PET Scan update

Steve had another PET scan on 11/24 and we saw Dr C on 11/30. All looks good. Dr questioned him about his weight loss because he is down about 15 lbs but seems to be satisfied that he has just gotten down to his ideal weight after a year of inactivity. He looks good and feels good so Dr is not worried.

Merry Christmas to all and God Bless.

~Vicki

Oncology checkup

Steve had a visit with Dr Cockerill today. His labwork is very good and Dr feels no lumps anywhere. He has lost some weight but Dr says it's not too much and not to worry. He looks very good.

He will be having another PET scan at the end of November and most likely this will happen twice a year.

I will update again after we find out about the PET scan.

Happy Halloween!
Vicki

Brayden and the huge pumpkin

I was trying to get some pictures of Brayden with the leaves and pumpkin. Kelly was filming. First Bray starts making faces at Allison who was behind me. Then we try to get him to pick up the pumpkin. He kept saying it's too big. Then when he bends down and looks at it he says "it's stuck, daddy".

Feels more final...

Steve got the port taken out on Fri, Aug 14th. I gotta tell ya... he was all smiles. He just couldn't wait to get this thing out and he said this really made it feel like it is finally over. He didn't even mind me taking pictures which he wouldn't let me do during chemo. Actually, I even took some video of the procedure. Though most people don't care to see that. hmmm...lol

Anyway, school is gearing up for everyone and hopefully Steve is getting some energy back and things will go a bit better for him this year.

Thanks for all your support and love,

God Bless you all,

~Vicki

Update...

We saw Dr C. today and everything is looking good. He will see the doctor every 3 months and get a scan every 6 months for a while.

Steve has approached and gone through this with a positiveness and attitude that impressed me. He handled everything like a trooper.

He is our hero!

Almost done...

Steve is almost done with radiation. He goes today and then Monday and Tuesday next week.

Thanks to everyone for all your well wishes and encouragement. It means so much to all of us.

~Vicki

David, Brayden & Topperman Steve!

Steve's radiation started on Wednesday. Good news is he only needs 10 treatments and the exposure to his lungs in minimal. Also exposure to the heart is almost none. Biggest side effects from this will be fatigue, a sore throat and probably something like a sunburn on his chest, neck and upper back. It will be extremely important for him to be careful outdoors. He needs to be diligent about wearing sunblock and probably even a t-shirt when out for prolonged periods of time. This is really important for all young people but more so for him.

We'll keep you posted.

~Vicki

Hello everyone,

We had a visit with Dr Smith, the radiation oncologist (rad onc) on Friday. He agrees that everything is looking good and moving along just as they expected and hoped. Steve will hopefully get his port out this week. Dr Smith will be connecting with a dr in Rochester to go over the scans and such and they will map out a radiation plan together. They are thinking ten treatments should do it. These will begin in a week and a half to two weeks. The biggest side effect from this will be fatigue.

Thanks for your prayers,

~Vicki

We had a visit today with Dr Dalton in Dr C's absence. He told us that Steve's lab work is still very good and the pet scan looked good. Some of his lymph nodes are still a bit enlarged (which is expected at this point) but there is no activity at all of cancer. After saying some goodbyes to the nurses we went to Baker's Square for a celebratory lunch and pie! Very good.

Tomorrow we will get a radiation plan. Stay tuned.

~Vicki

Another week of appointments

Today, Steve had another Pet scan. We will see results of this later in the week. Thursday he will have another blood draw and then see the oncologist. Friday we'll visit with the radiation oncologist and then they will spend some time mapping out a plan for radiation. We will update after that when we get some info.

Lots o' Love,
~Vicki

The end of chemo

Final chemo today! Everything as usual except to be on the safe side Dr C chose to do a quick check of his port after taking that hit at the baseball game. They put some dye in and used a special light to watch the path to be sure there were no cracks or leaks. We didn't want to come this far and have something go wrong. One of the drugs used in chemo could cause serious damage to the chest wall if it leaked.

Later this month he will have another PET scan and more lab work. Then an appointment with Dr Smith, the radiation oncologist. They will have a quick appt and then take some time to put together a plan for the radiation.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and encouragement to Steve.

