Two Weeks Post Chemo - Doing Great!

Apologies for waiting so long for an update. It's been a hectic two weeks between work, swim meets, kids commitments and the end of the high school semester. The good news is I did have one major revelation about cancer - possibly a breakthrough for many of us. Below is the fortune from David's fortune cookie from dinner tonight...

If I had only known...

On our way driving east on I-70 yesterday morning Jen reminded me that this was my first 9-80 (AFO) Friday where I wasn't heading to chemo treatment. Instead we were headed to Providence for a long Easter weekend to visit Chris who turned 21 this week. Travel is back to being an option again! It was definitely a Good Friday. What a great feeling to be healing and not going for another round of cancer killing chemicals. As we drove north I was left thinking about so many others still dealing with their treatments like Janet (Twi's mom who is responding well to chemo), Eileen (had chemo on the 22nd), Danita (done with chemo but radiation starts in June), and Colleen and her sister-in-law who are likely right in the middle of treatments. 

I'm doing pretty well overall. My taste is almost back to normal. My toes still hurt from neuropathy more often than not but each day is different. My energy level is good and has supported the long days at work. And it is so nice to be getting away for a few days with Jen and the kids.  Below is a family photo from Chez Pascal in Providence last night. It's a cozy French restaurant just north of Brown University. We had a great meal and an even better conversation as we enjoyed our time together.

Family Dinner

Today we drive to Newport and toured the island on our own. Alison picked out her future home on the drive on Ocean Drive. Unfortunately for her Sotheby's is offering her dream house, Wildacre, for a mere $15.75M. It almost hit 60 degrees and it was just a beautiful day to get out on the Atlantic. Some photos below from the south end of Brenton Point State Park.

David, Chris and me

Alison and Jen

Happy Easter and Passover this weekend. Much love to you all. 

Chemo Treatment #12 - DONE! Hallelujah!

All I can say is "Wow!" It was just an incredible day. I am almost overwhelmed by the incredible outpouring of love and support that reached a crescendo this week. As I said in my last post it started early in the week and just continued to build all week. Between text messages, emails, calls, and the family and friends who were able show up today, it was absolutely amazing.There were lots of pictures today so this post will be a filled with them.

Mom, Dad, Pete, Les, Little Joe, and Sharon came over bright and early. Jen and I joined them in the short trek to the chemo facility. Traffic cooperated and were were early. And Sharon's blood pressure didn't suffer too much as she rode shotgun with dad as he navigated the Baltimore beltway traffic trying to keep up with me. The "crew" nearly filled the back part of Dr. Seifter's waiting area...see below:

Most of the Heart of Team Brack

My consult with Dr. Seifter was uplifting and congratulatory more than anything. My vitals were fine and there were no major issues to address...other than the Ravens rapidly disappearing defense during free agency. We talked about the statistics going forward...there is a 1 in 200 chance of developing acute leukemia or myelodysplasia within 7 years, and there is as high as an 85% chance of total cure (no relapse) with classic Hodgkin's Lymphoma within 5-7 years. And I'll say it again...I like those odds. My schedule going forward is one final PET/CT in 4-6 weeks. I'll see Dr. Seifter in 3 months and every 3 months for a year, followed by every 4 months for year 2, and every 6 months in year 3. All we can do now is look for the standard symptoms like swollen lymph nodes around (primarily in and around my neck), night sweats, unexplained fever, or unexplained weight loss.

Dawn and Nancy were working in the chemo facility today. Two wonderful, caring and friendly "angels" for me. Other than some uncooperative veins, chemo went smoothly. And my third Angel, Anna, called in and wished me well on her day off. I'll see her at my next checkup in 3 months.

