Back again

So round two of chemo is over! Hurrah. Thanks again to everyone who came to visit and offer support to me and my family. Not to be cheesy, but I really feel overwhelmed at times by the outpouring of friendship and kindness so many of our friends, neighbors, and family.

Apologies to those waiting on more posts on my progress. I try to post as I get new information or as exciting things happen. Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately), few new happenings seem to occur while in hospital.
I was released on Tuesday at 7pm, and I've had a couple of good solid days to spend with my family. We watched a movie last night, and I've been back to work as usual. It's nice to get back. I'm not feeling as foggy this time around, but I'll wait a few days and see if the feeling lasts. I took the dogs for a walk tonight, and I think they enjoyed the time out.

I've also since had my single Neulasta shot to boost my immune system. This shot will hopefully replace the daily shots I complained about so vocally before. Only one more trip to Martha Jefferson this week.

The Albemarle county fair goes down this weekend, and i'm hoping to be able to hit that with the family. I'll take pictures for everyone ;)

Stir plate for yeast

So while I'm whiling away the hours in the hospital waiting for my next bag of medicine, I thought I'd show off another of my other brew-related toys. For tonight's adventure, I'm showing off a stir plate.

"Why use a stir plate in homebrewing ?", little Tommy asks.

Disembodied authoritative voice explains:

"Well son, a stir plate helps to improve the cell count in the yeast starter. When pitched into the wort (pre-beer liquid), a strong yeast starter improves the speed at which fermentation in the beer begins, and discourages unwanted bacteria from growing." You can make a yeast starter without using a stir plate, but there's a lot of evidence that the stir plate, with all of its aeration and circulation, results in much hight yeast cell counts (2x-3x larger)."

Empirically, on my first batch using the stir-plate starter, I noticed a much more rapid start to fermentation in the beer. In short, this is nothing more than snobbish beer geekery. :)

There's lots of info online on how to make stir plates, and I borrowed from here and there, but the final product was of my own construction and design.

I built it back in early May from the following materials:

1. A cheap picture frame (from a thrift shop)


2. A computer fan (staples)


3. An old cell-phone charger (from my battery drawer)


4. Some rubber stoppers (homebrew shop)


5. A disused laptop hard drive (thrift store)


6. A radioshack rheostat and


7. Radioshack toggle switch


8. A stir bar (bought online)


9. Machine screws (Lowes)

Here's a video:

An infusion of orange stupid-juice...

I'm back in Martha Jefferson Hospital as of 9am yesterday morning. Yesterday was a little bit of a wash - we didn't start get the chemo infusions going until around 3pm. This will push my release day back to Wednesday - an extra day here that I don't look forward to with relish.
Yesterday was a little rough, I've been a little anxious of late, and coming back in here really threw me a bit. Now I've been hooked up to a bag filled with various chemo agents which are Orange. They've been in now for a little less than a day, and I can feel the fog setting in.

I'm not always the clearest thinker, but the chemo, as I think I described in a previous post, makes me feel like I'm way out of it - in a tunnel or cave or something. It's mild now, but I'll keep an eye on it and see how it improves, or not.

While I'm in the same room as before, I have this cool new 'auto adjusting' bed. It's just like a regular hospital bed, you adjust it as usual - turn it into a seat, or raise the feet, etc.. But sitting on it, it inflates and deflates at random intervals in response to pressure. This can be a little disconcerting, but once you get used to the bed adjusting for you, it's not too bad. It saves a lot of rolling around trying to get comfortable.

My family, Jeff, Jane, and the girls are at the Orange County fair today. Afterwards they're coming to visit. I'm looking forward to that.

And thanks to friends bringing food to Jane and the kids (who will, in turn, bring it to me). We really appreciate all your help.

The best laid plans...

Hi readers - well, I got some disappointing news today. Not bad with a capital B (which rhymes with P which stands for Pool) Not 'River City' trouble, mind you, but still...

The Doc (Dr. Cirrenza) called this morning to inform me that the chemo port-a-pump which we'd planned to use to keep me out and about during these upcoming rounds of chemo is not going to materialize. As I understand it, there is an incompatibility between the drugs which were to be used in the pump, as well as a time and stability issue with one of the drugs. The upshot of this is that my short 5-hour stopover in the hospital on Friday will be turned into an expenses-paid 5-day vacation in the cancer ward on the seventh floor of the Martha Jefferson Hospital. Needless to say, this took the wind from my sails - today was not a such good day. I'm fairly certain that my comrades at work believe I've contracted Tourette's in addition to the cancer. I'm also pretty positive that my expression was angst ridden - for most of the day.

