Sunday, February 28, 2010

One Week Left

Ok, I am counting down the time before I have another round of treatment. I have yet to decide if it is in anticipation or dread. Either way I will go through it and do the best I can. I have been sitting on the front porch enjoying the sunny day. Playing fetch with the Reese (the dog) and having a relaxing time just enjoying being outside. Once again I need to let those who have been helping us through moral support and providing assistance as needed, we are very grateful for your actions. We have felt your prayers and have appreciated the meals and service that has been provided to us. We are very fortunate to live in such a great area and have family close to help us out. There are times when we wonder how we are going to go on, and then someone will show up with a meal or plow our driveway or just call to let us know they are thinking of us. It helps in ways we can't explain. It makes it easier to go through all the hard times, we are reminded that this isn't something we are doing on our own.
I went to church today, just for a little while, it was nice to see everyone, even though I didn't talk to very many. I was encouraged by the doctors to stay home today. But I wanted to be there for a few minutes, to thank some of you personally. I didn't get to everyone I wanted to, but I needed to not be around lots of people so I don't get sick right before going into treatment. That would lessen the effects of the treatment. Anyway. Thank you all for your support and I will try hard to keep this updated while I am mending so you know I am thinking of you all also. Merry Christmas and Have a lovely day.
Andy

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Trying to get back to normal (whatever that is)

Whew, Today I went back to work. I made it half a day. Then I came home and slept for 2 hours. I don't think I overdid it, but I think I came as close as you can without doing so. While I feel great, I am still a little (ok a lot) tired. But if I keep pushing myself, without overdoing it (that's the hard part) I should be ready for another round of treatment a week from Sunday Mar 7th. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts that have been sent out for my family and I. I can assure you that they are felt and appreciated. I can't say enough about the outpouring of assistance that has been offered to us, and done without asking. It truly has been a blessing to us. While I am only half way through the treatment, I have a renewed purpose to make it through the best I can. Primarily to make sure the prayers and thoughts are answered, and I want to do my part to make sure that it happens. So if you see me, I am a little skinnier, and probably a little tired, say hi, I won't bite. I do appreciate what you all are doing for me, and would like to personally thank you.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Getting better, slowly but surely: and dont call me shirley.

OK, that was a silly title, but hey its me what else would you expect. If you can't tell, I am feeling a lot better, but still have a ways to go. I am still a little orange from my liver and gall bladder not working properly. But that is getting better too. I feel just good enough to overdo it and set myself back a couple days, so I have been given strict instructions, by threat of life and limb, from my wife that I do nothing. As easy as that sounds, it is really hard. I went for a 30 yard walk yesterday and it about did me in. But on a good note, this morning I have lost almost 20 pounds. Upon leaving the hospital Friday, I weighed 265, This morning I weighed 245, so good news today for me. I am very grateful for all of the prayers, thoughts, and even curses that have been offered up for me, if your cursing me at least your thinking of me. We have decided that next time I go in for treatment we will take a before pic, a during pic, and an after pic, to show the differing colors of Andy. Thanks for all the great posts and words of encouragement. Merry Christmas and have a Lovely Day.
Andy

Friday, February 19, 2010

I can't beleive they kicked me out.

Finally I am home. I was discharged today. Let me bring you up to speed. Yesterday, (Thursday) I was given, what i thought was very bad news. I had to stop treatment. My body had become too toxic, my liver and gall bladder was having too many complications. I will admit it, after they told me this I said ok, and after the doctor left, I sat down and cried. I thought that in order for this to work I need to get 11-12 treatment. While this still makes sense to me, it isn't altogether accurate. I had gained weight, 1 side effect, I had gotten ill, another side effect, I had gotten the convulsion shivers, another side effect, and many other non nice things. One of the big side effects were liver problems and gall bladder problems. At the time I did not understand that the more side effects you have the better it is, the chance of success is better. Someone must have told Dr. Grossman that I was having a hard time with this, so he came back in to talk to me. He then explained that going on will, emphasis added, will kill me. They have to stop and start again in 2 weeks. I felt like I had failed for myself and my family. But this was by far from the truth. Based on my heart problems last week, and my current health situation, I think I did pretty dang good getting in eight doses. I have also found that this is above average and that Dr. Grossman hasn't has a patient yet make it to ten doses. So I feel like I have been blessed once again. Now, today I had some more crazy things happen. Some bad side effects, I started seeing things and having very vivid dreams. As a matter of fact, I had a dream a cat was attacking my arm so inadvertently I ripped off my IV in the middle of the night. Not good. But thanks to an alert wife and a great team of nurses they got me fixed up and put back together. I had a couple of other things like this happen while not as scary, just as weird. But they still let me go home today. I love you all and thanks for your support. I need to try to sleep tonight

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Today is a good day bad day thing.

