Four Crazy Months

It is hard to believe that it was four months ago that I sat at the same desk, in front of the same computer sending out news of Abbey's diagnosis. Things were so frightening and uncertain then.

It's been a very wild ride. Tomorrow, Abbey is scheduled for her sixth and probably final round of chemotherapy. On Friday, she'll have a PET scan (positron-emission tomography) that should identify any areas of active cancer down to about 1/16th of an inch (that's 1.5 mm to you science geeks). It's a pretty cool process and if you're not familiar with it, I'd be happy to explain it over a beer or two: the physics is relatively simple, the engineering is hard.

The Lymphomathon was great! We had about 40 members of the A-Team participate in wonderful 90 degree weather. Abbey's folks from Connecticut were impressed with the weather in November in LA... until the fires struck. Our Team Captain, my sister Katie, lives in the burn zone of the Yorba Linda fire. Her condo and complex came through fine, but she now looks across the street at burned trees. The team tally, as of the day of the event was over $7000. We want to say "THANK YOU" to all that donated. If you haven't yet donated and are feeling bad about it, you can still donate by clicking on the link at the left of the blog's page.

Given that its Thanksgiving weekend - let me say how thankful we are to have such loving and caring friends and family. It has made this much easier than I think we could have ever expected.

Love,

Bill

Details, details . . .

So I guess "immediately after chemo" doesn't mean the same thing to doctors as it does to me. I talked to my Radiation Oncologist (Dr. Jenelle) after I got home yesterday and he and Dr. Shek talked and agreed to wait 1 month after my last treatment to start radiation. Something about needing time for my body to recover before shocking it again. Blah, blah , blah . . . . I'm still hoping to get in for my simulation appointment before the end of December so things are all ready to go after the first of the year.

No worries though. Now I'll just plan to be cancer free by Valentine's Day!

Enough with the nagging!

Okay, okay . . . I know I've been remiss in keeping everyone updated. Hasn't anyone ever heard that no news is good news? In my case it means I've been doing so well there's nothing to talk about!

Anyhow, I'm here now and I'm currently hooked up to chemo cocktail #5. That's good news for a couple reasons. First, my doctors have officially decided that I will only need 6 cycles of chemo so that means only 1 more to go! Second, my blood counts from Saturday were too low so they had to recheck again this morning. They were still below my doctor's parameters, but my nurse talked him into it. So here I sit for the next 4-5 hours listening to the hum of the infusion pump.

I'm in the process of getting appointments scheduled for my radiation therapy. If all goes well I should be able to start immediately after my last chemo. That chemo will tentatively be Dec. 1. That means I could be completely done with treatment by Christmas Eve. Talk about a present!

I'm getting very excited about heading down to LA on Thursday. The Lymphomathon is finally here! The A-Team is still the top fundraising team with over $6000, but we're looking to go higher. If you have been thinking about making a contribution there's still time! Just click the link to "The A-Team Lymphomathon Page" under the Links to Cool Stuff section on the left. I also got an email from a woman at the Lymphoma Research Foundation asking I would be willing to be interviewed by a local community cable station before the walk. I'll see about getting access to the video and post it or a link here in the blog.

The t-shirts arrived on Friday and look great! For those I won't be seeing this weekend, I'll try to ship them out before I go. I think that's all the news from here. Can't wait to see the family this weekend! We're all looking forward to a great time.

Abbey