Love,

~Vicki

Last Thursday, May 21st was chemo #7. It was business as usual. Labs continue to come in perfect. Steve slept through most of it pretty much waking up to have lunch and visit briefly and back to napping. Then home for about a four hour nap! The last scheduled treatment will be Friday, June 5th.

Sunday during the baseball game while catching he took a hit right at the spot of his port. He dropped to his knees and was obviously in pain. They took a moment to make sure he was okay and it wasn't bleeding and then back to the game. What are the chances, huh? To get hit right at that spot?! But, he is okay and the Dr says not to worry unless he notices major changes.

All for now... Take care,
~Vicki

Chemo #6

This past Thursday was another treatment. It went pretty much as all the others have gone. Labs came in perfect and lungs sound clear. Steve is stilling fighting the tail end of the cold he had but doing okay. He had most of his stuff moved home by Wednesday and finished up after chemo and a nap on Thursday. We got home a few hours ago with Allison and all her belongings. Oh man, we have a very packed house! We still haven't figured out where we are putting everything. As of now, Allison's stuff from her apartment is taking my garage spot. I can say I am glad its no longer winter!

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

~Vicki

Hello,
Busy week here, and I'm sure with many of you as well as you anticipate your college students coming home, many have students graduating, etc... I wish everyone sanity, safe travels and patience.

Steve is trying to get moved out of his dorm before his chemo treatment on Thursday so he can devote his time to resting. With another game coming up on Sunday, he will definitely need his rest.

I am looking ahead to a full house, messier house and a larger grocery bill! Can't wait!!!

Have a fantastic week!

~Vicki

Hello everyone,
Well, next week is finals week for Steve (MSU) and Allison (SDSU) and then they are moving home! I'm very excited. This, of course, means a hectic week between their finals, chemo for Steve on Thursday (7th), moving him home and heading to brookings to get Allison back home by Saturday so we can enjoy the Kato Cubs first ball game. I never thought I would see it, but both Steve and David will be playing together on the team along with cousin JJ. Very exciting!

Steve's roommate, Jon, has been struggling with a bad cold for a while and Steve got it. It's really hit him hard and he is dragging. He stopped over last night and he didn't look too hot. We know that it could be worse, though. If his white count had dropped as they expected, this probably would have hit him much harder. Steve is doing a great job at listening to his body and resting when he needs it and I think this is playing a big part in how well it is going for him. Renee, don't be so hard on Jon... it happens. ;) Feel better Jon and Steve!

Happy Birthday to Dan and Alex Sukalski on Wednesday!!

Come cheer on the Kato Cubs if you have some time. Sunday, May 3 at 2 pm - Franklin Rogers.

Take care and God Bless,
~Vicki

Great response!

Well... Dr C. showed us the pictures from the PET scan that was done on Tuesday. We compared it to the first one that was done and there are no spots seen! This means that the two cycles of treatment that Steve has had diminished the cancer enough that it cannot be seen by scans anymore. Those scans can only detect up to a certain depth so there could still be some there that will not show. Dr. C is very pleased with how this is responding, as are we. Steve continues to come in with good labwork and still feels quite good. We are convinced now that he will not lose any hair. He still gets tired and sleeps whenever he can squeeze it in. I'm sure the weather getting nicer will help to keep his spirits up. I know it can't be easy.

The next treatment is scheduled for May 7th which will coincide with moving him out of the dorm and moving Allison home from Brookings. It will be some busy days but I love having them home and I'm sure they will love being home! ;) ha ha

Have a wonderful weekend.
~Vicki

Check out Pinata Girl

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow is chemo #5 and we will find out how the PET scan looked. We will update later.

Be sure to check out some of my favorite video clips. They are on the left as you scroll down. I just added another one. Pinata Girl. If you haven't seen this, it's pretty funny. Be sure you have your volume up so you can hear her.

Just a little something to make you chuckle.

'Til later,
~Vicki

Enjoy the weather!

I hope everyone is getting a chance to get outside and enjoy the weather.

Steve seems to be doing very well. I hardly hear from him. I know he still checks this blog from time to time. Though he doesn't always have time to post, he does read ur messages.

Next week will bring a follow-up PET scan on Tuesday and then a chemo treatment on Thursday. He is past the midway point.

Thanks for checking in with us and look to the left for a pointless poll you can do. ;)

~Vicki

Moving along...

