Finishing up Chemo #12

Hi Everyone -

Today is the last day of my 12th chemotherapy. Physically, this one was tough, but mentally it wasn't that bad. I think the fact that therapy is coming to a close makes each of these stays easier, regardless of the physical impact.

If all goes well the turnaround to the next treatment will be short. I have some blood draws and physical therapy over the next week, but could potentially be back in for number thirteen as early as May 7.I'm keeping my fingers crossed that ends up being the case.

I hope everyone has a nice week. Hopefully I'll be posting from the hospital next Wednesday to let you know how #13 is going. Until then, take care!

Alex

Chemo #11 is done

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I returned from my latest session of chemo yesterday evening. Overall things went well, though they did keep me an extra day due to some concerns about higher than normal levels of creatinine. Essentially, elevated levels of creatinine indicate the kidneys are working harder than they should. Given that the chemo I'm being administered is hard on the kidneys, they felt it best to hydrate me for a day before moving forward. While it's not fun being in the hospital longer than expected, I would prefer the extra day to kidney problems. Luckily, all looked well when I left yesterday.

I'm hoping that all of the chemo treatments and my port-removal surgery will be wrapped up in about 10-11 weeks. That's probably a little optimistic given the larger hit my cell counts are taking from the chemo, which causes delays in the treatment. Still, I'll assume 11 weeks for now and extend the timeline only when necessary. I'm looking forward to getting back to a normal life.

Sam has been a great source of strength through all of this, and Domonick (my 16-year old) is handling the more physically taxing tasks around the house at the moment. They definitely deserve a nice vacation at some point.

The physical therapy I've been doing has done wonders for my left arm. Despite the missing scapula, I can do most of the things I want to at this point. There are still some points of frustration, but due to Sam and a couple of great physical therapists I've come a long way.

I hope you all have a great rest of the week and I will look forward to posting again soon. Until then, take care!

Alex

Chemo update

Hi Everyone -

I just noticed I forgot to post after my 10th chemo treatment was over, so my apologies for the delay. I was in the hospital today getting tested to see if my counts were high enough to start my 11th chemo; unfortunately, they were not. We are now waiting until next Monday to admit me for the chemo. Last week I was not feeling well, but I've been better this week. As such, I was hoping to get chemo out of the way, but we can't always get what we want.

Physical therapy continues to go well. My left arm is no longer hanging, but has a decent amount of strength (about ~70% of where it was before) and reasonable mobility apart from the "butterfly" (i.e., lifting to the side). I think that movement will always be a major issue, but overall I'm quite pleased with the amount I'm still able to do. 

I hope you all are doing well and I will plan on posting as soon as I hear more about my chemo. Take care everyone!

Alex

Chemo 9 down, 5 to go

Hi Everyone -

I apologize for the short length of this post, I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days.  We finished up the ninth chemo treatment late Thursday, and things went as smoothly as we could have hoped.  Post chemo has been rough, but at least they are simply comfort issues and not health complications.  The next chemo is scheduled for late next week; we'll keep our fingers crossed that we hit that timeframe.

Until next time, take care!

Alex

Chemo Delayed

Hi Everyone -

My chemo, which was supposed to start yesterday, has been delayed until at least Monday due to low counts.  So, I'll likely be in the hospital Monday and Tuesday and will be released on Wednesday.  I'm a little disappointed, but at least the delay is not too long. 

I'll hopefully be posting about my release from the hospital next Wednesday.  Until then, take care everyone.

Alex

Preparing for the next chemo

Hello everyone -

It appears I will be in line to start my next round of chemo on time. My counts were very low Monday, especially my platelets, but things should be ready to go by this Friday. They sent me to the hospital for a transfusion to get the platelets back up, and the medication designed to kick-start my white cells is working well.

I had an Echo yesterday, which confirmed my heart is still fine. The chemo can have a detrimental effect, but so far no issues.  Physical therapy begins on Thursday (assuming my counts are in good shape), so I can finally start working to get some mobility and strength back in my arm and shoulder. Very excited about that.

I hope everyone is doing well. Take care and God bless.

Until next time,
Alex

Eight down, Six to go...

Hi Everyone -

Just checking in to let you all know that I'll be wrapping up my eighth chemo treatment today. I'm officially past the half-way point. Other than being stir-crazy, things have been going well. I've begun physical therapy on my left shoulder in an effort to increase it's strength and mobility. I won't ever have the strength and range of motion I had prior to losing my scapula, but through the PT I should be able to get some of it back.

With the temperature being a balmy 20 degrees today, I can say I'm looking forward to warmer weather.  While I often feel weak and tired on days off from the hospital, there are days when I'm relatively alert and would love nothing more than to get outside and walk, visit of hiking trail, or take Sean to a quiet park.  Hopefully this is our last cold front and we can start moving on to some relatively nice weather.

I hope everyone is doing well.  My next chemo next Friday if all goes well.  I hope to post before then, but if not, take care.

Alex

Back to the Chemo

Hi Everyone -

It's been a while, but chemo finally started back up last week.  Seven down, seven to go.  This last one hit harder than I was expecting, partially due to the fact I'm still recovering from the surgery.  However, things went well and it feels good to be hitting the stretch run.

Getting used to not having full use of my arm has been an interesting experience.  I still have full use of my lower arm and hand, so it hasn't slowed me down too much.  I can't reach in the air with my left arm, or lift anything heavy at the moment due to the fact the muscles in my upper arm were damaged during the surgery.  I'm doing some physical therapy to get strength back in my upper arm, so in the future I think things will be much easier.

I've taken a break from the guitar at the moment, but they say once my strength is back I may actually be able to continue practicing, so I'm looking forward to that.  Assuming all is well with my counts my next session of chemo starts next week.  Good thing to, due to the surgery break I actually started growing some hair back.  :)

Take Care,
Alex

Back Home From Surgery

Hi Everyone -

I am back from surgery, which went well.  To remove my tumor they had to remove my whole scapula, so my mobility is now limited on the left side.  Alas, my dream of becoming a championship weightlifter will go unrealized. 

However, there are two pieces of good news to come from this removal of the scapula.  One, they were able to remove the whole tumor and once chemo is over they are confident the cancer will not return.  Two, this surgery eliminates the need for major radiation therapy, which would have also hurt my left arm's mobility and likely would have caused further issues 10-12 years down the road.

All that being said, I'm happy with the trade-off and with a little practice I should be able to do most of the things I did before.  They are going to give me a little time to recover before they start chemo, but we should get the ball rolling again before the end of the month.

I'll be back soon for another update.  Until then, I'm happy to be back home with Sam and the kids and look forward to finishing up the home stretch.  Take care, and thanks for your prayers, thoughts and support.

Alex

Surgery on Thursday!

Hi Everyone -

So the past week or so has been pretty uneventful, just a lot of tests to ensure I'm ready for surgery.  They say I am, so surgery to remove the tumor is supposed to happen on Thursday as scheduled.  After the surgery, I'll have eight more chemo treatments to clear things up and then I'm free to return to a life of normalcy. 

I'll provide another post late this week to let everyone know how the surgery went.  Until then, thanks to everyone for their support and prayers.  We continue to appreciate the hell out of every one of you who have helped us along the way.

Take Care,
Alex

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you had a safe and fun New Year's Eve.  They release me from the hospital today, very happy about that.  Six days in a hospital can make you rather stir-crazy.  The next couple of weeks will be a lot of tests to prepare for the surgery on the 16th.  Hopefully the tests all give positive news and we can keep on schedule.  I'm ready to get to the home stretch of chemo and wrap this thing up.

Take care all, have a great start to 2014.

Alex