Halfway Done! 9/23/07

Hey everybody!

The last 2 weeks have been fairly uneventful. I had been off of chemo (till Friday) because of the low blood counts for the last two weeks and that may be why. Strangely, I still had a lot of down days/moments and that was both surprising and depressing. The nurses explained to me that the chemo stays in the system for weeks, so it isn’t like I can expect a plain, predictable improvement in the way I feel. They said once I finally stop, it can take “months” to actually feel normal again…. #$&*!…OK, so expectations get rearranged again… All that said, I did start Chemo back up again on Friday. I will be on a Friday on, Friday off regimen moving forward and then will do that until Thanksgiving, after which I will do full scans again to see where we are at with this.

We did go for a 2nd opinion that was set up by my doctor, to The UM Sylvester Cancer Canter at Jackson. We met with Dr. Gomez, there, and the visit was very successful. He basically completely validated my Oncology Team’s approach and he said that he doesn’t impress easy, but was VERY impressed with what Dr. Lozada had been doing for me. They will now collaborate with each other in the future and that makes my team that much stronger. There may also be the opportunity for me to join a vaccine trial but that pursuit is a ways off…

The bad news here is this was the first chemo treatment that hit me that same night. Fridays were usually a good night. This time I was exhausted Friday night and a zombie. The weekend was a better story and I guess that is a praise, because usually they are worse. I managed the nausea well and kept my appetite and eating up with small meals every 2 hours. I did watch a LOT of television/movies/etc and feel like a lazy porridge-head, but at least I am not throwing up… I gotta tell you the lack of consistency in how I feel with the treatments is driving me crazy.

The good news here is I only have (5) more chemo sessions until the scans. SO… I am actually over half done with the treatment.

This week should also sort out the future work situation I mentioned two blogs ago for my team and me. Meaning, we should finally hear where everybody will shake out position-wise and get closure on what our jobs will be as of January 1. Maybe then everyone can focus on the still chaotic current work load. I still need your all’s prayers about this.

This will be all for now. I will sign off asking for God’s blessing to be upon you all.

Love, In Christ,
Eric