Hello,

We are here in the chemo suite while Steve receives #4 treatment.  Dr. C says he is coming in with excellent lab work!  He suspects it will just be that way and he will continue to handle this really well.  They will do another PET scan a couple days before his next treatment to see how things look.  The lumps that they could feel in his neck and around by his collar bone can no longer be felt.  This is all very good!  

He is coping with this so well and we are extremely proud of him.  He is so excited to get the chance to continue playing baseball and anxious to get started.  Hopefully he will keep feeling well enough to play as often as he can. 

Again, thanks for the love and prayers.

All our love,

~Vicki  

I Still Have Hair.

Hello to all. Steve Here.  I apologize for taking this long to post on here after my third treatment, but I've had so many things to do that my head is starting to spin in circles!  I finally just sat down and wrote up a "To-Do-List" the other day which was very seriously needed because I had so many things I needed to try to remember to do and most of them were things that I needed to do urgently.  Of course, I forgot to add to the list "write on blog."  Anyway, this treatment really was about the same as the other two.  The symptoms seem to slowly get increasingly more intense, where each one is a little worse than the last.  It's not a thing where my last treatment was twenty times worse than the second one, because it wasn't.  It was really just a little bit worse.  Still, it can make for a really long day sometimes, but the weather we've had lately (up until the other night when it was a fippin blizzard) has raised my spirits tenfold!  And supposedly the rest of this week is supposed to be in the 50's!  I'm looking forward to the nice weather! I can't wait.  Another thing I'm looking forward to is this weekend, the amateur baseball team I'm playing on for the summer, is having its first meeting!  This just makes me even more excited because baseball is basically my life and I'm so glad I have been given the opportunity to continue my baseball career!! Woo Hoo! 

The Twins opener is tonight at 7:10 pm and you can bet your bum that I'll be watching it!  Anyway, I'm writing this and I should realistically probably be doing my homework...  Adios everyone and take care, thanks again for all the support!!

Much love to all,

--Steve

So far so good...

Since Steve hasn't had the time to post I will tell you what I know. He seems to be doing quite well. (Unless he is not sharing everything with me.) When I talk to him he is usually in pretty good spirits and looks well. He says the nausea is an occasional annoyance throughout the day but nothing he can't handle. He has not taken the anti-nausea meds this time. He takes naps whenever he can. School seems to be going very good. No hair loss yet. I told him he should let it grow until (and if) he starts losing it. If he doesn't lose it, we joked that he should just let it grow nice and long as an "in your face" to the cancer. We shall see.

Until later...
~Vicki

Chemo #3

The 3rd chemo treatment was Thursday and it pretty much went the same as the others. With the exception of having the basketball game to watch to pass the time.

His labs were just fine again. This is great. He worked Friday night and he said he snacked on saltines all day. I believe, so far, it's been pretty much like the other times so hopefully it stays that way.

Hopefully, Steve will have time and feel up to posting later.

Happy weekend and good luck Scarlets!!
~Vicki

Hello,

We are sitting here while Steve gets his chemo cocktail.  We just watched the boys basketball game.  Wow, what a game!  A true nail-biter, but well done.  Congratulations to the whole team and we shall see you Saturday to see you win the championship!

~Vicki

Go Scarlets!

Well, Thursday will bring us to chemo #3. Steve will be receiving this treatment about the same time that the Scarlet basketball team will be playing at the Target Center. We will be trying to listen to the radio if we can.

Good luck boys.... we hope you win!

We will update later.

God Bless,
~Vicki

Spring is here!

Happy Spring! and Happy Birthday to my dad down in Texas! 70, wow!!!

Congratulations!

To the Scarlet boys basketball team:
Great job in the game last night! Everyone played so well and it was very fun to watch.

Good luck next week!
~Vicki

A new week

A quick update for you:
Steve seems to be doing quite well. After a few days of being extremely tired... he was over on Sunday and he looked really good. He said he felt pretty good. He worked Friday evening and then Saturday. I was worried that he would get worn out after how tired he had been the previous days but he even went for a run after work. I don't, however, anticipate that things will stay this good. Most likely as the treatments go the tougher it will get. But hey, it can't hurt to pray that it continues as is, right?

