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6/26/2011 Some chapters in life you never want to end others are bitter sweet, and some you just hope are short and quick. Radiation therapy was one that was short and quick and I'm glad it was. It was one of those times in life where I just dealt with it as best I could and tried my hardest not to let it get me down. Although this wasn't a pleasant experience it was very interesting and I have learned a lot from the Lord and have been blessed to stay fairly healthy through this treatment. Several people have been asking what it's like and since most of my peers have had little exposure to cancer and cancer treatments (before this experience my perception of cancer patients is what they show on movies of hairless people who look like they were just released from a death camp). I decided to post a video of my radiation treatment, as well as some pictures, as well as my weekly schedule.
6/12/2011 “The road to success is always under construction.” Or in my case to road to freedom. Two more weeks and I will be done with Radiation. The next stage is a stronger Chemotherapy. The funny thing about these treatments is the Doctors will tell you about all the good and amazing things that it will do for your chances of living life cancer free. The therapists and the nurses will tell you about all the horrible messed up side effects that that the Doctor failed to mention. I was getting my pump hooked up last Monday and was talking to the nurse about the FLOFOX which is the drug I will be getting next and she went off about some strange side effects. Sensitivity to cold (feels like pins and needles), diarrhea (which everything I've been getting has this side effect, but hasn't really been an issue), nausea, and the list went on. I'm not too worried, they warned me about all kinds of side effects from the Radiation and the Chemo that I am currently doing and they haven't been as bad as they made them out to be. This week was the hardest so far, I just felt drained and drugged out all week, but it bounces back pretty quick for the weekend. Yesterday would have been an awesome boating day, but it just wasn't in the cards with everything else going on. So I used it as a good day to tidy up some of the odds and ends that needed to be fixed on the boat. Last summer when we got the boat running it was running because of some alligator clips attached to two solder connections and all of the wiring was hanging all over the place. I spent several hours and the wiring is now what I would consider to be complete, and it feels really good to have that done. Well life is great, the sky is still blue and I am still breathing, can't ask for more than that.
5/22/2011 I have my fist week of chemotherapy and radiation behind me. I was nervous going into it wondering how I was going to feel, and honestly I still wonder what the weeks to come have to offer. I do know that the Lord has blessed me and is helping me through this, and with his help this first week was really not too bad. The worst part about all this was the chemotherapy fanny pack. When they told me I would be fitted with a pump and would be wearing it Monday - Friday, in my mind I was expecting something like an insulin pump. When the nurse pulled out this machine that looked like it could land the space shuttle I thought “no that is not for me,” then she slapped a name tag on it with my name. So rather than wear a little pump around that is hardly noticeable I have to wear this fanny pack that looks like something a redneck would wear hunting. Other than the awkwardness of wearing a fanny pack everywhere that knocks stuff over and gets tangled up at night, and requires that I take sponge baths rather than showers, life isn't so bad. I feel like quite the chick magnet right now. As for my health I honestly felt pretty good during the week, I only had one day that I felt a little nauseous, and the rest of the time just felt like one of those weeks of school with three tests a group project and a lab due, in other words lacking in sleep. All in all I am getting along well and feel the strong support of family and friends and all your prayers.
