It has been weeks since my last intensive chemotherapy and well over six months since there was a cancer cell in my body. I began Maintenance this past Tuesday, - and even though I am on steroids and chemo still, but in lower and non-intensive doses - I feel good. My hair is growing back, slowly but surely, and I continue to push my body in order to regain strength and endurance. I am on the road to recovery and there is no looking back.
I end this blog, quite appropriately, on the final day of 2009 and the final day of this decade. Over the horizon there is incredible potential as I hold the rest of my youth, and lifetime, ahead of me. I have beat cancer once... at nearly 21 years old, that is more than anyone should ever have to say. Hell - at any age, that is too much to say. There is still a lot of work to be done. I may have survived but the fight to eradicate life-threatening diseases across this world still remains. People are suffering every waking moment for often unimaginable or incomprehensible reasons. It is wrong, and together we can change this. Please continue to make an impact in any way you can: donating blood and platelets, volunteering at health clinics, running in marathons, raising money for cures, lobbying our lawmakers for research funding, etc.
Yes, tomorrow is the start of a new year and a new decade, but there is nothing new that I will wake up with tomorrow... I carry with me - as I have this entire year - the tremendous love of my family, the great support of my friends, the intelligence and skill of my doctors and nurses, and my fighting attitude.
"I thank whatever gods may be / For my unconquerable soul ..."
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Así es la vida
Friday I had a count check in the doctor's office. My platelets - even with Tuesday's transfusion - hadn't increased, so the doc wrote for two more units to be transfused. We went upstairs to the clinic to get the transfusions. After the second unit, my throat started closing up and I was wheezing. I also got some hives on my neck and head. The nurses gave me steroids and benadryl for the allergic reaction, and the doctor put me on the oncology floor for observation. I had a fever for an hour or two, but then it came down.
Saturday morning the doc was happy that my reaction hadn't come back overnight. He is concerned with the sores in my mouth and rectal pain I've been having for a couple weeks (Hey - nobody forces you to read this blog). He thinks they should be healing quicker than they have been. So I've been on a bunch of anti-bacterial, anti-viral stuff for two days.
Today my counts were not much improved. But white cells and ANC were up, which is good. I am getting more transfusions - red blood cells today - and more antibiotics. I'm getting a CT scan of my pelvis to make sure nothing is wrong with my booty. And if that's all good, we should be outta here tomorrow... really this time!
Saturday morning the doc was happy that my reaction hadn't come back overnight. He is concerned with the sores in my mouth and rectal pain I've been having for a couple weeks (Hey - nobody forces you to read this blog). He thinks they should be healing quicker than they have been. So I've been on a bunch of anti-bacterial, anti-viral stuff for two days.
Today my counts were not much improved. But white cells and ANC were up, which is good. I am getting more transfusions - red blood cells today - and more antibiotics. I'm getting a CT scan of my pelvis to make sure nothing is wrong with my booty. And if that's all good, we should be outta here tomorrow... really this time!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Adventures in Chemotherapy
Last Thursday I woke up with a raging headache and was having shortness of breath when I stood up... in addition to the weakness and achey feeling I had all last - and now this - week. We went to the office to get my blood checked and my hemoglobin was low. The doctor admitted me to the hospital for a short stay to get blood transfusions and - just as a precaution - a CT scan to check for clotting.
Needless to say, we didn't leave the hospital Thursday night. I got two units of blood and a unit of platelets, but there was also a blood clot in my left lung. I got my last Ara-C on Friday as well... which gave me severe headaches Friday and Saturday which are only now beginning to taper off. They did more tests on Friday and a repeat CT scan Saturday morning. They think now that the clotting may be coming from the port in my chest... so it looks like I'll be having a procedure done to remove it when I go on Maintenance in a few weeks. The clot was no smaller on Saturday morning but blood was still flowing past it in my lung so they decided against any further treatment since I am already on blood thinning meds (and my platelets were very low). I'll get it checked out again with a CT scan on Monday.
