At 5:30 tonight, I finished round three. An hour later I rec’d an email from my Dr. saying that my colonoscopy came out clean. They can not find any signs of cancer! I’m free to go home after six rounds which means I’ll be back just in time to start school next year. I can’t explain how happy this makes me. Unfortunately, I’m already getting sick from this round and according to my wife and daughter, I don’t sound very excited. Believe me, I am. However, when you have a tummy the size of mine and it isn’t happy, it’s hard to sound happy.
This round caused a great deal of weight gain. I put on 15 pounds in 5 days, 10 alone in the last two. They gave me an IV today to get rid of some of it…boy does it work. I got that drug today that does the heart damage so pray that it doesn’t get to me like it did last time.
I feel like I should say more but what else to say except Praise God.
Brad
May 30th, 2007 at 07:47pm
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So far round three has gone well. I’ve only had one minor incident with the meds which was a very severe headache that came on suddenly and caused me to be sick at my stomach but it didn’t last but 30 minutes or so.
This has been different doing it out patient. They gave me a backback with two small pumps and two chemo drugs. They refill it with the same two drugs on days 2 through 5 and I leave and go home. The first day was about 7 hours, day 2 was down to about 4 hours and today was just over an hour. Tomorrow is to be only an hour as well but Wednesday will be a little longer as I’ll be getting two additional drugs that day. As long as I find out that my colonoscopy comes back clear, I’ll be half way through!
Katie leaves tomorrow and a friend from Oklahoma comes in until Friday when Tami will be here for good.
Brad
May 28th, 2007 at 09:39pm
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I started round three yesterday with 7 hours at the hospital. The gave me the rituximab over about a 5 hour period. That is the stuff that made me break out so badly the first time. No problems this time. Today I’m going in for ALL of the chemo. I was suprised to hear it but they are doing 5 different chemo drugs today and then hooking me up to a pump for 72 hours to take home. It comes in a fanny pack so it’s not like taking a big vacum cleaner around with you. I don’t go back to the hospital until Wednesday when they’ll unhook me. That will be the end of round three and if all comes back clear from my colonoscopy, I’ll be half way done!!!
Brad
May 27th, 2007 at 09:48am
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Dr. reviewed results with me this morning. He removed one polyp but said it appears to be no big deal. He did several biopsies to be tested but feels good about the results.
We’ll know the results by Wednesday, May 30th.
Round 3 starts tomorrow morning at 7:15. Wish me luck.
Brad
May 25th, 2007 at 12:23pm
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Great news today from the doctor. My CT scans that he at first said showed on a little cancer left have now been redefined as showing no signs of cancer. Why the change in the reading? There was one spot that they were a little concerned about down in my right groin area. They thought it looked more like fluid than cancer but weren’t sure so they included it as possible cancer. Once the radiologist and my dr. talked, they realized this is where the original biopsy was done and there is an area of fluid that has developed there and that is what they were seeing…so, CT scan was pronounced cancer free. Next was the bone marrow. The Dr. had been very careful to tell me that there wasn’t much chance that this would show clear after just two treatments. With as much involvement as I had in my marrow, it would take longer. Guess what, my marrow on both sides IS TOTALLY CLEAN!!! NO CANCER!
They have once again put my next round off another day. This time they want to do a colonoscopy tomorrow morning. This is the last check to look for signs of cancer. The Dr. feels very strongly that if my marrow and CT scans are clean, then my colon will be clean as well. If that is the case (and we’ll get the results mid of next week) then he’ll officially pronounce me in complete remission. Since I’m sure many of you don’t know what that really means, I asked the Dr. to explain it and I’ll pass that along. Does it mean there is NO cancer ANYWHERE in my body? No, there may be microscopic bits of cancer still left but there is no cancer they can locate. That is what the next few rounds of chemo are for. Certainly everything they found is gone. Does that mean I’m cured? I wish. My kind of cancer usually if not always comes back, it’s just a matter of how long you can stay in remission. However, the dr is hopeful with this new therapy that it is possible it might not come back…so there is a CHANCE.
