Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. We had about 30 people here at my mom and Jim's house for dinner. It was great to spend time with family and friends and after the good news that I got a few days earlier I had a lot to be thankful for!

 

I met with Dr. Reeder and Dr. Schild last week and went over my progress and the upcoming radiation treatment. I am waiting this week to here back from Dr. Schild's office and get my schedule but I am assuming that I will start within the next week. I should be going everyday for 10-12 days and then will be done with all of my treatment!!! After that it will be about a week of recuperation and then I should be able to make it back to HI sometime after the 5th of January. I cannot wait to get back and see everyone and get back to a normal schedule.

I also want to say thanks to Maui Divers for the giant card! I couldn't get the picture to post but will try again later and hopefully it will work then...

WE Did It!

Yesterday was the big day of my PET scan that would determine whether or not my cancer was still present. After a sleepless night and a day of jitters waiting for the results, I finally heard from Dr. Reeder at about 2:30 pm this afternoon. And it was great news, the cancer is no longer present! After nearly a year, three different chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow transplant this thing is finally out of my system!!! I still have a few years before they consider me completely in remission and I will now have to undergo about two weeks of low dose radiation but this was the first big step! 

Thank you very much again to everyone that has been supportive throughout my entire journey, I couldn't have done it without you guys! 

Radiation

I just returned from my meeting with Dr. Shild who is going to be my radiation oncologist. Because of the recurrence of the mass in the past and the size that is was they are going to go ahead and give me some radiation. How much is going to be determined by a PET scan that I will have sometime in the next few weeks. If the scan comes back "cold" meaning that the cancer is no longer present I will have a lower dose of radiation that will be for about 2 weeks. If it comes back "hot" meaning that the cancer is still present I will have a much higher dose that will be for about 4 weeks. Once the results come back it will be up to my platelet counts as to when they will start. If they are high enough they are going to be starting as soon as possible, if they are still low it could be another 30 days before they even get started. If this is the case I could be here in AZ until February. 

I wanted to let everyone know that just because I am missing home a lot as mentioned in my previous blog, in no way does this mean that I am going to give up! I am just ready to get this thing over with and get my life back on track!

Recovery

So recovery since I got out of the hospital has been much harder than I thought that it would be. Despite my counts going up everyday, I am still very weak and feel lightheaded a lot of the time and I am finally starting to realize that recovering from a possibly fatal dose of chemotherapy is going to be much harder than all of the other treatments. It is a very frustrating since it only took a few days to recover from each ABVD treatment and about a week from the ESHAP but I have a feeling that this one is going to take a few months. I started to workout today and was able to ride for 10 minutes on the stationary bike and lifted 5lb weights. I know it doesn't seem like much but it is truly the best that I can do right now. My goal is to increase the time by 1-2 minutes each day and increase the amount of reps as well but it is easier said than done. 

I am also missing Hawaii a lot and knowing that I cannot go home for another month or two has been making me feel depressed. It is just something that I have to work through and know that home will always be there and my getting better is the most important thing right now. But it is hard when I am stuck in a house in AZ all day long and almost everything that I know and love is going on without me in HI. 

I Escaped from Mayo!!!

So as some of you already know, I was released from the Mayo Clinic yesterday after 3 long weeks! It was a big surprise since my nurse told me in the morning that my white blood cell count numbers had jumped significantly but that I would still have to stay one more day for monitoring. But when I met with Dr. Reeder an hour later he over ruled her and said that I was in good enough shape to return home!!! It was a little strange leaving the hospital after such a long stay but I think that I am getting used to being home now after a nights sleep in a real bed... Now I am going to be going through weekly blood tests and then probably some radiation just to make sure that everything is completely killed before I get sent back home to Hawaii!!! By the way, if anyone out there in Hawaii is looking for a roommate or knows of a place to rent that isn't going to cost me an arm and a leg please let me know as I need to start planning my return!

Home sweet, home!

Day +11 Update

Today is November 3rd which is considered day +11 meaning it is the 11th day from the transplant. Things have been going okay but the last week has been pretty rough. First I got nauseous and sick for a few days so they had me on a strict regimen of anti-nausea medication which caused me to become very drowsy. I then developed a bad rash all over my body that didn't bother me but didn't look great either. And finally I got a sore throat that has been so bad that I have not been able to eat or drink anything for the last few days (I have lost 19 lbs in the last 9 days). In fact they have me on a morphine drip pump that gives me a constant flow of morphine but also allows me to push a button every 8 minutes and get an extra burst just to try and fight some of the pain. So suffice to say, between the anti-nausea medication and the morphine I have been pretty stoned over these last few days.