5/8/2011 Life goes on and sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. I was really hoping after surgery the doctor would tell me “you're good to go and have a nice life,” but that is not what happened. I meet with an Oncologist on Thursday and he explained to me how cancer works. My cancer was a Low Grade Stage 2 with a sub classification of T4B. From what I understand T4 means that the caner has left the original organ and has effected to another structure, and the B means that it has attached to another structure. The conclusion of this discussion with the Oncologist was that while all the margins from surgery were clean, there are still cancer cells that have left the colon and Chemotherapy and Radiation are needed to kill these cells and keep them from attacking another part of the body. I refuse to say that my summer is over and believe that I can still have fun. Plans certainly have changed and I am bearing down for the long haul and I am learning new ways to have fun. I will be done with everything by Thanksgiving and that should make that holiday more meaningful. I have felt everyone's love support and most of all prayers and I am extremely grateful for them. I have learned so many things from these experiences, in ways that I could not have otherwise learned. I know the Lord has a plan for me and that he is keeping me in his watchful eye. I am sticking to a modo that Mark Twain came up with "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." Click here to post a comment 4/5/2011 I haven't posted an update in months. The last update was about some health issues that I was having at the time. I haven't posted anything new cause I haven't been feeling that much better and when I was feeling better I was busy playing or doing homework. Also note that I am currently fairly drugged up so I hope this makes sense. Before I get into the bad news I will say that the last few months have been really good to me despite the health problems. I got in some great powder days this season, did some snowmobiling, learned to sew upholstery and had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family. So back to the news. Last post I talked about getting food poisoning and having some issues afterward because of it. It would appear that the issues that followed existed before and were simply stirred up by the food poisoning, and not caused by it. Just a little recap, after the food poisoning issue about a week later I had this intense pain in my groin area. Saw the Doctor he gave me Antibiotics and they worked great for a week and then it came back again. So the Doctor ordered an Ultra-Sound on my groin (Funny story if you would like to hear about that awkward experience just email me.) Test came back showing just a normal infection took some more antibiotics and two weeks later back again. Remember this is an intense pain in a very sensitive part of the body, and it's cutting into my school and work and play. So finally the doctor sends me to a Urologist, from this experience I learned that Urologists are a special kind of Doctor that I feel like are a straight spawn of the devil. He checks me out and says “Well you have a small Cyst on your epididymis that is probably causing the problem its very common and so just take and Advil on the bad days and be happy on the good days.” This never sat right with me, but I just decided I would just deal with it since the Doctor folk didn't seem like they were going to be any help. Things did just about what the urologist said it would do it came and went and I just learned to deal with the pain and it was fine. Until come end a January and I started to have some bloody stools along with it. Mind you I had been having them since the beginning but it wasn't that bad and for sure wasn't the focus of my concern. But by the end of January they were getting worse. By the middle of February the fevers were coming back as well. I took a picture of the one of the worst stools and went back to the doctor. To be honest the reason I went back to the doctor was because I wanted to use the snowmobiles and my mom said I could only use them if I went to the doctor. So I did. As I was talking to the doctor I told him I had a “fair” amount of blood in the stool, and he asked “how much is a fair amount of blood?” “Well I have a picture,” I said. “Wow, that is a considerable amount of blood.” So I guess my scale was a little off and it was a considerable amount and not a fair amount, regardless it was more than a normal amount. So he orders some more tests and they all come back negative for any kind of bacteria or anything like that, and I go in for a follow up and at this point he is starting to treat me like I am just a complainer. I will be the first to admit I complain with the best of them, it is a goal I have to be less of a complainer and to be more optimistic, but mind you I hate the doctor, and I don't lack people to complain to so I don't need to pay money to complain to this guy. So trust me when I say I would not be going to the doctor if I wasn't sure that there was some kind of problem. The doctors says “Well all the tests came back negative, and I can't seem to find anything but because of the symptoms you are having we should probably do a Colonoscopy. If things don't improve in the next few days come back and we will get one setup.” I tried to eat nice foods for the next few days hoping that it would get better. Also you should note at this point I am tired all the time, sleeping in class (pretty normal but not at the same time), too tired to do a full day on the snow (not cool), and I was sleeping like 10 -11 hours a night and waking up dead. I was becoming obvious that eating soft food wasn't going to fix this, and it didn't. It was the Friday of the last week of spring break, and the doctor sets up my Colonoscopy for the following Tuesday. This is where things start to get crazy. Saturday I went to Beaver Mountain with Travis, rode some great back country snow and also participated in the pond skim contest. We didn't do so hot but still had fun. