Makin' Moves

I had my seventh treatment a week ago yesterday. I will finally admit that it is starting to wear on me ever so slightly, if only in the sense that I am really looking forward to ringing that bell down there to mark the end of my last treatment. Some mild side effects are becoming more noticeable too - my hair is still thinning slowly, my skin has been turning darker, and my stomach has just been generally disagreeable for the last couple of weeks. But on most days my energy level is still great and I'm feeling really good.

For better or worse, Becky and I have been keeping busy with so much lately that it's kept both of our minds off of treatment. Most of that time has been devoted to searching for and purchasing our first home! We looked at quite of few before finding one that fit the bill, and with interest rates at an all time low we felt like it was a great time to buy. Looks like the remission party this summer will be at our new place on Spencer Road in Lyndhurst!

Lastly, thanks to everyone who has brought or offered to bring us dinner over the last couple of weeks - Ryan, Mr. & Mrs. Grinberg, Tori & Amanda and Brad & Lauren to name  few in particular - we really appreciate it!

Victor and I are headed out to the river now. Thanks for visiting the blog!

Perspective

I know, I know... it's been a little quiet around here. Some of you were starting to worry, so I apologize for the lapse in posts. But I subscribe to the "Quality over Quantity" school of blogging. [One of] The problem[s] with most forms of American media is that 90% of it is much ado about nothing. As Don Corleone once said, "They speak when they should listen." We're all guilty of that from time to time, but now and then it's best to just sit and reflect.

I've kept things light on this blog, with good reason. For one, there's been nothing to be heavy about! It's been all good news from the get-go (knock on wood), and I'm extremely thankful for that. And I'm well aware that no one wants to nor should have to hear about my "problems" - we all have plenty of our own. But the fact is, cancer- not my cancer, but the disease as a whole - is a weighty subject matter. A lot of people are not nearly as fortunate as I have been with side effects, let alone outcomes of treatment. Though I've got a long way to go, and I'm taking nothing for granted, I think it bears reflecting on what has made the treatment experience so positive to date.

You won't often catch me standing next to a river without a fly rod in my hand, but I like to do that when I get the chance. Once I get over the urge to make a cast, my head quiets down. I am reminded of why I come to these places; why many people come to these places. There's a lot of great fly fishing literature out there, and many famous authors over the years have tried to put to words the value of a life spent outdoors. I always come back to something I heard a fellow angler say in a fishing documentary about an exploratory trip to New Zealand:

“The second you step off that plane and get out to that river, all the stress, all the worries all the havoc that you had up to that point in time just melts away. And you forgot about everything, it’s gone. And eventually it hits you: this is what life is supposed to be. Because all that matters is right now, right here, and there’s no other place you’d rather be."

I can't overstate how much that mindset has helped me. When I'm fishing, I'm fishing. I'm not trying to solve my problems. In fact, more often than not I'm exacerbating them by making myself late or avoiding a to-do list (sorry Beck!). But while it may sound cliche, I believe more and more each day that it must be contributing in some way, however immeasurable, to the healing process. Having a buddy there with me is always a bonus.

The other contributor to my positive experience has been the people around me. Those who have dealt with a disease or other forms of adversity will relate, but until you have you will never know how much the support and encouragement from family, friends, and even strangers means. The notes, emails, texts, calls, gift cards, visits, dinners.... nothing goes unnoticed or under-appreciated! So I will continue fishing at every opportunity and thanking you for your kindness and support along the way, and know that everything will turn out for the best.

What have I been doing in the meantime? Well, last week I ran up to Michigan with a couple of buddies for a change of scenery. We had a ball and had many memorable moments along the way. If you haven't seen them take a look at the two photo essays I posted over on Dudewater. You may have to view "older posts" to see them all.

Friday night we attended the 6th annual "Man Meal" hosted by some friends of ours. Quite the meal it was, with everything from buffalo sliders to bluegill linguini on the menu. Based on the stomach ache I woke up with Saturday morning, it's possible that I over-indulged.

A little shop-talk never hurt either. Put about 40 fly fishers in the same room and as you might imagine there was one subject that somehow managed to dominate the conversation...

If my math is right my treatment this past Monday marked the half-way point for me! I'm feeling great and looking forward to pushing through the last three months of chemo. Thanks as always for your support and for taking the time to visit the blog!

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.

Treatment Numero Tres

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. It's about 5:45 on Tuesday and I almost finished with my third treatment. I'm starting to feel like the Vince Chase of the cancer center as it seems to be a party every time I come down here! Today I was lucky enough to have my beautiful bride-to-be with me, my mom (who came bearing gifts, as usual), and our good buddy from Miami Nick Scala dropped by for a visit as well! It was great to see him and the company made the hours go by much faster.


Overall my condition has remained pretty stable. My white blood cell count is still low, though it's a bit higher than it was before my second treatment (up to 1,000 from 790 last week). The nurses encouraged me again today to be very mindful of my hand-washing, sanitizing and exposure to sick people. We'll see how I feel later tonight and tomorrow morning but for now things continue to run smoothly.

Also, a special thanks to Goob, who had us over for an awesome home-cooked dinner last week, and to Lindsay Buffington, who saved us from kitchen duty this week. You guys rock!

I have been promising people that cancer would not keep me out of the woods or off the rivers, and it certainly hasn't; [much to Becky's chagrin] I've been fishing and hunting like a maniac recently (I am certain this is the primary reason for my lack of side-effects to date). And just so you don't think all I ever do is sit around the hospital with an IV in my arm, here's a few shots from the field!

Update for 12/22

Hey Everybody,

Just a quick update today. I am feeling awesome and still hanging on to my hair (what little I've been sporting these days). I'm thrilled about that, but Becky has been encouraging me to accept the fact that my head is going to miss it's "blanket" pretty soon.

Yesterday I met with my Oncologist, Dr. Dean at the Taussig Cancer Center downtown. He gave me a look over and asked some questions regarding how I've been dealing with my treatment. According to him I'm making great progress and there' plenty of optimism looking forward. He mentioned that the dip in some of my blood counts that was recorded prior to my second treatment was pretty normal and to be expected. We discussed my options going forward regarding whether or not to receive radiation treatment, but there's still some time before that decision has to be made.

For now I'm looking forward to being with friends and family over the Holiday weekend, and will head back downtown for my third treatment on Tuesday. Thanks so much again for the continued prayers and well wishes... they are working wonders!

JL