Dr. Reeder was on rounds this morning and stopped to check on me and let me know how my progress was going. According to my lab results I may be able to leave the hospital as early as this Wednesday! I cannot wait to get out of here and breathe some non-circulated air!

Stoned!

My sister Malia flew down for the weekend!

Transplant Day: October 24, 2008

Yesterday was the big day for my transplant! After suffering through 7 straight days of intense chemotherapy, my stem cells were reintroduced into my body. The entire process took about 12 minutes, which according to the nurse was extremely short. The shortness was because my original harvest had been so good that I only needed to infuse one bag rather than multiple bags. I have been feeling very week these last few days and had gotten some of the unfortunate side effects of the chemotherapy, burn marks on my hands and mouth sores. But in about 5 days they will begin the nuprogen shots that will boost my white blood cell counts and that should take care of the side effects. Sorry if this is poorly written and a little rambling as I am still really tired but I wanted to put up a post and let people know that I am still hanging in there and everything is going according to plan!

Five Million frozen stem-cells

Hanging the stem cells for transplant

Close-up of cells going down the tube and into me.

Day One

I checked into the Mayo Clinic this afternoon at 1:00 pm. They gave me a huge room which is great but unfortunately I don't have a view of anything. The day has been spent meeting with the doctors and nurses and going over everything that is going to be happening while I am here. I am being filled with fluids as I write this to keep me hydrated and I will also be given two drugs one to prevent seizures and another to protect my liver. They weighed me the second that I checked in and will weigh me everyday at 4:00 am and then again at 4:00 pm. It is essential that my weight remains the same while I am in here as too much weight loss is not good and any weight gain at all can be a negative sign of one if the chemo drugs. Other than that I have just been getting settled into my new "home," it is probably a bad sign that I already want to break out of this place as I am going crazy but my mom has confiscated my wallet so there will be no taxi rides to the airport for me :(

Starting tomorrow I will begin the chemotherapy at 8:00 am and be given one of the drugs every 4 hours for the first three days. Following that I will have the remaining three drugs over the last three days. They have stressed multiple times that these drugs are not going to be fun, in fact one nurse said I am going to feel like I have been beaten by a Louisville Slugger, but what does not kill me will only make me stronger. Below are some pictures of me in my room:

Cowboys v. Cardinals/ Final Update

I was able to make it out to the Cowboys v. Cardinals game this past Sunday to tailgate with Kevin, Brooke, JJ and a bunch of other friends! We had a great time and it was cool to be able to tailgate at a professional event, pretty much what you would expect beer and bbq's but with way too many Cowboys fans. If you didn't know better you might have thought that you were in Dallas. I have to give them credit Cowboys fan sure do travel. The game was exciting with the Cardinals pulling off the win in OT! And it was hard, yet funny, to watch the hoards of Cowboy fans make the walk of shame through the parking lot to their cars following the loss...

As far as updates go, I met with Dr. Reeder today to get the results of my most recent tests and to find out the official schedule of my transplant. Dr. Reeder was very pleased with the results of the tests especially after everything that took place last week and he is feeling optimistic about the transplant. I will be heading in tomorrow once they have a room available for me to get situated and started on pre-meds and hydration. The chemotherapy will then begin Thursday and last for seven days with one day off at the end before they re-introduce my stem cells on the 24th. After that it will be all recovery time with daily blood works tests as we wait for my blood counts to return to a healthy level so that I can be discharged. 

Thanks again to all of you for your support! I will try and update my blog while I am in the hospital, but if I am unable to I will have my mom or Jim type something up so that everyone knows what is going on!

Yo Adrian!

My schedule is finally set, after a few more tests this upcoming Monday and a final meeting with my doctor on Tuesday I will be admitted on Wednesday October 15th! I will be in the hospital for about 2-3 weeks depending upon my recovery time, but I am going to do everything that they tell me to do and then some so that I can try and get out of there sooner. I wish that I could sit here and pretend like I am not nervous and scared, but I am. 

This cancer may be as strong as Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago combined, and it has definitely thrown a lot punches at me and had me in the corner more than once wanting to throw in the towel, but that is something that I refuse to do! I have gone through way too much and fought way too many rounds to give up in the 15th because "I aint no bum!" It is now time for me to find the inner Rocky in myself and know that I have a ton of people rooting me on like Rocks trainer Mickey. And with that kind of support there is no way that I can lose! I am going to, "eat lightnin' and crap thunder" until this cancer can't get up from the ten count...