Thanks and love to all for your continued prayers and outpouring of love.
Have a great week!
~Vicki

Chemo #2

Hello to all.  Steve here.  My mom about got it right, this time around, I really felt about the same as the first treatment cycle as far as the nausea and stomach pains and stuff go.  One difference, also like my mom said, is that I found that I have been much more tired.  I've been finding myself dozing off really quite a bit, one day I actually woke up, started watching some NCAA basketball games, and next thing I knew, I was waking up to catch just the end of the games I had started watching.  A lot of people tell me that they wish they could just sleep the whole day away but for whatever reason, this kind of sleep isn't exactly the blissful-at-peace-with-yourself kind of sleeping.  I'd wake up and feel really groggy and out of it, and it was kind of an uncomfortable feeling.  It's kind of hard to explain but I haven't particularly enjoyed the endless amount of fatigue.  Part of that also could just be due to the fact that I'm one of those people who normally likes to be out and about doing something, and personally I always consider my day wasted if I sleep past 10 am.  But the way I've been trying to look at it, is that all that sleep can't be bad for me, so I'll keep it on a positive outlook.  It was nice to have a real meal the other day when I swung by my parents house to have dinner.  Microwave food just gets old after a while.  Nothin' like some mashed potatoes and gravy to raise one's spirits!

Anyway, I think that's all I've got for ya at this point.  Much love to all, and I can't seem to say this enough: thanks again to everyone for all the love and support! It's meant the world to me so far through my fight.  

Remember, what doesn't kill us, will only make us stronger!  So once this is all said and done, I should be super-human-strong!   :)

--Steve

Happy Friday!
I thought I would give you a quick update. Steve came home for supper last night since he was in need of a meal that was not made in the microwave. lol. He's feeling pretty wiped out this time. He told us he has been sleeping quite a bit. Good thing it's spring break. Dr C. did say he expects his white cell count to drop this week so I figured he would feel more tired. He said the nausea is about the same but he is also learning what, when and how to eat. I had to buy him a better thermometer that gives a reading a little quicker so he will actually monitor his temp as he should. If it takes too long he won't do it.
Well, that's all for now. Have a terrific weekend. I'll see some of you at the game tonight.
GO SCARLETS!!!
~Vicki

2 Down...

Well, Steve is 2 down and 6 to go. Monday was the second chemo treatment. I think it seems like the treatments make him pretty tired. After this treatment, as well as the first, he went back home and slept for a while. They said that is a reaction for some people. As of this afternoon, he was feeling okay. Not much for nausea but the heartburn was starting. The Dr told him that was normal. His labs were really good, in fact the Dr thanked him for it - told him he's able to keep the medications where they're at with no adjustments. He's just hoping if he does get sick it will be like the last time and just be for a week. We'll keep you posted.
~Vicki

Good luck to the West boys basketball team. Go Scarlets!

My Name is Steve, I have Cancer

Hello to all, Steve here!  I apologize for how long it's taken me to post on here since I started chemo.  I've been meaning to, but last week was pretty rough, and with school and homework and work I just couldn't find the energy to get myself blogging.  

Anyway, chemo started about a week and a half ago, Monday, February 23rd.  It wasn't an unpleasant experience at all.  Here's the process I'll go through every time I go for treatment: I'll arrive and do what they call 'lab' which is when they take a sample of my blood and make sure my cell counts are good, such as white blood cells, hemoglobin (not sure on the spelling) and such like that.  Once they determine my cell counts are acceptable, I go into the chemotherapy room.  It's a big room with 15 or so big recliner-style chairs (not Lay-Z boy, but not just some stupid waiting room chair).  Some of them have TV's near them, and all of them have a tray on both sides of them.  I sat down in a chair, and then we begin.  My treatment requires 4 different drugs, the first 3 are pushed in manually by one of the Med. Onc. nurses through a syringe (spelling?).  All three of those drugs combined takes a total of a 25 minute push.  After that, the nurse hooks me up to a pump which has the big bag containing the 4th and final drug, and that one drips through over a period of 2 hours.  Like I said, the experience actually wasn't unpleasant at all, I couldn't feel any of the medication being pumped into me, the hardest part was the long wait, which wasn't too bad because I can bring in my laptop, books and homework, novels, etc. to pass the time.  The only part worth complaining about was, when I had about 45 minutes left to go, a younger gentleman (I'd guess 22-26ish or so years old) came in, sat in the chair next to mine, which is no problem at all, but it became an issue when he put his ear buds in and began listening to his ipod.  He had his music loud enough that I swear the entire room could hear it... and his music was just WEIRD!  I have no idea what genre it was or anything but it was just odd, and I wasn't enjoying it.  All in all though, I didn't mind it, and the nurses there are super friendly and easy to talk to.

