Update from the Chemo Suite

Lots of information to update!

Probably the MOST important information to pass along is news of the Angels hitting the 100 victory mark for the regular season.  Celebration worthy, no doubt.  The playoffs start on Wednesday.

Ok, now on to the other “stuff”.

Chemotherapy started yesterday.  The first step was a lab draw and everything looked good (Mel and I even spent some time checking the lab results on the computer while waiting for the doctors appointment).  Dr. Z was out of the office so we met with a nurse practitioner whose name I can’t recall right now.  (Mel said they told me memory loss was a side effect of the chemo…. I told her I don’t remember them saying that). The nurse proved to be just as awesome as everyone else we’ve dealt with throughout this process.  She was extremely familiar with interferon and even referred to herself as something of an “interferon geek”.  

After the meet and greet with the NP, we were off to the Chemo Suite.  No big deals, just took about an hour and a half to two hours to complete.  

Once I was home the waiting game began.  We watched some TV and got caught up on Brothers and Sisters and Gray’s Anatomy (which I might add, was FAR too predictable for a season opener).  I kept watching the clock and waiting for something to happen.  Seven o’clock, eight o’clock, nine o’clock….nothing.  Finally, sometime between nine and ten I started feeling my eyeballs warm up.  I’ve always been able to feel a fever coming from the temperature of my eyeballs.  We checked my temp and it seemed to hover around 99.5.  Nice!  We watched TV for about another hour or so and when I got up I felt some chills, but seriously… no big deal.  Just a little shiver from the chair to my bed and I was good to go.  I checked my temp in the middle of the night and it got up to 100.5 and that was it.  Well, I can’t be sure that was “it”, my thermometer pooped out on me after that.  But from the way I felt, it obviously wasn’t too bad.  

I woke up this morning and enjoyed my coffee, some melon, and some cottage cheese then it was off to get my PICC line put in.  Which another pretty funny story all in itself.

More to come later.

Talk about taking a Cat Nap

I can’t say I’ve ever paid as much attention to the debate on national defense spending as I should.  Considering the state of our nation’s economy, it may be more fiscally responsible for us as nation just to have everyone become cat owners. 

Seriously…. no terrorist is getting past my cats!!!  Check out my personal protection…

Kitty Defense System

Chemo Monday or ???

Rally Monday set for Sept. 29th at Angel Stadium

Scheduled for the event are:

• Hosts Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc
• Performances by the hit band “SmashMouth”
• Appearances by current Angels Torii Hunter, Howie Kendrick, Mike Napoli, Jeff Mathis and Reggie Willits
• Former Angels including Tim Salmon and Bobby Grich
• Unveiling of 2008 A.L. West Champion Banner
• Highlights of the Angels 2008 Season
• U.S. Navy Leapfrogs
• Fireworks Show

WHAT: Rally Monday will take place at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on Monday, Sept. 29th from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. All fans will receive rally towels and bandanas as they enter the event. The team store will also have Angels’ playoff merchandise on sale.

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. Gates open at 5 p.m.

WHERE: Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Parking and admission free to all fans

Plenty of Sleep in Seattle

What a great weekend!  Lots of playing, lots of sleeping, lots of reading, some great fondue, and a great ballgame.  What more could I ask for?

Catching up on homework now and heading to Orange County for a QUICK trip over the weekend.  By ‘quick’ I mean exactly 33 hours. 

iSleep

Insomnia strikes !!!!

I’ve been struggling with insomnia lately.  Tonight feels as if it’s going to be no different.  I found a way to get some sleep yesterday, but that proved to be disastrous and I’ll get to that in a bit.

