Saba Beats Cancer

About the start the final bag - the one hour last one - of Chemo #4.  Four down for main chemos and 2 to go.  Will be home just after noon today which will feel amazing. Should be about six more weeks of treatment - which still seems like a long time. This truly is a marathon. But 4 was the easiest so far - so what I am doing daily must be helping somewhat. Plus pushing on the right nausea meds.  I will take it. So far: 4 main chemos of 6 days in hospital - 24 days in the hospital 3 brain chemos of 4 days in the hospital - 12 days Total of 36 days in the hospital 10 lumbar punctures That is a ton of chemo.   What's left -  2 main chemos - 6 days each - 12 days 2 brain chemos of 4 days - 8 days 4 or so lumbars So 42 days left in treatment with 20 of those days in the hospital.  Plus the blood tests etc.   Whew.  But it is encouraging to feel good today getting out. A little tired (duh) but I slept great as we...

Early and quick morning. No spinal which was great and I don't have to go back to the hospital until Thursday for blood work and meeting with doctor. I am on the schedule for brain chemo #3 - apparently they like to do 4 of those.  So I will go in Friday through Monday. Then back in for chemo #4 the following Monday. But this week seems a little easier than past weeks. No nausea, still very tired and my immune system is way down - but it is a nice break from past weeks. I guess we are in the groove towards the cure - and will take it.  Not much to report. Nothing funny happened. Just waiting on Thursday. On the plus side we had our first guests at our Vrbo and it all worked like a champ. Lee did a ton of work which resulted in a 5 star review for the property. We are booked pretty solid in June but no so much in May.  Just glad to get that going. So cool to see.

So I am not out. They decided to slip in a spinal while I am here and kill a few more cells. I am not opposed but my doc and I are going to have words about setting expectations -just let me know the plan so I am ready for the plan. Dammit. Now I am waiting for someone to do the spinal. Just sitting here. Waiting. Always. Interesting side note is that the uric acid went high week during blood tests. Either I have contracted gout from eating all this rich amazing food here in the hospital (not) or as the google says - "When  chemotherapy  medicines start to kill the  cancer  cells, uric acid is released from these cells which can crystallise causing damage to the kidneys ." I had a little spike the last time as well. So if the cancer cells are a dying - I am happy. Just one more pill to take for the next few days.   Sort of.  The waiting shit is getting old.  Just a little organization and I could be out of here right now. ARGH.  And...

And the award for the best spinal goes to that guy yesterday! Everything was ready when I got there after work. I took the ABH this time (had some serious nausea after last one), I drank  A LOT so there would be plenty of fluid. He got up in there and delivered. Lots of good flow. Jammed that MTX in there to fight the evil central nervous system cancer and got out.  Rested 15 minutes and went home.  And ate like a pig - Lee made Italian wedding soup which seemed perfect.  Then up and back at work today. So that worked extremely well! Treatment then work - that is outstanding.  And Lee is getting a quick break this week to do some wedding stuff with Christine. She is heading to Dallas today and we have a couple of great friends here to watch out for me. We thought I would have been in the hospital for mid course - but they are going to help with a lot of the work around the house we have not been able to get to during the fight.  A great ...

I cannot say enough about the nurses and the staff here at MD Anderson. They are truly amazing and work so hard to make sure we are getting better and staying comfortable. It is overwhelming at times - but we are working on the nausea, adding different drugs -they make sure we understand everything and what is happening at all times. When I was getting the spinal yesterday, the nurse held my hand - it was such a compassionate moment - means a lot. Going through hell surrounded by angels. Interesting thing yesterday. I am a twitcher when I sleep.  People who have sat next to me have no doubt seen me do a full spaz out after falling asleep on the airplane.  It's funny to watch. Unless you fall asleep in the middle of your spinal and do a little twitch and freak the hell out of everyone in the room.  Important safety tip - don't go fall off a ladder in your sleep in the middle of a spinal. Don't know if it is the situation or the chemicals but I am definitely a lot mor...

So - had to inject more cancer fighting miracles into my spine last night. So they gave me a more powerful mix to handle that and the nausea -it has adivan and benedryl in it.  This happened about 4:30 PM and I basically slept from 6:00 PM to 5:00 AM when the morning parade starts. Wow - wonder drugs.  Still feeling good this morning. Went for a long walk - around the same hallways.  But got my morning 1.5 miles in and got a coffee and waiting on breakfast and a bag change for the morning. Always good to feel good - hopefully can keep it going. One more day and we are out. So on track!!

Only got down to 1.2 yesterday so I couldn't go home which stunk.  But - got a pretty good nights sleep (as best you can here) and got rid of the nausea and the blood work came back 0.08 this morning so we go home today! Will get one last shower and leave more hair here that we don't have to clean up at home -silver linings baby. And Katie comes today! So all is good - didn't get the spinal done yesterday (doc here thought that was a little much since I still had the other chems in my bod) and have to figure out if they can change the dressing before I leave.  Day off tomorrow - then check in with Dr. Fowler on Thursday to prep for second full chemo which should be this weekend.  Think we are starting Friday. More to come -

So I registered a 0.15 this morning when I need to be 0.10 MTX in my system to go home.  So they won't cut me loose quite yet. One last round of pumping stuff into me and a blood test after lunch to hopefully show that I am at or below 0.10 and I can go home. Really need to get out of here. A little nausea today so we got the shot for that. A little worn out. But we also need to get the spinal before we go since that is due today. So many drugs so little time.  So they are working that into the schedule. So I am not getting out of here early or anything but outta here is definitely a plus. That way we can stay on track for a return on Friday for Round #3 R-EPOCH.  I figure there are actually 11 total rounds - 6 R-EPOCH and 5 MTX - total 11 (keeps the Spinal Tap theme as well).  So we are 2 down 9 to go. Most of the rest of the hair on my head stayed on the pillow this morning. So the baldness is almost complete at least on my head.  Feels odd - not too c...