As of this morning, my ANC and white blood cells were nearly zero which means I will have much difficulty fighting off any infection if I come into contact with one. This also means I continue neutropenic precautions, not eating fresh fruits and vegetables, until it gets much higher. It also means I have to wear a mask when I go to the hospital or doctor, and that I can't really have any human contact. My hemoglobin was better, almost normal. My platelets were nearly nothing, and my arms and stomach are getting all bruised from my Lovenox shots. I got another platelet transfusion this morning before chemo.
Yesterday I went and had a doppler study done of the veins in my arms, legs, and neck to check for any other clotting - there was none. This morning I had a doctor's appointment for a count check. After that we went to the outpatient clinic for the platelet transfusion and two IV chemos.
Good news is... I have now completed Cytoxin, Ara-C, and PEG - all of which are nasty evil chemo drugs. Never again will my body be tortured with them again. I also got vincristine today, which I will get next week... Then I'll be on Maintenance!!! Sores that have not healed for weeks now because of my low counts will finally heal. My counts will begin coming up within the next week and in about two weeks I'll be on the road to recovery and starting to feel good.
Needless to say, we didn't leave the hospital Thursday night. I got two units of blood and a unit of platelets, but there was also a blood clot in my left lung. I got my last Ara-C on Friday as well... which gave me severe headaches Friday and Saturday which are only now beginning to taper off. They did more tests on Friday and a repeat CT scan Saturday morning. They think now that the clotting may be coming from the port in my chest... so it looks like I'll be having a procedure done to remove it when I go on Maintenance in a few weeks. The clot was no smaller on Saturday morning but blood was still flowing past it in my lung so they decided against any further treatment since I am already on blood thinning meds (and my platelets were very low). I'll get it checked out again with a CT scan on Monday.
As of this morning, my ANC and white blood cells were nearly zero which means I will have much difficulty fighting off any infection if I come into contact with one. This also means I continue neutropenic precautions, not eating fresh fruits and vegetables, until it gets much higher. It also means I have to wear a mask when I go to the hospital or doctor, and that I can't really have any human contact. My hemoglobin was better, almost normal. My platelets were nearly nothing, and my arms and stomach are getting all bruised from my Lovenox shots. I got another platelet transfusion this morning before chemo.
Yesterday I went and had a doppler study done of the veins in my arms, legs, and neck to check for any other clotting - there was none. This morning I had a doctor's appointment for a count check. After that we went to the outpatient clinic for the platelet transfusion and two IV chemos.
Good news is... I have now completed Cytoxin, Ara-C, and PEG - all of which are nasty evil chemo drugs. Never again will my body be tortured with them again. I also got vincristine today, which I will get next week... Then I'll be on Maintenance!!! Sores that have not healed for weeks now because of my low counts will finally heal. My counts will begin coming up within the next week and in about two weeks I'll be on the road to recovery and starting to feel good.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Crappy
I feel pretty crappy today! Achey, tired, sore, weak. Some wounds of mine aren't healing because I don't have any good cells to heal them!
But --- on the positive side --- if you're in the Phoenix (Chandler) area this weekend, you should stop by the Elephant Bar restaurant at Chandler Fashion Center this Sunday December 6 between 11 AM and 10 PM. My dad has coordinated a fundraiser to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's team in training. This is the organization that my friend Lydia is training with to run her marathon in January. 20 percent of all sales with the flyer will be donated back directly to the LLS - funding research, education, and patient care. If you're interested, even if vaguely, please e-mail me at jacob.harvey@yahoo.com and I will send you a flyer - in order to benefit Team in Training's efforts, you must give a particular flyer to your server.
But --- on the positive side --- if you're in the Phoenix (Chandler) area this weekend, you should stop by the Elephant Bar restaurant at Chandler Fashion Center this Sunday December 6 between 11 AM and 10 PM. My dad has coordinated a fundraiser to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's team in training. This is the organization that my friend Lydia is training with to run her marathon in January. 20 percent of all sales with the flyer will be donated back directly to the LLS - funding research, education, and patient care. If you're interested, even if vaguely, please e-mail me at jacob.harvey@yahoo.com and I will send you a flyer - in order to benefit Team in Training's efforts, you must give a particular flyer to your server.
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