01.26.2008 - Feeling Much Better

It is 01.26.2008 and this past week has been a wonderful reprieve from the unpleasantness that followed the end of the initial phase of treatment. I feel normal and am eager to find out how well this follow-up treatment went. I will have the MRI and learn of the results in 2.5 weeks. It is very nice not to have to drive 45 minutes to the hospital for the daily treatment sessions too.

01.19.2008 - First Phase of Follow-Up Treatment

It is 01.19.2008 and I am finally feeling better after a lot of sickness. I was sick for most of the past week yet again. Now, I feel normal, which is so nice. Last night was the first time in a while that I actually felt hungry to eat a snack between meals. No more nausea or vomiting. I lost almost a pound a day this last week according to nurse in the oncologist's office. My appetite has been so decreased that I have been finding that far smaller portions are all I need to feel full now. I guess my stomach is markedly smaller than what it used to be.

Many people have asked what happens next and I have a time line for that now. In slightly over three weeks, I will get the brain MRI and start the three day intense IV chemotherapy plan.

Overall, I must say that I felt worse this past week and a half than I did following either surgical procedure.

01.12.2008 - Seven Weeks Into Treatment

It is 01.12.2008, and 31 Radiation therapy sessions are down and three cycles of chemotherapy done. Well, I still have two more days to take oral chemotherapy pills and then the third cycle is done. The oral stuff isn't too bad on my system. I have three radiation therapy sessions to do next week and then I am done with radiation therapy. After that, I get a month off of treatment and then get a MRI to see how treatment affected the tumor and - unfortunately - have a brief, but intense chemotherapy treatment where I get chemotherapy three days in a row for four hours a day. They tell me it is better tolerated than the stuff I am getting in the IV now.

This past week was my worst week of the treatment. It started poorly with my intense illness from the flu on Sunday and then, Tuesday night, I actually started feeling almost normal. I had my last IV chemotherapy session on Wednesday and as planned, they increased the dose again. We definitely found the dosage that I can tolerate because I was not feeling well after that. Wednesday was an unpleasant day. I didn't feel well on Thursday either. Friday, I felt well enough to spend the afternoon at the office. Today, I have been feeling a lot of fatigue and just been trying to rest.

01.08.2008 - Radiation Treatment

01.07.2008 - Six Weeks Into Treatment

It is 01.07.2008 and there is just one more week or so of radiation therapy and one cycle of chemotherapy left. Things are still going well with side effects aside from this past weekend. I was very ill this past weekend, but I think it had a lot more to do with me having the flu rather than the treatment. We have all had the flu in our house and had it bad. I was hoping it would skip over me, but I got it too.

I had to skip one radiation therapy session this past week because one of the kids was so ill from the flu. Glad there wasn't a session to attend on Sunday or else I would have had to skip another session because I was so ill. Let's hope that this illness is done passing through our house. So much for flu shots...not that I have ever had any faith in them. The one year that I get a flu shot and am in a "high risk" category, I get the flu really bad. I rarely get sick and won't get one again.

12.29.2007 - Five Weeks Into Treatment

It is 12.29.2007 and I have now completed five weeks of radiation therapy and two cycles of chemotherapy. Both the nurse and doctor that I see weekly at the radiation-oncology office don't know what to do with me because I don't have any of the side effects that most of their other patients have. My blood work results are good every week, hair loss is minimal, I am tolerating chemotherapy very well, etc.

I trimmed my hair again since it was just a little bit shorter where the surgery had been and the radiation has been focused upon. Not that it had much of a chance to grow out since the last time I trimmed it with the clippers. I have tapered the steroid dose down even further and I imagine that within a week or so I won't be taking any steroids any more. I look forward to the time when I am taking as few drugs as possible.

It is wonderful to be in the new house. We had a great Christmas. It is a bit colder than I am used to at this time of year, but I know I will adapt to the weather. Unfortunately, just about everyone in our household has a cold right now.

12.22.2007 - Four Weeks Into Treatment

It is 12.22.2007 and week four has come and passed. I have done four weeks of radiation therapy and am in my second cycle of chemotherapy. No side effects from the chemotherapy so far. As I mentioned, I have experienced hair loss from the radiation therapy, but just in the area where the tumor was since the radiation is focused there. Sunday of last week, I used the clippers with no guard on my whole head, so I am basically bald. You can't tell that there is any hair loss now, but I look like what I used to look like while I was in the police academy. I used to give myself this haircut every summer, so I am used to it. Colorado winters are even colder when you have no hair though. I will taper down the steroid dose even further in a day or two. Not to do too much at one time, but we closed on our new house this past week and are wrapping up the moving process right now. It has been a very busy week here. It is nice to be in the new house though because it is nearly double the size of the rental house we were living in and we can actually unpack all the stuff from our California house.