful really doesn't do it justice, it is spectacular. Got in a nice 16+ mile ride, was done by about 1PM. Picture below is at the top of the hill at Rogers Road just west of Whitfield. My ride is leaning against the sign but you can barely see it. This was the bad part: Wind:From SSW at 20mph gusting to 28mph. So that was kicking my a-double-ess for a while, but even so, I still felt better than I have in a long time! Gearing up to get my PET scan results and get my 5th chemo on Monday. I'll try to 'blog a little more today or tomorrow. I hope your weather is as good as mine. Enjoy your day and your weekend! Thanks for stopping by the 'blog site.

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Pet scan over. Stuffing piehole. That is all.

Update 10-12-2010

Update 10-12-2010

Sitting here on lunch break, but I can't eat lunch because I have my PET scan today, so I thought I'd update m' 'blog.

Got my levels checked yesterday. Charts below. If my WBCs drop like they usually do, I'll be WAY under range by next Monday. This is like voodoo to me, I don't really understand how it works, but I can see that on average I drop 32% the week before chemo, which if that holds up, would make my WBC about 3! Which would be way low.

Reminds me of a joke I made up - did you know J-Lo has a sister..... who's a Little Person?

Yeah, they call her Way-Lo!

Sorry about that.

***

Here are the charts. Since I can't ever leave anything alone, I decided to make the out of range results orange.



***

For my draw yesterday, Nurse J. (fellow bike rider, excellent!) let me take a picture of the needle they use when you have a port.



Gnarly gneedle, gno?

It looks a little worse than it is, because there's a plastic sheath on it. I put a black line at about the place where the needle ends.... I think, it's hard to tell.

You can see the "ears" at the back that they push it in with. After they get it in, if you are getting chemo, they tape it on you. You've seen this picture before, from my first chemo:




Sometimes it hurts, sometimes you hardly feel it. But it's all over as soon as they pierce the skin. It doesn't keep pulling and burning like an IV does.

***

Someone was reading a recent 'blog entry and pointed out that I spelled "seems" as "seemes" or some such thing... ugggggggghhhhhhhhh! Usually I look at the text so much I go blind. I agonize over what I write and go back and re-write. And re-write.

On and on. I probably had "seemed" and changed something and somehow butchered that all up. I am very aware that nothing much looks dumber than a misspelled word. There is a spellcheck utility I just don't always remember to use it. SNAFU.

***

We had my mom's 86th birthday party at the Home on Saturday, it went well. Sunday my sisters Mary and Marta brought her over to our house to hang out a while. And yesterday they checked her out and took her to Red Lobster for dinner. Hoping she can be "sprung" for good some time soon, but she still has some recovering to do before she's quite ready for that, I think.

But, she's doing very well and we're all proud of her.

***

Can't wait to get my PET scanned already.

Later

10-07-2010 update

My counts were back up this past Monday (I did a short post from my cell phone), see charts. Since I hadn't put the chart up for a couple weeks, I included last week's levels on the "since start" portion. I also added a lower limit wbc line so the points when I fell out of range are obvious.

I've been feeling pretty good. Seems like I'm more prone to headaches lately, I get at least one a day. I never used to get them much at all pre-chemo. These typically start at the base of my neck on the right side and work their way up to the crown of my head. Tylenol usually dulls them until they die out a couple hours later.

I have gotten out on the bike this week 3 times for a total of about 56 miles. Weather's been great here.

Next Tuesday is my PET scan so I'll likely get results the following Monday when I see the doctor before my chemo.

Thanks for stopping by m' 'blog. G'day!

BIKE RIDE PIC 10-06-2010

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Counts all good. Go figger!

4th day after 4th Chemo 10-01-2010

4th day after 4th Chemo 10-01-2010

This report is about 10/01. I'm posting this Saturday morning, 10/02.

In the interest of being upfront with my readers, I must report that Thursday evening I had a little issue with er, irregularity. Not as bad as last time. The last two chemos that has been a problem, so NEXT time, I will really try to avoid that. Not that I didn't this time, you understand, but next time I will ratchet up my efforts (don't even let your imagination toss that around). The fact that it wasn't as bad as last time is at least encouraging.

I've been feeling pretty good. The hiccups never did develop and I can't figure that out. Every chemo but this one, they were very prominent.

I have the usual swelling from the prednisone, and the floating feeling. My mouth has seemed to be verging on tenderness, if that makes any sense, but last time was worse.

Although my ankles are swollen, there is no pain associated with that.

No major complaints, really.

I was pretty busy at work this week which is good because it distracts you from feeling a little out of it.

Friday night after work I had just a little time for a quick bike ride. I did 13 miles in mostly a dead sprint (conjure up Tom Hanks "Coasting... are you coasting? There's no coasting in cycling!") as I was quickly running out of light. I felt pretty good. Got chased by that one damned dog on Burr Oak Road. The mongrel!

The days are getting shorter here in northern Illinois and bike rides after work are shrinking distance-wise. The weather has been beautiful and I've been enjoying it.

After my ride we had a nice quiet evening, just the missus and I (Tessa crashed early) as Austin went to hang out with his little cousins. Taco Bell carryins, Julie on Facebook and me surfing the internet. Nice, boring, and quiet.

** mini movie review follows **

My neighbor Michael was nice enough to bring me some movies to watch in my downtime. He brought some great titles. I watched Casablanca front to back for the first time ever. Yeah, first time! Bogart was great, a star, and Ingrid Bergman a total babe show. But why am I telling you that (?), you already know. "Round up the usual suspects" comes from this movie. I had not known that.


I guess my takeaway from Casablanca was this: staying the course, when you know the course is the right thing to do, is ALWAYS the best option. Although it looks like the evil Nazis will take over the world and maybe some people think they should just lie down and welcome the inevitable, good will always triumph over evil. And even if it doesn't, it's better to die for a good cause than to live for a diabolical one. There is nobility in taking one for the team, even if there's no one around to notice. And sometimes the best in people does come out.

Casablanca, made in black in white back when the world was a little more black and white. It's held up so well over all these years because it addresses timeless issues.

** end of movie review. THANKS MICHAEL! **

Upcoming I have my blood draws the next two mondays and then my PET scan. Anxious to see how that comes out, obviously.

Hopefully it will show that Prince Chemo is slaying the Non Hodgkins Lymphoma dragon-bastard-thingie.

I haven't been to see my mom in the nursing home because my wbcs were down. I think Monday when I get them checked again they'll be back up so hopefully I will be able to go see her again. She's 86 next Saturday and we're having a little get together. Sure hope I'll be able to attend.

**

My boss Chuck did NOT require his surgical procedure, for some reason, which is good. They're working on getting his BP to stabilize, and it seems like he's doing fine.

**

Someone ragged my ass because I started a sentence in my 'blog with "And". And this person said I shouldn't do that. And so I wanted to put something in here about it. And what I want to say is that I haven't a clue as a writer, I've stated that here previously. And my point is that I write this as if I were speaking it, so sue me. And that's all I have to say about that.

**

Here's looking at you, kid!