It will be then, that I proclaim to all of you in my corner. "Yo Adrian, WE did it!!!" 

Update from CT Scan

It was a pretty rough weekend for me after my last round of ESHAP. I spent most of Sunday in bed trying unsuccessfully to keep any food down and unfortunately the sickness led into Monday when I had to go into Mayo for blood work and my CT scan. 

I had my follow-up meeting with Dr. Reeder today to go over the CT scan results from yesterday, apparently the mass has grown slightly since my last scan in September which means that the cancer is once again adapting to the chemotherapy and fighting back. Instead of giving me another round of a different type of chemotherapy they have decided that the best thing to do is go ahead with the bone marrow transplant followed by some radiation and try and knock this thing out once and for good. So I will more than likely be admitted on Monday and begin the BEAM chemotherapy on Tuesday. I am going to be going through some tough times in the next few weeks but I will try and update my blog as much as possible while I am in the hospital. Once again, thank you to everyone for your continued support!

A Minor Setback

After going through the first four days of what was supposed to be the last round of ESHAP I ran into a minor brick wall. Friday was supposed to be the quickest day as far as the length of treatment but when I woke up that morning my face was swollen and my chest was feeling tight. I brought up my symptoms to the nurse as soon as I got to the Mayo Clinic and as a precaution she decided to weigh me to see if I was retaining fluid. Turns out I had gained almost 15lbs of fluid since the chemotherapy started. So my last day of treatment was cancelled and I was sent to get an x-ray which did show fluid in my lung cavity once again. Below is information from cancerbackup.org explaining a pleural effusion.

What is a pleural effusion?: The lungs are covered by a membrane or lining, called the pleura, which has an inner layer and an outer layer. The inner layer covers the lungs. The outer layer lines the rib cage and diaphragm, which is a sheet of muscle which separates the chest from the abdomen. The pleura produces a fluid which acts as a lubricant that helps you to breathe easily, allowing the lungs to move in and out smoothly. Sometimes too much of this fluid can build up between the two layers of the pleura: this is called a pleura effusion.

Causes: Pleural effusions are quite common and are often due to infections such as pneumonia, or heart failure, when the heart is not pumping the blood efficiently around the body. A pleural effusion can also be a symptom of several types of cancer. A pleural effusion usually develops if cancer cells have spread into the membrane lining the lungs, where they can lead to irritation and cause fluid to build up.

At this point I am awaiting a CT scan on Monday to see what the next step is going to be. If there is still a significant amount of fluid my doctor will drain the area in order to relieve some of the pressure. This is done by placing a small tube in between my ribs in my back and allowing the fluid to flow out into jars. Dr. Reeder will then have to determine whether or not I am going to go ahead and complete the last day of treatment or start an entirely new type of chemotherapy. I am hoping that I just have to do the last day as I am already feeling ill and don't want another weeks worth of chemicals pumped into my body! I will be sure to update my blog tomorrow as soon as I hear any news...

Yet another round of ESHAP required

I just got back from my meeting with Dr. Reeder and unfortunately the PET scan came out positive again. My body has been responding well to the chemotherapy but there are still a few small spots of cancer just below my collar bone and in my chest. Thankfully the mass in my chest has shrunk significantly! The plan now is to start another 5 day round of ESHAP this upcoming Monday and then wait 2-3 weeks to run another PET scan. Hopefully at that time the scan will be negative of any active cancer cells and I will be admitted into the hospital to start the transplant. Thank you to everyone for your continued support! 

As many of you also know, my friend John Gephart is running in the 2008 Honolulu Marathon for Team in Training in my honor. Below is a link to an article from todays Honolulu Advertiser spotlighting John's training and efforts to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Hawaii. Thanks again John, keep up the hard work!!!

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/COMPUB03/809240324/1224

My cousin Dallas has also informed me that her friend Becky Hurley will be running the 2008 San Francisco Marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training in my honor. I have never met Becky before but I want to thank her very much for the support and wish her the best of luck!!! Below is a link to her Team in Training webpage:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nce/nikesf08/bhurley

Malia: My Sister that thinks is my Mother!

So my sister Malia wasn't very pleased with the picture that I posted of her on my blog. In fact she is still complaining about it so here are two other pictures of her, not too sure how much she will like the second one but my tormenting her won't stop just because I am sick!

