8/17 PET SCAN PICTURES
These are pictures from my PET scan. The very light white areas are the cancer. You can see my organs especially my lungs where the cancer has spread to. The first picture is a rear view and the second is a front view.
9/15 End of 1st Cycle update
So i just finished the first cycle of chemo. i still have 5 more to go and another 5 months. With this last treatment i’ve begun to lose my hair. it started getting in the way so i just buzz cut it. This is so awkward because i haven’t seen my scalp since senior year of high school! This was also the first time my blood counts were down. My white blood cell count reduced drastically after the first chemo. I received a Nuelasta shot, which stimulates white blood cell growth the day after my chemo and it looks like i’ll need it every time. Other than that i am healthy and feeling great. I am in Tucson visiting my family for a few days then i’ll be going back to continue living life the way i want it.
8/ CHEMOTHERAPY
The first pic is in the chemo room and the second is a picture of the port with the chemo injection
8/17 The First Chemotherapy Treatment (Cycle One Day One)
Today was the first day of treatment. I was definitly anxious, but eager to get it going. We got at the hospital at 8am and was hooked up with anti nausea medication to start. I was prescribed some medication so i won’t have to get the IV ones anymore. The good thing about having this port in my left arm is that it is that it makes taking blood and getting the IV so much easier and less painful. I was also given numbing medication for the area so it helps alot!
Next was the chemo set. The Chemo consists of 4 drugs called to ABVD treatment. The common name for this drugs are, adriamycin (doxorubicin),bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine. For more info about the chemo click the link i provided.
These are all given in one sitting and are done in a cycle. Every two weeks i go in for another round. Some things i may and will experience from the side effects will be; hair loss, low blood counts, mouth sores, weakness and tingling in my extremities, and nausea and vomiting.
Its going to get really tough soon as the chemo destroys even the good cells. Preventing my self from infections and viruses are going to be very tough, but i’m going to take the utmost care of myself.
Tonight after the treatment i am feeling very well. My stomach was upset earlier but after some medication im doing fine. I met two girls roughly my age who are going through the same thing, one is almost done with her treatment and one who just started a month ago. They told me that the worst of the effects last about 4 days after the injections, so we will see how i feel this weekend. Also they said that the first cycle is the worst and it is up and down day by day. I’m hoping i do well these next two weeks.
Thats all for now, i’ll talk to everyone soon.
-MIKE
8/26 Port Placement
Today i got my port placed for the chemo. It was another surgical procedure, but not as bad as anything else. and probably the coolest thing i’ve yet to see.
With this procedure the BARD Power port was placed underneath my skin in my upper arm. A catheter is run through my vein into the top area of my left ventricle. This allows the chemo drugs to be directly introduced to the blood stream. Some of the drugs are extremely dangerous to muscles and tissue so it has to be done this way cause its the safest. Plus it allows the chemo drugs to circulate faster in the blood.
I’ll post some info and a picture of this port soon. Also i have some amazing X-ray and PET Scan pictues i will put on as soon as i can figure how. One shows the port in my arm and the other shows all the areas with cancer.
I start chemo tomorrow. Here we go…
