Another day

Hey everybody.  I know I’m a day late for this, but hey, better late than never.  Well, I am back from the hospital and couldn’t be happier.  I’m home, not hooked up to an IV (it is so nice not to have to pee every 15/30 mins), have my dogs to play with and my house to roam around.

The time in the hospital really wasn’t too bad.  If all my in-patient treatments go like last week, I will be beyond thrilled.  Wasn’t nauseated at all (at least not until the ride home.  Even after 7 pm, you need to drive like a maniac to go from the Dolphin to get onto 95 and then to the turnpike.  Talk about a nauseous ride home!!), had an appetite, decent room and decent food.

Got some great news too.  On the first day, my oncologist told me that they were looking over the results from the bone marrow biopsy and found some troubling news.  They found that the chromosomal count was abnormal (very similar to the site of the tumor), which could suggest that the cancer had spread through my pelvis.  Most likely I would have to repeat the bone marrow biopsy after a couple more treatments to see where we stand.  I wanted to cry right there about the biopsy (not because of the cancer).  That had to be one of the most painful things I have ever experienced.  The news about the cancer having possibly spread wasn’t good.  But here comes the good news.  On the second day (I think), my doctor came in and said it was a mistake.  My chromosome count from the biopsy site was completely normal.  Talk about having your spirits go from the gutter to flying high!!

Other than that, not much to tell.  Today is another day.  Pretty nauseous at the moment, but it’ll pass.  The pain in my leg is still there, but it’s manageable.  Looking forward to the weekend to getting back to normal.  Hope you are all well and thank you again for all the prayers and well wishes.

A quick post

Hey everyone.  Sorry I haven't posted in since I've been home.  Been enjoying being home very, very much.  Just a quick post tonight (I promise to post more tomorrow).  Just want to let everyone know I am doing fine and am so happy to be home.  Being home (even though I haven't really left the house) can really make all the difference.

Talk more soon.  Goodnight.

Going home soon!

Hi all - it's Amy just checking in to let you know that we're going home soon. We hope to be leaving around 7pm or so and Scott hopes to get home, play with the dogs, take a nice hot shower without being attached to an IV, and lay down and rest (I think in that order!).

He's going to do a blog post tonight (or most likely tomorrow) but for now, here's what a man happy to go home looks like!

P.S. - Isn't he cute in that beanie hat? I think so.... :)

First In-Patient Treatment – Day 4

Well, I am almost done.  In a little more than 24 hours, I’ll be able to get out of here and head home.  I cannot wait.  It’s really not that bad here.  The food is ok (I actually have an appetite), and I love the company and visitors I have, but I wanna go home.

This are going along pretty smoothly.  A little more tired today though.  Don’t have much more to say other than a shower can make you feel worlds better!!

Hope everyone else is doing well.  Love you all.

Inpatient #1, Day 2

Hi all! It's Amy blogging today. Scott is doing pretty well (considering) but he's sleepy because of the meds right now so I'm going to let you guys know how he's doing today.

Scott is getting two different chemo drugs this week from the ones he got during is outpatient treatment. The good news is these ones don't make him nauseous like last time. He is beyond relieved. He even has an appetite and is eating his meals. Believe it or not, the food is pretty good here at UM. He was happy they even are letting him pick his meals from a menu.

He is having lots of different meds this week. In addition to the 2 chemo drugs and the drug to protect and coat his bladder, he his getting steroids, meds to help him relax, anti-nausea meds, a blood thinner to help prevent blood clots, and blood pressure meds on standby because his BP is running a little high. He is getting lots and lots of IV hydration, too. He is especially happy his chemo drugs are on the IV drip this time, instead of having to be pushed in manually via the syringes. We are thinking this is what made the difference with his nausea, but it's really all just a guess.

(By the way - if any of you can spell nausea and nauseous without spell check, I'm impressed. I can never spell them right!)

The Ativan (anxiety meds) are making him sleepy right now and I have to tell you, it's pretty funny to see Scott all loopy! Scott rarely drinks or anything, so it's funny when the meds make him silly and extra talkative. After he gets silly, he gets sleepy, so that's where he's at now.

I just asked Scott if there's anything he wants me to tell his people (haha!) and he just told me to tell everyone hi and thank you again for your thoughts and prayers. And if anyone was wondering if Scott is really doing okay, I assure you, he is his normal self and still giving me grief whenever he can. :) I was just trying to debate something with him and he says he's right and to leave him alone because he has cancer and he can do whatever he wants. That argument doesn't work on me, but he still has to try. Normalcy is good.

Dad (Neil) is here for the night shift - we are taking turns so someone is here around the clock. My Dad (Greg) and Joan were awesome enough to come down from NJ for the week and stay at the house during the day while I'm here. It's great because we don't have to worry about the dogs being alone all day. Even if someone comes and lets them out, it's a long time to be alone and God only knows what kind of trouble Oliver would get into! I suspect Oliver is growing on my Dad. Everyone has been such a huge help and we are grateful.