I asked the Dr. today what “stage” I was in since I was in Stage IV when I got here (there are only IV stages) and he said I wasn’t in a stage…there was no evidence of any disease to stage. That was music to my ears.
News about the heart. My Dr. today told me that the cardiologist also told him there may be nothing wrong with my heart after all. The “scar” they found is sometimes seen on patients of my size (fat) since the diaphram pushes up on or near the bottom of the heart. They are still putting me on small dose heart meds but they really don’t think there is a big deal there. I did find out it isn’t the Velcade that they think did damage to my heart. It is the drug that is bright red. I don’t remember the name but it wasn’t Velcade.
I’ll begin round 3 Sat on an outpatient schedule and as long as the colon doesn’t give me any bad news, I’ll be half way done! If that happens, I’ll finish my last round around August 1st and should be back at school when it starts or within a few days of starting! You don’t know how happy that makes me. It may sound stupid, but I’m almost more excited about that than the no cancer news….wait, maybe not. Ok, no, the “no cancer” news is better.
That’s it for now….it may be too much to ask but if the colon will just cooperate, then I’ll allow myself to get excited. For now, I’m very happy but not over the top excited. God decided to take care of it and He did. Now just to see what else He has in store for me. For those of you that know who Michael W. Smith is, “This is the great adventure” couldn’t be more true.
Brad
May 24th, 2007 at 05:02pm
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This will be a two topic post. First will be the latest from the dr’s and the second is about a mistake I made that may have caused some of the problems.
From the Dr. – I talked with the research nurse that does all of the appts for my treatment. She said the Dr. has approved me to continue with all of the chemo beginning again on Friday. This time it will be outpatient though. I’ll go in the hospital for 3 – 4 hours each day for my chemo. There is one drug that is over 24 hours and so that day I’ll go home with a pump in what looks like a big fanny pack. The impression she got is that we WILL CONTINUE with VELCADE! I go in tomorrow (Thursday) for my next blood work and will meet with my main Dr. then to get all of the news. He should have all of my results from the CT scans and my bone marrow that I’ve been waiting on.
Second, my mistake! Many of you know that I’ve been on synthroid for the last year and my dr. had been increasing the dose because my thyroid was so out of whack. The latest dose I was on was 350 mcg per day. For those of you that don’t know, that is alot. Most people that are on synthroid take 75 to 150 mcg at the most. As you get bumped up to the next amount, it can sometimes make your heart race and make you feel a little jumpy. Anyway, they don’t even make a 350 mcg pill so I had been taking 2 of the 175 mcg pills. When we moved here, I asked Walgreens to move my Rx down here. Three weeks ago I went and picked it up, saw it was Synthroid and began taking 2 pills each day like normal. That is when my heart started racing and I felt like I was always sitting my old truck with the idle stuck too high. I ran out of them what seemed like too quickly about a week ago and didn’t take any for several days. That is when I started feeling better. I called and had it refilled and went and picked the new Rx up two days ago. Got up yesterday and took two pills and THEN realized that the dose on the bottle said 300 mcg. They had moved the previous Rx I had from my old Walgreens, not the newest one that was 350 mcg and I didn’t bother to check. I went back and looked at the bottle I had been taking them from three weeks ago…sure enough, I had been taking 600 mcg of synthroid every day for two weeks. No wonder my heart was racing. I emailed my Dr today and he has already written back and simply said no wonder and that at least the heart racing thing is an easy fix. That doesn’t mean I don’t have the scar in the bottom of my heart, I do. I will still be on heart medicine as far as I know but at least we now know why I couldn’t get my heart to slow down no matter what I did ( or didn’t do)
So the lesson is, ALWAYS read the Rx before taking it. Geeze, how stupid.
Tami flies back home today and Katie comes in for her first round of taking care of her old man.
I’ll write again tomorrow after meeting with the Dr. but that isn’t until 5pm so it will be later in the day.