I am not a fan of being in the hospital. To my mind, it's not a place that makes people feel good about recovery - instead it reassures them that they are, indeed, very sick, and will remain that way until otherwise told by their doctor. The lack of exercise and new input from the world is my other issue. As I've said before, I'm a creature of the outdoors and I can't abide long stays inside. But it's going to be ok. I'm in one of the best hospital systems in the country and am being treated by a great set of docs and nurses. As problems go, mine are that of a man at the 5.99 all-you-can-eat buffet who can't find the fresh kung pao chicken. I'll get through this one ok.

So I'll divert myself. I'll have Jane's computer (which has Half-Life 2 and Hitman 2), my computer from work (which doesn't), and scads of reading material. I think the only deficiency in this equation is my lack of exercise/outdoor time. I guess we'll see. Don't worry friends, you'll get to read about it all.

Thanks again for everyone who is reading and keeping up. And apologies for my friends who I haven't emailed or called. It's really only a sign of how much support I've been getting. It's a nice problem to have.

Also- lots of thanks to my friends who have volunteered meals and rides for this session. You all are great.

And so, I'm getting verbose, as I promised not to be in my initial post. I leave you with pictures of us our kids and our garden...

Will report more as details become available...

Our shiitake, oyster, and hedgehog mushroom logs...

Our Okra...

Kids and me...

Jane and kids...

My bro and I...

Fun with non-newtonian fluids

Just a few things to report. We had a good weekend, despite the heat. Saturday, we had some friends over and played down at the creek. It was lots of fun watching the kids splash around. Sunday, Jane took a break and ran errands while I watched the kids.

We had a ton of fun. We walked the dogs, had some lunch, and most fun of all, we made play dough, and something called ooblech. Ooblech is the non-Newtonian fluid in the title. It's one of those things that you would think that you wouldn't discover at age 36. All this stuff is is a mixture of corn starch and water (and a little food coloring - we used yellow). However, when mixed it doesn't behave like an ordinary solid. When you apply pressure to it, it becomes solid, resisting motion, but when you stop with the pressure, it becomes a runny liquid again. Maybe it doesn't sound so hot on paper, but I was mesmerised by this stuff for 20 minutes, as were the girls.

At any rate, there's lots of info on making it online, and if you're curious, it's worth 10 minutes, some water and some cornstarch.

We also made play dough, which turned out a little gooey, but some time in the fridge firmed it up. I worked on our old tractor and ended up mowing the lawn to prove to myself that the thing still worked. Only it worked a little too well - I couldn't get it to turn off without fussing with the throttle. Seems the ignition switch has gone a little wonky. Easy fix, I think.

Yesterday, my hair also stared falling out - woo hoo. I've been waiting for this, because I've felt silly having a semi-shaved head with hair growing out. I cut and shaved it tonight, and it feels lots better than having little bits of hair falling out. I was beginning to feel like a too-old Christmas tree. Well, no more of that - I'm Kojak now.

Last, but not least, I used the elliptical tonight to get a little exercise. That really helped out my mood. I'm hoping to do it some more until the chemo starts this week. We'll see what happens after that.

Nothing much to report

No news is good news. I really don't have much to report tonight. I pulled a full week at work which was really rewarding and diverting. It may sound a little cheesy, but it really is great to get to see and talk with everyone there. Also, everyone is being very kind about planning for help when I go into the next round. Thanks everyone out there for all of your help and generosity and kindness.

We have absolutely no plans whatsoever for the weekend. I think maybe we'll just enjoy it and see what happens. Tonight was family movie night with Wallace and Gromit. Lots of fun, though the DVD seemed to be a bit scratched. The kids were good about it though. I have 'The Onion' movie from Netflix - maybe I'll give that a look-see.