Malia and Andy (aka: Baby Huey)

Whatchu' looking at fool!

*** These photos are both courtesy of Andy's myspace page so if anyone is to blame it is him for putting them out there for me to access. 

Diamondbacks game and New Dates

I have another busy week here going between the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix and the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale everyday for tests and meetings before I am able to get cleared to go in for my transplant. I met with Chris my bone marrow transplant coordinator again yesterday and he let me know how surprised everyone truly was to find out my harvest numbers from last week. Apparently giving enough for three transplants in one sitting is an amazing feat, not that I did much besides just sit there, I guess I am just lucky! A good thing since I am sure it costs a lot of money each time I am hooked up to that machine...

According to Chris the results from my PET scan that I have this Friday are the most important indicator of when I will be admitted into the hospital for the transplant. If the scan shows active cancer cells I will have to go through another round of ESHAP chemotherapy but if it shows that the cancer is no longer active I will be admitted into the hospital on Sept. 25th. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the results will show the cancer no longer active so that I can get this transplant started and over with!!! 

If I am admitted into the hospital next week, I will spend the first day receiving fluids and medications in order to get me ready for the BEAM chemotherapy which will begin the following day and last for about 5 days if I remember correctly. BEAM is a lethal dose of chemotherapy that will destroy not only the cancer but also everything in my body (red/ white blood cells, immune system, etc...). After the chemotherapy my stem cells will then be reintroduced to my body in order to rebuild everything that they have killed off. But for the next few months I will have the immune system equivalent to that of a newborn so making sure that I don't get any infections will be critical. In fact, I will have to have all of the immunization shots that I was given as a child all over again because the BEAM will destroy those as well...

I am not really looking forward to going through the BEAM chemotherapy and the long stay in the hospital but I know that the end result will be worth the sickness and fight that I am going to have to endure for the next few weeks/ months. 

On a lighter note I was able to attend the Diamondbacks v. Reds game on Saturday night. Here is a picture from the nosebleed seats that we had. That little black spec on the mound is Randy Johnson. Thanks Bryn and Tahnie, fun times!

I am also very bummed that I will be missing the wedding of two of my best friends Ryan and Jenn this Saturday at Waialae Country Club. I want to wish you both the best of luck and I will be home soon enough, so be ready to celebrate again with me there!!! 

Blood Transfusion and Fall Harvest

I went into Mayo yesterday for a blood transfusion to boost my red blood cell count which had fallen to a really low level after my last chemotherapy treatment. I was a little nervous about the whole thing since I was going to be having someone else's blood put into my body, but I was reassured that it had been double and triple checked by the lab and was perfectly safe. I have donated blood before but have never been the recipient and I now know for a fact that donating blood is an extremely important thing to do!!! The process was a pretty simple one, they basically just hooked up the bags of blood to my ash-split catheter and slowly dripped it into my body...

While I was having my transfusion they also ran labs to see where my white blood cell counts were at. I got the good news that the levels had finally bottomed out and were now on their way back up, this meant that my bone marrow harvest was going to be very soon! On Saturday the count was at 3.8 and on Sunday it had gone up to 8.5. In order for the harvest to take place my rates had to reach anything over 10 which the nurses felt would happen this morning. When we got the results in today, my numbers amazingly had jumped all the way to 76.5 and the so the harvest began!!! 

The harvest was a very easy process as well. My ash-split was this time hooked up to the large machine in the picture on the left. One tube of the ash-split allowed the blood to flow out of my body and into the machine where it was spun around and filtered. The stem-cells were then separated and placed into a bag while the red blood cells and platelets were returned to my body through the other tube in my ash-split. (They actually removed and replaced the equivalent of all of the blood in my body four times). It is the stem-cells that they want to keep because this is where the bone marrow that will later be put back into me during the transplant is located. According to the nurses that were helping me today, my harvest went extremely well. Attached to the machine there is a small chart with the different colors that the stem-cells can look like as they are filtered and put into the bag. If the coloring is too light or too dark they have to make adjustments to the machine and either speed it up or slow it down until it is corrected. Luckily my stem-cells came out perfect the entire four hours that I was hooked up to the machine and not one adjustment had to be made! 

As I was just finishing up this posting I received a phone call from my bone marrow transplant coordinator Chris and he informed me that during todays harvest they were able to get enough stem-cells for three transplants!  It normally takes about two to three days for them to collect enough for two transplants, which is their goal, and I was able to give them enough for three in one sitting!!! This means that I finally have a week long break before I have to return to the hospital, the first break in quite awhile!!! 