I’m averaging 2-3 hours per night.  Last night I fell asleep only to wake myself up with the realization, “Oh, I’m sleeping”.  I’ve tried drinking milk, reading (yes, even textbooks), and eliminating caffeine.  I’ve found success in the past by trying to fall asleep with an iPod and even that’s not working.  Earlier in the week I figured PBS was a sure bet.  Instead of putting me to sleep it provided me with more of a working knowledge of the life and times of Luciano Pavorotti than anyone in my generation needs.  My DVR has just about been cleaned off except for the few shows that seem too boring to watch yet so captivating I can’t seem to just delete them.  The worst part is the time isn’t productive for me.  It’s not like I’m getting things done around the house or getting homework done, I’m just spending hours laying in bed tossing and turning.

A couple of days after I had the head and chest surgeries, I was struggling to sleep because of a gross barking seal cough I had developed from the breathing tube.  I’d start to fall asleep and then the cough would wake me up.  It could have even woke the neighbors.  Mom was convinced I could balance a beach ball on my nose.  Dr. CHEST prescribed some Tylenol with codeine.  Not that it would help the cough, but I would at least be able to sleep.  It worked.

Yesterday in all of my sleep deprived brilliance I decided the same prescription was a good idea.  BAD IDEA!!! Around 630 am I looked at the bottle, it said ‘take 1-2 as needed’ so I took 2 and went back to bed.  The first problem was that I really don’t take 2 of anything.  Ever.  Maybe some Aleve now and then, but I’m not a pill fan.  Problem number two…. empty stomach.  Problem number three (and the most serious)… I just had a liver ablation last week. 

My primary objective was accomplished.  I got 6 straight hours of sleep.  When I got up I felt a bit off.  Not bad, not sick, no pain… just off.  In my mind I went over the medication I had taken and figured the empty stomach thing was a bad plan so I ate a Jello pudding cup.  I packed up the car and headed to school.  I got down to the end of the street and felt my stomach turn a bit.  I pictured the pudding in my mind, and decided to get a regular soda because the pudding was sugar free, the PowerAids I had been drinking all day were sugar free, so I hadn’t put any sugar at all in my system for at least 12 hours.  I stopped at the nearest Stinker station and grabbed a Sprite.

Back in the car, I drove less than a block and realized instantly that I HAD to pull over.  NOW.  I barely got the drivers door open and knew my plans for the afternoon were about to change.  I saw specks of red.  “It’s just the fruit punch I drank”, I thought to myself.  I looked in the car at the fruit punch I had brought from home. The lid was shut.  I hadn’t touched the punch.  I scanned everywhere: the curb, the car door, my shirt.  Specks of red in all areas.  I got scared and reached for my phone.  I called Dr. Z’s office, they immediately transferred me to his nurse.

I was shaking and crying by now.  I was well aware of the fact that although I’ve had touches of fear now and then throughout this process, this very minute I was downright terrified.  I wondered if this was the beginning of the end?  Then I would flash to graduation and wonder who is going to be last in line if I’m not there? The nurse asked me where I was and I tried to tell her.  I must not have been too clear because she then told me to describe my surroundings and the make, model,  and license plate on my car.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but she was trying to send an ambulance.  When I told her I was literally across the street from an urgent care, she asked if I thought I could make it there.  I did.

Needless to say, I’m fine now.  They gave me some anti-nausea medication at the urgent care center and I even went to class last night.  I did get a stern warning yesterday though about my choice of treatment facilities.  Dr. Popcorn Chicken called several times yesterday to remind me that my threshold is different than it used to be.  What most people would consider going to an urgent care facility for, I probably need to pack my happy butt up and go to the ER, just because they are more capable of monitoring me.  They just have better resources.  I agreed. 

I guess I still have a hard time seeing myself as sick.  Especially with seemingly quick recoveries from the procedures so far.  No more SuperHedder?

I’m off to Seattle in the morning.  A couple of days of relaxing, coffee and lots of playing!

I’ve got to run… I just yawned and I realize should try to capitalize on it.

I’ll check in when I get back and just in case anyone was wondering…..

Lefty Lucy and Scioscia are sleeping fine! (see below)

Mark Twain

I took this picture a month or so ago.  I found an ankle bracelet with a message I loved.  Simply, laugh.  What great instructions!  The bracelets in the picture are the melanoma awareness bracelets.  Just my luck, with all of the great colors out there, I get stuck with the blah color cancer. 