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO (I am at 3:12 and Travis is right after me). So Sunday I eat my last good meal and Monday I start the prep. Horrible experience, anyone who has had to do one would understand. Tuesday I have the colonoscopy done, and as I am coming out of the anesthesia I hear the doctor telling my mom. “I don't know how else to say this but he has a tumor in the sigmoid region of the colon. He needs to have a CT scan today, I have already set that up and I would like to see it removed by the end of the week.” If that doesn't wake you up I don't know what will. After he left the nurse gives me a bottle of barium and tells me to drink up. Another few hours and I am down getting a CT scan. Wednesday I have an appointment with a surgeon Dr. Foley. He starts out by trying to comfort us, which wasn't necessary as me nor my parents are freaking out, we just wanted to know what is next. He says “Dr. Porter (the Doctor from the Colonoscopy) he over reacts a little, he is kind of the sky is falling doom and gloom kind of guy, don't worry we are going to get this taken care of and there is no need to over react. I have you scheduled for surgery tomorrow at first thing, I have some other little surgeries but I've got you down first...” Very comforting that the sky really isn't falling it just looks like it. Felt much more relaxed after that. So here we are almost a week later and I am home from the Hospital and have one less foot of colon. I can move around and can do almost everything myself. Funny cause I can walk around all day, take a shower, use the bathroom, everything myself, but I need help to get into bed. Go figure. The surgery went well, but we are still waiting for the biopsy to find out what the next step is. I thank the Lord for the blessings and the health I have, and am very grateful for the gospel and the sure footing it has provided at this time in my life. This has taught me how much we are not in control of our own lives and how fragile it all really is, one Saturday I'm snowboarding and the next I'm laid up in the Hospital recovering from a surgery that I didn't even know about the week before. I am also grateful for the prayers on my behalf, they have been felt and I get emotional knowing that people care. So thanks for the support and the visits and the love and prayers. I'll keep ya'll posted about what we find out and keep the prayers coming. Update The Surgeon called this morning to inform us that the results for the Biopsy came back for the tumor. The Tumor was cancer, however out of the 46 lymph nodes that were removed with the tumor none of them came back positive for cancer. It would appear that the cancer was completely contained in the colon and had not spread anywhere else. As the doctor put it, "this is a miracle." I completely agree. I know the Lord had his hand in this and has heard the prayers that have been offered on my behalf. Thanks everyone for your love and support. Click here to post a comment Click here to view 3 comments. 10/29/2010 I am still alive despite the best efforts of some little bug. The last day of fall break I was hanging out with some friends and we ate out at In-n-Out Burger. I have eaten there before and didn't like it and I won't eat there again, but the point was I was with friends so we ate there. Afterward plans changed several times until the group of like 12 or 15 withered away to me, Jessie and a friend of Jessie's named Sam (poor kid never saw it coming). So we decided to watch Prince of Persia, my mom had purchased it recently so I called her to see if it was home or at the cabin. It was at the cabin but Jessie suggested let's just go up there to watch it. At that moment I did not have any objections, it sounded fun to me. So the three of us got in the car and take off. About the mouth of Weber Canyon I start to feel a little uneasy, my stomach is not happy. Those who know me know I have an Iron gut, mission companions and roommates and family all know that if it's expired my motto is "just add sugar it takes away the spoiled taste." The last time I have thrown anything up was when I was 13 or 14 on a Sunday morning delivering newspapers, I can still point out the spot on the sidewalk where it happened. Why can I remember these kinds of details? Because I never throw up. We make our way up Trappers Loop and it gets a little worse but I never throw up so I should be fine right? We start up the canyon towards Causey and I am thinking I am in the back seat of a two door car and I am thinking I am going to loose my lunch, so Jessie kindly pulls over and I switch seats with Sam. Jessie then informs