Three weeks gone

Today, I had my 18th radiation treatment. I am now halfway done, with 18 more to go. So far the effects have been somewhat mild from them. They will slowly get worst over the next three weeks. I do have a constant dry mouth, and am always at arms reach away from my water jug. Dry foods are hard to eat and I am starting to feel a little pain when I swallow. Food has no real taste to it now to me either. It all taste sort of metallic to me. Put that together with my lack of interest in food and eating, and I have lost 5 lbs. in the last two weeks. I have always been such a great eater and lover of sweets, this has been a real shock to me. I will try to increase by milkshake quota this week. Back on Tuesday, I did not proceed with my 4th treatment with the clinical trial drug erbitux. Last weekend, my skin took a turn for the worst and the rash that had already appeared, had gotten out of control. When the doctor and nurse saw me on Tuesday, we all agreed to take a week, and possibly two off from these treatments. Two weeks is the maximum amount of time that you can take between treatments and still continue on the trial. If it is up to me, I would just as soon give up any future treatments with the stuff. The rash has become almost unbearable. It is just something I do not want to have to go through again. Dealing with this rash, on top of the severe throat pain I am anticipating in the coming weeks, is something I just don't want to put up with if I have to. The irony in the fact that I wanted this drug from the first day I learned about it just to much to bear. Andrea has said jokingly on more then one occasion, "well, you wanted it." Needless to say, the quote,"careful what you ask for," is very apropos to this recent course of events. My next appointment with the doctor is on Tuesday when I have my second chemo treatment. I will update you then, if we have chosen to continue with the erbitux. My vote is to discontinue it altogether. A couple shout out thank yous, first to Stacey Helenbrook for bringing over enough food to stock half of our freezer. The chicken casserole was enjoyed just last night. Also thanks again to brother Devon, for taken me to two radiation treatments. Those rides really help us out a bunch.

Two Weeks Down, and many people to thank.

I have now finished 12 radiation treatments, 3 erbitux infusions, and 1 cisplatin infusion. My side effects so far have really only come from the erbitux, which is the clinical trial drug I am on. It ironically is the drug I was worried about not getting. The rash on my face and upper chest has gotten pretty out of hand. The Doctor is calling it T2, and when it gets to T3 which is where I am guessing I have now arrived, the protocol on receiving the drug will change. I am guessing from how I look right now, that my next treatment with it, will be changing on Tuesday, when I am scheduled for my next infusion. I had some issue getting my feeding tube put in this week, but finally got that out of the way on Wednesday. My stomach was not where they thought it was supposed to be, so another department had to do the job the next day. It was a giant hassle, but glad it is out of the way.The pain from that has finally subsiding this weekend. Thank you percocet. I now want to thank some people that came through for us this week and really helped us get through a pretty stressful and hectic week. Marcia Gomez, (a.k.a. Maka) has really stepped up as an aunt to Isabella. She has helped us countless times in getting her to daycare when when did not have the time, as well as pick her up if needed. Her countless hours helping around the house, have also been truly appreciated. Thank you Aunt Marcia. Thank you to Debby Crawford, for your moral support, and also for driving and spending all day at the hospital with me on Monday. Bringing us dinner on Tuesday was a great surprise as well and truly delicious. My brother Devon came through on Thursday with getting me to the Hospital for my radiation and taking me twice to the pharmacy. Thanks for helping bro with such short notice. Thanks to Michelle Brethaur for the ride home on Friday, it was nice to catch up with you as well. Also thanks to Scott Reeves for bringing me lunch on Friday. A thank you to Aunt Laura and cousin Parker for bringing Isabella to the circus on Thursday. She has yet to figure out what it exactly is all about. She had so much fun. And finally, thank you to my wife Andrea. Nobody is working harder then her in helping me get through this then you. Your life has been turned upside down as well, but you have been able to stay incredibly upbeat and positive in dealing with this. I am amazed at your resolve and determination to not let this beat us in any way. Everyday has been a battle so far, and they will be getting much tougher. I am so glad you are by my side in this fight. I am truly blessed to be with such a amazing wife and mother, and I love you very much. Thank you to all of you for your continued support. The battle resumes.