Dawn and Nancy

I had a constant stream, 2 or 3 at a time, of family and friends sitting by my side the entire time with a few surprises. John and Lisa showed up early and their two oldest, erin and Ryan, came a short while later. And they came bearing gifts - balloons, chocolate chip cookies and whip cream (Ryan knows I'm a fan of whip cream on any dessert)

Jen

Mom and Dad

Les, Peter/Little Pete, and Little Joe

Sharon, Mom and Little Pete

Lisa and John

Erin and Ryan

After we were done, the majority of us went out to Catonsville Gourmet for lunch that started with a Champagne toast (thanks John!). The food was great and the time spent together was even better.

Lunch

The support didn't end there. When we got home I was greeted to balloons at the end of the driveway, a Panera care package (love you Eileen, Mitch, Tim, Matt and Jason), and an Edible Arrangement (love you Maura, Keith, Connor, Nolan, Bridget, Maeve, and Quinn). I'll take a word from my dads vocabulary - FAWESOME!

A Surprise

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart (that has not weakened as a result of Adriamycin). Your incredible support has made it tolerable and much easier than I could have ever expected to make it through 12 treatments/6 cycles over the last 154 days or 5+ months.

Much love to you all.

Round 11...Finishing Strong – Brack 11, HL 0

Apologies for my lack of updates during Round 11. It's been a crazy fortnight with family and work commitments. I absolutely took this round in fine form. I felt pretty good throughout even though I was not at the top of my game as you can see by my scores below. Just when I was getting used to a cycle, chemo threw me a curveball a few weeks ago and the only constant now is change. During round 10 and 11 my ability to taste has been different each day. Some days I can taste just like normal, and the next day almost nothing. This round was also featured a higher than normal sensitivity with my tongue and gums.  I continued to rinse with saltwater throughout the entire round fand started peroxide/water rinses a few days ago – it helps some. Fortunately ice cream has continued to taste good no matter what. And yes my toes still tingle 24/7 although my fingers seem to be doing a little better. I know this because I can completely button a dress shirt in the morning without much pain. Ahh, the little things in life!

Round 11 Scores

I have been thinking a lot about being done with chemo and my awesome friends and family have kept me in that mode. Lori started a text message countdown each day for the past week - so cool. Her husband Dave just texted me some good luck. Terese sent her customary well wishes that always warm my heart. Mom, Angela, JJ and Sudi all left awesome comments on my blog. Paul has kept me in daily/weekly updates on his travels through the Philippines (see the blog stats below). Paulette reached out today with her well wishes (I miss her apple pies that she's been baking for us each Thanksgiving for so long I've lost count of the years). People I barely know at work like Sherry, also a cancer survivor,  sent emails wishing me well. Kelly just texted her well wishes and ML just emailed me to say he was cheering me on - as I was writing this. But the thing I'm most happy about this week, other than finishing chemo, is that mom has voluntarily turned tomorrow into a family party. Jen, mom, dad, brother Pete (squamous cell carcinoma survivor),  sister Les, and our family friend Sharon (visiting from Phoenix and an ovarian cancer survivor) will all be accompanying me tomorrow. So party we will!

Below is a cool thing provided by Google/Blogspot. I can see the countries where people are reading my blog. Notice Paul's hits from the Philippines…

Now for a funny story that could only happen as a result of chemo. A bunch of us went out in Baltimore on the Saturday after chemo treatment #11 to celebrate our friend John's 50th birthday. We had dinner and then went to Howl At The Moon – a dueling piano bar. I knew we were older than your average patron when the waitresses immediately walked over with jello shots. Of all the ironies, the shots were red jello served in "drinkable" (fake) hypodermic syringes. Faithful blog readers should immediately know that this is how I have received Adriamycin at each chemo treatment. It looks like red hummingbird food in a syringe. For a moment I thought I was being stalked by chemo!

Hooray for tomorrow!

Much love.

Chemo Treatment #11 - ONE MORE TO GO!

