When I got out of the shower this morning it occured to me that I used shampoo to wash my bald head. What was the point of that? Now my scalp feels ten times more dry than normal. In the past when my hair was shorn down to nothing, like when I was in basic training for example, I just used bar soap to wash my scalp. I dont know why I used shampoo this time.. Habit I guess
In other news I just found out that the KU-MU basketball game will be syndicated on a channel that I don't get. So, what does that mean for me? You guessed it.. roadtrip to the bar! So far it looks like the only people going are my dad, Carrie, and of course me. Were going to try to recruit Casey and perhaps Jenny to come along too. I'd like to get Kevin to come but his work schedule might interfere and the fact that he's not quite 21 really sucks. I wouldn't want him to feel like a designated driver. It will be alot of fun and I've been looking for an excuse to go out, eat some hot wings and get loaded while watching what will no doubt be a fantastic basketball game. The KSU game is at 3pm and the KU game is at 7pm so there is a chance that I could spend the majority of my Saturday afternoon, not only at the bar but reasonably intoxicated. I'll have to see if the rest of the participants are onboard for coming in early to catch the KSU game and have essentially an all day beer and basketball marathon. I bet I won't have much difficulty selling the idea. I'm getting giddy just thinking about it.
This morning a social worker from Nebraska Medical Center called to ask me a few question about how I'm doing as far as support during and after the transplant and to try to identify and socially relevant issues I may have. The interview went well and of course no issues were identified but it seemed a little odd that I now have a social worker looking out for my best interest. I guess thats what she doing. Its nice that I have her services available if I need them but I really don't think I will. I'm of the opinion that well adjusted law abiding citizens really don't need the services of a social worker. She said that being away from home and staying in the hospital was stressful. I told her that I came from a medical family and wan't afraid of hospitals per se. I didn't have the heart to ask where she was while I was away from home for military service. If there was ever a time when I needed a social worker to help with my issues... that was it.. sheesh. Anyway, I guess thats just part of the process.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Lymphoma forum
For a long time I've been lurking around this web forum for hodgkins lymphoma and not really contributing anything. I guess with my upcoming transplant I've decided that I should open myself up and share not only my experiences but also my insight to the rest of the hodgkins community. For those reading this blog who don't know about the forum its located at http://forums.webmagic.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB1&page=0
It's been a really useful resource for some of my super specific questions and concerns not to mention that there is a camaraderie among the active posters that I could sure use while I'm interned up in Omaha.
It's been a really useful resource for some of my super specific questions and concerns not to mention that there is a camaraderie among the active posters that I could sure use while I'm interned up in Omaha.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
ICE number 2
So I finally broke down and decided to start blogging my experiences. I always thought that blogging was something people that lacked a healthy social life did but now I think it may be a good way to let my interesting (to say the least) life story be known. OK, so I got that out of the way, lets get down to brass tacks...
Last week I had my second round of ICE salvage chemotherapy, basically thats the early preparation for my stem cell transplantation. I tolerated the chemo actually pretty well. I had a couple days where I was nauseated but nothing I couldn't stand. At this point I only feel a little sluggish, the best way to describe it is to imagine the last 2 hours of a hangover where you don't feel 100% but are far from being trashed. That's where I am now.
One of the side effects of the ICE chemotherapy is that it kills alot of white blood cells and weakens my immune system. To combat that I get a shot called Neulasta. You may have seen commercials for it on TV. The thing about Neulasta is that, number one, it hurts like a bitch when I'm getting it injected and, number two, about five days after injection, my bones feel like someone beat me with a baseball bat. Unfortunately, I'm right at the five day point now and can expect to be in considerable pain soon. So I'm pretty excited about that.