One week down

I have now finished 6 radiation treatments, as well as 2 drug treatments and 1 chemo treatment. The only residual effect so far, has been the annoying rash from the drug treatments. It looks like I have shingles on my chest and down my arms. It is also making my scalp very dry and itchy. The doctor put me on a antibiotic today, as well as some hydro cortisone cream to see if we could calm down some of these side effects. He told me it would be another two weeks before they started to subside. Small price to pay for a drug that could be saving my life. The fatigue from the radiation comes and goes. I don't think I have had a good nights rest in a week. The next drug treatment is scheduled for tomorrow and well as the continuation of my daily radiation. Tuesday I have my feeding tube installed. This is the first time I have mentioned getting this to most people. I have been told this was going to be a necessity in the near future, when I will not be able to swallow hardly anything at all. The only way for me to get the calories per day I will need, will be through the tube. It will be about 3 inches long and hang out of my stomach, about 3 inches above my belly button. The only time you could see it, is when I will be using it. Good to see some old friends last night. Although, I was really tired, its nice to know such a great group of people are on my side and offering us support in the upcoming months.

This tumor war.

The full on offensive against the tumor in my tonsil area has begun. The tumor will be on the defensive from here on out, as I had both of my chemo drugs administered as well as my first radiation treatment completed. It is now the beginning of the end for these cancer cells who have been rapidly dividing in my body since who knows when. The only side effect so far has been the rash I spoke of earlier, which appeared on Sunday. Its on my chest and neck and a little on my face. I am on enough nausea medicine for three days to keep me from getting sick. Still eating whatever I want, just staying away from foods that could make me sick even if I was not on the medicine, like fried foods mostly. The main concern is keeping my white blood cell count up, which will start to drop over the next couple weeks, as well as staying hydrated and keeping aloe on my neck from the radiation drying out the skin. I cannot shave, so the next time you see me, I will finally have the beard I have not been allowed to grow the last 23 years because of work. Big shout out to brother George for hanging with me in the infusion suite yesterday. It would have been a long day without the good food and conversation we had together. He also drove me home, which is a real big help for a family with one car. Thanks again for the support from you and your family. That is the latest so far. I have thirty five more radiation treatments to go. They do not last long, but the key is staying still while they are blasting me with it. If you are claustrophobic, you would have a hard time with this for even the shortest amount of time. I am basically pinned down on to the bed with a mask that covers my head and tops of my shoulders (see picture). It keeps me from moving around as little as possible. It has small holes in it for me to breath through, but is other wise very tight. A large arm of the machine then moves to various points around me and zaps me from about seven different locations. The less I move of course, the better the chance of a decrease of the degree of the various side effects that are going to occur. I will try posting whenever I get a chance, but the weather has been to nice to sit at a computer for long. Talk with you soon.

