Little news is good news?

Visit with the doctors today was more of a rehash of what we already know and a bit of scheduling.  First, what we already know; it's kind of wait and see.  Chemo is still in the picture, but it depends on the surgery.  Radiation is still in the picture, but it depends on the surgery.  Actually it all depends more on the pathology of the tissue they remove from my body, and any presence of cancer cells/tissues.  Also, if in the surgery they discover any tumor that hasn't been seen in the scans and occurred as an offshoot.  But, the scans have all been so good...  Doctors didn't have a chance with the scans from yesterday yet, but will have them for surgery.

Scheduling isn't exactly definite but I know it's in December.  11th or 18th, I said either date was fine for me.  I'll have to stay in the hospital for a day post surgery, and may need to be there for a little pre-anesthesia meeting the day before...  I've had anesthesia before, should be able to skip that.  I should receive a call from scheduling at the UW or I'll call tomorrow.  Now, I have some time to work out logistics.  

Rest of my day was spent downtown Seattle.  Walked around, did some people watching, tried to find good chinese, then went to Seattle art museum for several hours.  It was nice to see some of the pieces, but there were only a handful I really liked.  

MRI and CT complete

I was early so they took care of me right away; it pays to be prompt!  Only took an hour and a half; I'd been scheduled for 3...  Again, these scans all produce truly interesting/amazing images, but the whole process is absolutely underwhelming.  During the MRI you just lay there and the bed doesn't even move after it's moved you into the machine; the CT scan at least moves you through the ring as it scans you.  I made sure to request copies of the images before I left.  My doctors should be reviewing those images this evening or even tomorrow during their Tuesday sarcoma meeting...  After that I get to have a sit down with them and talk about the next things we want to do, more on that tomorrow.

After that I just walked around Seattle went to REI, and a few other shops.  Now I'm back at Allan's, watching the Packers; I hope they win!

Made it to Seattle

Drive was nice and uneventful.  Nice sunny day made it pleasant, but shown in my eyes a bit.  I'm here and just relaxing with Allan and his brother(Adam), as we watch some football.  I've been informed that the Thanksgiving I've been invited to is rather large...31 people!!!!  I haven't been to a family get together(my family or anyone else's) that huge in a while!  It should be fun, but I've been warned of some drama, too bad...  But I'm sure it will all be fine, and I'm just going to enjoy myself anyhow!

Blood work from Monday.

was better than Friday. Platelets made a good return and everything else was out of the realm of concern!!!

Not much else going on, just slowly working down my list of things I wanted to get done while I'm out at the house. Almost finished watching the complete X-files. The last season is hard for me to get through because I just didn't like it as much as the other seasons... And I'm just not going to bore you guys with that.

Got a call today from SCCA, they broke an MRI machine and had to reschedule me for that, works out in my favour since I won't have to get up as early now!!! Nothing further is on my itinerary, for now...

11/24 - MRI - SCCA - 1:30
11/25 - Dr.'s - SCCA - 9:30

I spoke with my buddy Allan in Seattle; he and his brother are ok with housing me while I'm up there. Then, I've received an official invite from his family for Thanksgiving, so I'll just stick around for that. It'll be a nice time, I'm sure!

Another quiet weekend

Bit cold to do much outside, and with cold and flu season, I'm being more careful that normal. Watched a movie at my Brother's place Saturday, Dinner at Jones' Sunday was a pleasure as it always is! Thank you Mary Beth!

The only thing to speak of that I've been doing is working down this list of things that I gave myself to work on while I'm away from work. It's going ok, I've gotten a few things down on the list, it's just that while I'm going through them, I'm understanding why I didn't get around to them...tedium! I am persevering and glad to be making a dent in said list.