As far as side effects go, I began feeling them later that day.  I had tried eating, and immediately after i swallowed my first bite, I felt this pit-like feeling in my stomach and after a while it actually grew quite uncomfortable and at times, pretty painful.  In addition to this, I was finding that I was having a hard time holding my food down.  About 5 minutes after I would eat, I would feel like I was about to throw it all back up any minute.  They gave me a prescription for anti-nausea medication (which was absolutely disgusting, I'd have to chug a whole bottle of water after swallowing the pills before the awful taste would go away), anyway, without the meds, I probably would have been throwing up.  I never did actually end up regurgitating my lunch but a couple times I felt I was close to.  Also another issue I experienced was some kind of heart burn or acid reflex type symptom.  It was worse than any other heartburn I'd ever had and it was so bad that it was waking me out of a dead sleep, and I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep because of how uncomfortable and painful it was.  For the most part, I didn't have too much troubles sleeping, or at least I'd fall asleep easily enough, but I had some issues with waking up quite frequently throughout the night, which was just more annoying than anything else.  These symptoms lasted through Sunday night, and I'd say were most severe on Friday and Saturday.  This monday when I woke up for class, I felt a bit better, and so far this week I've felt pretty much back to normal, save a few instances of unsettled stomach.  So from what I've gathered so far, the first week after treatment is the most intense symptoms-wise and the second week truly will be a good resting period before the next treatment.

Well I think that's all I have for you right now, sorry again for how long it's taken me to post!  Also, sorry for writing a book! Thanks again to everyone for all the love and support you've been giving me.  Every little bit helps me to keep fighting and stay strong!

Love to all,

Steve

After Chemo...

Hi everyone...

I was hoping that Steve would come on with a post but I think he is quite busy and trying to be sure he gets rest in whenever he can.

I know he hasn't been feeling the best but it's usually not bad enough to stop him from going about his daily activities. I believe he has missed just one class. I think the anti-nausea meds help but he says it tastes so bad it probably makes him sick just from taking that. He said he quite often gets a bit sick after eating, so we will need to try some different things to make sure he is eating. We will definitely have some questions for Dr C when he goes back again.

Right now he is scheduled for his next treatment on March 9th but he is looking at his schedule to find a day that will work better so he won't have to miss any classes.

That's all from me. I will see if I can get Topperman Steve to post soon. I know everyone loves to hear from him too.

By the way... who voted for Batman? ha, ha, ha - We laughed pretty hard at that!

Have a fantastic week!
~Vicki

Hello from Texas!

Hi everyone,

So sorry to hear of the weather back home! It is 84 here, but I have been too busy to even get outside to enjoy it. Tomorrow it is supposed to be cold (Texans words) at around 50 - 60. I'll just have to grin and bare it, huh? Well, back to work now.

ttyl,
Vicki

Chemo

Hello Everyone,
I'm very sorry I haven't gotten something up here a bit earlier. I am extremely busy at work and I'm preparing to be gone from Wed to Sunday in Texas for work.

Steve has made it through his first chemo treatment. It's a lengthy process. Before each treatment he has to go up and have blood drawn and then about an 1 to 1.5 hours later he meets with the Dr. He will then find out if they can go ahead with the treatment. They will be watching his cell count very close and if things aren't right they will put off treatment for a couple days to a week. The drugs take some time to administer. There are 4 drugs altogther and 3 of them take a matter of minutes to push into the port. The final one is a large bag and takes two hours to drip.

Anyway, he was doing okay and does have some medication for anti-nauseau so hopefully that won't be too much of a factor. We shall see.
We will definitely keep you posted here.

Thanks,
~Vicki

Dermatology visit

We finally had the visit with the dermatologist yesterday. Dr Davis said he feels it is nothing to worry about, in fact he didn't think it was even a mole. Something about blood vessels...
Anyway, he shaved it off and will biopsy it. We should hear in a week or so.

All for now...
Vicki

Spending quality time with Spiderman!

This is while waiting to go into surgery. It shows his shaved head pretty well, although there's already a couple days growth. I love this picture. Might not be great quality though, I took this with my phone. (I actually forgot my camera!)