Last shot and plans for the next round

So today I got the last of my white blood cell-enhancing shots. From what they tell me, my numbers have bottomed out and I'm on the upswing. This is good for a couple of reasons: 1) the shots hurt like hell 2) I have to go to the hospital on a daily basis to get them - which is a pain in the keister. Yesterday, the doc gave me some good news - for the next round, I'll get Neulasta - which is a one-shot deal to boost white blood cells. That news was a real shot in the arm for me (pardon the multiple puns) :)

Other news, I start my next session of chemo next Friday. This one is going to be a bit different, and I'm not yet entirely sure how it works. My understanding is that I go in Friday morning and get the 'premeds' and other drugs. Sometime later Friday, a home service nursing company will give me the machine which pumps the other drugs into my system. After 5 or so days, we complete the exercise by getting more medicine. Then comes all of the fun - sickness, weakness, etc... It also looks like I may get a more potent dose this go-around. I'll be interested in seeing how that works.

Even more news - I'm getting a bit thin in the bones, it seems. Not through my doing, mind you, I eat three squares and don't have any of those pesky 6 mile runs to burn off the calories. But even so, I've lost a couple of pounds. Never to fear, Jane has embarked on a campaign to add many calories to my diet. I've been eating lots of cheese and eggs and bread. She also made a batch of incredible cookies from a recipe in the New York Times on the 'Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie'. Take my word for it, these cookies are delicious, and I'll eat one for each of you, my dear readers :)

At any rate, I'm getting by with the usual aches and pains. The garden is flourishing, Margaret is reading up a storm, and Madeline is making lots of new funny jokes.

Kegerator

On a completely random note, I was talking with someone today who asked me about my beer-dispensing setup at home. I don't get to use it much these days, as my taste for beer is a little muted, but I built a kegerator over the Winter (or was it last summer - my brain is fried). At any rate, it cools my kegs, and provides me with first-rate homebrew when I'm not undergoing chemo. I built it from a new chest freezer, an electronic thermostat, some wood, and some taps I got from homebrew supply stores. 100% Patrick built and designed - with a lot of help from my brother. It basically consists of a wooden collar containing taps fit over a chest freezer with an electronic thermostat built in.

For those of you who are new to the blog, or don't know about my intense interest in homebrewing, making my next beer beer is what I was obsessing over prior to my diagnosis with the cancer thing. In brief - I love to brew, and I love beer.

That said, now you'll understand when I wax poetic about my homebrew.

On tap now, I have:

1) a Double-decocted American Wheat beer made with German Chamomile

2) an Amber American ale, which tastes to me an awful lot like sweet toffee - mmmm

3) an American Pale, brewed with homegrown Cascade

All good beers, though not great. Greatness is what we strive for.

New sensations

So it's a Monday and work called again today. This call I was more than happy to answer, since it gives me something to think about.

I was also party to two new sensations today. I have a tingling in my fingers, and strangely, the tip of my tongue. I've been told that this is a result of one of the chemo meds, though the nurse had not heard of tingling of the tongue. I don't know if it will continue or go away - I must say it's a little disconcerting.

My second, new, and most unwelcome sensation was a pressure at the base of my spine - a result, I've been informed, of the neupogen shots designed to boost my white blood cell count. The pain started out small this morning, and by 4 this afternoon nearly had me in tears. It's almost like someone is trying to squish the base of my spine. It hurts something fierce, I've gotta say - and pain pills don't seem to do the trick.  I go see the doc tomorrow for more info, and I'll register my displeasure at this unwelcome development.  I'm sure he'll get right on a solution for it :). Well, at least it's a result of my body getting better, right?

Well, enough moaning about the petty aches and pains of life. I think tonight would be good to go watch a movie. 

Spinnakers party

It's been an up and down weekend for me in terms of energy. Friday wasn't bad, Saturday, I felt strong in the morning, but beat in the evening. Today, I've been wiped out from the get-go. I can't complain though, after hearing the stories of others. Apparently a lot of people end up with terribly low energy and nausea, sores, and all kinds of other issues. Knock wood, my biggest complaints have been tiredness/weakness, pain and general malaise. For the most part, I haven't been kept from taking the dogs for walks, playing with the kids or doing anything else (apart from running). I don't know whether the future sessions will treat me the same. It's strange, sometimes I feel like I could go and go all day, but then the body just doesn't want to go there.

On Saturday, we (Jane, the kids, my brother Jeff, and I) went to my grandmother's 90th birthday party at Spinnaker's in Chesterfield. It was a great time, and nearly everybody on my mother's side of the family was there. I love going to events like this and catching up on what everyone is doing. If you're reading this, happy birthday Grandma!. The girls wer up later than they've ever been, and were wired until about 10pm. I knew I shouldnt' have given them that Dr. Pepper :) Needless to say, they were a little subdued on waking up this morning. Margaret lost her first tooth on Saturday, and last night the tooth fairy came by. Apparently inflation has hit the tooth market as well - there were two shiny coins under her pillow this morning. I seem to recall only ever getting one.