The fight back

My first treatment with the drug they call cetuximab started yesterday. There was not much to it. First the nurse stuck a needle into my port, and drew out five veils of blood. This will be my base lines counts. The ones they can compare to in the future. These will be used to make sure all the medicines and what not that they are giving me are not sending these counts below any certain levels, that they would deem as dangerous levels. They have also weighed me now several times, and I am coming in at right 210 lbs. My goal has been in the last couple of weeks to put on as much weight as possible, before I am unable to swallow solid food and left with just liquids and smoothies. After all of this, the doctor came in and wanted to remind me of the possible side effects from the drug I was going to get. Aside from dying of a massive heart attack, he said the main one which usually occurs a couple weeks after use, is red acne like blemishes on the head and neck. I though great, just what I needed, zits to make feel like I was back in high school. He tried to make it sound normal by stating that is was "a sign that the medicine was working well". After this, I was led to the "infusion suite", yes, that is what it is called. Its pretty swank actually. A large room with about 14 nice recliners pointed toward the window with a nice northerly view. Lots of blankets and magazines abound. There is coffee and tea and refrigerators for bringing your lunch. They have tried to make it as comfortable as possible. They first gave me 50mg of benedreyl to fight off any possible allergic reaction. Thought I was going to pass out from that and take a nice long nap. No such luck. Next came a steroid called decadron. Once those were in, came the cetuximab. It took about 2 hours to drip in, and I had to stay an hour afterward to make sure I was not going to suffer any additional side effects. I was there about five hours in all and had no ill side effects. My vital signs, which were constantly monitored, stayed relatively the same. That was that, afterward Andrea picked me up and drove us home for a late lunch. The overall experience was kind of weird in a way. I felt like the youngest person in there first of all. I realized that a lot of the folks getting treatment were not only older, but most likely in a lot worse shape then me. I could be wrong of course, but just looking around, I felt that most of them were most likely suffering from a deadlier cancer then the one I have been dealt with. Not to downplay what I have, which is serious in every sense, I just feel that on the scale of things, mine is going to be very curable, aside from the very ill side effects ahead of me. Cancer is weird thing to most people. Just hearing the word conjures up a countdown to death for most people.Like the begining of the end. I used to think the same thing, and its just not that way these day. There are over 8 millions cancer survivors living normal productive lives today. I know two in my family alone, my sister and mother in-law and another guy that I used to work with. Most families I hate to say, will be affected by it one day, in some form or another. That is when the learning begins about this disease. I have learned a bunch in the last couple of weeks. I feel lucky in one way, in that what I have, could have turned out to be something a lot worse. It could have been a cancer with very few options to treat and only a limited time to live. But it is not. Mine has not spread to anywhere else on me, and for that I am fortunate as well. Being virus based, it puts me in a higher curable percentage. Plus I am getting this new drug. These are a few of the things that made me feel just a little less anxious I guess, as I was looking around this room, that was filled with people who seemed to be in a somewhat bleaker positions then me. I could be wrong of course. Lets see how I feel a month or so from now when I am the sickest one in the room, and feeling like crap. I will let you know then as well of course. Well that's it for now. The fight is on and the countdown to March 20th has begun. Thanks to everyone. Stay posted.

Plan of Action

Tomorrow will be the beginning of my seven week treatment plan. This is how it is currently planned for now, and if everything goes well, I will be done on March 20th, the first day of spring. Week one will be just an infusion of the trial drug that I have mentioned in previous post. You can paste these links, until I figure out how to hyperlink them for now, if you want to know more about these drugs. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/cetuximab It takes about an hour to infuse, and this will occur for once a week for all of the seven weeks. Then next Monday, which is going to be a huge week for me. It is the start of my radiation treatments and the first of two, of what you would call chemo treatments with the drug cisplatin. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/cisplatin . The radiation treatments will last about 20 minutes each, and are once a day, Monday through Friday for six weeks, with two on Fridays, and those will be six hours apart. So all together, I will be getting a total of 36 radiation treatments, 7 drug infusions with cetuximab once a week, and 2 infusions with cisplatin. The cisplatin infusions are on the eighth day, and the 22nd days of treatment. If all goes well, and I am sure it will, this should be enough treatment to eradicate all the cancer cells, which are currently multiplying in my tonsil area as I type this. I will be closely monitored during all of this of course, with various scans, to make sure it is all going according to their plan. The tumor's DNA will slowly be destroyed and eliminated (with extreme prejudice) and then a recovery period, with continued scans scheduled for future months and years. The side effects vary with each person for the drugs taken, but the radiation side effects are pretty predictable. They are the crappy ones that I am mentally trying to ready myself for. Although my radiation treatments are focused and accurate. They are using what is called IMRT on me, the area around the tumor, which is relatively small, has a lot of sensitive soft tissue around it. I will not go in to the details now, but they surely do suck. I am guessing it will be a couple of months after March 20th, before I get even get back to being anything resembling my former self. Like I have stated before, I know this is beatable and will be beaten. Every doctor I have spoken to, sees no reason why this "virus" should not be eliminated with the type of treatment regiment that I will be receiving. Its going to be hell of course, but its the price I am willing to pay. It has definitely been a educational couple of weeks since my diagnosis, but the more I learn, the more comfortable I have become with the fact that I will conquer this, and I am getting the best treatment out there. Again thanks for the all the support from friends and family, and to all the people who are currently praying for me. Your words have been kind and encouraging.