The good day is that I am no longer allowed to have nay treatments. The bad new Is I am no longer allowed to have my treatments. My body is rejecting it. I have reached, what the doctors have called the toxicity level, the level at which any More will do more harm than good. From here out for the next couple of weeks we are walking, and maybe even working up tip a jog. But first I have to get rid of the water weight I have put on. I am at about 260 as of this morning so wish me luck and weight loss/ They just gave me a pain pill to help with inside pain Inside me, it hurt to breathe, and push on my abdomen.
Love Andy,

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Oh what a day.

I don't wamt to be too negative, so I will give you the highlights. I am bright pink. I look like I have a sun burn all over my body. They told me it is one of the side effects, They also told me if I don't feel like eating don't or I will throw up, I could have used that information for breakfast. For Lunch I had a banana, and some orange flavored italian ice. It was really nice. I taked to my wife for a minute and her and the kids are holding up nicely. I worked a little from my computer today. And what I saw, made me cry. The people I work with are awesome. They have donated leave to me so I wont need to worry about the stay in the hospital. Thankyou very much do those who have done so, There will be a special place in my prayers for you. I am coming up on my seventh dose for the treatment. They would ideally like to get 11 doses this week. I am trying to be as helpful as possible during this whole process to get as many doese as I can. The say sometimes the body just doesnt cooperate. So I will do my best. I have been walking the halls every day at least two times around the loop. The second loop is getting really hard to do. But i wll keep trying because, the doctors told me it will help dramatically. I have gained almost 15 pounds in water weight. It gets realy hard to walk. I will update you when I have some more things to share.
Thanks and have a lovely day.
Andy

It's official, Today I went through hell

I thought i cold give you the good and the bad of what I am going through. Last night at 1am, I had an ok treatment, I felt the symptoms coming on and the medicine was given and everything was fine. This miring at 9am, I mad my self eat breakfast at 7am. Treatment was at nine, Some of the symptoms showed them selves and others did not. About 10:30 I started feeling nations, and by 10:40 I was heaving, Keep in mind, my ribs and lungs are killing me. It was excruciating. But i did feel better afterwards. I still feel like crap, they keep telling me this is a good thing, because the more like crap you feel the medicine is working. It must be doing awesome. I can't wait until I see pictures of the tumors gone.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

First full day of treatments

This really sucks, but they tell me the worse I feel the better it is working, so it must be working really well. I have gained about 5-7lbs of water, my hands and face are starting to show signs of swelling. My skin is starting to turn pink. A condition that happens with the IL2 treatment, It looks like a mild sunburn. The Nurses are taking great care of me. They help me out a lot. They have given me a lot of information on what things to do to make this work better. I need to get up everyday as often as possible and walk around the floor. I also need to use this lung exercise thingy, about 12 times an hour. Thanks, to Joel, my Father-in-Law for stopping in to see me today. Sorry i was in the middle of having the shakes, and feeling nauseous when you came. But unfortunately that's part of the process. I think I have recieved three treatments today. My next on will be sometime between 1 and 3 am. Woo hoo, its lots of fun. I havent thrown up yet, but have come pretty close, they have hurried and got the medicine in my when I fill yucky.
Have a great and Lovely Day,
Andy

Monday, February 15, 2010

I made it throught he first dose

Whoa, that really sucked. But the good thing is that it appears, once the symptoms are gone your good until the next dose. I had my first dose at 5:30pm. About 7:30 I started feeling cold, but I assumed it was the cold from the huge windows I have that overlook Salt Lake City, which is very beautiful. By 8:30 I started feeling like I had a headache, and by 8:32, I was hit by a huge wave of nausea. No hurling though. I have been awake now for about 20 min. They gave me some happy drugs to deal with the side effects. Boy did they work good. I feel ok now, a little groggy and a let down headache, but ok. They warned me today that I may experience hallucinations, so if I see something weird I need to let them know. I would also like to thank a good friend who came to see me tonight. It helped a lot talking to him. I was also blessed to see my kids today. They came down to see me and play in Salt Lake. It has been a good day today, I was able to spend time with family, friends, and start kicking cancers butt. I need to go to sleep, my next dose it at 1am. Wish me luck.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Admitted and doing fine