The picture below shows the blood being taken out of my body from the tube with the red clip and being returned through the tube with the blue clip...

This is a closer picture of the harvesting machine. It is a pretty amazing machine and whomever invented it was a real genius. It is able to run algorithms based on your body height and weight along with the labs results of your current blood counts and determine the exact rate at which it needs to filter your blood in order to get the stem-cells out in the best condition. You can also see my stem-cells filling the bag hanging on the right above the machine...

Pain, Pepper and Paintings

Had my ash-split catheter implanted on Tuesday. The procedure was pretty quick although I had to ask them for more pain killers part way through because I could feel everything that was going on. Thanks to Sally I was able to get the VIP service for my procedure, thank you again! The ash-split has been a little hard to get used to since there are now two tubes coming out of my chest, but I am starting to forget that it is there...

I have been feeling much better this week and am finally eating three meals a day, first time in a long time! Hopefully I can gain a little weight back before I get admitted into the hospital and am forced to eat the food there...

Been going to the hospital everyday to have blood drawn and get my shots to boost my white blood cell counts. What they are looking for is my white blood cells to hit a low plateau and then begin to come back up. Once this happens they will be able to harvest my bone marrow for the transplant. They were hoping that my numbers would be heading back up by today but unfortunately they are still on the decline so it will be a few more days before anything else can be done.

Jim thought that I should put a close up of what the ash-split looks like. Pretty crazy stuff but it is only temporary and if it is needed to get me better than I will suck it up and live with it.... Sorry if this grosses anyone out!

Made it to the Pepper and Slightly Stoopid concert yesterday! Was very happy to be able to get out of the house and see some bands that I really like here in Mesa. I went with Joanna and her friend Angelica, unfortunately Brooke had to work! We got there without tickets only to find out that it was sold out but after asking for extra tickets outside we finally were able to bribe a security guard to let us in the back gate. Actually we lucked out because he charged us less than the ticket value!!! Below are some more pics from the concert:

 Joanna, Angelica and I

 Slightly Stoopid "live and direct"

Finally, but certainly not least I received this painting in the mail the other day from my cousin Dallas' eight year old daughter Regan. She painted it for me to help brighten my day and it did just that. Thank you very much Regan, I love it very much and have it up in my room here in AZ. I will be sure to take it back to Hawaii and put it up at home when I get there!!! 

Birthday, Fireworks, Up Coming Dates and Donations

Was feeling pretty down yesterday but toughed it out enough to make it to my niece Giullianna's 1st birthday party for an hour or so. Was happy that I made it but felt bad that I couldn't enjoy myself and made my mom and Jim leave early so that I could get home and get some rest. Despite my intention to take photos of the event I really didn't feel up to it so here is a photo that I have of her from a few weeks ago. I think that at the time she had just woken up from a long nap which is why she has the glazed over look on her face. Looks a lot like me before I have my coffee in the morning!

And here's one of Owen stuffing his face, just so he doesn't feel left out!

After leaving the party to go home and rest up for my 7:45 am appointment at the Mayo Clinic this morning we remembered that there was going to be a fireworks show at the church down the street from my mom's house. They normally have a huge show for the 4th of July but I guess another church in the neighborhood began competing with them so they chose to move it to Labor Day weekend this year. I took these photos from a lawn chair in the front yard:

I head into a long week at the Mayo Clinic with appointments starting at 7:00 am tomorrow and taking place everyday until the 9th when I will finally have about a week off. This week will be filled with shots to boost my blood counts. Meetings with the bone marrow transplant coordinators to get more familiar with what is going to take place. And the implantation of the ash spit catheter so that they can begin harvesting. I am hoping to get a lot of questions answered tomorrow when I meet with my "team" as like I said before, I am pretty nervous about the whole process. 

I am not sure if this played a factor into anything but I saw that my mom posted a comment on my last blog about my going into a tough time and reaching out to others to keep in contact with me. Following that post I received many calls, texts, e-mails and posts which I am grateful for. It is so hard to explain all of the emotional feelings that someone goes through when they are faced with something like cancer but at times, despite knowing better, you tend to feel completely alone in the world. At least that is how I have felt and it is these comments and messages that let me know that I am not alone in this thing and help to keep me going! I don't want to single any particular one out as they all meant so much but Mr. Minn, your comments really brought the fighter back out of me at a time when I was beginning to doubt myself and I thank you for that! 

