It's been a while since I posted something so here goes.
Olivia had a great princess birthday party complete with a real princess entertaining the kids. My niece Vanessa dressed up as a princess to entertain the kids it was a big hit. Thanks Vee! Sandy really put on a great party and everyone had a good time.
We have been alternating my chemo treatments between Albany and NYC. It has been working out OK. A few bumps in the road but I think we have things Ironed out now. At the end of May I had a cat scan done that showed terrific shrinkage of the tumors in my live the 3 big ones are now sub centimeter in size and it appears the all the tiny ones are gone. My Oncologist recommended 3 more months of chemo and then send me to the surgeon to discuss resection. Resection = the CURE! That was some welcome news. I can’t express how happy, excited and ecstatic we were to get this news. He also told me that I have developed a hernia but who cares. I’m going to beat this and besides when I go for the resection they can fix the hernia while they’re in there and do the takedown on my ostomy. A 3 for 1 operation.
I have been feeling pretty good generally. Last week I hit a rough patch and had some toxicity effects from the 5FU. Typical stuff that I have experienced in the past so it was no surprise. I march on as I can see the finish line.
I have to express gratitude and love to everyone. Sandy my wife deserves the biggest thank you for all she does and she picked up the best Father’s day gift (a Dustin Pedroia Red Sox shirt). Thanks to my Mom and Sandy’s Mom for all their help that they give us. Olivia really loves spending time with you guys. Thanks to all my doctors and nurses whose expertise has gotten me to where I am today. To all my family, friends and neighbors for the love and support that you give freely. I thank you one and all. Thanks to my employer whose continuing support I truly appreciate. Thanks to Sister Patrick for keeping me in your prayers. Most of all thanks to the Creator for prayers answered.
Love and Gratitude to all.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
May Update
Treatment continues to go as planned. We have made arrangements to get treatment in Albany once a month. Our new doc in Albany used to work out of Sloan and knows our doc down there and they are collaborating now. It is nice to know that we have someone local now we can go to should the need arise. The treatments in Albany are a little different than at Sloan. In Albany they drip the chemo at a slower rate which means more time in the treatment suite however it beats a 5 hour round trip train ride. I have a scan scheduled for the end of May. My doc is still confident that we will get to resection soon. I know that I will get there!
Life on the home front has been great. Olivia is growing up fast and turns 3 on May 22. Sandy has been planning a princess themed birthday party for her. The boys will be Knights and the girls Princesses. We're even going to slay a dragon. Sandy continues to be the greatest CEO and Queen of everything good. I love her greatly for all she does and I'm very grateful to have such a loving, caring and kind wife.
Work is going along well too. I feel so lucky and grateful to have such a great job. Everyone I work with is supportive and understanding.
I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who reads my blog and keeps me in their thoughts and prayers. Thank You...
Life on the home front has been great. Olivia is growing up fast and turns 3 on May 22. Sandy has been planning a princess themed birthday party for her. The boys will be Knights and the girls Princesses. We're even going to slay a dragon. Sandy continues to be the greatest CEO and Queen of everything good. I love her greatly for all she does and I'm very grateful to have such a loving, caring and kind wife.
Work is going along well too. I feel so lucky and grateful to have such a great job. Everyone I work with is supportive and understanding.
I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who reads my blog and keeps me in their thoughts and prayers. Thank You...
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter
Happy Easter everyone...
I'm back on treatment after our little set back. We went down to the city this past Wednesday and saw the doc. We decided to re-introduce Avastin into the treatment. Hopefully that will speed up the results so I can get to the resection sooner. We will be cutting our trips down to the city to once a month now. We have a doc at Albany Med who is collaborating with our Sloan doc. That will save us alot of time and money.
I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and a great spring.
Love and gratitude to all...
I'm back on treatment after our little set back. We went down to the city this past Wednesday and saw the doc. We decided to re-introduce Avastin into the treatment. Hopefully that will speed up the results so I can get to the resection sooner. We will be cutting our trips down to the city to once a month now. We have a doc at Albany Med who is collaborating with our Sloan doc. That will save us alot of time and money.
I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and a great spring.
Love and gratitude to all...
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Back in the Saddle
We went to the city on St. Patricks Day to visit the doc at Sloan. We were hoping to get over to 5th ave. to check out the parade but we had no such luck. We did mangage to have a corned beef and cabbage dinner at an Irish pub so that was our substitute. Treatment was with held to give me a chance to bounce back from the month long pain episode that I experienced. FINALLY THE PAIN HAS SUBSIDED! The suspicion is that I had an ulcer and it healed up with the doubling dose of prilosec. I worked from home this past week and I plan to head into the office on Tuesday. Sandy is away for the week end visiting her girlfriend down in North Carolina. It is a well deserved break for her and I just hope she comes back home (hahaha). Me and Olivia are enjoying our time together with a little help from Granma who is staying with us while Sandy is gone. Today we went to an awesome playground at the Hillside school in Niskayuna. It was lots of fun and afterwards we went to Target and did a little shopping.
