Back by popular demand.

I am back with another posting. I have been bad about letting you all know what is going on and I apologize in advance for that. I have received a lot of requests, actually some of them were bordering on threats, for me to keep updating my blog. Well you asked for it...you got it.

Before I begin...here are some pics so you can see what I've been up to.



This is my first treatment of chemotherapy. The orange sticker on the IV bag is a biohazard sticker. I thought it great that they had to wear protective equipment to administer the treatment but the end result was this chemical grade weapons poision going into my body.




Here it is...and I love the stuff. Makes you feel bad but it kicks cancer's ass!!!






Getting a dose of chemo called VinCRIStine. It is some intense stuff, which might account for the strange look on my face. Here you can see Angie all suited up to protect herself from the chemicals she is injecting directly into my veins.




Enjoying some delicious hospital food!



This is the squeeky treadmill they have in the room. I can't complain about it at all. It gives me a chance to get some exercize when I am an inpatient.

I am currently finishing phase three of treatment. You might ask yourself "what happened to phase two...I didn't even know he had started phase three and now he is done with it." Well I am in deed done with pahse two and nearly finished with phase three.

Some issues that I had with the first treatment were an elevated liver enzyme count. I did not get much of that for phase two but I am getting it now for phase three. The doctors are not too concerned about it because the problem corrected itself last time and they had no idea why it happened in the first place.

I mentioned before that I have a PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) in my arm. This is a direct line that the doctors can give me an IV via a catheter in my arm. This is one of the greatest inventions in the world because it keeps the nurses from sticking me with needles. Well there was a problem with the first PICC so they gave me another one. Then gave me another one and that one crept out of my arm enough to make it no longer good for IV drugs so they removed that one. I was on my third PICC until two days ago when they found out that the line was infected. An infection is kind of a big deal for a guy with no immune system, so the nurses and doctors took extra care to make sure that I was getting the correct antibiotics. One of the antibiotics that I am currently on does not fight the kind of infection that was on my PICC so they are now giving me another antibiotic via an IV.

The phase I am currently finishing is the same as phase 1. I basically cycle between two different regimens three times for a total of six treatments.

The doctors gave me a PET Scan which is a scan where they inject me with radioactive sugars and then give me a scan. All cells like sugar but cancer cells love it. I mean they love it so much that when the radioactive sugar is injected in my blood the cancer cells absorb it in large quantities. This is because the cancer cells are rapidly dividing and when cells divide then need sugar. Once they put the sugar in me they gave me a PET Scan which tracks where the sugar went to. If there is a bright spot in the scan that means that I have cancer in that area. The scan is an excellent tool because it can let the doctors know if there is cancer in other places in my body. The results of the exam were a complete blessing and answer to prayers. The mass that was in my chest which was larger than a softball had shrunk down so that in the PET Scan it looked like scar tissue left over from the large mass. The other great news is that it is official...the cancer had not spread to any other parts of my body.

As far as my life outside my medical treatment the clinic has been extremely accommodating and has let me leave the local Phoenix area. After my second phase of treatment and my immune system returned I was able to travel to Colorado Springs. This was a great trip for me because I wanted to go back to my squadron and see all the guys out there. I was also lucky enough to hang out with my old roommate Mike Trodden. I call him my old roommate because when I was there I moved the rest of my stuff out of his apartment and moved it all into storage. When I was there I was able to go see how everyone in my Reserve unit was and it was so great seeing everyone there. It was nice to be able to hang out with everyone and it was great for my spirits to be with such fun and caring people.

















Mike, Noelle, and me in Colorado Springs

I was also fortunate enough to get a chance to go fly fishing on the Colorado River. My girlfriend, Noelle's sister's boyfriend and his family were kind enough to arrange a trip for Noelle and me. They organized for us to go down the Colorado River in a float boat with a guide. We were able to fish and float on some of the most beautiful parts of the country. I had never gone fly fishing before and neither had Noelle. I'm not going to say I'm a quick learn, but by the end of the trip I looked like Brad Pitt in "A River Runs Through It." Well that is almost a good allusion to Brad Pitt but I think I look better than him in waders. I also want to take this opportunity to say thanks to the Reeder Creek Ranch as well as the entire Bruchez family for making this opportunity possible.




Noelle and her 16" brown trout




My 6" brown trout. Not much of a showing for someone who claims to be a fly fisher, but you can see I'm excited none the less.

My plan was for me to fly to Colorado Springs and then drive my car back to Phoenix with Noelle and she would fly back. The plan was going well up til the point that Noelle and I got on the road for the trip back. Well that might be a slight artistic use of the words the plan was going well because I had several problems. The first one was that the rear window of my car had fallen out. I have a convertible and the window ripped out and there was no way for me to replace it. The fix for that was for me to use my car cover and I put it in the rear window as a cover. This worked but it made a lot of wind noise. The other problem which was much bigger was that once we got outside Colorado Springs the car started leaking anti-freeze fluid. We had to stop at a truck stop and have a couple of local truck mechanics look at it. They said that they could fix the problem but that was just prior to them asking me "What kind of car is this...I've never seen anything like it before" That is when they said that they could fix it in a day. I didn't have much faith in them so I had the car towed back to Colorado Springs and had it fixed there. The problem was that since I had the delay, Noelle wasn't able to go with me, because she had to go to work and this delayed her too much. I made the trip by myself and now I have my car in Phoenix. I love having my car back because it gives me some of my freedom back.

I don't know how many of you have had to move back home but it take some adjustment. I am used to doing what I want when I want without having anyone second guess me or keep track of me. I have an extremely nomadic lifestyle anyway. I usually travel between New York and Colorado about 4 times a month. Then between that I usually try to take two trips to go see friends or family around the country. I find that I have stability in that volatility. I move around so much that I am used to it and I like it. Now that I am in lockdown in Phoenix it becomes easy to get stir crazy. I love my folks and I love being around them, and I am thankful everyday for their support and companionship, but that being said it was nice to be able to get away and spend some time on the road.

I will try and update some of the photos and I will try and update my blog again as soon as I can. Thanks again for reading and thanks for all your guys support.