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