I want everyone to know that I am feeling much better now that the pain is gone and I am concentrating on staying healthy and giving nothing back to the disease. My immune sytem is strong and the diease is weak. I feel my system kicking its ass....
Thats all for now!
I want everyone to know that I am feeling much better now that the pain is gone and I am concentrating on staying healthy and giving nothing back to the disease. My immune sytem is strong and the diease is weak. I feel my system kicking its ass....
Thats all for now!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Bump in the road
Its been a while since I posted so here goes. Treatment has been going well and my first scan since starting the new protocol showed that the disease is on the run. The tumors are shrinking at a good rate (one has shrunk by a 1/3) and nothing new is showing up. Great News!
Shortly after I had the scan done I started experiencing pain in my abdomen. It started 1 day at work the pain was so bad that I had to leave and coworkers were commenting that they could see the pain in my face. I had an appointment with my doc at Sloan the following week and told him of the pain. He ordered a chest X-ray and an EKG both of which showed nothing remarkable. I ended up taking the treatment and went home. The pain did not go away and we called the doc to let him know about it. I was told to take the pain killers (percocet) to manage the pain. I was pretty much bed ridden and doubled over with pain. I was unable to go to work due to being on the pain killers and the pain was still present. I went down to Sloan for treatment and complained to the doc and nurses that the pain was out of control and unmanageable. He ordered a CT scan and withheld treatment. He also stepped up the pain killers (oxy contin was prescribed) and scheduled an endoscopy. The doc thought I may have an ulcer that was caused by the chemo. Sandy ended up working some magic and was able to get an appointment in Albany with a GI doc. We went to a consult and had the procedure done. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the endoscopy ruled out an ulcer. So here I sit still in pain but managing it better with pain killers. I hope to get back to work this week working from home because I won't be able to drive while I am taking the pain killers. I go to Sloan again next week and I'm wondering what's next as far as tests go. I really want to know what is causing the pain so we can address it and move on.
I want to close this post by thanking my wife Sandy for all her hard work managing my care team, scheduling appointments, billing, and all the other things that go along with taking care of me. I really appreciate it and love you more each day we are together. I also want to express my gratitude to my employer for giving me the flexibility that I need in order to get through trying times like I have been having recently. Thank you Paul, Chris, Bill, Dennis, J*** and everyone there for everything you do for me.
Shortly after I had the scan done I started experiencing pain in my abdomen. It started 1 day at work the pain was so bad that I had to leave and coworkers were commenting that they could see the pain in my face. I had an appointment with my doc at Sloan the following week and told him of the pain. He ordered a chest X-ray and an EKG both of which showed nothing remarkable. I ended up taking the treatment and went home. The pain did not go away and we called the doc to let him know about it. I was told to take the pain killers (percocet) to manage the pain. I was pretty much bed ridden and doubled over with pain. I was unable to go to work due to being on the pain killers and the pain was still present. I went down to Sloan for treatment and complained to the doc and nurses that the pain was out of control and unmanageable. He ordered a CT scan and withheld treatment. He also stepped up the pain killers (oxy contin was prescribed) and scheduled an endoscopy. The doc thought I may have an ulcer that was caused by the chemo. Sandy ended up working some magic and was able to get an appointment in Albany with a GI doc. We went to a consult and had the procedure done. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the endoscopy ruled out an ulcer. So here I sit still in pain but managing it better with pain killers. I hope to get back to work this week working from home because I won't be able to drive while I am taking the pain killers. I go to Sloan again next week and I'm wondering what's next as far as tests go. I really want to know what is causing the pain so we can address it and move on.
I want to close this post by thanking my wife Sandy for all her hard work managing my care team, scheduling appointments, billing, and all the other things that go along with taking care of me. I really appreciate it and love you more each day we are together. I also want to express my gratitude to my employer for giving me the flexibility that I need in order to get through trying times like I have been having recently. Thank you Paul, Chris, Bill, Dennis, J*** and everyone there for everything you do for me.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The people you meet
Went down to Sloan last Wednesday for a treatment. No doctor visit, just a treatment. The appointment was at 2:30 so we took the 10:05 out of Albany and got down there around 12:30. It was warm (40 degrees) in the city so we decided to hike the 20 blocks up to 53rd st. to have lunch at the Stage Deli. The walk was nice and Times Square as usual was bustling with tourists. You can tell the tourist from the local by either their stare upwards (tourist) or their stare straight ahead avoiding eye contact with all the tour bus guys or the b-way show ticket guys. At this point I'm a mix. I still look and have mastered the friendly "no thank you" to the street sales folks. Lunch was delicious as usual. Had the corned beef half sandwich with a side of potato salad. We ended up continuing our walk over to the clinic. Another 10 blocks or so. Total distance from Penn to the clinic approx. 1.5 miles. Saved the cab fare.
