That New-Year Smell and other things...

Wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Hope the holiday's were filled with freinds, Family and joy for all! Our days have been and are blessed by everyone.

My family and I were at Church yesterday and it was so wonderful to see everyone! We're so blessed to have such an awesome family there and everyone's warm wishes and help are overwhelming. We love you all and it really helps keep our attitude and hopes high.

Chemo...
So, we did talk to the Oncologist last week as Maria noted and I wanted to add some extra details and clarify some quick stuff. Our conversations with the Dr. really turned into a non-event for me because the really only new information we received was an actual calendar schedule of chemo visits and what they call a 'Teach'.

'Teach'
We will meet with a nurse tomorrow for approximately 1 hour to cover exactly what Chemo 'chemicals' will be administered which day, and the actual procedure, effects and symptoms I'll be feeling. The good news? Chemo for most people doesn't includes all the nausea, fatigue and all the nasty symptoms most folks associate with it ( or at least can be managed very well...). Medicine and symptom management has come a long way ( Great for me!) It also means that I should be perfectly fine to continue most things as normal including work, exercise, family and friends! Awesome, huh?

What about immune deficiencies?
Well, because the whole point of Chemo is to destroy cells ( yes, both Cancer and good cells) it will tear my body down some and Chemotherapy is cumulative... The longer it's administered, the harder it is for my body to bounce back to 100%. Just makes sense. Good news is that for the first 2-3 'cycles (21-days) they don't think I'll have any significant concerns for either exposure to infection or risk from casual contact. So keep those hugs coming!!!

The way our Dr's and I will manage any immunity concerns will be through regular blood tests and if we see where my counts are dropping down into a range where I need to be more protective or particular on what environments I am in ( work, school (virus petrie dish), home... etc) then we'll adjust and let folks know; but for now we're perfectly fine and I'm still considered 100% healthy like everybody else ( ok, not exactly but hope you know what I mean...)

Quick Vacation / trip
So I think the family and I are going to try and get away for a weekend before my cycles begin just since travel will most likely be the limiting factor in my care moving forward; it would be hard for the Dr's to monitor my counts if I'm not in town; but we'll manage that as needed.

Radiation finished this week!
I'll be done with my last radiation treatments Thursday this week and have a long weekend to rest up before we start the chemo cycles next Monday. So far I really haven't had any symptoms to these treatments with the exception of being a bit more tired after... Last week we mentioned that in addition to my upper spine radiation, the Dr also added 5 treatments for my lower left hip; all radiation being to reduce the size and pressure of a couple things to make chemo more effective. So doing 2 treatments seemed to make me slightly more tired but not much else.

Last note...
Many of you have noted a small change in the site where we have some background music playing and I wanted to express what this song has meant and will mean to me... The song is called 'Praise you in the Storm' by Casting Crowns ( contemporary Christian). I have been listening to this song for the past many months even way before I thought I had any major back issues, and the words and lyrics always reminded me of God's Love. We can ask him anything, but many times just because we don't receive what we ask for, we think that we cannot have it when the reality is everything is His plan, not ours.

One of my favorite stanzas is the following and many times I can really take it to heart:

I was sure by now God, You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining
As the thunder rolls I barely hear
You whisper through the rain "I'm with You"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives And takes away

and this always makes me think of another song / lyric I can't locate now but the general idea is...

Sometimes God calms the child, sometimes he calms the storm...

bottom line... it's his plan, timing and I can have Praise, faith and hope in Him.

Thanks,
Gavin