Our neighbors did us an incredibly nice favor today, bringing us over a hot home-cooked dinner, which really helped out, because as it stands, I haven't much energy to put into getting a meal together. It was delicious, and if I keep eating this well, I'll need to be put on a diet following chemo.

I'll try to get some more pix of the garden - as a number of you have asked after that.

Back to work

So I've been back for a couple of days now and had a few thoughts. Yesterday, Thursday, was a little difficult; I was completely worn out by about 10am. Probably, this was in part due to not eating a good solid breakfast and getting a solid night's sleep. But it was still really awesome being back at work, and receiving all kinds of handshakes and friendly thoughts. Just being back was great for boosting my spirits, even if I wasn't feeling at 100%.

Today, Friday, was even better, and my energy only flagged when I tried to overexert myself (like climbing 4 flights of stairs). Also, my concentration seems to be improving as the chemo drugs work their way out of my system. On Thurs, my concentration was at an all-time low, and a lot of time it seemed as though people were speaking to me from down a tunnel - off in the distance, like in an old TV show where they've given the main character some kind of a truth serum. It's was a little surreal. But all better today...

This evening, I took a long walk with the dogs today out by Buck Mountain. It was only about 3 miles, which I used to run without even thinking about it. I was a little worn out by it, but things change, I guess. At any rate, it was very nice, the dogs loved it, and I had much more energy than even yesterday. It gave me a chance to reflect on how lucky I am to have such a loving and
encouraging wife, wonderful kids, supportive family, good friends. So if I'm in a bit of a bad situation now, at least it's the best of the bad situations I could be in. I don't think I'd change a thing.

A hard rain...

Another break from standard chemo talk. I wanted to show off my new rain barrels constructed from 50 gallon barrels and some miscellaneous supplies from Lowes. We're having great luck capturing water in these, especially with the recent monsoons :)



Both have standard spigots on them, and are fairly easy to use.

We also have some rainbow photos, below. We've been really lucky with the rain this year, and have lots of rainbows to show for it. Here's a double from last week:

I found them cheering, at least.

Out of the Sick Ward

Today went well, seeing as I was released from the ward at around 4pm. I got my bags, had all of the tubes pulled, packed up, got my at home instructions, and blew the joint. Five days really feels like a big difference. Not that I feel better, or sicker or anything, just that the gravity of everything has weighed in a bit more. These five days gave me a bit more time to think.

Going by the grocery store was also really surreal - after looking at the inside of the hospital for so long, everything seemed really open and unstaged. It was like people just going about their daily business, just like nothing had ever happened. Which, from their perspective, was true. I know this all sounds like a lot of navel-gazing, but it is an odd experience to relate.

My family has been great. When I arrived at the house I found that my daughters had made and hung up a 'Welcome Daddy' sign for me. When I walked in, they jumped out and ran around the room screaming like banshees. I nearly lost it there - I missed them so much.
When I got home, I found that Jane had set up our office in the basement to make it a bit more like a real office. I have a desk, chair, multifunction printer, and some clean surfaces to work on. Hopefully this will facilitate some additional work at home time.

Upstairs, dad had repainted a couple of bathrooms, hung a new fan, and is helping us rehang a new medicine cabinet, to handle the additional pounds of pharmaceuticals I'm bringing from CVS... And mom had watched the kids the whole time, which for 5 days, is a spectacular feat.

Tomorrow, I'm going to see how the first day out of chemo treats me and try to use a little of this home office I have set up. I'll head back to the office work on Thursday, and hopefully will be able to make some time recovering from all the work I've missed.

Seeya,
Patrick

Update for two days

I've been in the Martha Jefferson Cancer Unit for the past couple of days now - since Thursday night at any rate, and while the care/food/accommodations have been great, I'm pretty much ready to go home.

The meds have taken a lot out of me, and that I can leave variously say either tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm hoping for tomorrow.

Quick updates:

I had some trouble sleeping on Saturday due to some issues with my IV drip. It fell out of place right before bedtime around midnight. By the time we got it replaced and reinserted it into a new arm it was 2am. The machine that monitors the IV drip makes lots of noise when it can't pump IV fluid, or is low on power, so that caused a lot of tossing and turning (and cursing) on my part.

