Headway

Yesterday was a bit of a milestone in the treatment process. My family and I met with Dr. Dean first thing in the morning to review the results from Friday's interim PET scan. The scan shows the rate at which cells "uptake" or metabolize a radioactive sugar that is injected before the test is administered. Highly active cells appear to glow in the image, so naturally cancer cells appear to glow more than the normal tissue cells around them. Using my original scan as a baseline Dr. Dean could determine that the cancerous lymph nodes in my chest are responding well to the treatment, shrinking and approaching normal size again. This trend should continue with more chemo therapy, and following the meeting I went in for my fifth treatment (the beginning of my 3rd cycle). My prognosis is excellent, just gotta' keep on truckin'!

Last week was a good week with some welcome visits from family and friends. First my good buddies Jeff and JD made the long drive from NYC and DC, respectively. We had a great time catching up and squeezed in some fishing and shooting during their stay. They also brought quite the care package on behalf of their families, with a least a weeks worth of AWESOME home cooked dinners and desserts. I have to say, as much as I'm looking forward to having this whole process behind me, it is going to be tough going back to eating my own lousy cooking when it' all said and done.

As if that wasn't enough, Tori and Amanda spoiled us on Tuesday with stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes - Thank you guys again! Tori also picked me up a sweatshirt specially designed for chemotherapy patients. The shirt is made by a company called "Libre", which was started by some fellow Miami alumni and friends of ours. Check out their website - they've got a really great concept going and their clothes would make great gift for anyone else you might know dealing with a similar situation.

We also got a visit from my future sister-in-law Leeann. After my treatment yesterday, with Becky stuck in the office her and I took a trip down to the new Greater Cleveland Aquarium. Being the fish-head/nature geek that I am I felt right at home with all the elementary school kids that were running around sticking their noses up to the tanks. The aquarium was built into the re-purposed FirstEnergy Powerhouse building and it was cool to see how they incorporated some of the original architecture into the aquarium layout.

Besides not being able to fish much recently all other news is good. Still holding onto a little bit of hair up top, enough that I haven't had to wear a hat to work yet. Blood counts were good again this week and aside from some fatigue in the evenings I've had plenty of energy and have yet to miss a day of work. Thanks as always for your support and for checking out the blog!

P.S. My fishing blog is only 4 followers shy of 100! If you haven't signed up, humor me and check it out by clicking here. Some of the fishing jargon may not register with you but you may find the pictures interesting if nothing else

The Two-Part Treatment Plan

Went down to The Clinic for round four yesterday. After dealing with a nasty cold this week I was surprised to find that my blood counts had made a strong rebound from two weeks prior, with all figures registering normal (including my ANC count, which was the one we'd been most concerned about). So, it seems my two-part treatment plan is working; Part one involves sitting in a white-walled hospital room and getting pumped full of toxins (life-saving toxins, mind you) for five hours. Part one is slightly less enjoyable than part two...

Spent a full day on the water with Victor and Brett today. It was therapeutic, to say the least. Brett summed it best as we were breaking down our rods and getting ready to part ways: "Days like today cure cancer."

Let's hope he's right. We'll know soon enough; I'll be going in for my interim PET scan on January 20th. This scan will give my doctors a much clearer picture of the effectiveness of my treatment to date and should help guide some of our decision making going forward.

As always thanks so much for the continued support and well wishes. A VERY special thanks to the Grinbergs, who brought us an awesome enchilada dinner last week, and to the Rodenfels', who served up a mean batch of beef stew tonight. We enjoyed both meals tremendously and really appreciate your time and effort!

2012, Here we come...

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. Becky and I had a great time with friends downtown, with me taking a turn as DD for a change! We slept a little later than planned on New Years day but managed to make it to Columbus in time for Grandma Carolyn's 80th birthday party.

It was a special event, with family traveling from as far as Wisconsin to be there, and both of us were happy we could have a part in it. The only downside was the fact that I got manhandled in air hockey by someone 1/3 my age, and would have suffered the same fate in chess if Leeann hadn't intervened on my behalf.

With the winter storm moving in we stuck around through breakfast Monday and took our time getting back to Cleveland. As luck would have it though, we pulled in the drive way with just enough time for me to jump into my waders and meet up with Brett for a couple of hours on the river.

The only bit of bad news this week is that it seems after three treatments the chemo has finally caught up to me - temporarily, of course ;) My hair began to fall out a couple of days ago and I seem to be coming down with a bit of a sore throat/cold. We're keeping a close eye on it and I've already been down to see Dr. Dean so he is very much in the loop on my condition. I continue to be so, so thankful for everyone's well wishes and support and wish you all the best in 2012!

P.S. For those who haven't already seen it, both Brett and I put together a look back at 2011 in words and pictures over at our fly fishing blog. You can check it out by clicking here.