Brad
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:16am
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I just got off of the phone with my cardiologist. This is what I took from his call. The test for the pumping action of my heart that initially was at 65% but had gone down to 50% was measured at 59%. I thought that was great but the Dr. said that another test measured it closer to 54% and they were placing my number somewhere in the mid 50’s around 55 or 56%. Still better than 50% but not as good as 65%. The stress test showed what he called a scar at the bottom of my heart. He said that typically showed as damage from a previous heart attack but since I don’t remember having one, they are going with the other possibilities. One being that it is minor blockage and the other is that it is damage from the Velcade. Either way, they are putting me on a heart medicine for the remainder of my chemo and then will decide after chemo if I need to stay on it. The cardiologist said I will be seeing him often so it sounds like they’ll be keeping a close eye on me.
He called my cancer doc who told him that I would be restarting chemo tomorrow (Wednesday). My cardiologist said he approved me staying on the velcade but it was up to my cancer dr to make the final decision. So, looks like I’ll begin round three tomorrow but….we don’t know two things yet. 1) will it be in patient or out patient and 2) is it with velcade or without?
We also finally got our new phone number at the apt. It is 713-592-6347. Now maybe we won’t get all of those calls from people trying to reach the charity’s main office. If you didn’t know, our number was listed as the main phone number to the Catholic Charity’s main office on the internet and in the phone book. We got 5 plus calls a day asking for help.
That’s all for now. Once I hear from my main dr, I’ll post that information.
Brad
May 22nd, 2007 at 02:09pm
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Today was heart tests day. After injecting some dye into my IV, they took pictures of my heart for about ten minutes. I then did the treadmill test. That went as well as could be expected. They wanted to at least get me to 85% of my max heart rate which would be 148 beats per minute. They got me to that and then asked me to keep going if I could. We actually spent more than a minute at my max heart rate which was 185 beats per minute. Although I was winded, there was no chest pain. The cardiologist that was in there with me told me it went very well and said I was clear to do any type of exercise I wanted other than competitive racing. I started to ask him how many 313 pound men he knew that ran competitively but didn’t.
Now we are waiting on the results of the pictures. The cardiologist said that those would tell us even more than the stress test did. I’m to get a call either later tonight or tomorrow sometime. I’ll post as soon as I know something.
On another note, it has now been three weeks since my last chemo. Wow, what a difference. I feel almost normal. Of course I know we’ll probably start round three in the next 36 hours so that will change but it is good to know/feel that I can return to feeling fairly strong after the chemo gets out of my body.
Brad
May 21st, 2007 at 07:37pm
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I’ve had a good weekend. No chest pains and my heart rate has been back to normal for the most part. I have the echo stress test in the morning along with an echocardiogram. I’ve been working on walking faster over the last two days around the complex. Tami says I’m killing her by walking so fast so I hope that means I can walk long enough on the treadmill to give them an accurate reading. I’ve been a little concerned with my red cells so low that I wouldn’t have the energy to make it long.
I should hear something late Monday night or early Tuesday about my heart tests results. I should also be getting the final results for my CT scans (showing how much % the cancer is gone) along with the bone marrow results that I’ve been sweating about. Speaking of sweating, night sweats are a fact of life for most people with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Before treatment, I woke up EVERY night wet from the waist up..especially my head and neck, but it has only happened two or three times over the last six weeks and none in the last two weeks.
We are hopeful that the test tomorrow will allow us to continue with Velcade but if not, we’ll deal with it and continue on. Test one is at 9:30 AM and test two is 11:00. I should be done by 1 PM.
I’ll post results as soon as I get them.
Brad
May 20th, 2007 at 07:38pm
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After my cardiologist appt this AM I was able to drive home. I made it up to school in time to visit with many of the teachers. For a moment there, I almost felt like nothing had happened. That felt good. Tomorrow I hope to get to visit with the kids.
Now, for medical update. The lung retake turned out great and appears to no longer be an issue. The heart news isn’t quite as good but we don’t know specifics yet. The cardiologist set up two more heart tests for Monday and said he should be able to call me either Monday night or Tuesday morning with the results. Here is what I heard him say (although I’ve been wrong before) There is damage to my heart that appears to have just happened in the last six weeks, we just don’t know yet what caused it. If it is the Velcade, then I’m pulled from the clinical trial. The other option is that I’ve had heart disease but we just didn’t know it. The Velcade might have made the disease worse. If that is the case, there appears to be some hope that they can give me meds to help repair the heart and stay on the Velcade. You can probably see the issue by now. Do I pray for heart disease so I can stay on the Velcade or hope for no heart disease and get pulled from the study? I don’t like either answer. I’m hoping there is a third option that he didn’t mention.