Everything went great again yesterday at my Round 11 chemo session. Mom and dad showed up at 7am and, as usual, the morning started with smiles all around and a toasted Starbucks croissant. Both mom and dad were elated that we were finishing the second to last treatment today. We were on the road early, bowing to dad's desire to arrive early as opposed to my penchant for showing up just on time. We were at Park Medical early and I was in to see Dr. Seifter around 9:15am. The one question I had was about the probability of the long term side effects of my treatment regimen for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, in particular secondary malignancies. As with many cancer treatments, patients cured of Hodgkin's Lymphoma remain at increased risk of developing secondary cancers. It looks like there is a 1 in 200 chance of developing acute leukemia or myelodysplasia within 7 years. I like those odds!  

After a quick checkout (all vital signs are fine) I was in my chemo chair by 9:30 ready to go. Both Dawn and Anna were manning the fort today. For the second week in a row Dawn hit a homer with the IV on the topside of my right hand just below my thumb. The blood flowed out and the IV fluid flowed in with no problems. My CBC was fine although we're beyond the point of changing the treatment as a result of blood counts. To top things off my buddy John showed up around 9:45am and stayed for the duration. Mom, dad and John had to split time sitting with me because the room filled up with patients by 10:30am. It's fun when John, dad and me get going on current events of business issues - lot's of good info and opinion. Dawn and Anna have been so accommodating when my family and friends show up with me. I am in the minority because most patients either show up alone or their family/friends leave or stay outside in the waiting area.   

It was a good week leading up to treatment #11. The highlight was dinner on Wednesday with an old college friend and teammate who was in town on business. I first met Bondy before our junior year in high school on the hoop courts of the 5-Star Basketball Camp at Robert Morris College, as it was called back then. It was pretty easy for two laid-back, 6'7", skinny, white guys to quickly become friends that summer. In addition to trying to make a name for ourselves, we were treated to daily games by a rising basketball star whose nickname at the time was "Blagic" - in deference to Magic Johnson who was just starting to make his name in the NBA. That high school player, who to my recollection beat Linton Townes (JMU) handily in a pickup game one afternoon at camp, was none other than Michael Jordan. At the end of that camp Bondy headed back to Richmond, VA and I returned to the suburbs of DC. Somewhat fortuitously we both ended up at W&M as teammates a few years later. Bondy is one of those guys that always brings a smile to my face. I can't recall that I've ever seen him in any other mood than upbeat - except for many in the heat of commotion on the court. It was great to see him. And now, some 32 years later, we were sitting across from each other have a good meal and a great laugh as we caught up. I'm smiling as I type this.  

Below are my Round 10 scores. You can see the dip where I caught a cold. And even though I was below average for the almost the whole round, it was a good round with no new side effects or other issues.

Round 10 Scores

Well, all I can say is March 15 here I come. One more to go. It would have been a much tougher road without all of your support for me, Jen, Chris, David and Alison. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.  Much Love.

Doing Fine Midway Through Round 10

This is a quick mid-round update. The round has gone well, albeit my scores are slightly lower than average. I did have a head cold on days 2-4 (Sun-Tue). It didn't help that I spent the entire first weekend after chemo (Days 0-2) at a swim meet. Breathing hot, chlorinated air for 8 hours straight isn't fun for a healthy person. And it's much less fun for a breathing-challenged lunkhead like myself. I took my first two sick days off from work in as long as I can remember. I was able to sleep for 12 hours each day and that really helped kick the cold. Luckily I made it through unscathed.

And I've finally found the official term for the tingling in my toes and fingers - Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy. Unfortunately knowing this has't lessened the effect of the tinging sensation that is now more pronounced in my toes and is not so bad in my fingers. It is harder to button a dress shirt in the morning and I seem to be stubbing my toes more often – Murphy's Law.  On the good news front I have shed the water I was holding during round 9 so I no longer feel like a beached whale going through menopause.

One highlight this week is I'm having dinner with Bondy on Wednesday. It will be great to see him. Mom and Dad are taking me to Chemo treatment #11 on Friday. Only one more to go after that. Hallelujah!

