No puking allowed

Do you ever have one of those days when you wake up in the morning and you DON'T puke before breakfast? Sweet isn't it? I remember those days .....

Here we go again

Six months ago I started getting headaches and nausea. This was right after I had finished radiation therapy on my brain so the thinking was that these symptoms would go away by themselves in time. As much fun as the daily nausea has been, it has been wearing me down. I went in for a PET scan last week; the intent was to see if there was any cancer in my stomach, intestines, or other area that might be causing my nausea and headaches. They found nothing. But they did find that the cancer in my lungs and in my spine has grown. So Monday I will start chemotherapy again. The drug they are using will be different than last time; the doctor says that the side affects will not be as bad as I experienced the first time. My voice has started going down hill again, it was doing quite well until about two weeks ago, and now I am having a hard time speaking again. I am concerned that the device they put in my throat either is no longer working or there may be something wrong with my working vocal chord. I imagine I will be visiting my ENT doctor soon to get it checked out. -Eric

scan results

The doctor called today. The MRI and CT scans from yesterday both showed a slight shrinkage in the cancer. This is good news. Our next appointment is on Monday so we should be able to look at the pictures and ask more questions then. We're making progress. Take care. -Eric

Not much to report

I haven't posted in a while, not much to report. I still go in for maitenance drugs every three weeks. I still feeling somewhat crappy. Headaches, fatigue and naseau and the big issues I deal with everyday. We were hoping that these side affects would go away after awhile but they are still lingering. The doctor seems to think that these side affects are related to the disease itself and not the treatments. Still no hair growth. I go in for more scans in about 11 days, and we'll have more information then on the progress of the cancer. Take care. -Eric

hair news

So our most recent appointment with the doctor revealed some disturbing news. "Your hair may not ever grow back". Given the intense radiation exposure directly to the head it is not uncommon for the hair follicles to sustain significant damage such that it won't grow any more. They could have mentioned that before starting the treatments:) Well I haven't completely given up hope on the hair front, there are certainly worse things that could be happening. -Take care. -Eric

My family

That's one good looking family. I was a looker back when I had hair.

Monicas Aunt

Monica's Aunt passed away yesterday. She had been battling breast cancer for a number of years, and it caught up to her. She was a good woman. Monica is traveling to the funeral this weekend. -Eric