Tami and I will be driving back to Houston tomorrow afternoon but don’t think I’ll be receiving any more news until the heart tests on Monday.
Brad
May 17th, 2007 at 04:58pm
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They’ve just moved my lung test retake from Friday to today at 3pm. I meet with the cardiologist in the morning at 8 and then might have to meet with my main Dr. early afternoon. I should be free then until at least Sat morning. So, my plan is to get out of here as soon as I’m done tomorrow and drive to Irving. If it is early morning, then I can stop by the school and see the teachers and then visit the kids early Friday morning. If they don’t let me go until Thursday afternoon, I’ll just have to visit with everyone Friday. Tami was flying down here Friday anyway so she’ll just ride down with me and then fly back next Wendesday like she planned on…katie comes down that same day for 6 days.
I’m excited about getting back to Irving and saying hi to the teachers and kids. So many people complain about their coworkers…I have a great group and really miss seeing them. I should be more worried about the lung test I’m about to do or the heart test in the morning but right now, all I can think of is getting to see all of my friends and my kids (students, that is)
Brad
May 16th, 2007 at 01:41pm
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I don’t have final results in on the CT scans but the good news is my Dr. says that the initial results are very impressive. He says there is only a little bit of the disease left from what he can see on the CT scans. We don’t have the bone marrow results yet which is where our main concern was and won’t have them for about another week.
The not so good news is related to my heart and lungs. As many of you know, I’ve been having problems with my heart racing (as it is right now as I type) . My lung test yesterday showed a slight problem and one of the reasons it could show that is due to a weaker heart. According to my Dr. the heart should pump 50% – 70% of the blood on each beat. Six weeks ago, mine pumped a really good 65%. Today it hit only 50%.
The Dr. has postponed my 3rd round and is setting me up for more cardiac tests asap. That will help the lung doc make his decision too. From what I gathered from my Dr., the worst that will happen is they’ll take me off of the clinlical trial (which means no more wonder drug mixed in with the rest of my chemo) and go back to the regular high dose stuff (HYPER CVAD w/ Rituxum) which still had a 50/50 chance of staying in remission more than 2 1/2 years. Even if I am taken off of it, at least I’ve had four doses of it so far.
If you’ll notice I didn’t say that I was in clinical partial remission or clinical complete remission..that won’t be until we have the bone marrow results. However, results look promising. Right now we need to pray that the heart and lung issue is nothing serious or lasting.
I’ll post more as soon as I know more.
Brad
May 15th, 2007 at 04:32pm
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Today has been a little bit of a wild ride. The first test this morning was my pulminary function test which the tech said was great. However, this afternoon I met with my main dr who informed me that the pulminary function test showed a possible problem and we can’t proceed until he talks with the specialist and gets the ok. Either the Velcade has damaged my lungs OR there is a problem with my heart OR I might have some type of infection that is causing it OR it might just be a strange reading that means nothing.
The last thing I just did was the bone marrow aspiration and bone marrow biopsy. The aspiration is where they take out the marrow and the biopsy is where they take a core sample of the bone. Last time it hurt…this time it felt worse. I have my CT scans at 7am tomorrow and my cardiac test at 8:30.
The big news…looks like I’m not going in tomorrow for round 3. The Dr. wants to wait on the results of my tests before he knows how we are going to proceed. Problem is we’ve bought Tami and Katie’s airline tickets based on the schedule they gave us…now it’s getting changed, maybe. I’m awaiting a call tomorrow from my Dr. to tell me when I’m going in. Also, from now on, my odd number treatments will be outpatient where I go in every day and get a pump to take home.
Well, I’m taking Tami to the airport for her to fly back home. I’ll blog tomorrow after I get some news from my Dr.