I also want to thank Maui Divers (my employer and work Ohana for those that don't know) for their extremely generous donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Hawaii's Team in Training. My good friend John Gephart will be running the 2008 Honolulu Marathon in my honor for Team in Training and it is through donations like these that help keep the society functioning. They do great things for those inflicted with Lymphoma, Leukemia, and other cancers including offering emotional and financial support. There is a link on the left hand side of my page to John's pledge, if you are able to donate anything at all, even one dollar, I can promise you that it will be going towards a good cause...

Losing my Hair

So after going through six months of chemotherapy in Hawaii and having my hair thin a little but not fully come out, I am finally actually losing my hair with this new stronger chemotherapy. I know that it isn't as big a deal for a man to lose his hair but it is a little weird to lose your eyebrows. I had been waiting for a month for my eyebrows to finally come back and now I am scared that they are going to be going away again. At least it is all temporary and will come back once I recover from everything, so I really shouldn't complain too much!!! I decided to have my hair cut shorter so that it wasn't so obvious every time that I took a shower or woke up and saw a ton of hair on my pillow.

Here's a pic that my step-dad took to remember the moment of my military cut. I think that after this round of treatment when I feel a little better I am going to get the mohawk until the rest of it all falls out...

Round two has been okay so far. I spent almost 11 1/2 hours at the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix on Monday going through tests, meeting with Dr. Reeder and then finally having chemotherapy. Dr. Reeder seemed very pleased with the results of the scans and is getting me prepared to start the bone marrow harvest immediately following this round of chemotherapy. Essentially what will happen is they will have me go through tests to make sure that my lung and heart functions are up to par with what I am going to be facing. I will also be given shots of Nuprogen  for a few days straight, what this does is boost the production of my white bloods cells and hopefully makes it easier for them to access my bone marrow. They are going to also have an ash split catheter implanted into my chest. What this will do is allow them to pull my blood out of one tube into a machine that will separate the bone marrow from the blood, the other tube will then replace the blood back into my body minus the bone marrow which they will freeze until my treatment. Below is a diagram of the ash split catheter and the bone marrow harvest machine:

To be quite honest I am a little afraid of the bone marrow process as they will be giving me another round of chemotherapy while I am staying in the hospital call BEAM. If they were to not harvest my bone marrow before giving me the BEAM treatment, I would essentially die due to it's potency. Not exactly the kind of thing that I wanted to hear but I guess it is better to know that whole truth when you are going into something like this. I will also have to go through an approximate 10 day period in which my immune will be so low that I will be susceptible to disease and bleeding, therefore I will be placed in a safe room like the bubble boy until I begin to regain my immunity. I will stay strong and face this thing like a man!!! The stronger I fight it the faster I will beat it!!!

Getting Ready for the Next Round

I spent a few hours on Friday morning at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale having my port-a-cath declotted. Essentially what happens is the body views the port-a-cath as a foreign body and creates a fibrin sheath over the catheter making it difficult for blood to be drawn. So after waiting for ten minutes without any results from the Heparin that was injected to declot the sheath I was given an injection of a stronger medicine (I am not sure what it was called but I am sure it was expensive) and was told to wait for another half hour. Thankfully the medicine worked and I was able to have my blood drawn for testing before my next treatment tomorrow. For those of you who don't know what a port-a-cath is, it is a small medical device installed beneath the skin in the chest. The  catheter is connected to a major vein usually near the heart and is used for blood draws and infusions for chemotherapy. Below are some pictures that may help give you a better idea:

After leaving the clinic my mom, Jim and I headed about an hour north to Payson, AZ to escape the desert heat and grab some lunch. It was a nice drive and much cooler up in the mountains although the lunch wasn't anything spectacular. 

These are some of the pictures that I took both on our way up to Payson and then on our way back to the valley.

I will be meeting with Dr. Reeder tomorrow for the first time since I began treatment and am anxious to hear what he has to say about my first round and the results of the chest x-rays that I am having in the morning. Following the meeting I will be starting the second round of chemotherapy, I will try and update my blog as much as possible this week but it will all depend on how I handle the treatment. But you better believe that I will continue to fight this thing with all of my strength! I also want to thank everyone for the comments on my blog wishing me good luck and sending prayers out to me. I may not respond to them all, but I do read them and truly appreciate them very much!!! One more week and I will be a step closer to recovery and Hawaii...