We, (Peggy and I), arrived at the hospital about an hour early. Traffic was great and we zipped right on down here. So we went and had dinner, it was really good. We ate at the Point bistro at the Huntsman hospital. The nurses and doctors here have been great. They have been very patient answering all of my questions and taking time to explain what I should expect to go through and what I need to let them know about my body and normal things and and things that are not normal but can occur. Tonight will be very uneventful. They will start some medicines tonight but the IVs will be started tomorrow. The ball will start rolling tomorrow morning at 5am. They said I will have a night untethered so enjoy it. I think it is because tomorrow, I will be hooked to IVs and heart monitors. But amid all of the chaos, I am excited about starting the treatments so I can kick cancers butt, again. I am watching the Olympics while I sit here in my hospital bed, and the first gold medal winner to Canadian at home, just happened. Anyway, I am looking forward to completing this treatment and getting back to normal for a week and a half. Thanks to all the people I work with who are concerned for my well-being. Soon enough I will be back amongst you, to annoy you more than ever. I really appreciate the support you have given and continuously give me.
Thanks and Lots of Love,
Andy

C-Day

Today, I will be going in to be admitted into Huntsman's ICU. I will be started on antibiotics, and an IV to make sure that I have all the fluids I need so I don't get dehydrated. This is in preparation for tomorrow. When the doctors say hell will start. I am a little excited to start cancer treatment, and a little apprehensive because of the sickness i will be experiencing. I need to remind everyone that while this is an FDA approved treatment, the success rate against melanoma, is still only 10%. I would appreciate your prayers and good thoughts during this time of trial for my family and myself. I will do all I can to be healthy and beat this cancer. I do have to give appreciation to God and the help he has given me. It was a fluke that the heart problem brought to light the cancer, which is in early stages. It was good fortune that the oncologist wanted a lung and heart test done, which found the blockage. Keep in mind that the fluke and good fortune I refer to are both, what I believe to be Divine intervention from a loving and caring Heavenly Father. I don't feel that I am any better than anyone else. I just feel that I was blessed in a way that is easier to recognize.
I know this sounds silly, but I truly can feel the prayers and good thoughts that are being sent in my behalf. We (my family and I) are praying that you will get extra blessings. May the Lord bless and keep you, until we meet again,( hopefully next week). Sincere love and appreciation, Andy

Friday, February 12, 2010

Schedule for treatments

I have had several questions rgarding how the treatment is going to go. So here is a synopsis of what is going to happen. First, this treatment is an eight week process (approximately). I will go in for treatment beginning on February 14th (sunday). I believe that I will be released from the hospital on the following Sunday. I will be given the Interlukin II intraveinously all week long. (this is the first half of the treatment). I will be home for two weeks (the first few days I will need to recover and get the toxins out of my body), and then on March 7th (sunday). I will go back and do it again for the second half of the first treatment. Once again I will be in for a week. Then I will go home for 3-4 weeks, I am currently scheduled for followup on April 4th. At this time I will have a CT scan to see if the tumors have stayed the same, grown, or have shrunk. If the tumors have stayed the same or shrunk. At that time I will be readmitted to the ICU and have the Second treatment begin. starting over on the 1 week in the hospital, 2 weeks out, 1 week in the hospital and 3-4 weeks out, then have another CT scan. After that we will readdress the situation. So to summarize what is going on. I will be in ICU for a week, home for 2 weeks, ICU for a week, then home for 3-4 weeks. That is one treatment cycle.

Healing is going great

I went to my son's school this morning to the "Doughnuts and Dad's" party. I didn't acutally go to where the doughnuts were because I was stopped repeatedly by concerned people asking how I was doing. Which was ok because I shouldn't be eating doughnuts anyway. I would like to let everyone know that I am healing up great and I am just a little sore now. Mainly because I was sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon, playing catch with the dog. I would toss the tennisball up in the air and he would catch it and drop it at my side on the couch. Low effort on my part, but we were having a good time. When all of the sudden he jumps after the ball, and it comes bouncing back with no warning and hits me, yep you guessed it, right where the procedure took place in my lower abdomen. Good news, no bleeding, but I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening laying in bed relaxing. Today, I am feeling great. A little sore, but I am going to take it easy and spend all day relaxing and not playing with the dog. Although it would be good for both of us if I did. I am just not willing to risk a tennis ball to the belly. So lesson learned and besides. I have to be in top form for tomorrow, because the movie Percy Jackson & the Olympians comes out (today) and we are going to see it tomorrow.(if I am up to it I will go with my family.) So I hope I will be going.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Stent is installed and working great!