Health wise, I'm feeling good, but really probably getting a bit of cabin fever and I really would like to get out a bit more. Tomorrow is blood work and that will dictate whether I get more outside exposure. No nose bleeds, no fevers, no headaches... I actually feel pretty normal, if a bit more tired on the whole, which I suppose is expected. Do I know how to make "I'm feeling good" long winded or what?!?!? LOL

Blood work came back good except...

for the platelets. Which goes a long way in explaining how I was feeling the past couple days. Usually the number I was at is not so alarming, but I was having symptoms(headache and nose bleeds) so the SCCA was suggesting I get a platelet transfusion. Against most peoples advice I choose not to get the transfusion, but have arrangements if that should change. Why not, you might say? Today I felt much better, only 1 nose bleed that stopped quickly, and no headache...

A note about my decision; It's not that I am fighting any of the treatments, I realize the Dr.'s have my best health in mind; This is not a sign that I am in any way giving up, platelets are important to blood clotting and since I am not exposing myself to bleeding risks I don't think it's necessary; The imperative has not been shown to me, call me stubborn; Yes, they are PhD's, but they are human after all; Finally, as I said, this was only alarming to them because I was experiencing nose bleeds and head aches, barring those, the concern would be diminished(if only slightly).

Not much going one these days.

Been resting a lot and made a few house calls. Today I think the wind got to me or something because I wasn't feeling tip top all day... Friday I have blood work. Need to remember to have them go on the left arm this time and give righty a break...

Running (ACTUALLY)Saved My Life

This is a post from my other blog, I thought it might give a nice bit of explanation of how I got here in a short/sweet sort of way:

"I swear this, and I will do everything in my power to keep running as long as I live. The story is simply this; I was training for a marathon, running often and at most opportunities. I ran with my backpack so I could go play ULTY, a running game. Then I'd run home. I ran miles and miles, I ran into injury and was pissed with the downtime. I even ran a bit while in recovery. I ran and I ran, then I ran some more. Occasionally I'd get sore and think I'd pulled something, so I'd rest. This usually relieved the pain. After a while the pain didn't go away as quickly(overnight). I did something about it. Started seeing the doctors... If it wasn't for my diligent running, the pain I was noticing might never have been noticed as soon, nor treated with such urgency, and could have become a much more serious condition. Thanks to running, we caught it early and I'm thankful for that."

Running errands

My errands ended up requiring me to have to head into town, so I did that. While there I had to stop in to work for a bit, so I made sure to pop up to see the team! It was nice to have a chat with everyone and let them know in person how I'm fairing, and see for themselves. Sorry I missed any of you, I'm still a bit hesitant to expose myself to too many people even though my counts are good, call me crazy.

Also stopped to see the surgeon who excised the tumor and set me on this path of treatment; Huge thanks go out to Dr. Bruce Ayers and MaRene for their work and pro-activity!

Still kicking

Trying to get back to normal here, doing some paper work and things like that. Lot's of emailing etc etc... I don't know if I mentioned earlier that the Dr.'s think I may not have to do more chemo, they do, and well see what they say after my MRI 11/25. That's going to be a big day full of scanning and then talking with my Dr.'s about next steps. I'm hoping they can get the surgery in shortly thereafter. I'm kind of anxious to get back to doing something(work), so I'm missing it a bit, but the time off is giving me time to do some other little projects I've been meaning to get done. I won't bore you with those. Weekend was uneventful; Saw Ben Saturday and did stuff around the house Sunday.

Things are good!

Blood count

Got a pretty decent blood count today which is good. No side effects to speak of other than no taste buds and a bit dragging. Not too shabby!

another cool shot from my PET scan

MUGA scan pictures were kind of disappointing... This is another one from my PET scan. In the lower left of the image is a slightly more red mark which is the basic location of the incision/excision of the tumor. AND NO, that is not my "daddy parts" in the picture; close but no.

I'm back

Neulasta shot taken.
just resting up now, not feeling too bad, especially after a LONG sleep.

Blood work tomorrow and more rest.
Currently no taste buds, again... expect that to be back to normal by Sunday!?

Boredom

nothing terribly eventful, just hanging around the UWMC. Blood draws at 5am, change some saline shortly thereafter, check vitals around 8, Doctors at 11, Ifosfomide at 4ish, last bag of Adriamiacine will run out at 10pm or so.

couple more days then it's off to home to rest my bones and take Nuelasta.