Update

So this round has gone pretty good so far. (knock on wood). The side affects have been much easier to manage as compared to the previous two rounds. It's sad to say but maybe I'm just getting used to it. We are keeping a close eye on things watching out for signs of infection so we can nail it early if it comes back. Monica is awesome. -Eric

Pre-chemo

Going in for chemo round 5 this morning. I am having a hard time getting excited about this one. Each round has gotten progressively worse with respect to the side effects, and the last one was awful. I don't want to see how it can get worse. Woo Hoo, here we go. Take care. -Eric

CT scan and stuff

We found out the CT scan results today. The results were good. There was additional shrinkage of the cancer cells this time around as well, although the shrinkage was much less as compared to previous shrinkage. This means we will be doing two more rounds of chemotherapy. The doctor expects that future shrinkage will be minimal and these next two rounds are intended to acheive all the shrinkage that we can get before stopping the chemotherapy.
Todays planned chemotherapy was postponed by one week. The doctor wanted to give me a break since the last round was particularly rough. We will start a new round next Monday. Once the next two rounds of chemotherapy are complete, I will go onto the maintenance drugs. The drugs are designed to maintain the current level of the cancer and hopefully prevent additional growth. The side effects of the maintenance drugs are minimal so it will allow me to get back to as normal a life as possible. Chances are the cancer will start to grow again at some point in the future even while on the maintenance drugs. At that time I will go back onto chemotherapy. Perhaps using a different recipe.
My hair has started to grow back. Particularly my eyebrows and chest hair. I still shave my head so I did not notice it there. It has been somewhat emasculating that my 8-year old son has more chest hair that I do:) The doctor says this hair growth is likely temporary growth as my hair will not really start to grow back until I am completely off the chemotherapy. So I am guessing that it will be about 8 weeks from now before I see any real growth.
Well I am looking forward to a good week this week before the next round. Take care. -Eric

Appointments

Two appointments this week. The first was with the throat doctor for a post surgery check up. My voice is much better since the surgery. I still have a ways to go but the doctors says I am making good progress and he expects my voice to be back to near normal in just a matter of weeks. The incision is also healing nicely and will continue to disappear over time. The second appointment was a CT scan to check the progress of the chemotherapy treatments. I'll find out the results of the CT scan on Monday when I meet with the doctor. I am scheduled for more chemotherapy on Monday, let's hope this round goes a little more smoothly:) Take care. -Eric

Hospital Stay

So the out-patient treatments did not work. Or at least not as fast as the doctor wanted. He checked me into the hospital for additional treatments and testing. I spent two days there where they did all kinds of tests and put me on stronger antibiotics. They did not find anything else wrong and eventually the antibiotics started working. I am home now and feeling better with each passing day.

Infection

I somehow got an infection in my colon. You can use your imagination to figure out what kind of havoc that has caused. Given that I am on chemotherapy I am much more susceptible to getting various infections. I am now on antibiotics trying to fight it off. On the upside I am getting more exercise now than I am used to; The short sprints from my bed to the bathroom every hour or so are really keeping my leg muscles limber:) Take care. -Eric