And yes, that is Spiderman behind him. lol. The other wall had all of the Disney princesses on it.

Happy Weekend!

~Vicki

The Port is in..

Hi all,
Steve got the port put in place today and all is ready to begin chemo on Monday. We saw the radiation oncologist, Dr Smith, this morning. Just a consult before chemo gets going. We really liked him and will be visiting with him again once chemo is complete.

It was a long wait to get into surgery but it went good. He was just sedated rather than general anesthesia. He was very groggy when he came back and Kelly and I had a few good laughs listening to him chat. Most of you know he is a pretty easy kid to talk with and has a great sense of humor, but with new people he usually needs to get to know them before the good humor shows. Well, when he came back from surgery he was quite chatty. Some examples...

Every time someone came in and asked him how he was doing he would say "I'm doing great, how are you doing?"

He looked down at the bed he was on and said, "oh, I see I'm on a new bed thingy, now I feel bad... that means they had to move me and I'm not what you would call a small guy!"

The nurse was talking with him about a follow-up appt with the surgeon and she walked out to make that appt. She said she would be right back, Steve said... "okay, I'll just stay right here."

He had to take his contacts out and was mumbling about not being able to see anything. A nurse walked by and I mentioned that she looked familiar. He looked out and said..." yeah she does... she looks like every other blurr that walks by."

There were more but these were pretty funny to us. Just thought I would share.

Take care... Vicki

I shaved my head

Steve here.  So I was in need of a haircut, and when I was home all day Sunday I decided I'd just shave it all off.  So it's gone now! I'm bald and it's weird, haha.  Anywho, now for the more important matters at hand.  My hair is gone and my head is weirder shaped than I ever thought it would be. Oh well, you can't win 'em all!  

Now in complete seriousness, I would like to extend a very very strong and heartfelt thank you to everyone who's been keeping me and my health in their thoughts and prayers.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, all of this support really is helping me to keep positive.  Without all of you, I just know I'd find myself in a very depressing mood 95% of the time.  Specifically, I would like to say thank you so much to the Messiah Knitting Ministry and the ladies of the Bible study group, you know who you are.  Thank you very much for the generous and thoughtful prayer shawl gift!  It's very beautiful and I'm positive my family and I will hold it very close throughout this experience.  I know it means a lot to me and I can guarantee it means a ton to my mom.  

For a little update, I had a consult with Dr. Morris this morning.  He's the surgeon who's going to be throwing a port in my chest.  I thought he seemed like a very nice guy and my mom and I could just tell that he is the kind of doctor who's very comfortable in a surgery-type situation.  I think I'm in good hands with him.  Now we're just waiting on Wednesday to come for my consult with the radiation oncologist, and right after that, my port placement surgery!

Hoping all is well with everyone,

--Steve

GREAT NEWS!!

I just recieved a phone call from Dr. C ~ ~
Radiation can be done in Mankato! Wah Hoo!!! We are quite relieved.

Still to come: an appointment with the radiation dr and the port needs to be put in. Then a visit to the dermatologist is scheduled for the 20th, though we hope to get in earlier.

It looks like, at this point, the first chemo treatment will be Monday, Feb 23rd.

I believe the prayers are working! Keep it up y'all and we will continue loving every one of you.