So yesterday, I had a stent put in my heart. It is working really well. Today I feel great, other than some discomfort where they accessed my femoral artery. While the experience was very uncomfortable, the technicians and the doctors there were awesome. Explaining what was going on and what was coming next. They kept me informed which lessened the anxieties I had about this procedure. I had a slight complication, where they accessed my artery, I had a bleeder. I had Jo a small nurse, apply direct pressure and she had me almost in tears with pain. But with her and "King" Richards hard work, they got the bleeding to stop and I had to lay on my back for about 4 hours without moving my leg, or (the really hard part) lifting my head. So with some constant reminding from Mary, and there might have even been a threat there too, I am doing great. I am pretty sure that I will be able to still have my cancer treatment on Monday. But my biggest fears have been put away, because the cancer was not causing my chest to hurt. Which will allow me to exercise as soon as I heal up from the stent. So, I am in a great mood today as long as I don't move. I would like to give some "props" to my dad who stayed the night in the hospital with me. Which allowed my wife to go home and take care of my kids. He didn't get much sleep and was a great help assisting me in and out of bed. So if you see him today, tell him how great he is.

Monday, February 8, 2010

I am soooo screwed!

Just kidding, sort of. I went and took my lung and heart stress test today. My lungs are performing at over 100% of normal, which is awesome. Then I go and do this heart test. I have a hard time walking up a half a flight of stairs without stopping on the landing. So they want you to be able to walk up four flights of stairs; not gonna happen. So I get to have a chemically induced heart rate of 156 bpm. Which still gets you breathing hard and makes your head pound. When I approached 140 bpm, my chest started feeling tight, at 150 started having mild pain, at 160 (which is where we peaked) I had moderate pain. But no worries, there was a cardiologist right outside the door, and I was already laying down so no big problem. After a few minutes everything was back to normal. The cardiologist came in and looked at the ultrasound of my heart, and the EKG they did while I was running a marathon without moving. He didn't like something he saw, so he and the other cardiologist left and called my oncologist. The three of them have decided that am in need of a angiogram, (I wonder if thats anything like a singing telegram from a girl named angie?) Anyway tomorrow bright and early, I will be going in for an angiogram. If I have it done soon, like tomorrow, I can still have my treatments on the 14th. Wish me well and wish my wife some more patience with me, heaven knows she needs it. I think I may quit going to doctors for a while after this, they keep finding things wrong with me. Just kidding, but the questions still remains, which came first the cancer or the heart.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Fixed some problems

Ok, I was informed today the people were having a hard time posting comments. I believe I have fixed this. So you should be able to post without having a google account now.

Good News! (sort of) #2

Ok, I went back to bed a slept for a while so I am ready for the day. Between the time I got home and ready to leave for the temple (about 10 min). I got a phone call from LeAnn, Dr. Grossman's nurse. I now know the phone number that shows up on caller ID for the Huntsman Center, and I drop everything to answer it. Anyway, she gave me the treatment dates, and (wait for it, ) I start treatment on the 15th of Feb. I will be admitted on the 14th, Valentines day. My wife and I have talked, we think it is fitting that I will go in on valentines day, a day that commemorates love. What better way to celebrate that facing a life threatening challenge together with a positive attitude. So, if all goes well, I will have treatment next week, be off for two weeks and back in for another week long treatment on March 7th. I almost forgot, the treatment we have decided on is the IL2. Temporary side effects and long term possibilities. Once again, I would like to thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, I really can feel them. It makes my day go better and facing such a daunting task much easier. (churchy alert) I have learned so much in the last week about how much God truly loves each and every one of us. And how he will not give us trials greater than we are able to bear. One thing I have realized about that last part is how much we discount our selves and God in what we are capable of doing with his help. I have truly felt the hand of God in my daily activities. I have felt of the love and concern he has for the struggles I am feeling. Through my prayers and the prayers of others I have been able to gain strength in areas where I have been very weak before. It is a humbling and faith building experience. I wish you all the best and to be able to feel the love others have for you as well as the love from our Heavenly Father, as I have been able to do. It truly is a shame that it takes a tragedy in ones live to bring this wonderful blessing to fruition. But then again if I had felt this all along, I don't know if it would help me as much as it is now. I love you all, have a great day and Merry Christmas.
Andy.