It was the worst of times. All in one day. Started out feeling great. Walked the pups, nice breakfast, got a lot of work done. Felt so good to work and get stuff done. Then I got ready to go for blood work and spinal tap and started to feel a little nauseous. Then the pain in the back of my head returned with a vengeance.  Then the pain in my hip.  Got the blood work done. And just started dragging. Luckily brought an anti-nausea pill with me. So of course things will work out at the hospital and I will get out of there quickly. Nope. The blood people didn't do the one test they needed to release the chemo for my spine. So they had to re-do the test. But of course pharmacy got backed up so it took another hour to mix the special spine potion. Finally - it arrives and all goes smoothly. As I feel worse and worse. Driving home I am plotting exactly how I am going to hurl from the car without dying or falling out the window (luckily these are skills we mastered first year a...

No post yesterday - felt great enough to get caught up on work which felt really good to do.  Better sleep last night and feeling even better today. Still some weird pains in my hip and back of my head - assume the bones are healing.  The nausea is way less though most food does not seem appealing. Would prefer not to take the anti-nausea and see if I can not have the headache today. So today we get the spinal tap - and blood work.  Blood work next Monday and then back in the hospital next Thursday. But it's warm, we went for a 1.5 mile walk with the pups had steak and eggs (don't know why that tastes so good). I am just 6 lbs over my Naval Academy weight which is a little odd so trying to pack on a little more food this weekend knowing it is going to get a lot worse. My "coaches" (the survivors who went through this) are so key in getting through this and helping me work through what is happening.  It is interesting that when survivors hear you have cancer the...

Soon to be hooked up to large doses of toxic cancer fighting chemicals for the next 96 hours.  All done inpatient.  So a nice 5 day stay in the MD Anderson hospital with great staff.  Went through most of the results with my team today. The good - blood and organs are doing great, I look healthy, have lots of energy and a great attitude.  The bad - the biggest lesion on the skull is right on the area where your brain does vision which is center back of the head which accounts for the double vision and they have to get at that fast.  More chemicals are needed for brain issues. As we always say - not another problem but an opportunity for me to clearly demonstrate my cancer fighting abilities. Yay. So today is treatment Day 1 - an important day since all the other days of treatment key off of this.  I will be getting chemo treatment #1 (of a total of 6) over the next 5 days.  During the next week I come back once a week for a blood work and spinal ta...

Most people get a 10 spinal tap - I got an 11. Actually called a Lumbar Puncture but where's the fun in that.  And I have to admit that sounds bad - who wants their lumbar punctured. Anywho - sorry about the semi depressing post yesterday - got a little overwhelmed by the enormity of the task at hand for a few hours.  Plus the exhaustion -but a friend reminded me that thank God we live here with MD Anderson who can make all that happen in just two days. Felt really good this morning.  I know so many of you have put me in your prayers and thoughts -and I can/t help but believe when I wake up feeling good that it is those thoughts and prayers giving me that much needed boost -so thank you for that. Love you all. So we are set for tomorrow - LET THE CHEMO BEGIN! We check in with the amazing Dr. Fowler at 1:30 PM and get the full and final diagnosis -hopefully know what is going on in my skull - and then move forward with the treatment.  Should be a 5 day hospita...

Well I wanted to get started and I get my wish. Problem is I have double hit large B cell lymphoma. Cells are mutating making them grow faster and harder to kill. Luckily NIH found the R EPOCH therapy regimen and got similar outcomes to regular lymphoma. The bad news is you get each chemo session over 5 days in the hospital every 21 days. Plus they may add another drug in between. Aggressive cancer equals aggressive treatment. The double hit describes the two mutations that are happening. (and yes double secret probation immediately flashed into my mind). You don't find that until a few days after the biopsy so this was a late breaking update to my diagnosis.  Quite the gut punch - but we kind of knew things were growing pretty fast. Not totally unexpected So a really really rough road ahead. But these guys got it down and they love our chances of kicking this just as hard as it’s kicking me.  I cannot tell you how great our team at MD Anderson was today - our doctor is pr...

Finally after all the waiting, and pain, the MD Anderson appointment is at 12:30 for check in and 1:30 with the oncology team. yay. Didn't post yesterday - nothing happened. Pain, waiting - ugh.  The one highlight was looking in the mirror and realizing I should get a haircut and I could go today.  Then laughing that I could save the $20 because I will losing it all in a couple of weeks anyway.  Yes! Actually felt OK today.  Not too much pain in my hip and a little less pain in the skull. Maybe the healthy stuff is working. We went for a longer walk with pups this morning, did some quick shopping and worked outside -gorgeous day. Slipping in to watch a little Astros baseball. Best part of the day - one of my classmates just successfully finished chemo December for lymphoma - his was more aggressive.  He completed the EPOCH regimen - one of the options facing me.  I cannot tell you how much it means to talk to people about this who have just been throu...