Til next time...
~Vicki

Bone Marrow Biopsy Results

Steve here. I'm going to add on to my mom's "Results" post.  We heard the results of the biopsy.  The cancer is not in my bone marrow which is a very, very good thing.  Now to discuss treatment.  My options at this point are: I can do chemotherapy for 4 months, and then radiation therapy after the chemo for 4-6 weeks, or I can do 6 months of chemotherapy with no radiation therapy at all.  The catch is, for the radiation, it would be 5 days a week, for 4-6 weeks, and the bad part is that I'd have to go to rochester for that treatment.  So I would have to drive to rochester every week day for 4-6 weeks to get radiation therapy.  The downside of skipping radiation and just doing 6 months of chemo is that some of the drugs used in chemotherapy can be pretty hard on the heart and lungs, so that would be 2 extra months of exposing my heart and lungs to those drugs.  Dr. Cockeril told me in my first meeting with him that it is really quite important to try to continue on with my normal life and try to maintain my normal lifestyle even while going through treatment.  I strongly agree with this and vowed to myself that I would try the best I can to keep leading a normal life including school, work, hopefully baseball this summer, and somewhat of a social life.  My problem with the 4 month chemo plus radiation, is that for me to commit to this treatment plan, I would basically have to throw out all my hopes that I had for this summer of working a lot and saving a bunch of money, and playing baseball, all while finding time to spend with my friends.  So, as far as I'm concerned, driving to Rochester every single day for 4 to 6 weeks is completely out of the question. So as it stands, I'd rather take the 6 months of chemo.  I talked to Dr. Cockeril about this and told him I'd feel much more comfortable if we were to do the radiation therapy here in mankato, and he said he'd talk to Dr. Inwards at Mayo to see what he thinks, so hopefully we can do that.  This is going to be an extremely tough overall decision for me so I've got a lot of thinking to do within the next few days, and I'd like to decide as soon as I can and get this show on the road.  The sooner I start treatment, the sooner I'm cancer free and continuing on with my life.  

I've been getting a little frustrated with all the hoops we've been jumping through to reach an ultimate conclusion at this point and I'm getting incredibly anxious and sick of waiting for everything, but I'm trying as hard as I possibly can to keep a positive attitude, but so far this whole process has been a real test of my patience and optimism.  Anyway I'm giving it my all to look at the big picture and tell myself that although it's in no way fun, it's what's best and I need to keep positive.  It's a real pick-me-up every time I come on this blog and see all the overwhelming support from everyone and it really helps me to remind myself that it'll all turn out for the better. So thank you sooooo much everyone who's been keeping me in their thoughts and prayers, I can feel it all and it helps give me the strength to push through this!

Much love to all,

Steve

Results

The bone marrow biopsy results are negative. That is good. Now we are waiting for a couple of other things. Dr C is trying to get him in to see the dermatologist sooner than what we were able to get an appointment. He has one very suspicious looking mole on his shoulder that needs looking at. Then we need to see about getting a port put in place. He is also trying to find out if a visit to a Radiation dr is needed in order to help us make a treatment decision.

We will fill you in more when we get more info and make a decision.

Chao! Vicki

Still waiting...

Hello everyone~
I'm sure you are wondering if we've heard anything regarding the results of the bone marrow biopsy. We have not. We are anxiously waiting to get that news. The doctor told us it would take a minimum of 2 days. Please continue to pray with us, we appreciate it. I will get word on here as soon as we know.
Have a great day!
~Vicki

Visit to Mayo Clinic in Rochester

Today we went to Mayo Clinic to see Dr David Inward for a second opinion at Dr Cockerill's request. Dr Cockerill wanted his take on things since we can't definitely say Steve is experiencing "B" Symptoms or not and for the fact that the CT Scan showed his spleen to be mildly enlarged. It's not so enlarged to make them want to say yes it is affected and the PET scan didn't pick up anything in that area. Dr Inward said because of these uncertainties it is necessary to do the bone marrow biopsy. He wanted him to have that done and to see a radiation oncologist (rad onc) for their opinion on whether radiation could be an option. And that depends on the results of the biopsy. If there is cancer in the bone marrow then radiation is not an option at all. So... they were going to do these two things plus see Dr Inward again tomorrow. :( Steve was not happy about having to either stay overnight or drive back tomorrow plus miss another day of classes and not to mention ANOTHER DAY OF FASTING! The poor guy... it seems like every other day there was a test he had to fast for. So after some talking, they said there was an opening to do a biopsy today if he chose to do it unsedated. With a local anesthetic. Then we cancelled the other appointments so we won't go back tomorrow. The biopsy is done. Let me say, Steve did not enjoy this at all. I'm sure he will have more to say on that.
We got the impression that this doctor was understanding that Dr Cockerill referred Steve there for care... rather than a second opinion. This is not what we wanted at all and we didn't feel that is was Dr Cockerill's intention. This is why we cancelled the appts at rad onc and Dr Inward for tomorrow. We spoke with Dr Cockerill on the way home and let him know all of this and that our wishes are to stay put with him here in Mankato and have him communicate with Dr Inward for his expertise and knowledge. He agreed and so at this point we will wait for the results of the biopsy and then do what we need to do here. We hope for the results on Monday but it could likely be Tuesday. Dr Inward did say he would guess that the biopsy will be negative. We certainly hope he is right. We will let you all know.
Have a great weekend! - - Vicki

Steve here--

Just to add on to what my mom said, I definitely did not enjoy my unsedated bone marrow biopsy, as it was one of the most painful experience I've ever had.  It hurt more than words can explain, and continued to hurt even after the biopsy and after a night of sleep, it still does (yay) and actually made it a pretty uncomfortable night as far as sleeping is concerned.

