10.23.2008 - Bad Lab Results

I went in for lab results on 10.23.2008 and they drew my blood and five minutes later had my results, as usual. They can do it that fast because they are a hematology lab and don't send anything out. My neutrophil count was zero. That level alarmed my chemo nurse. Evidently, neutrophils are the most active of the white blood cells and are the first to attack microorganisms. My nurse wanted me to begin injecting myself with Neupogen daily and taking an antibiotic daily until my next appointment, which will be on Tuesday.

10.17.2008 - Another Round of Chemo & A Timeline

On 10.17.2008, my wife took me to my doctor's office and I got my intravenous line started and then went to radiology at the adjacent hospital and had a MRI. After that, the doctor met with my wife and I and reviewed the scans. The scans revealed that everything was stable and unchanged. The tumor is under control. While the chemo usually lasts a year, my doctor asked me if I could continue with aggressive treatment for four to six more months. His rationale was that he is treating an aggressive disease and most people don't survive it. His goal is just to get me to the three year mark, where the survival curve flattens out and most people survive indefinitely after that point. Since chemo is only something I have to deal with every four to six weeks, I thought I could do that. He wanted to keep me on Thalidomide as long as we could, possibly even up to three years. If I needed to lower the amount I was taking at some point, he thought that was quite reasonable. My body has adapted to the Thalidomide well and I don't notice the fatigue nearly as much these days. My wife and I felt all of it was reasonable. I didn't feel so hot from the round of chemo and will likely be laying around the house the whole weekend and probably Monday and possibly Tuesday as well. This one, while a one day session, usually kicks my butt pretty hard. What I had today was Irinotecan and Taxol. My wife had to drive me because I can't drive myself home after the chemo due to all the benadryl that they treat me with to prevent any allergic reaction to the chemo drugs. I will also be taking Temodar orally for the next five days and usually don't feel good until that is over with. Wednesday or Thursday will probably be the first day I feel good again.

09.03.2008 - Three Day Chemo Session

09.03.2008, 09.04.2008 & 09.05.2008 were spent at my doctor's office receiving BCNU. I received it for four hours a day for each of those days. They had to lower the dose from what I had received before since it caused my blood counts to drop for such a long time. I don't feel too bad, but I don't feel great either. The BCNU rarely caused much distress to me. I am able to drive myself to and from the appointments. It does cause delayed effects to my body though that will show up two or three weeks after I have it.

08.11.2008 - Unbelievable Fatigue

It is 08.11.2008 and I still haven't returned to work since having chemo five days ago. I hope to return to work tomorrow. All these drugs make me feel so tired. How many naps can I take? I always feel tired after all the additional rest. Feeling tired all the time gets old and I wish I could just feel normal. It is all part of a greater plan to knock the cancer out, but it is difficult to be patient. The photo is what I take every night and that isn't including chemo. Do you know anyone who takes more pills than I do?

08.06.2008 - Another Round of Chemo

On 08.06.2008 I had chemotherapy again and it went pretty well. This is the stuff that should make all my hair fall out again. Just when my beard was coming in thick and full and my hair was coming in the same. I don't feel awful today, but won't be going into to work today or tomorrow because of how I have felt in the past following this type of chemo. I have had to lay down for a while this morning and expect to rest a decent portion of the next couple days.

Things are going pretty well here. We finally got a lot of rain last night. We need more though to catch up for our lack of rain so far this year. The job is going well. I do miss being a first responder so much. Being a police officer is the best job I have ever had and I would love to return to the profession at some point. What I do now is fulfilling, but not so much as being a police officer was.

A Denver PD sergeant already tried to recruit me during a trial a month or so ago. It would be a pay cut and I don't think my current health would permit me to do it at this time.

06.26.2008 - Trip to the ER

On 06.26.2008, I felt really tired and then had some problems typing on my computer at work. I noticed my speech sounded really strange during a phone call that I made. I went home and slept for a while and when I woke up, my wife noticed that my speech was strange and she was alarmed. She said it sounded like it was slurred. I couldn't help it, that is just how it was coming out. It got better soon after and we called my doctor's office. He was out of town, but the staff said that if things got worse to bring me into the ER. I soon developed a painful headache in the worst spot...where the tumor was. My wife took me to the ER and they gave me something to help with the pain and kept me overnight. Preliminary scans did not reveal any anomalies. I received more comprehensive scans the following morning and everything showed that all was the same as it was before. The conclusion reached was that I had a seizure. I didn't recognize it as a seizure. I was fully conscious and just felt really tired. They increased my anti-seizure medication as a result.

06.14.2008 - Another Session Over & Done With

This past week, I only worked 06.09.2008 and 06.10.2008. The schedule showed me out 06.11.2008 through 06.13.2008 and a couple co-workers asked me if I was taking a vacation. I told them it wasn't a vacation, unless you can consider sitting or lying in a chair for three days for four hours each day with a needle in your arm and getting chemotherapy a vacation. This was a three day session of BCNU. I don't feel too bad now and that is pretty good. I was kind of wiped out on the evening of 06.13.2008 and that wasn't the greatest time to be wiped out because my wife was watching her brother's four kids in addition to ours because his wife was in surgery and then she had to fly out that night for her grandmother's funeral. It was a busy evening. I have been very busy today with lots of yard work and house organization and cleaning type chores. Perhaps the key to not getting sick is to stay really busy? Of course, the BCNU doesn't wipe me out like the one day session of Irinotecan and Taxol.