I'll leave you with the rainbow that greeted me as I was getting over my cold last Tuesday. A good sign.

Good Luck Double Rainbow

Much Love!

Chemo Treatment #10 - Smooth as Silk

Everything went better than I expected today at my Round 10 chemo session. It started with dad's positive attitude that it was going to be a great day and I would have only two treatment s left after this one was over. And that's just what I needed because leading up to today I felt like I was coming down with a cold. Add to that the aforementioned water retention and veins that are becoming harder to find, and I thought I might possibly have to skip this treatment. On the upside, I had the latest pulmonary function test on Thursday and my DLCO/VA score was 90.1% of predicted value, this is up from 89.3% one month ago and that is good news. After discussing all this with Dr. Seifter there were no questions that we would proceed with this treatment...more good news. I was also happy to see my vitals were all good with my blood pressure being 110/70.

Dawn was running the chemo room today all by herself. I was the first patient and it was quiet for for the better part of the first hour. Dawn found an excellent vein (cephalic?) on the top side of my right hand, next to the thumb muscles. The three vials for my CBC were filled in no time and steroids, anti-nausea, and standard saline IV fluid were all flowing in short order. The CBC results (below) were back quickly and the WBC was still acceptable although it's the lowest we've seen yet (1300/uL). The granulocytes numbers were acceptable as well and my RBC, which continues to be almost normal. Given all that, we were a go for chemo.

CBC Round 10

The chemo treatment lasted just over 3 hours, one of the quickest yet. Dawn was awesome, working with no assistance and handling 5 additional patients while dad and I had an ongoing conversation. I was back home by 1pm and ready for a nap, quite the opposite of what's supposed to happen when one is full of steroids.

We're almost there! Two more to go.
Much love to you all.

PS
A picture from our oysterfest an birthday party at mom and dad's last week.

49th Birthday Pic

Round 9: Brack-9, HL-0... 75% There!

Happy Valentine's Day. It's been another good round that included my birthday, a superb Super Bowl win, lots of great Cajun food and some fine sweets. It started with the birthday oysterfest at mom and dad's on Sunday. Yes we ate more than 150 oysters prepared a half dozen different ways. Big Money and Chris made an appearance as did my friend Rob who has been hanging with me since third gade. It was a fine day for sure.  Fat Tuesday featured homemade oyster and sausage creole from David. Dinner tonight was homemade oyster and sausage gumbo from dad. Jason brought over a Panera cookie and pastry sampler last weekend from his family. Danny brought by some good brew from his family. And Mark and Janice sent a cookie and candy sampler that never stood a chance. That's one sure fire way to keep the weight on!

My scores for the round have been good although a few things kept my them in the reasonable range. My tastebuds never quite made it back during the second week. I've been retaining more water than the Hoover Dam and my sinuses are a bit out of whack. Other than that all is good.

Round 9 Scores

The funniest thing this round had to be mom's temporary teeth while she was waiting for a couple implant crowns. She looked just like the picture below…no kidding.

Almost Mom with Temporary Teeth

Much love to you all.

*** 

PS...I'll also leave you with a couple jokes I heard this week, #1 for the first time. Both were good for a laugh. Warning...the #2 features adult (juvenile?) humor.

#1: 

Three men each married a woman from a different country. The first man married a woman from Italy. He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man married a woman from Poland. He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man married a girl from Ireland. He ordered her to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher. He still has some difficulty when he pees!

#2: 

A vacationing penguin is driving his through Arizona when he notices that the oil pressure light is on. He gets out to look and sees oil dripping out of the motor. He drives to the nearest town and stops at the first gas station.

After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town. He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides that something cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big dish of ice cream and sits down to eat. Having no hands he makes a real mess trying to eat with his flippers. After finishing his ice cream, he goes back to the gas station and asks the mechanic if he's found the problem. The mechanic looks up and says "It looks like you blew a seal."

"No no," the penguin replies, "it's just ice cream."