First Time, D

Hello family and friends, this is my first time writing something on Fred's blog, I'm not the writer of the family, Fred is much more eloquent then I am so bare with me...To say what Fred is going through right now is tough is putting it mildly. Each day brings a new challenge for him as well as our family, we weren't expecting it to get rough so fast. The philosophy of our family since Fred's diagnosis has been "to wake up each day and Live!"easier said then done I know, but we will not give up. I believe that Fred will kick this cancers butt with every part of my being, it's just watching him go through so much to get there that hurts. I can't begin to tell you how much your kindness and prayers help our family, you-all know who you are so thank you with all my heart. Fred has begun using his feeding tube, it has become very difficult to swallow, let alone taste food. His neck became swollen with what we now know is an infection, he is on antibiotics for that as well as many other meds to combat the side effects of treatment. We go this Tuesday for the second chemo treatment, so he is almost half way done! The green bands in this picture were designed by Ande N. for her uncle Steve who sadly lost his battle with tongue cancer. The inscription on the band says "courage without a roar"TC. Fred and I wear them proudly in memory of Steve and also for Freds battle with Tongue Cancer. Any family member or friend if you wish to do the same let us know, kindly Ande N. and Katie W. have supplied us with the bands to pass on...Thank you A & K! That's all for now, I'm off to Wegmans in search of something that Fred might actually taste, were trying Lobster today, keep your fingers crossed! Love and :) Peace Dana

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads

Sorry I haven't had much to say lately, I've been a little busy fighting the side effects of the radiation treatments. The battle is truly on! At this point of the game I don't think I want to tell you about all of the details of what I'm going through. Just know that my wife and immediate family are doing everything they can to keep me comfortable. I Also want you to know I appreciate everybody's well wishes, kind acts and prayers. The second chemo treatment is scheduled for Tuesday, so keep the prayers coming...Love to all, Fred

A Humbling Experience

Before I update you on my progress, I thought you all should know that my loving wife has been hobbling around on a walking boot with a broken 2nd Metatarsal for the past 3 weeks. This past Friday , she went back to the doc for a check-up and it was determined she has 4 blood clots below her knee. She started taking Cumadin and is taking Lovenox injections 2 times a day which she tried giving to herself once and bruised herself. Fortunately, Linda Adams (one of our gracious friends who happens to be a nurse) has been stopping in every morning and evening to give Dana her shots. I feel horrible that Dana has to deal with this on top of worrying about my ordeal.

As far as I'm concerned, right now I'm feeling pretty good. I did however, have a rough 3-4 days following the chemo treatment. The night of my treatment (Tuesday), I woke up at about 1 am with a very bad case of indigestion/heartburn that made it very difficult to swallow even water. On top of that, I began to hiccup uncontrollably which further compounded the problem. I am being told that it stemmed from the Dexamethasone steroids that I was taking which I understand are used to help the body deal with the chemo.

Wednesday morning I was prescribed Prilosec to counter the heartburn but was told it may take a day or 2 to "get into my system" and a muscle relaxant to counter the hiccups. Wednesday afternoon, I went back to the infusion center for a Nuelasta shot. This is a drug that makes your bones work "overtime" to regenerate the white blood cells that the chemo destroys and was told the side effects could be "achy bones" or flu-like symptoms. In the meantime, I took 2 more steroid pills Wednesday morning and 2 more that night plus anti nausea pills.

Thursday was probably the roughest day with little desire to eat or drink with no energy as my body was overloaded with drugs and chemicals it had never experienced before. My Angel of a wife was there every step to make sure I forced myself to eat and drink and finally I started to get some relief on Saturday and by Sunday, I was feeling much better. Even went to my my cousin Tucker's daughter's graduation party and started eating much better. It was also very nice to have the weekend off from radiation. This morning I woke up feeling better yet, and knocked out the 5th radiation treatment (only 28 more to go!).

The Doctors are evaluating the side effects from the first go around of chemo and will probably just keep me on the Prilosec which I'm hoping will ward off or minimize the heartburn going into the next chemo treatment. There is also talk of reducing the amount of steroids I will take next time as well. As far as the radiation effects and sore throat is concerned...not too bad, just a very dry "cotton mouth" and things just don't taste like they used to.

Thanks so much for all the prayers, thoughts, efforts and kind acts...Love you guys!

A Mentally Draining Long Day

As I recline in my new chair and get ready for game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, I figured I'd tell you about my first day of treatment. First off the good news is only 2 chemo treatments and 32 Radiation treatments to go! July 16th will be here before I know it.

All-in-all, it was not as bad as I had envisioned it would be. I did screw up and forgot to take two steroid pills last night which kind of started freakin' me out a bit. Treatment started at about 8:30am and didn't get home till about 4:30pm AND I forgot my Ativan "jitter drug" to boot.

The chemo treatment started with 2 1/2 hours of "fluids" to hydrate me followed by a Mannitol push for about 10 minutes (again a diuretic to make sure you pee it all out). The actual chemo drug (Cisplatin) took about 1 1/2 hours. Then they did a manual push of twice as much Mannitol and that was when I had a little bit of an issue with my vein burning and getting tight and numb. We had to make an adjustment or two and put a hot compress on my needle site and vein and added a little saline mix to minimize the burn and after about 30 minutes, got it all in. The final chemo treatment involved another litre of "fluids" to continue the hydration process for another 2 1/2 hours.

From the chemo treatment, I walked down to the radiation people where I waited for a few minutes to get my "experimental" drug injection (that hopefully will minimize the Mucositis side-effect). It was now off to the "Nuc" room where I donned my cool looking mesh mask that bolts me to the radiation table and they fired away at my neck/throat area for about 10 to 15 minutes to end my day.

So far so good...no nausea (knock on wood), just a headache which I chalk up to stress of a long first day without my jitters drug. Now I know what it's all about and really only have to deal with this 2 more times every 3 weeks, other than that it's gonna be probably a 30 minute visit to the hospital for quick radiation treatments at a set time of 8:15am M-F and maybe an extra 10 minutes for blood work every Thursday. Plus when it's all over, I'll end up with a cool Goalie mask.

Well looks like Pittsburgh went up 1-0 but Detroit responded with 2 unanswered with 6 minutes to go in the 1st. Gonna watch the hockey game now and being a Flyer's fan, and as much as I normally join the "Crosby sucks" chants when attending the games, I just don't want Detroit to win the cup again...Go Pens.

Oh, and one more thing...I can't thank my wife enough for taking a day off without pay and hangin' with me through my first ordeal. Love you Dana!