Laughter has always been a huge part of my day.  Now, it’s become an essential part of every day.  Being able to report back to you guys with some element of humor has made walking into doctor’s offices and hospitals much easier over the last couple of months.

Mark Twain hit the nail on the head…. “Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution — these can lift at a colossal humbug — push it a little — weaken it a little over the course of a century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”

Nurses and Pictures

I had to spend the night in the hospital last night again.  I’ve had nothing short of some fascinating experiences with the nurses at this particular hospital.  I thought I’d share a few stories.

First of all, I think they have very specific requirements for the male nurses.  The HELP WANTED ads must look something like this:

HELP WANTED. ALL SHIFTS AVAILABLE. HIRING FOR NURSES, NURSING ASSISTANT, AND STUDENT NURSE POSITIONS.  MUST BE GORGEOUS TO APPLY.

One of my nurses was so good looking he almost made me WANT to be sick.  But… back to the stories we go.

On the night after the first major round of surgeries, I was taken into my room and the nursing staff introduced themselves and gave us a quick report of what their roles would be over the next few hours.  “My name is So-and-So and I’ll be doing Such-and-Such…etc, etc.  The nurse in charge was this spunky girl who was amazingly with it and had a great game plan for us.  This was around 7 or 730ish pm. 

Around 10pm it was time for her to be checking the drain in my side and I was starting to feel like maybe I should think about taking a pain pill to avoid any early morning surprises.  I rang the buzzer and in came Hot Nurse #2.  He said he would tell the nurse that I was asking for the meds. 

1015pm, 1030pm…still no meds, still no drain check.  HN#2 comes in again, I explained we hadn’t heard from the nurse and he assured us it wouldn’t be long.  1045pm, 1100pm and Mom decided to go talk to the nurse herself.  The once spunky nurse growled at her and said she would get the meds in a second. 

1115pm comes around and the nurse comes into my room and walks over to the computer.  I looked at the screen only to see her toggling mindlessly between the login and password fields.  She toggled for about 2 or 3 minutes and was barely touching the keys on the keyboard.  It was bizarre.  I laid there thinking something was just off.  I couldn’t imagine she didn’t know the password, she must use it dozens of times each day in different patients rooms.  Then she looked over and asked if I was in any pain.  Um, yeah…I thought that was why you were here.

1145 and still nothing.  Finally, HN#2 comes in and explains that there is an issue with one of the nurses and they are working quickly to shuffle some other nurses around.  Finally around 12am a new nurse comes in and goes to the computer.  She apologizes for the wait and says she will work quickly to get me comfortable immediately.

“Can I ask you something?”, I questioned, “and you don’t have to tell me anything”.

“Sure”, she said.

“Is that other nurse a diabetic?”

“Yes, but she’s almost leveled out now.  We’re getting her home to rest”.

When the nurse had left the room, I waited for Mom to settle down to sleep and I muttered…”I’m so freaking smart”.  Mom cracked up.

Last night was no exception to the goofy nursing saga.  Nurses were coming into my room about every other hour.  Around 4am, however, the freakest nurse came in.  I’ll try to lay out the conversation for you.

Crazy Nurse: “Hi I’m (insert Crazy Nurse name here) and I’m here to take your vitals and weigh you”.

Me: “I think I’m going to need to use the restroom”.

CN: “That’s fine but then we’ll need to get this done”, she said as she’s trying to manipulate a scale big enough to roll a wheelchair onto in the room.

Me: “Seriously, you need to weigh me at 4am? Cause, I’m pretty sure I’m going to weigh the same around 7″.

CN: “We need to get this done, and you really should take those off, they’re bad for your skin”.  (As she tries to RIP OFF one of the EKG lead pads that was left on me.

Me: “OUCH! That’s ok. I’ll take them off…… in the MORNING”.

CN: “I like your hair.  (Cue the Twilight Zone music right about now)… has it always been that thick or is it just growing in that way now?”