Brad
May 14th, 2007 at 05:17pm
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Had fast track this morning. Man, numbers can change very quickly. My platelets that were down to 9,000 Sunday and up to 37,000 Tuesday are now up to 202,000! That infusion sure did its job. My white cells that were down to 600 on Sunday and up to 2,500 on Tuesday are now almost 16,000! That is way too many but it will come back down soon. Explains why my back has been hurting. If you don’t understand that, it has to do with too many white cells in an area that can’t handle that many, so it hurts. The only negative in my blood work is my red cell/hemoglobin. It continues to go down each and every time they do my blood work. The dr today said that is also a reason my heart is working harder and why I’m getting tired so quickly now. They will consider giving me a shot (of what, I don’t know) on Tuesday before I’m admitted.
The big day for my tests has turned into two big days. Most of the test have been moved to Monday but a couple are on Tuesday. I should know how much the cancer has been reduced by Tuesday night. We pray that God has seen fit to rid me of this cancer, but if not, we’ll continue to deal with it the best we can.
Tami’s flight lands in less than two hours. I can’t tell you how much easier it is when she is here. It’s just so much more comfortable for me then. I probably won’t post this weekend as I don’t have a thing to go to the hospital for on Sat or Sunday. Wow, what is that going to be like?
Brad
May 11th, 2007 at 03:53pm
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I’ve felt better today and am looking forward to tomorrow. Fast track (blood work + Phy Assistant) tomorrow morning and then Tami gets to the airport around 5:30!
I went to the hospital this morning to get my dressing changed on the CVC (place in my chest where they put the drugs in) and decided to have them check my blood pressure to see if it was messed up like yesterday. It was back to normal. No chest pains today either! The heart rate is still a little high but not bad. I’m feeling better each and every day. Of course, the next round starts Tuesday night and then you start going back down again but hey, you know that ahead of time.
All of my test are in fact being rescheduled for Monday and Tuesday. My room usually is ready on Tuesdays a little after 7pm. Then they admit me and we start the chemo all over again. This is round 3. The odd number chemo rounds are the longer ones that last a week but, at least according to rounds 1 and 2, were easier on my body than the even rounds.
I rec’d more letters from my 5th graders yesterday…man that is fun getting to read them. I’m still hopeful that the schedule will work out where I can go say hi before they leave at the end of this month. We’ll see.
Until tomorrow.
Brad
May 10th, 2007 at 04:57pm
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The main concern continues to be my heart. I just stand up to walk around and the heart rate jumps and stays up for a while but I’ve not had any chest pain so that is good. My blood pressure was a little off at 131/58. It has gotten better so I’ll take that. The difference shouldn’t be that high.
My test that were to have been next Tuesday had been scheduled for tomorrow but I finally reached the lady who is in charge of that and she is changing them. Now I have nothing tomorrow and fast track (blood work and physician’s assistant visit) on Friday. Tami flies back in on Friday afternoon.
Keep writing…I look forward to reading your posts.
Brad
May 9th, 2007 at 05:47pm
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We’ve just returned from my daily hospital visit. My blood work has gone up where my white cells that were 600 are now 2,500. My heart is still running a little fast but is coming down. The PA told me today that this is to be expected with all that I’m getting. I have marks all over my back and side from scratching while my platelets were so low. Not a pretty site.
Tami is about to leave to head home to Irving but will be flying back on Friday night. I’ll be by myself until then but feel really good about not having any more problems between now and then. I only have one more shot which is tomorrow and then it’s just blood work till my big round of test that will either be next Tuesday or now might be this weekend.
Brad
May 8th, 2007 at 11:29am
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Today was a very interesting but exhausting day. As Tami mentioned in yesterday’s post, my heart was racing all of Sat. I woke up today with it a little better but within a few minutes it was back up over 120. I went to get my white blood cell shot and they sent me straight to the ER there at MD Anderson. That was around lunch. It is now almost 11:30 pm and we’ve just walked in the door of our apt.