Scott's about to start the 2nd chemo drug and will finally take a shower after that. The nurses here are so great - I have to say I'm VERY impressed with UM - they are taking very good care of Scott.

Thank you all from me, too, for all your well wishes. Much love to all!

Sleepy Scott at the time of this post. (He has it freezing in the room!)

Dad taking pictures.

A small portion of downtown Miami from his window.

Scott sitting in the comfy chair yesterday.

First In-Patient Treatment - Day One

Hey everyone.  Well, I’m now in the hospital for my first in-patient treatment.  Really sucks.  Got to the Cancer center around 7 this morning and then went to the lab for some bloodwork.  Once that was done, we went to the reception area and waited to see the doctor.

Hey said everything looked good and that I was ok to be admitted.  He mentioned something about possibly changing my chemo treatment to every 2 weeks, instead of every 3 weeks.  There are both advantages and disadvantages to this.  The biggest disadvantage being that my body may not be able to handle it.  I will know more as the week goes on.  The positive side of it that my treatments will be over that much sooner.

Actually haven’t started my treatment yet.  Only been through about 4 hours of hydration so far.  In fact, my IV is beeping saying that the hydration is complete.  Next, I’ll get some anti-nausea meds and other medications and then starts the chemo.  Yippee.  That will be followed by about 4 or 5 hours of hydration again.

Tomorrow, everything should start a bit earlier.

I do have my own room in UM Hospital.  It’s nice.  Couple of comfy chairs to sit in (Amy in one, Dad in the other) and of course the bed.  And there is enough room that if someone was staying here overnight and wanted, a bed could be brought in.  Not a bad view out the window.  Plenty of natural light.  And the big bonus…..the TV actually works.  And I have basic cable.  Got to watch American Choppers on Discovery and now watching Friends.

Nothing else to really report right now.  I’ll have more to say later after the chemo treatment, so I may post again later, if not, I will tomorrow.  Thank you everyone for all the support and warm wishes.  I need them and appreciate them more than you will ever know.

Less than a week to go....

Well, I have less than a week to go until it’s time for my next treatment.  This one’s pretty scary,  This is the first treatment where I am in the hospital for a full week.  I go in on Monday morning (March 21^st) at 7 in the morning for bloodwork.  Then, I’ll see the doctor who will admit me.  I’m not sure if I will be staying in the Sylvester Cancer Center or in the hospital, but will be admitted probably around 9 or 10 in the morning.

Not sure what’s gonna happen though.  I know that for 5 days, I will be have chemo treatments everyday followed by lots of IV Hydration.  All the while, they will be monitoring all my vital systems.  Next Friday cannot come soon enough!!  Really kind of scared only because I don’t know what to expect.  Similar to just prior to my last treatment when I didn’t know what to expect.  I’m sure I’ll be fine though.

I’ve been doing pretty well lately.  I’ve been nauseous off an on, but nothing major.  The main thing is the leg pain.  It comes and goes.  Sometimes, it’s serious enough that I need the Percocet, sometimes, I only need Vicodin.  And then there are times (normally throughout the day at work) I can get by just using Excederin Tension (no aspirin allowed).

The other side effect that I have been dreading has finally arrived too.  Last Sunday, I started to lose my hair.  One minute, I’m in the shower, and I’m fine, then about 2 hours later, I can pull it out with my fingers.  Well, that was it for me.  I just don’t think I could take waking up in the morning and finding all my hair still on the pillow.  So off to Supercuts I went.  People there were really nice.  They joked with me about why I was doing it.  Did I lose a bet or something.  Once they found out why though, they were very supportive.  So I got a buzz cut.  And for your enjoyment, I asked Dad to be there to record it with his camera.  He took pictures (before, during and after).

So, for your enjoyment, here are some pics of me get shaved.  I hope you enjoy.  Love you all!!

Quick Update

Hey everyone.  Just a quick update.  Doing ok, but the pain in my leg is back.  Not as bad as before yet.  Able to get away with Excedrin during the day, but back to taking Vicodin at night.  Sucks.  But at least it's not like before.  Here's hoping that it will go away again soon.  It'll be great once they do surgery to remove the tumor all together.  Be nice to go through the day with no pain.  Kinda forget what that's like.  Just gotta keep telling myself........it could be so much worse.

Good night everyone.

Back to work

Hey everybody, it’s been a couple days since the last post, so I thought I’d give everyone an update.  I am doing much better.  The nausea has passed and the bone pain from the Neulasta has gone too.  Still have some pain in my leg, but not nearly what I was having.  It’s been so good that I am proud to say that it has been a full week since I’ve had to take a Percocet.  For the aches and pains, Excedrin Tension (the one without aspirin) seems to be working pretty good.

Other than that, I am back to work, and they couldn’t be more helpful to me.  They figured out how the short-term disability is going to work while I’m out of the office and in the hospital every 6 weeks and even how to work the days I’m out for my outpatient treatments.  Everyone has been just great.  I will never say that Watson is only about the bottom line.  After this “experience”, I’ve learned that Watson truly cares for it’s employees, and the fact that I work on a team where we truly care for each other and am willing to go the distance for each other.