All I can say is if anyone has to get a bone marrow biopsy, get sedated. 

--Steve

PET Scan and meeting with Dr. Cockeril

Steve here. After the meeting with my oncologist last Thursday, we found out I needed to undergo 4 more diagnostic tests before we could determine what stage of the Hodgkins Lymphoma that I'm in. The first was the Pulminary Function Test (PFT) which I had to take later that very day, which was a test of my lungs, since some parts of chemo can be fairly hard on the lungs, and they needed to see if my lungs could handle it. They also took blood this same day to do a complete workup and that all turned out great. The second was a Multigated Acquisition Scan (MUGA Scan) that I took last Friday at 2 pm. This one was a scan of my heart and the major arteries. Then right after the MUGA Scan on Friday, I took another CT Scan, this time of my torso and pelvis, to see if I had anymore tumors below my diaphram. The last test took place today at 2 pm. It was a whole boy Positron Emission Tomography Scan (PET Scan) and this one was a scan of my whole body from my shoulders down to my knees to see if the lymphoma cells have spread to any other parts of my body.

Right after the PET Scan, I met with Dr. Cockeril again to discuss the results from all the testing I did in the last 5 days. We didn't find out everything we necessarily wanted to know today but what we did hear was nothing but good news! The results show that none of the infected cells have spread to below my diaphram, so its all within my chest and shoulder area, and within that area, he said that it looks like it really is quite minimal. Now, we were hoping to be able to diagnose what stage of the lymphoma I'm in, so we could decide on a treatment plan from here, but unfortunately, the people who analyzed my CT scan said it seems like my spleen is a little enlarged. Because of this, we can't quite diagnose the stage I'm in just yet, because Dr. Cockeril says we cannot be sure. So, he is sending me down to Rochester to get a second opinion on all of the tests and scans, and that will be on Thursday. There is a possibility that I may need to get a bone marrow biopsy in order to determine whether I'm experiencing 'A' symptoms or 'B' symptoms, because at the current moment, that information is very unclear. Like I said, I didn't find out exactly what I hoped to know by the end of today, but the little bit that I did hear, I feel very positive and very much at ease because of how Dr. Cockeril said that it doesn't seem like it's spread very much.

I'll post again after the trip to Mayo on Thursday with all of the information we hear from the doctors there! Thanks a lot everyone for the support!

-Steve

First visit with the oncologist

Well, today we met the oncologist, Dr. Cockerill at ISJ. He is quite a talker. A real nice guy. He spent a lot of time with Steve and has ordered a number of tests to be done over the next few days.

Today he had blood drawn for a full blood workup to check his red and white cell counts, check function of liver, kidneys and stuff like that. Then he went for a Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) which checks out the function of his lungs. Since some of the chemo drugs can be very hard on the lungs they want to make sure they are functioning well right now and then they will perform this test occasionally to watch for changes.

Friday he will go for a MUGA scan which will test the functionality of the heart ventricles. Followed by a CT scan of the abdomen and groin to check out for more signs of tumors. Next test will be on Tuesday. They will do a PET Scan which will help them to figure out the extent of the lymphoma spread. He will also have to see a dermatologist because of a spot on his shoulder that looks suspicious. This visit is set up in early March. Following the PET scan we will visit again with Dr. Cockerill and hopefully he will have all results and a plan mapped out for treatment. On Thursday Steve will have a port put in his chest. This will be done in Day surgery. It will be set just below the skin and will have a tube that will go to a larger vein. This way they won't have to continue going at the veins in his arms. The port will allow them to easier draw blood and administer chemo.

Over to the right I have added some links to give you more info on the scans if you are interested.

We will keep you posted, though we most likely won't know too much until late Tuesday.

Vicki

Info site

I am thinking about using this blog to keep everyone informed about what is going on with Steve.

I will be looking into some things to see if this is the best way to do this.

Chao!