Correction

I have been mistakenly saying my scan is Sept. 4th but it is SEPT. 14TH.

Update for another week

Well things were going great. My right arm had its normal pain that I've grown used to. We had been doing the stretches and strength exercises for my lower back for a couple weeks. Well, Friday we just wanted to get me sat up on the edge of the bed. Well, we made it there but after about 30 seconds something popped in my lower back and all of my lower back muscles cramped up and instantaneous pain. 1-10 scale, an absolute 15. I have never felt anything like that. It took the nurse, my father and myself about 10 minutes to reposition me in bed with the pain still there at about an 8 the whole time. The rest of the day was spent laying completely flat hoping for no repeats.

The worst part; I felt absolutely confident that just sitting up would be no problem. My back felt great, everything felt like it was up to the task.

So for now, I will spend at least every day working my legs and hoping we don't have to use an ambulance ride to make it to Iowa City for my Sept 14th appointments. Praying multiple times throughout the day and basically just talking to Him as I go throughout my day, that is what happens all day.

I want to thank all of you that have prayed for my recovery... all of you that have visited me multiple times... all of you that have written wonderful notes. To a wonderful girlfriend. To a magnificent family.

New Post

Just thought I should throw an update out there and a few people were sending me emails to remind me :). My chin is up, this is the month we could POSSIBLY see improvements. Currently I'm confined to bed due to some of the same muscle spasms in my lower back and hips. So the hospice nurses visit me at home and the Allen nurses now com to my home to draw draw blood.


My chin is up but I could really use some help keeping it there lately.

Post August CT Scan Update

First and foremost, I owe everyone a huge apology. I posted on FaceBook that I updated this blog earlier. I had typed it and hit the submit button just as my computer died.... worst part is, it saved none of the drafts.

The CT showed that the specific lymph nodes they're monitoring have grown approximately 1cm. I may have a slight lesion on my spleen and a small lesion on one of my lungs.

Things are up a notch up on the dangerous scale but DO NOT get worried. This is only the first cycle and they judge the drug's effectiveness by the end of the 2nd cycle. This is when the decision on what to do next is made.

THIS IS SERIOUS PRAYING TIME.

August update

Friday I visited a clinic on Ridgeway Ave. and met with a therapist named Angela that specializes in edema (the fluid retention in my right arm) wraps and sleeves. She took measurements around each arm every 3" from my wrist to my shoulder. One of the measurements was literally 6" around when compared to my left arm. So not only were we surprised from the pain just from the swelling pressure but also the strain on all the additional muscles on my right shoulder from all the added weight of the liquid. Let me tell you in a very Larry the Cable Guy fashion; "this here aint you're granny's ACE bandage". There are 6 layers to this thing. All made out of different stuff. Some you're supposed to use tension others are you're not. It's a mission... poor Dad. Really, the one material to wrap the hand is the complicated one. It cannot cut off circulation but still has to cover everything like it should.

If we do this for awhile (1-2 weeks) and we think it's making a significant difference (this guy's head is saying 1 week). Then I get measured for a custom sleeve and I'm ASSUMING that means just one thing to have to pull over that arm until the cancer is gone.

Tomorrow is the big scan day. No huge promises in cancer rotation as I have only been on the new chemo for one rotation.

Wish me luck and pray extra hard tonight. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!

Update

Just to give everyone an update on how things are going, I get up every day at 6am. This is just because I have several medications that I have to take 3 times per day (every 8 hours), so that way I can take them at 6am, 2pm and 10pm. Otherwise I could sleep later but have to wake up at midnight to take meds. I usually spend a few hours in the hospital bed that hospice provided then on Tuesdays and Fridays I have an AM appointment at my local doctor's office to measure my blood thickness and my hemoglobin level, then the docs in Iowa City can make some changes to a couple of my meds of necessary.

Other days I'm usually out of bed and in the wheelchair by that time anyway, it feels good to be in a different position. I can pull myself around the house a little with my legs and it helps me build some strength back in my legs. When I have to get up from the bed and walk to the wheelchair or the wheelchair to the car to go to the doctor's office, I can only take 2"-3" steps because of the cancer in my right hip. When I try to put weight on that right hip it hurts immediately. All the muscles in my body are so weak because I can't use them and rebuild them and if I do... I wear out real quickly. The strongest muscles I have right now are my left leg (limited) and my left arm, because I have to do everything with it.

Right now, we have 3 things that are being concentrated on; pain control, cancer and blood clots. Blood clots - I take medicine for it, as long as when they check me, my blood is in the right range, we're good. Cancer - I take my medicine every night, we really won't know if it is or isn't working until I get scanned again which I've been lead to believe will be August 3 rd. Pain control - well this is the tricky one. Bone pain is the worst kind of pain you can have I'm told and right now the cancer has been in the bones of my chest, spine, hip and most notably and painfully, my right shoulder.

I cannot move my right arm at all without assistance from my left arm. I can place it up on a computer to type or in a certain position to try to sleep but other than that, the tumor in my should ate a 2"-3" section of a bone in my upper right arm.

Well that's the update for right now. Please keep praying because at this stage, it's not going to go right without intervention from Him. Without His help, I won't make it. But together with all of you and him... we're gonna kick this thing's butt.

THANK YOU EVERYONE.

I'm Home

So I arrived home yesterday evening and got settled about 6pm. It was GREAT to finally sleep and wake up at home. There is definitely something to be said about healing in your home environment. The right arm still hurts pretty substantially but it's tolerable enough to be able to come home.

With the help of hospice, I have a hospital bed, a tray to go over the bed, a portable oxygen tank, a machine to produce oxygen if I need it and finally a small pump that I carry with me that injects me.

So for now, I'm not doing too bad at all. Feel free to call or text or email me.

Thanks again for all of the prayers. I pray like 10 times a day and ask for this cancer to leave my body and let Him know how thankful I am for all of you.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO MY FATHER AND MY SISTER WHO DROVE DOWN EVERY SINGLE DAY THAT I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL. THEY NEVER MISSED A DAY. OFTEN TIMES SPENDING THE NIGHT. THEY WERE WONDERFULLY SUPPORTIVE.