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Peace out radiation!

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After 5 rounds of radiation I got to hit the gong to celebrate being done! That was about 2.5 weeks ago. My goodness my radiation team was awesome. Such kind people who met me with a smile each of the 5 mornings I showed up. They brought me a warm blanket and let me listen to whatever I wanted to! My favorite thing I listened to was Beatles radio. Although it was a little hard because I wanted to keep the beat with my hand or foot and I had to hold perfectly still! (Also why does every part of your body itch when you’re told you can’t move?!) They radiated 2 spots with each treatment that took about 15 minutes each. It really wasn’t too bad. The effects were fairly minimal. Mostly I felt sluggish and tired.  Dr Grant, my radiation doctor explained that because my tumors are slow growing (thankfully) that they take longer to shrink or go away because the cells are also dividing slowly. Makes a lot of sense. So that means we won’t scan or check progress for a couple of months because we
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Radiation update

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I met with my new doc today, Dr Grant who will be doing my radiation treatment. He seems like a great doctor. He had ordered an MRI that I had done earlier this week. He wanted to see if he could see anything that the PT scan may have missed last week. The MRI was just of my abdomen area. And he did find something! A really small tumor that is sitting right on a nerve next to my spine. That would explain the discomfort and the strange feeling I’ve been having in that area. He said he was confident that the radiation would take care of that tumor and help with the discomfort. I’m so relieved! It’s been more painful and nagging this week. I will start radiation on April 1st and go every other week day for 5 treatments at the cancer center at IMC. They will also radiate the tumor on my adrenal gland. Praying for good results and praying that the radiation doesn’t harm other nearby organs too much. This is always the risk with cancer treatments I guess. The side effects should be minimal🙏
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Yay for Spring! And an update….

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 “Here comes the sun…and I say, it’s alright.” -The Beatles- I love it when things start growing in my flowerbeds. It reminds me that warmer days are ahead. A couple of cute little wild pansies have emerged and it makes me so happy.  This past week was scan week and meeting with my doc to see how the oral chemo treatment has been working. I’m always so glad when that week is behind me. As I’ve said before I am usually a complete anxious mess. This time there was a calmness though. I didn’t feel the crippling anxiety that I normally feel. I was so thankful for that. I don’t know what the difference was. Maybe I’m just getting more used to weeks like these and realizing they are my reality for the rest of my life.  The best thing that Dr Low said yesterday was: “  Last year at diagnosis If you’d asked me what I would’ve liked to see on a scan a year later, this is exactly what I would’ve hoped to see!” That was comforting. Most all of the tumors are stable! The oral chemo has done a pret
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Hawaii and Oral chemo round 2 down and I’m still here!

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 It’s been awhile. Life moves so fast. Hawaii was a little slice of heaven. We were there during a week where it snowed buckets in Utah…making it all the better to be in paradise! The weather was perfect. The sea and the sand…just what the doctor ordered. We all struggled without our wife, mom and grandma. Everything just feels a little hollow without her. I missed her lounging by the poolside with a book and on the beach watching her grandkids and kids play. I missed her counting heads and keeping track of where everyone was. (What a worry wart!) Hawaii will never be the same without her. It’s a tradition our family has had most of my life and I missed her like crazy. I did feel her near. I know she wished she could be with us. At Waimea beach there was a butterfly that would swoop down above our heads while we were swimming and then fly to the beach hovering over the rest of the family and then back again. I watched it all afternoon. Maybe it was her? I believe it was. Thanks for bei
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An update on my journey and Merry Christmas!

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  Hello friends! I’ve been out of the hospital for just over 2 weeks now. It’s so good to be home! I’m feeling so much better. Not quite back to normal, but close. I’ve been so thankful to be able to Christmas shop and do some “normal” things. A few weeks ago it felt like I would never feel normal again. The human body is amazing isn’t it? How it heals and gets back to “normal” or whatever normal means for me now with my situation.  Today we met with Dr. Low to discuss the “new” plan moving forward. The amazing Brandon always records the appointments so we can go back and listen if we can’t remember what he said. He transcribed part of our appointment today that I wanted to share. It explains what went so horribly wrong and landed me in the hospital for 12 days. It also explains the specialized blood test they did to check on the enzyme involved. He also said this happens in about 1% of people. I guess I’m just lucky that way!  Quoting Dr. Low: “You got a super-normal dose.  Your body
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Oral Chemo tried to kill me! And some specific prayer requests🙏🏾

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 Oh my goodness. I’ve never been so sick in my entire life. I started the oral chemo on November 5 and ended on November 18. I started feeling crummy about the 16th. Things got progressively worse from there. Had a few ER visits and a home health nurse giving me fluids throughout that week. When I look at the possible side effects from the drug I’m pretty sure I felt most of them. Plus some of the rare, more serious ones. I have been in bed since the 17th now. Not functioning, so completely miserable. On Saturday the home health nurse came to give fluids. He found that I had a fever, high heart rate and low oxygen. He instructed us to head to the ER. When we got there they stepped right into action. They don’t mess around with chemo patients who have these issues. It was kind of worrisome to me but I was grateful. From there, they did a chest X-ray which showed blood clots on my lungs.(common for cancer, but not associated with chemo) this was an automatic admission to the hospital. I
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Oral Chemo…do your thing!

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  If you’ve ever wondered what oral chemo pills look like…here they are. Just like a regular pill, but poisonous! There are instructions and warnings saying that anyone besides me who is administering them should wear gloves. And wash their hands. Makes me feel good to then swallow those down! But again, I’m thankful for modern medicine. And the chance to fight. We are praying that these little pills do their job, which is to stop the growth of the tumors and if it be God’s will to even shrink them possibly. Some of them just under my skin are a bit painful. I hate that! Also that I don’t get too incredibly sick. There are some strange side effects with these, different than the IV chemo. But overall they are less intensive and they find good success with using them for NET’s (neuroendocrine tumors)  we welcome all prayers and good vibes! I started the pills this morning and will finish this round in 14 days from now.  Today at church over the pulpit a fellow church goer and friend ask
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