The next step in this transplantation process is a PET scan. For those unfimiliar with that, it is basically like a CT scan or MRI that can detect cancer. Around the end of the month I'll have a PET scan to see if I'm in remission or at least very close to it. If I am in remission then I travel to Omaha for the collection phase of the transplantation. Basically I go up to Nebraska Medical Center and they hook me up to a machine like a dialysis machine that takes stem cells out of my blood and returns the rest of my blood to normal circulation. To clarify, a stem cell is like a baby white blood cell that hasn't decided to become a white blood cell yet. I'll need to collect these baby cells because later therapy will kill all the white cells I have in my body and they will need to recolonize my body with the harvested cells. Harvesting stem cells should be pretty quick, I've heard estimates ranging from one day to two weeks. Taking into consideration how well my white cells have heald up during treatment thus far I expect to be closer to one day than two weeks.
Once I've collected a sufficient number of stem cells (approximately 9 million) the real fun part begins. I'll be admitted to the hospital in Omaha for high-dose chemotherapy. From what I've read it will be a five day marathon where I will be infused with a chemotherapy called BEAM. Basically this is the atomic bomb of chemotherapies. It will wipe out all of my white blood cells, bone marrow and make my immunities virtually dissapear. After the five day infusion they doctors will put the collected stem cells back in to my body and hopefully they will regrow the lost white blood cells and bone marrow. I'll be on a modified reverse isolation protocol for about two or three weeks before my white blood cells are back to a point where I can leave isolation. Simple enough.
Right now I'm really motivated to do this thing and get it over with. Pardon my language but I'm really tired of the fucking cancer business. I'm ready to get back to the real world. But you know what they say " All good things to those who wait."
Last week I had my second round of ICE salvage chemotherapy, basically thats the early preparation for my stem cell transplantation. I tolerated the chemo actually pretty well. I had a couple days where I was nauseated but nothing I couldn't stand. At this point I only feel a little sluggish, the best way to describe it is to imagine the last 2 hours of a hangover where you don't feel 100% but are far from being trashed. That's where I am now.
One of the side effects of the ICE chemotherapy is that it kills alot of white blood cells and weakens my immune system. To combat that I get a shot called Neulasta. You may have seen commercials for it on TV. The thing about Neulasta is that, number one, it hurts like a bitch when I'm getting it injected and, number two, about five days after injection, my bones feel like someone beat me with a baseball bat. Unfortunately, I'm right at the five day point now and can expect to be in considerable pain soon. So I'm pretty excited about that.
The next step in this transplantation process is a PET scan. For those unfimiliar with that, it is basically like a CT scan or MRI that can detect cancer. Around the end of the month I'll have a PET scan to see if I'm in remission or at least very close to it. If I am in remission then I travel to Omaha for the collection phase of the transplantation. Basically I go up to Nebraska Medical Center and they hook me up to a machine like a dialysis machine that takes stem cells out of my blood and returns the rest of my blood to normal circulation. To clarify, a stem cell is like a baby white blood cell that hasn't decided to become a white blood cell yet. I'll need to collect these baby cells because later therapy will kill all the white cells I have in my body and they will need to recolonize my body with the harvested cells. Harvesting stem cells should be pretty quick, I've heard estimates ranging from one day to two weeks. Taking into consideration how well my white cells have heald up during treatment thus far I expect to be closer to one day than two weeks.
Once I've collected a sufficient number of stem cells (approximately 9 million) the real fun part begins. I'll be admitted to the hospital in Omaha for high-dose chemotherapy. From what I've read it will be a five day marathon where I will be infused with a chemotherapy called BEAM. Basically this is the atomic bomb of chemotherapies. It will wipe out all of my white blood cells, bone marrow and make my immunities virtually dissapear. After the five day infusion they doctors will put the collected stem cells back in to my body and hopefully they will regrow the lost white blood cells and bone marrow. I'll be on a modified reverse isolation protocol for about two or three weeks before my white blood cells are back to a point where I can leave isolation. Simple enough.
Right now I'm really motivated to do this thing and get it over with. Pardon my language but I'm really tired of the fucking cancer business. I'm ready to get back to the real world. But you know what they say " All good things to those who wait."
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