I have to confess that I really cannot stand this machine (there are, in fact two of them). It makes noise at any opportunity, needs to be plugged in to the wall to charge, and - worst of all - must always be attached to my arm and chest to provide drugs. This machine cannot leave the floor - so I am confined to the 7th. This area is a little small for me. I'm used to 3 mile walks and 5-7 mile runs, but have found that I can't really get a mile in without circling the floor about 30 times. I can't wait to get home and run/walk/whatever - I'm officially "Stir Crazy" - not like the Richard Pryor movie, though...

At any rate - I tried to get additional sleep last night. So, I turned in around 10pm and woke up around 8. I'd love to do that again tonight as well.

So I never really explained what this process is that I'm currently going through. The plan at present is to fight the cancer in six phases.
I'm undergoing a therapy called R-EPOCH (Rituxin-EPOCH). I don't fully understand the details, but this is how I understand it:

The first phase is what I'm going through now - hospital time, in which we attempt to dissolve this rather bulky tumor through the chemicals. Rituxin binds to the cells, and other chemicals like Doxorubicin and Vincristine - to interrupt cell growth. The problem is that when you kill this many cells at once - as we're doing initially, these dead cells can then acidify the blood, which causes trouble for the kidneys and other organs. That's why I need to be attached to a second machine which provides an alkaline solution in the blood to counteract the acid. I also need to be closely monitored to ensure that that the pH levels in blood and urine are all correct.

The other six phases (in a nutshell as I know this is getting long) will have me on a similar treatment, but since the tumor will (presumably) be much smaller, it is less likely that I will have issues. I'll write more as I have more details, but I'll save those juicy tidbits for later.

Later friends,
Patrick

'Not gonna go there' post

I think I'll give the cancer talk a rest today. First (and second) nights of chemo went well, but I'm really tired this morning - 'nuf said.

Instead I'm like to posting an entry about the other stuff that we do - which until recently - did not involve hospitals, PET scans, or the like :)

Our biggest project is - us - my family. Jane and I are married for 10 years, and we have two intelligent and beautiful daughters. Since page is unrestricted - and I don't trust the unwashed masses of the world with access to my family info , I'm gonna keep the family pix out - if there is interest from any of my friends or family, I'd be happy to set up a password-protected site with pictures of my beautiful wife and children.

So what do we like to do - part one in an ongoing series of mini blogs...

Garden: squash, pumpkins, okra, tomatoes, onions, garlic, corn, potatoes, peas, beans, strawberries, lettuce (arugula, bitter leaf, etc.) . There's lots more, but I don't have the list with me - but there's lots more herbs and spices too. Cilantro, parsley, basil, mint, chamomile, hops, nasturtiums - yes they're edible. I really should clarify, however - Jane does the lion's share of the work on the garden. I dig, help compost the garden, help distract the kiddies while Jane works. Certain of my faves -the hops, the onions, and garlic, I've spent more time on. Jane is truly the master of the garden. You could say that she's the very model of a modern Major-General - with her information all things vegetable, animal, and mineral. :)

I could write a write a blog on this subject alone, so I'll leave you with some pix...

Our gardens in the front:

Our second front garden

Hop Gardening:

I have many dwarf hop plants - I'm not sure of the variety. They should be Saaz but they really have not produced much. I kept them for years in Northern VA with great success, but my success in E'ville has been limited to Cascade hops shown below. I've had a four ounce harvest this year (so far) which has primarily been used as aromatic hops in my "Big Chagie American Pale Ale".

Pix of the bines are below:

That'sall for now - maybe I'll do beer or mushrooms as the next hobby post :)

Independence Day

First, I wanted to thank all of you who have expressed interest and support in this blog, and in my well being. It's great to have so many good people out there pulling and praying, and thinking of me and while facing cancer is by its nature a lonely experience, it has been made so much more bearable because of you. Thanks to all of you.


Next, on to today's experience. I've been given numerous steroids, anti-nausea meds, and Retaxin- which its not itself a 'Chemo' drug, but a drug that binds to a the lymphoma cell to begin the cell death process. I should be starting chemo itself at around 2pm. Right now, I'm feeling a bit spaced out right now to be honest. Once it starts gt will be an incredibly rigorous schedule, and will keep me hospitalized until Tuesday or possibly Wednesday. It may be time to look into family medical leave.

