Thursday, November 23, 2006

UPDATE



Firstly, I appreciate those who have tried to get in touch with me. It has been a crazy ride so far and hope to get in touch with you all in the future:)
I haven’t wrote anything on this Blog really since I started it so I wrote some journal entries in the past month or so to give you all some insight as to what is going on:


Oct 1- So I figure I will share some of the recent side effects: Pulled out a clump of hair today, hair has thinned out but still not bald. I last weighed in at almost 195lbs! that’s a 20lb increase within 1 year, went for a 10km walk today.
Oct 12- I am writing from London, Ontario. now, moved here about a week ago from St Thomas. Anyways I pretty much went for a 15km walk today, pretty much pulled out all of my pubes.
Oct 19 - Doctor says it looks like I had Iron deficient Anemia and it is gradually improving
(hemoglobin was as low as 113 now hovering around 120. Norm is about 155). Seems like I’m 2/3 done Yeah let’s do it! Yeah GRRR!
Oct 31- well here’s a little update. Firstly, I can’t believe I’ve gone through 4 cycles of this stuff! I had a CT scan done to show progress and I will find out more about that in a couple days. I walked 20KM a few days ago. On a positive note, I think it’s safe to say that my bowel movements are getting back to normal, I also bought a joystick today so I will be getting into some flight simulator practice again.
Nov 7- I think I am starting to go insane after exactly four months since I started chemo. I recently noticed that liquid vanilla extract smells and looks exactly like a flat rye and coke, Ha! Reminds me of the good times in u-city.
Nov 12- Would like to mention that yesterday evening I had a huge energy trip for about an hour. I was standing on my head, clapping, singing, jumping over the couch like a frog, lifting my bed, dresser and other heavy items, made dinner..t’was crazy!
Nov 13- last night I pretty much lost all my armpit hair and today I pretty much lost all the hair off my left leg.
Nov 14- so after 9 months of not lifting weights or working out I finally started going to the gym, lifted some weights, treadmill, sauna, hot tub, and even swam a few laps. Total 2.5hr duration, I’m impressed. It’s time to get buff. Also lost a bit of hair off the left side of my head.
Nov 15- did the whole gym thing again except this time with more intensity. Eg, swimming 6 laps, doing way more sets of weights…, duration stayed 2.5hrs. Also lost hair off my right leg and some off my chest today. Overall trend is improving.
Nov 17- I am starting to feel the after effects in my chest muscles from working out so I took er easy and did 30min in the sauna.
Nov 20- so my pulse is currently 171! Only beating over twice as fast as my normal resting rate. Just got back from the gym and yes once again on the up trend, this time swimming 12 laps, running 25min…total duration 3hrs
Nov 22- Sore achy muscles and bones last night and today. Well either the neupogen (medication) kicked in hardcore last night or I over exercised a couple days ago, likely a combination of both. So I’ve been reading up on exercise a bit and found out with no surprise that exercise with too much intensity can actually be less effective and potentially more harmful than something a little less to moderate, so I think I’ll keep my sessions to 2.5hr max. So I stared at a pond for two hours, it was cleansing. I bought a lottery ticket, it wasn’t a winner but I’m keeping it for good luck because it had the words “cure” and “aviation” on it.
Nov 23- Ok so I kicked and punched the crap out of a boxing bag at the gym today, it was fun. But note to self: wear some kind of glove next time or else deal with some bruised knuckles, ha! On a more critical note, I found out a missing piece of the puzzle today. The largest original mass in my chest was 6*12*….7cm. So with that being known we can say there was 40% shrinkage(of the largest mass), rest of the areas GONE! after 3.75cycles.(note that the center of the tumor was dead before I even started treatment because it “suffocated” and there will be remaining “scar tissue” left over due to the original size of the mass.) Next CT scan is about 3 weeks from now. 3 weeks from now will also mark the end of my 6 Cycles of Chemo.
Dec 6- well i'm feeling normal, kinda bored sometimes A.K.A lots of time to think and question everything, anyways hopefully this chemo crap is over soon.
Dec 7- well freakin all right! Just bought a DQ Blizzard to celebrate the first snowfall of the season. It felt so good to have the strong crisp wind bashing my face.
Dec 8- It hasn’t snowed like this in London, Ontario in about 30 years! T’was about 3 feet accumulation. I am also a little concerned about having a high blood pressure and being 200lbs. I think it may be time to get back to the gym.
Dec 9- steroid trip I think, wanted to lift the car, lifted items ranging from 120-180lbs, went to gym earlier on today as well. Buff what?
Dec.13- These energy trips are starting to become more frequent, must be a good sign. I lifted the couch and other heavy items. Hgb 134, slowly but surely still on the rise. oh yeah.
Dec 18- went for a 22km walk.
Dec 21- better do a little update here. Well I had a couple glasses of red wine a couple days ago and my face broke out into a rash, am I allergic to alcohol now?! Also got a call from the docs office saying that my appointment has been put ahead a week and the doctor needs to see me, I of course freaked out because I figured why see me a week early? Turns out they just needed to see me to plan my next phase of treatment called Radiation, yeah sounds dangerous but I guess we gotta do what we gotta do. It also turns out(seems like a lot of things are just “turning out”) that my left lung was partially collapsed when I was initially diagnosed, well that’s good to know. It would also be good to know what is going on with my CT Scans, it seems as if the interpreters are having issues interpreting it, come on now I thought that was there job, to interpret the scans. I guess we’ll find out soon what’s up in more detail. I am also scheduled for a PFT(lung test to see how my lungs are doing) and another Gallium Scan(to see if it can still be used as a potential method for “follow up” scans) On a final note, Winter sure seemed to be a short one so far around here. It lasted about 3 days.
Dec 27- went for about a 3hr walk today, it wasn’t too long but it felt so good. In my walks I’ve noticed that I observed the simplest things and am so amazed by them. I also feel fat or shall we say jolly this evening as I am +200lbs.
Dec 31- Shaved my eyebrows, because come on how many guys shave their eyebrows? Had to do it once in my lifetime. It will also bring me good luck for the new year!
Jan 4- A beautiful +8 Celsius today. The trees are beginning to bloom and the grass is green, I guess this redefines Winter for us in this part of the world. Did 20km walk today.
Jan 7- spasm in muscle or nerve in my neck and a bit of right side of chest this morning. Hmm, as much as I would like to, it may be best if I don’t lift heavy objects for a while.
Jan 10- Winter temps are back but no where near the Arctic like -50.
Jan 25- O-my-gosh I just lost my nuclear virginity. Hgb skyrocketing up to 154!
Jan 26- A-bomb treatment is well underway, a little fatigue and nausea has set in and I am weighing in at 205lb. I am expecting to get another 18 bombs.
Jan 30- Hgb blast off up to 185!(this is almost beyond normal)
Feb 5- YES! This morning I finally got to re-experience -32C like temperatures. O yes it brings back some memories for sure BUT still can't compare to the -49C like temperature today in Winnipeg(but close).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow! It sounds like your doing amazing. I couldnt even fathom working out when I was going through this stuff. Good for you! Thats great news about the mass shrinking so much already.

You know if you keep up with the swiming and you do lose all your hair people will start to think your one of those hardcore swimmers that shave off all their body hair to get more speed. You should tell everyone your training for the olympics LOL.