I hope everyone else is doing well and I want to thank you all for your well wishes, thoughts and love.  I truly have amazing friends and family.  Thank you everybody and I’ll post again soon.

Chemo #1 - Finally Done

Hello all - Amy here. Your comments are so kind, inspiring and meaninful - thank you so much for your love. A special note to my friends - many of you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Scott, yet you take the time to pray for him and send him love and well wishes. I've always known I'm so blessed as to have amazing friends - friends who have shown me more love than I had ever hoped to have. Thank you for being so amazing to the man who means the world to me. I love you all more than ever.

On to the man of the hour - Chemo #1 is officially, finally done. He had his Neulasta shot this afternoon, completing this two-day outpatient session. He now gets a break for the rest of this week and another two, and then begins a five-day inpatient session (with the exception of a couple blood work appointments). He's doing good, all things considered. He is very nauseous and battling with other stomach issues, but thankfully, none of the issues are too severe. Hopefully, beginning tomorrow, he will start to feel better.

We'll check in later this week. I hope you all are having a wonderful week.

Thank you again,
Amy

Chemo Treatment #1 (the Next Day)

Well, one down, 16 and a half to go (I still have the Immune Booster Shot this afternoon, it’s a drug called Neulasta).  Yesterday was rough.  We got to the hospital around 7 in the morning so that they could do lab work.  Then we met the doctor a little after 8:30.  We then chatted for a little bit and went over everything and finally made it to the CTU (for Amy and her law enforcement colleagues and friends, CTU means “Comprehensive Treatment Unit”, not, as Amy said, “Counter Terrorism Unit”) for my Chemo Treatment.

Started out by my nurse, a truly wonderful woman named Lorna, accessing the port that was “installed” last Thursday.  Hurt a bit, but not that bad.  We started out with an hours worth of IV hydration, then went to about an hours worth of medication (this was for nausea, not the chemo).  Then came the chemo.  It was 3 drugs and a bladder protector called Mensa.  This is something that nurse has to administer herself through syringes, not just hanging a bag on the IV drip.  Once she starts that, your stuck till its over.  Got a bad taste in my mouth immediately and got really nauseous.  Didn’t loose it though, thank god.  After about 10 mins or so, everything settled and I was fine.  After that, I was stuck there for 6 hours of IV hydration, with a couple more treatments of the Mensa.  We finally left around 11:30 or so last night, another 40 mins or so to get home.

Let me apologize here if I just repeated everything that was already posted, just wanted to give a summary.  From here on is definitely some new info.

Let me tell you, it is amazing what “feeling clean” can do to your attitude.  After 16/17 hours at the hospital, I felt pretty crappy when I got home.  Had to force myself to take a shower (the first real one I had since last Tuesday night (wasn’t allowed to with the procedures I had done for the biopsy and the port implant, and then had to be very careful afterwards so I didn’t get the bandages on my chest wet).  I cannot say what a mood lifter it was to feel clean.

I have to say that I cannot thank my wife and my father enough for being with me yesterday.  I know there is no way I could do this without them.  As uncomfortable as I was, I cannot imagine how hard this is for them.  At least I was in a somewhat comfy chair the whole time.  It even reclined.  They sat in crappy chairs the whole time trying to work.  And to do anything that I asked of them.

Dad: I know you’ve done this more than you ever should have too, but thank you.  I love you so much.

Amy: I don’t even know where to begin.  You’re my angel and my life.  I love you so much,

Woke up this morning feeling ok.  Not great, still kinda just……..”blaah”.  Don’t really know how else to say it.  Stomach is kinda upset.  The anti-nausea stuff doesn’t really seem to work, or maybe it does and without it, it would be a lot worse.  I won’t be testing that theory though.

What really made my day today was to hear that my grandmother came through her surgery with flying colors and that she is going to be just fine.  She is one tough old broad.

Thank you all for your posts.  I can’t tell you what it means for me to read them, from both family, friends, people I haven’t even met.  Amy’s friends and colleagues are such great people.

I think that’s it for now.  I may post again later after the Neulasta, but I will see how I feel.

By the way, Amy put a few new things on the blog.  There is now a counter to show the number of treatments completed and the number to go.  You will really start to see me smile when there are more behind me than ahead of me.  Also, another feature is a subscription to the blog.  If you would like to subscribe, put your email in and when there is a new blog posting, it will send you an email about it.

Also, please look at some of the stuff on the right.  Some of you have asked about how to comment and to see more about the type of cancer I have.  On the right, there is information on how to post a comment (you don’t have to be a blog subscriber/member) and hyperlinks to a site my doctor gave me about Ewing’s Sarcoma (my cancer) and cancer in general.

That’s it for now.  Gonna try to eat something.  Keep your fingers crossed.