We got to the clinic and had my blood drawn and sat down to our wait. We were sitting down in this area of the room and in walked a guy who wreaked of cigarette smoke. Smelled like he rolled in an ashtray. I'm a former smoker so I'll admit I'm a bit sensitive to the smell. Any ways I had to get up and move away from the offending odor. While sitting in our less smelly area of the waiting room I overheard this guys talking to one of the women who work the front. He was telling his story. His journey seemed to parallel mine except he was ahead of me. When he walked by I said hello and told him that I liked his story. He sat with us and filled us in further. He was diagnosed in 2004 had undergone multiple surgeries and treatment protocols and is now NED (no eveidence of disease). He went on to tell us that he was a teamster and worked as a key grip in the city. He told us about all the movies and TV shows that he worked on. He was very positive and made me feel great to have met him.
We also met a woman who had an incredible story too. She was around our age and was diagnosed with CC about 4 years ago. She told us she went thru some sugery and treatment was declared clean and was then whacked with breast cancer. She really was a trooper and was also very positive. She told us of her ordeal and was very comedic about it. Again I was glad that she came into our lives and shared her story and listened to ours.
It seems that the law of atraction was at work that day down at sloan. I was wearing one of my "Life is Good" shirts and smiling and feeling upbeat. What you think about you bring about and we were so lucky to bring 2 special strangers who we now consider freinds into our life.
We got to the clinic and had my blood drawn and sat down to our wait. We were sitting down in this area of the room and in walked a guy who wreaked of cigarette smoke. Smelled like he rolled in an ashtray. I'm a former smoker so I'll admit I'm a bit sensitive to the smell. Any ways I had to get up and move away from the offending odor. While sitting in our less smelly area of the waiting room I overheard this guys talking to one of the women who work the front. He was telling his story. His journey seemed to parallel mine except he was ahead of me. When he walked by I said hello and told him that I liked his story. He sat with us and filled us in further. He was diagnosed in 2004 had undergone multiple surgeries and treatment protocols and is now NED (no eveidence of disease). He went on to tell us that he was a teamster and worked as a key grip in the city. He told us about all the movies and TV shows that he worked on. He was very positive and made me feel great to have met him.
We also met a woman who had an incredible story too. She was around our age and was diagnosed with CC about 4 years ago. She told us she went thru some sugery and treatment was declared clean and was then whacked with breast cancer. She really was a trooper and was also very positive. She told us of her ordeal and was very comedic about it. Again I was glad that she came into our lives and shared her story and listened to ours.
It seems that the law of atraction was at work that day down at sloan. I was wearing one of my "Life is Good" shirts and smiling and feeling upbeat. What you think about you bring about and we were so lucky to bring 2 special strangers who we now consider freinds into our life.
Friday, January 15, 2010
It's a New Year!
Well its a new year and I'm looking forward to enjoying life and spending time with those who make me happy. Specifically family and friends.
So the treatment I had in early December really knocked me down. My liver was pretty well fried and was no processing properly. I declined the 2nd treatment in December and my doctor readily agreed. I needed a break. I went back down to Sloan last week and got the treatment. Pump was filled and systemic was administered albeit at a lower dose. The lower dose has definitely agreed with me. I felt great and didn't have any of the nasty side effects with the exception of a slight mouth sore which I'm trying to fight off with salt water rinses and swish.
Work is going well and with the new style 48 hour infusion pump I am able to go into the office instead of working from home. Our company is doing great and growing rapidly despite the current economic climate. I feel very lucky and blessed to have landed here. The lord works in mysterious ways and I know that I was given this opportunity on purpose.
Family life is great. Sandy and Olivia have been going to various play groups in order to escape the confines of our home. Sandy redecorated and painted our bed room recently and did a great job. We installed a back up generator on our house. Now if the power goes out the generator automatically starts and powers a sub set of circuits in our house. Bring on the ice storms we're ready.
Well thats all I have for now. I'm enjoying my long 4 day weekend, went to an antique show today, going to dinner and movies with Sandy tommorow and who knows what for Sunday and Monday.
Thanks for all your prayers and support.
So the treatment I had in early December really knocked me down. My liver was pretty well fried and was no processing properly. I declined the 2nd treatment in December and my doctor readily agreed. I needed a break. I went back down to Sloan last week and got the treatment. Pump was filled and systemic was administered albeit at a lower dose. The lower dose has definitely agreed with me. I felt great and didn't have any of the nasty side effects with the exception of a slight mouth sore which I'm trying to fight off with salt water rinses and swish.
Work is going well and with the new style 48 hour infusion pump I am able to go into the office instead of working from home. Our company is doing great and growing rapidly despite the current economic climate. I feel very lucky and blessed to have landed here. The lord works in mysterious ways and I know that I was given this opportunity on purpose.
Family life is great. Sandy and Olivia have been going to various play groups in order to escape the confines of our home. Sandy redecorated and painted our bed room recently and did a great job. We installed a back up generator on our house. Now if the power goes out the generator automatically starts and powers a sub set of circuits in our house. Bring on the ice storms we're ready.
Well thats all I have for now. I'm enjoying my long 4 day weekend, went to an antique show today, going to dinner and movies with Sandy tommorow and who knows what for Sunday and Monday.
Thanks for all your prayers and support.
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