Me: “Who knows.”

I should say that about 15 minutes later she came back in to ask me if I knew what my weight was because she had forgotten to write it down.  I was starting to wonder if she hadn’t snuck out of the psych ward and stolen a nurses jacket on her way to wandering the halls.  It could happen.

When Dad came back to the hospital in the morning, I replayed the story for him.  His response? “I don’t know why she had to go and do that.  The other nurse weighed you last night… by pushing this button on your bed.”

Update time… the liver biopsy done yesterday indicated the spot on my liver was indeed another melanoma site.  Dr. Flux Capacitor enjoyed my popcorn humor and said he was confident he had removed all of the dangerous tissue.  He used the radiofrequency ablation technique.  Here is an explanation of the process http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=rfa&bhcp=1 .  Chemo is set to start on the 29th. 

Since today is the 2 week point from the first set of surgeries, I’m including some pics from then and now.

SURGERY #1 BANDAGES SEWN IN

 

POST SURGERY AUGUST 29TH 2008

Here are some pictures from today… LOTS OF HEALING!  Dr. ENT was just as good as he said he was!

ANOTHER IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

ANGELS WIN THEIR DIVISION !!!!!

Hospital Hi-jinx

Driving to the hospital on the morning of the surgeries, I was excited to get a wonderful treat (aside from Mom GPSing her way all the way to the hospital on the ONE street we had to drive to get there).  My cell phone rang and on the display was an area code I’d never seen before.  I answered the phone and received the most awesome suprise… the call was coming from PFC Andrew Ostgaard.  In my mind Andrew is a three year old running around with a book in each hand.  In reality, he’s now a Marine recently stationed in Iraq.  VERY recently.  Like two weeks or so recently. 

“I’m glad I caught you before you went in to surgery.”  I was speechless and in tears.

Ok.  Wow.  Just plain wow.  24 hours later I received another call.  “Just wanted to check and see how you were doing.”  I was totally blown away.  Thanks, Andy….  those calls meant the world to me.

Just a little change of plans for this week.  Dr. Flux Capacitor is off until Thursday.  He’s the radiologist who will be performing the CT Liver biopsy and if necessary the Radio Frequency Ablation.  My understanding is that the RFA uses microwaves to kill off any undesirable tissue.  Microwaves, huh?  I’m definitely bringing some popcorn.

PFC ANDREW HAROLD OSTGAARD

Writer’s block?

Not exactly… I’ve just really tried to put a sincere effort into resting this week.  I’m happy to report that the surgeries and the recovery have gone SO much better than I anticipated.  I’ve got some notes written from the last week and I plan on reporting on all of the “Hospital Hijinx” I experienced.  From the Arrival/Departure boards to the diabetic nurse to ‘TAYO’.  I’ll explain each of these and more in the coming days.  For now, I’ll just give the update.

ALL KNOWN CANCER IS GONE.  That’s the bottom line.  All margins have come back clean and the surgeons are happy.  Tuesday I was a little disappointed when I went to have the drain in my side removed.  Apparently, the nurse(s) forgot to show us how to operate it correctly, so it needed to stay in place a couple of extra days.  On the other hand, the staples on my scalp came out at least 4 days earlier than I thought they were to come out, so that was a total BONUS!  Yesterday, the drain, the stiches, and the staples came out! I am completely AMAZED at how much healing has already occurred. 

I’m heading back in for another biopsy on Wednesday.  There is still some debate over the spot on my liver so I’ve asked that the biopsy be repeated.  Until now, I’ve refused to make any surgical and/or treatment decsions regarding the liver because the tests have been less than definitive.  Hopefully, this round will be the winner.

Class started up again last night and what a thrill it was to be there! 

I’ve got plenty of pictures to share, as well.  I’ll start getting those up thoughout this week.  Tomorrow is the changing of the guard: Dad flies in around 4:30pm and Mom heads back to California just a little later on.  One airport trip, one swap.