Nothing against "I love you", but those have got to be the best words anyone could every hear!
PET scan came back with no visible signs of cancer so I am officially CANCER FREE! Merry Christmas to me!
Still have to do 3 weeks of radiation in January and go in for follow up testing (PET, blood work, etc) every 3 months for a year and then every 6 months and then . . . but who cares!
Thanks to all for everything these past 6 months. I never would have made it through without each and every one of you!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
No news 'til Thursday
Just wanted to post a brief note to let everyone know that I won't get the results of my PET scan until my follow up on Thursday. I'll post something Thursday night to let you all know what we find out. I PROMISE!!!!
I also wanted to let you know that the interview I did during the Lymphomathom was posted to the Irvine Community TV website (http://irvine.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=26&clip_id=1781). You can jump right to the interview by clicking on "Lymphomathon" in the segment list on the right. And here's a video that Katie put together from that day. Enjoy!
I also wanted to let you know that the interview I did during the Lymphomathom was posted to the Irvine Community TV website (http://irvine.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=26&clip_id=1781). You can jump right to the interview by clicking on "Lymphomathon" in the segment list on the right. And here's a video that Katie put together from that day. Enjoy!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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!
No worries though. Now I'll just plan to be cancer free by Valentine's Day!
Monday, November 10, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Need a laugh?
Since there's not much happening on the cancer front I thought I'd share with all of you what I did this weekend in case you are in need of a good laugh.
Many of you know that Trent signed up for the Running Club at his elementary school. The club meets for a hour twice an week after school to exercise, play games, and work on stamina and endurance. The club also set as goals to have the kids participate in a couple of local running events with activities geared toward children. The first was the "Veggie Chase" held this past Sunday. The focus of the event was to motivate families to get moving and learn about healthy eating and lifestyles. There was a 5K run/walk, a 1 mile run/walk, and a variety of kids races of varying lengths by age group.
I signed Bill up for the 5K (he'll thank me later) and thought that Trent would probably not be able to complete that distance with me (walk/running) so I signed us up for the 1 mile. All the while thinking we might jog a bit, but, remembering how he handled the Race for the Cure in the spring, figured we would mostly walk.
Well, we're at the starting line and Trent is super excited. I'm worried about the mass of people (think the running of the bulls) and wondering how many small children might get trampled at the start. At the sound of the word "Go" i start jogging with the mob and Trent takes off! Mind you he's much shorter than I and so has an easier time weaving in and out of the crowd. I figure as long as I can see him I'm okay.
He keeps getting further and further ahead and I'm starting to remember that I stopped exercising long before this cancer thing came up! I round the corner to where Bill and some other friends are waiting to cheer us on. They still seem to be in shock from seeing Trent go flying by without me. I toss them Trent's sweatshirt with a look of "I'm not really sure what's going on here!" and keep on going.
Shortly after that I dropped down to a walk, cheered for the 7 and 10 year old sons of our friends as they pass me on their way back from the turn-around and finally see Trent again as he has made the turn and is heading for home. I cut the corner a few yards short to head back with him and start jogging again to try and keep up.
Didn't work. I gave up not long after, made an effort to be running when I passed by Bill again and then again crossing the finish line, but there was no salvaging the fact that I had just been soundly whooped by a not-quite-5-year-old!
Hope you're having a good laugh at my expense! I head back in for my next treatment on Tuesday and then a CT scan a week later. Depending on just how good that scan looks, the doctors are strongly leaning toward stopping at 6 cycles of chemo. That means I could be completely done with treatment, including radiation, by the end of the year. Whoopeeeeeee!
Many of you know that Trent signed up for the Running Club at his elementary school. The club meets for a hour twice an week after school to exercise, play games, and work on stamina and endurance. The club also set as goals to have the kids participate in a couple of local running events with activities geared toward children. The first was the "Veggie Chase" held this past Sunday. The focus of the event was to motivate families to get moving and learn about healthy eating and lifestyles. There was a 5K run/walk, a 1 mile run/walk, and a variety of kids races of varying lengths by age group.
I signed Bill up for the 5K (he'll thank me later) and thought that Trent would probably not be able to complete that distance with me (walk/running) so I signed us up for the 1 mile. All the while thinking we might jog a bit, but, remembering how he handled the Race for the Cure in the spring, figured we would mostly walk.
Well, we're at the starting line and Trent is super excited. I'm worried about the mass of people (think the running of the bulls) and wondering how many small children might get trampled at the start. At the sound of the word "Go" i start jogging with the mob and Trent takes off! Mind you he's much shorter than I and so has an easier time weaving in and out of the crowd. I figure as long as I can see him I'm okay.
He keeps getting further and further ahead and I'm starting to remember that I stopped exercising long before this cancer thing came up! I round the corner to where Bill and some other friends are waiting to cheer us on. They still seem to be in shock from seeing Trent go flying by without me. I toss them Trent's sweatshirt with a look of "I'm not really sure what's going on here!" and keep on going.
Shortly after that I dropped down to a walk, cheered for the 7 and 10 year old sons of our friends as they pass me on their way back from the turn-around and finally see Trent again as he has made the turn and is heading for home. I cut the corner a few yards short to head back with him and start jogging again to try and keep up.
Didn't work. I gave up not long after, made an effort to be running when I passed by Bill again and then again crossing the finish line, but there was no salvaging the fact that I had just been soundly whooped by a not-quite-5-year-old!
Hope you're having a good laugh at my expense! I head back in for my next treatment on Tuesday and then a CT scan a week later. Depending on just how good that scan looks, the doctors are strongly leaning toward stopping at 6 cycles of chemo. That means I could be completely done with treatment, including radiation, by the end of the year. Whoopeeeeeee!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Friendly Reminder
Nothing new to report on the cancer front, just slogging through the yucky days of the latest treatment cycle.
This is your friendly reminder that if you want to have your very own limited edition "A-Team" t-shirt you need to email me quantity and sizes as soon as possible. You can hand-deliver a check ($16/shirt) or drop it in the mail. Let me know if you need the snail-mail address. My email is over on the left in case you need that.
In other news, the mighty, mighty Hornets are still undefeated following their latest 4-0 victory over the Wildcats. Trent scored another goal and has taken on the nickname "Bruiser". The nickname came from the lump on his head he got from his run in with my sewing table, but it works for soccer too!
This is your friendly reminder that if you want to have your very own limited edition "A-Team" t-shirt you need to email me quantity and sizes as soon as possible. You can hand-deliver a check ($16/shirt) or drop it in the mail. Let me know if you need the snail-mail address. My email is over on the left in case you need that.
In other news, the mighty, mighty Hornets are still undefeated following their latest 4-0 victory over the Wildcats. Trent scored another goal and has taken on the nickname "Bruiser". The nickname came from the lump on his head he got from his run in with my sewing table, but it works for soccer too!
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