Good News!!! (sort of)

Ok, Its 2am and I can't sleep. (blaming my Dad on that one no reason just because I can.) I thought I would take the opportunity to share with you the doings of friday. I decided I needed to go to work, you know for the money. Its amazing how if you don't go to work you don't get paid. Anyway, I got to work fine. Had some chest pains, they were expected, as climbed the stairs to work. I had to rest on the landing for a minute before continuing to the second set. Finally got to my desk and sat down. At this point I was doing really good. I had been to work for a whole minute and no major breakdowns. Then I made the mistake of opening my email. The concern and support that people have for me was unexpected, but highly appreciated. I cried for a little bit, first time so far. It was a little helpful. Its a good thing there weren't very many people there at 6am on Friday. Then I made my second mistake of the day, I checked my voice mail. Some more tears, and added appreciation for the great people I work with. I won't mention names, but I appreciate all of you very much. After the two "episodes" I really wanted to go home, but I would have to face the music eventually, and I knew there wouldn't be a full crew on Friday like Monday. So I stayed. Guess what, as the day went on, more tears. It's a good thing they took away my man-card years ago. Anyway, I put in my time as best i could, and left for home. I went to the Temple, that is a place the LDS faith hold sacred and feel closer to God there, with my Dad. I had some special prayers answered there, and received a whole lot of comfort. A big Thank you to my Dad for the willingness to be a buffer for me and such a strong supporter. So if you all would please include my family in your prayers, specifically my Dad at this point, I will occasionally ask for special prayers for people in my family and in my close circle (getting larger everyday) of friends who are having a hard time with me having cancer. Well this is enough for now, In the moring I will have part two, and actually share what i was wanting to. It is now 2:30am and I am feeling a bit tired, so lets hope that sleep may find me once again. Night all.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Had a "Grand" Conversation

Tonight we met with the Grandmas and Grandpas aka the buffers. They now know everything I know and will disseminate the information as needed. They also had some awesome questions that I hadn't thought of. The age old adage, with age comes wisdom is true. I was very grateful for the time they were able to spend with us and the great support we have while we go through this ordeal.
Today, I was notified that my blood work came back as a qualifier for being able to have the treatment done. Right now, leaning toward IL2. They also schelduled the remaining two tests to see if my heart and lungs are strong enough to make it through the procedures. I hope they are. They are scheduled for Monday. If I get any more updates or have anything more to share, I will be sure to post. I think I have set up so I can blog via text messaging. I may have to try this over the weekend.
Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts, Love Andy.
I almost forgot.
Family members---Please contact the parent you have to get information regarding my cancer status, they will be up to date on all the happenings. Please...Please don't call me about the cancer. If you would like to talk about the weather or even sports (which I don't follow) it would be welcomed, but if you bring up the cancer I will hang up on you. This is to help me to not get bombarded with phone calls and have to continuously be talking about how I feel, and what is going on. This will allow me to focus on the needs of my wife and kids and getting over this unfortuneate situation. Thanks for your understanding. Also, if you have questions ask the parents to forward them to me, or you can post them here. You will probably get a faster answer if you as a parent. When I know more I will post, (after I have informed the parents. They are my first line of bufferage.)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Today it is official

Today I was diagnosed with melanoma in my lungs. Not a great conversation to have with your new doctor. While it was very informative, the overall tone was one of crappy news. So I did what any farm boy would do, I wade through the crap and see what work needs to be done. There were a few options for treatment, but the one that seems to fit me needs the most is the Interlukin II or IL2 treatment. While if everything goes well, I could be around for another 10 years, if not probably closer to 2. But I like the number 10 so lets shoot for that. I will have to have a stress test before they start treatment because it is really hard on your heart. I have been told I have a big heart, lets just hope it wasn't an enlarged one. This evening we have sat down with the kids and told them all the options and the expected results, and side-effects. One had the equivilant of explosive diarhea, Morgan thought that was funny and wanted to know if my butt would blow off. I told him, it wouldnt, even though I might wish it to. The day was productive because now we have a direction to go. Just thought I would let everyone know how awesome my wife is and how great a trooper she is. I don't know how I could have ever made it through the first bout of Melanoma, 4 years and 10 months ago with out her being there for me. I always wanted to pay her back somehow and here I go again adding to the mountian of debt i already owe her. So do me a favor and pray for her for strength and peace. (thats just to put up with me on a regular basis.)