Busy Weekend

So, I had a very busy weekend, and didn't have much time for blogging about my ideals... or my cancer. So, this is a pretty large update to fill you all in on what's good in the hood.

First off, it was Valentines Day weekend, and Angela came to visit! We had an amazing time, and I literally forgot all about even having a disease the whole time she was here. We ate tons of awesome food, went to the Rumble on the Ridge show (Jackets!!!), and had a fantastic BBQ on Sunday at my parents house with Skeletor and Jaqueline! I have to thank Joe and Wendy for the amazing seats at the rumble. You guys are awesome for that one! Also, thanks to my family for hosting us all. It was an awesome time, and I ate sooooo much food. All in all, this was one of the best weekends that I have ever had ever, in the history of everything. I was bummed that it had to end, but such is life. I gotta get some pictures from Angela's camera to put up on here.

Anyways, a lot has happened, so I had better get started. Last Thursday I went in for my second PET Scan and CT Scan. This was to see how far the cancer had spread. The whole day beforehand I had to go on this all protein, 0 carb diet, and was only allowed to eat 3 egg's the whole day. Usually I eat 6 eggs for breakfast. I'm fat. I digress. :-) I got through breakfast ok, but then my Dad and Step-mom wanted to take me out to lunch. We decided on all-you-can eat sushi. This was like torture... everything on the conveyor belt had rice!! I decided to get a sashimi platter, which had something like 30 pieces of fish on it, and I am pretty sure gave me mercury poisoning... but it was well worth it. After work I went to Johnny's buddy CJ's house, and for some reason was fixated on eating salami and cheese for dinner (apparently I can't read past the first item on the menu when I'm hungry.) So, I gave myself further indigestion with 4 pounds of dried meats and stinky cheeses. Johnny was hating me on the ride home.

I also feel like I should mention that I have been on Prednisone since Monday of last week, and have gained something like 15 pounds... so much for my workouts!

So, the next morning I went in for my scans, and everything went fine. They made me fast from 10PM the night before, so I was starving by the time I got in there at 11. But the nurses were so nice, they let me drink this really awesome chalky white stuff called Byrillium Sulfate. Needless to say, that didn't satisfy my insatiable, steroid driven appetite. They said the scans would take about an hour, so I did the right thing and fell asleep in the machine. It was very relaxing actually. Afterwards Johnny picked me up and we went and did something that I don't quite remember, but I'm sure was really fun and probably a little bit dangerous. HAHA

The next morning (Friday) I had to go get bone marrow drawn. This is the one that everyone says hurts really bad and blah blah this and blah blah that... I literally felt no pain through this entire procedure. I didn't really see what was going on, because I was face down on the table while it happened, but according to my dad this is what happened. The Doctor took a long needle about the thickness of a pencil lead and stuck it into my hip. This needle apparently was a syringe slash drill, with some internal removable corkscrew like components. She then proceeded to jack hammer it into my bone, remove three tubes of bone marrow, and then drill out a piece of my bone about half an inch long (half of which almost got lost inside of me.) All in all it sounds really bad, but I honestly felt no pain. It just kinda felt weird while she was drilling out the bone chunk. Kinda of like when your leg gives out on you suddenly. Anyhow, that all went fine, and I should have results by tomorrow, but the good news happened after.

She read my PET/CT Scan results, and the cancer has stayed above my abdomen! That means that it's definitely still in a fairly early stage, and it also shows that the cancer is following a very common pattern, which should make it easier to treat. This all happened before Angela showed up, so I was already off to a good start for the weekend.

Later that afternoon, I had to make a quick trip to the sperm bank. I normally wouldn't ever think to do something like this, but given the fact that Chemo can cause fertility issues, and I really DO want to have at least a child one day, I figured I'd take the doctor's advice and put some of my boys on ice before I wreak havoc on my body over the next 4 months.

Monday came and went so fast it was a blur. Angela and I pretty much slept on the couch watching TV all day, and when it came time for her to leave I was not very excited. Later however, my mood was lifted a little when Johnny convinced me to go to Jack-in-the-Box for some Oreo Milkshakes... not like I reeaallyy needed convincing.

Tuesday morning kind of sucked. The night sweats came back the night before so I didn't sleep too well, and I was feeling kind of sick. It also didn't help that I had to fast AGAIN. God I love food too much. My Dad and I showed up and met the Surgeon at 830. He was a nice guy, and definitely took his job seriously (which I appreciate) but man, he would not laugh at anything. Not even when I asked him if he could take all of my Lymph Nodes out and just be done with it. Once that was done we walked over to the PCU and I got checked in for my biopsy and port installation. Johnny decided to take off of work, and meet us there, which was really cool. Having him around really helps to take the edge off in situations like that. By the time I was ready to be taken to the OR we had the nurses calling us He-Man and Skeletor. Except they spelled mine "Hee-Man"... like a donkey or something. It was fun though. A good time was had by all. Even my surgeon made a joke about Johnny being able to stitch me up afterwards with a stapler. :-) They tried to tell me that I wouldn't remember anything and that I would feel horrible after surgery. It took me maybe 45 minutes before I was out of recovery and across the street at the "3 Pigs BBQ" for a pulled pork sandwich and ribs. Take that cancer!

So, all in all, I would say that I am doing pretty well so far. I worked a 10 hour shift today, and haven't needed any pain meds for the surgery yet. The port still feels kind of weird in my chest, but it's only been there for a day so, i'm sure it will become unnoticeable soon. Tomorrow morning my mom get's here, and then Friday is Chemo. Let's hope I truck through that like I have everything else so far!

I have to add here how much I appreciate everyone that has been here to help me out along the way so far. My parents, friends, bosses and co-workers have all been for lack of a better word awesometastic. Especially my roommate Johnny. He has gone out of his way, above and beyond the call of friendship to support me through this, and I never even had to ask him. You can't buy friendship like that. Unless you're Bill Gates. Maybe then.

Check out these awesome pictures!!!! These are my PET/CT Scans. I am not sure exactly what's going on, but I think the highlighted areas are my tumors, lymph nodes, and bladder (it's not a tumor.) :-) All in all, I think it's cool that that's what the inside of my body looks like.