Minor adjustment to posts

Ok, it has been brought to my attention that I have a tendency to "sugar coat" things and not give the "real" situations, and that my wife posting was a lot more informative on what was really going on. So I will try to be more upfront with what is really going on. For instance Tuesday, was a real bear of a day. While last week I was able to get more doses than they thought possible. It was with the help of a bunch of narcotics, which unfortunately have a lasting effect on me. I stay groggy for a few days when they are administered day after day and high doses like they were. On top of that the benefits of taking the pain away are not there, just the foggy hazy feelings.
The IL2 treatment has a tendency to settle in joints and old injuries, so my knee and hip were killing me, so I got to take some more pain pills, and sit in a fog for another day. The treatments also take a toll on my ability to recover, as far as my energy level goes. I spent most of the day sleeping and resting, because I didn't have the energy to walk to the mailbox.
I hope that was a more accurate and real depiction of my situation. If this is better let me know and I will try to keep it more "real."
On a good note, I have lost almost 15 lbs of water weight, only 10 more to go. That should come off tomorrow. I hope that was descriptive enough of how my day went, but on the upside, I am doing well and recovering. Like I said I am still very tired and just like the Doctors told me the recovery gets harder each time, especially with the amount of doses I got this last time. I am still really excited about getting so many. Woo Hoo!!!! ok, sorry I just get too happy sometimes. Thanks for all the help and support that we get from everyone. Merry Christmas and Have a lovely day.
Love Andy.

I made it home, to a tornado I think.

I am doing well, and recovering. The water weight is coming off slowly, which is expected. The water should really start coming off tomorrow or Tuesday. But with the huge windstorm we had while I was in the hospital we sustained some damage to an outbuilding and our fence in the backyard.

Here are some pictures, nothing like my before pictures, so Alan, its safe to look at. The Pictures are of my fence looking south, and my chicken coop which is still standing and the Horse barn, which is not is to the North. Also, in one of the pictures you can see the feeder is upside down with some feed still in it. Not tipped over, UPSIDE DOWN. How does that happen?!? So herein lies the question, how does a fence blow down to the south and within 50yards a horse shed blow down to the north? No one was hurt and no animals were injured, thank goodness, a friend has our horse while I am going through treatment or the horse would more than likely been in the shed at the time.

So we will be working on building a new fence and working on whether or not we are going to try to salvage the shed or scrap it and start over. I thought the pictures were very interesting. Like I said we are all doing well, and other than the dogs not being happy about being let out a little less, all in good spirits.

Merry Christmas and have a lovely day,

Love Andy.

I have returned home

Thanks to Peg, for covering for me while I wasn't able to. She said some really nice things about me, some true, some exaggerated. But while I did turn blue from lack of oxygen, and had all the doctors on the floor, as well as most free nurses and the Respiration team in my room, I didn't remember a whole lot of the trials I went through. A blessing from how well I respond to the Demerol, and other pain-meds they give me. I only remember about 1o min or so of the whole ordeal, and those times didn't involve anyone but Dr. Joan asking me a few questions about my breathing and if I was having chest pains, to which I would answer and go back to sleep. One of the nurses came to me later and expressed how sorry she was for what pain I had to go through. I really had no idea what she was talking about and made her explain. To which I asked the doctors the following morning to elaborate on what had happened, which they did in more detail than I could understand, to which one of them stated-"it was the worst thing I had seen with the IL2 patients."
Hopefully we can put this to rest, and be glad, it was a turning point. It made me realize that I can take a lot more than I give myself and the Lord credit for, and I am really lucky to have such smart Doctors. They eliminated a couple of medicines from my daily routine and presto chango - I get double or triple the amount of doses they expected even with the major event with the Rigors talking place. The Blood pressure dropping isn't that big of thing, while serious and in the same week as the Rigors it was frustrating and abnormal, but it immediately stops treatment for me and is treatable. Thank Heavens for Educated Doctors and Those who take good notes for them to go back and study. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Merry christmas and Have a lovely Day.
Love Andy. (By the way this was Andy writing this time)

A miss understanding has come to my awareness. Andy did not turn smurf blue, he is not still blue, and he did not turn blue due to any mineral, medication, or treatment at Huntsman. The blue coloring was due to his rapid breathing and low blood pressure after the third dose that was given, it only lasted a short amount of time and is not a serious or continueing condition. Now that is over, an update. Andy (the amazing) has recieved 6 doses of Il2. He is not however going to recieve a 7th. As they were ordering the treatment, Andy's blood pressure dropped. (Please don't read anything into this). He is fine, this is a side affect and is expected. He is actually glad because that means he can come home tomorrow. And everyone here is thrilled at that idea. We have missed him tremendously. No matter how annoying Andy can be, we have missed our large noisy nerd. We are doing well and so is Andy. Thank you for your love and prayers.

Hi everyone, this is a topsyturvey day for Andy. Yesterdays third dose was difficult to say the least. The more I find out what transpired the more I realize how amazing Andy is. We blogged how it was ruff and rigors were really intense. I have learned that for 45 mins Andy culvused uncontrolably even with intense meds. He turned an awful shade of blue (which is pretty hard considering the fact that IL2 has the side effect of turning the skin bright lobster red) because his blood pressure dropped very low. The nurses and doctors were more concerned than Andy wanted to admit. During his stay they take labs almost hourly. The shocking thing is his labs came back more postive than negative and so the docs. decided to continue doses. Andy recieve dose number 4 this morning and faired better than expected. With this you would think that they would stop with 4, seeing that they really thought Andy would only be able to recieve 2 or at most 3 doses. Well, they are going for a fifth dose. That's right, 5 doses. Andy's wonderful nurse Mel, texted me that at 7:00 p.m. Andy would get the fifth one under heavy sedation. I am in awe in Andy's willingness to submit to these treatments. We all want to fight for our lives, and to continue here on earth longer. But the horrors of cancer treatments can take the fight out of even the strongest of people. But Andy is the ever optimist, so he is fighting harder. I would love to be at Andy's side this week unfortuneately I have been sick, and so I am not allowed down there. I hope that you know that your prayer are truly heard and felt. Andy has told me constantly that while he is at the darkest of moments he feels the love and prayers of you all. We thank you over and over again for your concern and support. I will blog again tomorrow how things went. Pray for the best, and we love you.

Hey, this is Peggy posting on the site. Andy can't get his phone to post on the blog so you are stuck with me relating information. I am not a blogger and honestly this is a first for me. So here it goes. Andy recieved 3 doses so far. His last dose was the worst by far. He had rigors(the shakes) for about 45 min. because the meds would not work. He says his ribs are killing him from the convulsions. Fortunately he does not remember much (thanks to morphine, oxycontine, and demeral). He says other than his ribs he is doing well. We also want to continue thanking everyone who is praying and supporting us through this time. We love you all.

made it through my first dose ok. we will have to see how the second dose goes. wish me luck!