At the hospital, just standing up from a sitting position caused my heart to run over 140 beats a minute. They did several heart tests..said they found some very minor stuff but nothing to cause this. They did blood work and found that my white cells were still very low but my platelets had dropped to 9K. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that isn’t good. The ER Dr. was convinced I had an infection “brewing” as he called it and said he expected to see me with a high temp in a couple of hours. That didn’t happen. Instead, they ended up giving me a transfusion of platlets and within 30 minutes, I was up and heading out the door feeling better than I had for two days.
Hopefully that is the last “fun” we’ll have for a while. My next blood work is Tuesday so we’ll know more then. Finally, off to bed.
Brad
May 6th, 2007 at 11:26pm
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Hi all, this is Tami. Well…as the title says, it is a good thing I came. Today has been a little rough for Brad. His heart is racing some, he feels wiped out, his headache has come twice really hard, he has a little fever, but hey…the rash looks much better! He is glad I came. It is just the pits to feel bad with someone else here. Mark left this morning at 4:30 am. I don’t think Brad would have ever made it driving him to the airport like the plan was until I came in last night. Like I said….good thing I came. I am headed to the grocery store to get him some vanilla ice cream and dr. pepper. Yes….he likes his dr. p with ice cream these days! Here’s to a better tomorrow. Love yall, pray hard, keep blogging! Tami for Slick Willy
May 5th, 2007 at 05:30pm
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Today I had my blood work done and pretty much as expected, the numbers were low. They were actually a little lower than even we expected but just shy of having to have a transfusion. My white blood cells were down from over 7,000 to just 400.   My platelets that had been well over 100,000 were down to 31,000. If they get to 20,000, then you get a transfusion.Â
The rash is about the same so they gave me more meds for that. The mouth sores I think are getting a little better. I get tired and actually sleepy very easy several times a day. They said that is just the cumulative effect of the chemo adding up.  A fairly severe headache hit this morning and lasted through the early afternoon but is now gone.Â
I’ll be taking Mark Carlson to the airport at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow and then Tami is driving back down since my numbers are so low. She’ll be staying till Monday or Tuesday. My numbers should start coming back up this weekend so I should be able to stay alone after then without any trouble till she flies back down Friday afternoon.Â
Enough for now. Hope the changing of the blogging site doesn’t cause you too many problems but it will give me more flexibility in what I can do on here. Since I’ve now finished my masters, I have to have something to play with! LOL
May 4th, 2007 at 04:35pm
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Everything is going well today. I only had my white blood cell shot this morning along with a change of the dressing for my CVC (the place where they put the chemo directly into my chest) and then the rest of the day off. I’m still dealing with the rash, a few new sores on my legs and the sores in my mouth…although they are getting better. I get my new numbers tomorrow on my blood work so I’ll post around lunchtime tomorrow once I have those. Brad
May 3rd, 2007 at 03:06pm
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Just returned from taking Tami to the airport. I hate to see her go but someone in this family has to make some money!! An old friend from Colorado is coming in tonight to stay until Sat morning so I’ll be leaving in a couple of hours to pick him up from the other airport here in Houston. Oh, I’ve finished my last class for my masters degree. YEPPIE..done. I’m already bored and looking to see if I can go ahead and start that PhD I wanted to get going on this summer online. Naw, maybe I’ll just rest a while. It’s been a pretty good day. I’m very tired when going up stairs but other than that, I feel pretty good. I still have a rash from the last round of drugs that meds are taking care of but I’m just trying my best to ignore it. My next blood work isn’t until Friday so I won’t have more numbers until then. Tomorrow is just the shot to up my white blood cells. Thanks for keeping up with me and all of the support that you have provided our family.
May 2nd, 2007 at 07:10pm
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We’ve just returned from the hospital and my blood work looks pretty good so far. It will start coming down today or tomorrow though for the next four or five days before beginning its rebound. The only issues currently are a new rash that just shows up at anytime and any place on my body from one of the most recent drugs. Benadryl helps but doesn’t take it away. I’ve also noticed I get worn out much quicker this week than after the first treatment. The nurses said that is to be expected. I didn’t sleep much last night but I’m not sure why. Hopefully tonight will be more restful. Brad
May 1st, 2007 at 09:39am
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