On the upside, I'm on 7the floor of Martha Jefferson hospital. I may get a good view of tonight's fireworks from McIntire park. I'll take and post pix, if I can get any.

And I have to say - right from the start that the nursing staff here is great. They've been helpful knowledgeable attendent and friendly. I can't sing their praises enough. They're really helping me out with this ordeal.

Will keep you posted.

Admitted

As of about 5:30 this afternoon I was admitted to Martha Jefferson for what is intended to be a four day chemotherapy treatment. The chemo type has been decided on - it's to be the EPOCH regimen. And I believe the assumption is that we're dealing with a Mediasteinal lymphoma.
I'm not entirely sure what all of this means, as I haven't had much chance to study it. I'll know more after I speak with the doctor tomorrow.

Not a whole lot else to report, I spent some time with the kids today while waiting for the admission. It was great spending time with them, but was a little too worn out to be of much fun.

Right now I'm hooked up (through my new port) to an IV drip. The idea is to hydrate me all night, and tomorrow AM I'll start the chemicals. My room overlooks pantops, so i might be able to see some fireworks tomorrow night. As for now, Jane just left and I'm watching the Sci-Fi channel Twilight Zone marathon. It's kinda cool to have TV, even for a little while.

Port in the starboard

Today was supposed to be - at least I thought it would be - the day to begin chemo. Alas, twas not to be. Seems that the marrow/bone biopsy samples are still under review. I didn't find this out until around 4:30pm, so I mostly frittered away the day in Charlottesville central library trying to get/maintain vpn connectivity. It was not the most productive of efforts.

I say 'mostly frittered' because early this morning, I did take the first step into becoming a cybernetic organism. I must emphasize that it was a very small step, since it only involved inserting a device called a 'Port' into the right side of my chest. A port is a titanium disk, about the diameter of a nickel, which has tubes which can be run directly into some rather large veins in my neck. The use of this is intended to prevent the chemo drugs from hurting veins in my arms which would otherwise need to be used.

I've been assured by several sources that this augmentation gets me nowhere near the usual $6 million dollars necessary for super speed, hearing, or jumping abilities. I'm still uncertain as to whether Cigna will be up for paying for these changes when I request them.

Thanks to some great techs, this change went largely unnoticed by me. The techs were adept at administering to me a sedative and a chemical called fentanyl, which left me in a largely in an incoherent state. To you wise guys out there, this was truly an especially incoherent state. I awoke to find a gash in my chest and a nickel size lump over my right breastbone. The sedative and pain medication wore off quickly and have left me with a delightful ache in my chest. It joins the pain placed there a week ago (prior to the initiation of this blog) which was created by the initial biopsy of the mediasteinal tumor. Ouch!

My hope is that this last step will get us started on the chemo tomorrow. I gotta tell you guys, I'm pretty much done waiting.

Sonography and Radioisotopes

Hi friends,

My check in at Martha Jefferson was postponed. The doctor is making final assessments as to the nature of the cancer. Is it mediasteinal? is it diffuse B-cell? Stay tuned for details. Tomorrow, same bat time -same bat channel :)

At any rate, I got a heart sonogram today, which allowed me to see that incredible machine at work - the one that allows me to run and breathe and do all kinds of hobbies. The heart is an interesting piece of equipment. This was all done to verify that the chemicals used to treat the cancer will not cause this super pump to stop working properly. It was interesting and not painful in the least.

I then got an interesting injection with some short-lived radioisotopes as part of my PET scan. Strangely, neither of my dogs, cats, or miscellaneous wildlife from my yard were invited to what was ostensibly a view of their innards. I suppose the 'pet' in PET scan is a misnomer.

Nothing unpleasant there, except for the extreme precautions the technicians took to shield themselves from the chemicals which were subsequently injected into my body. I'm sure I'd want the same precautions if I had to handle radioisotopes all day long.

No word yet as to the outcome. Both were designed - in concert with the marrow and bone biopsy - to determine the extent of the cancer. I await their conclusions with bated breath. :)

We'll see tomorrow. 8 am, I'm scheduled for a port to be placed into my chest, to facilitate injections of the chemo drugs. I've requested USB, or at the very least PS2, but I think these Luddites are going parallel.

I check in for chemo - hopefully tomorrow! I cannot wait!

A quick shout out to all of my PRA buddies who have offered assistance and prayers and help in the coming weeks. Also all of my school buds giving prayers, etc - this stuff helps a lot.