me that if I need to throw up that she is a sympathizer, so she cannot hear, see, or smell it or she will throw up as well. Duely noted. We make are way up the canyon a little more and it's obvious that my "Iron Gut" is going to loose some rivets. I give the word, and we pull over, as it would happen with me, we stopped not 75 feet from a group camping. They were sitting around a campfire laughing and carrying on when I lost it, and there is not a sound in nature that could mask that, so very quickly silence fell over the group. I threw up like 4 times to the point that I felt pretty awesome and felt that in no way could there be anything else left to throw up. As a result of feeling quite well after having left my dinner at the side of the road, we proceeded to the cabin. We put on the movie and we were off and running, until about halfway through, the tummy starts to churn again. Mind you I am trying to avoid turning on the water as my parents had left not 2 or 3 hours earlier, after putting antifreeze in the pipes. So I fight the urge to use the bathroom, "this is going to pass, I will be fine." Well you probably guessed it, I threw up again. As I come out of the bathroom Jessie and Sam have the blankets folded TV off and are ready to leave. A few thoughts cross my mind at this point, do I stay here and have Jessie let my parents know that I am going to need a ride home the following day, or do I try and bust it home seeing as I got a good 45 minutes to an hour from the first and second occurrence? As you can guess I didn't stay at the cabin I tried to ride it out and make it home. Stopped once fairly close to the first stop, and made a second stop on the Huntsville side of trappers loop. This stop changed my life, what I am about to say here got me invited to a new club at work, a secret society of members who have found themselves in similar situations. Never would I have guessed that so many people have had such horrible thing happen and still live to tell the tale. As I am leaning over throwing up, and holding a rode marker to keep me from falling over, one of those full body convolutions associated with throwing up, left a little surprise in my pants. I froze, I didn't know what to do, I very strongly considered telling Jessie to just leave me there, I couldn't get back in that car, I couldn't do that to them. Well after spending some time with some napkins I ended up back in the car. Two more stops and a feeling of udder shame, we make it home. I consult the family doctor (mom) and make one more stop at the bathroom to unload a little more (and shower of course). I then go to bed, oh how wonderful it is be in bed. That wonderful feeling was interrupted twice more, and the second had the same effect as trappers loop, at least this time I was alone and in the comfort and privacy of my bathroom. I took another shower / bath (seeing as standing was not high on my priority list), and while laying there I started to think. Me thinking in the dead of the night is scary on a good day, but this was less than intelligent thinking. I had thrown up everything, I know this because nothing but stomach acid was the result of throwing up the last few go arounds. As most of you know from personal experience this is quite unpleasant. So in my mind if the cannon is going to fire dry or loaded, and the loaded cannon does not hurt while the dry cannon does, then I am going to load that cannon up. At 4:30 I make a stop at Smith's and buy exactly what you would expect me to buy, Orange Juice and Sprite. Most people think this sounds like a recipe for disaster but Orange Juice fixes anything. (Another bad thought was that maybe Orange Juice would kill what ever was causing this). I would expect that most of you are on the edge or your seat waiting to hear how this played out. Well my OJ did it's job and I did not throw up again. Spent Sunday in bed sleeping and perfect I am good to go. Or was I? The week following I didn't eat much. I was leery of what caused this episode and not exactly sure what I could hold down, and wasn't too ready to test the waters. My stomach was feeling better but still rumbly and this made me nervous. The weekend comes around again and I just didn't feel right. Sunday I sleep way more than I should have, and even went to bed early. Monday my stomach is not right, and by Monday night other things are starting to not feel right. As I got ready for bed Monday night I start to get the chills, it's a classic fever, I was shaking uncontrollably, and freezing. I bundle up and go to bed. 3:30 rolls around and I wake up. I am in pain, a new kind of pain, I am sweaty and freezing cold. Somehow I manage to wander into the bathroom, sit down and I am dripping with sweat, and in my dead of night thinking I say to myself, "your going to die, you have some kind of cancer and you are going to die." What is the first thing you start thinking of when are taking your last breaths of life? "If I am dying I am not going to school anymore." I must have come to some sort of reality realizing that I am not that lucky, and school is going to be there Tuesday morning and when I realize that I am not dead I am going to have to go. So I make my best efforts to get back to bed, and like most of my "best efforts" I fell short, like fell on the floor in the bathroom short. I don't know how long I was there but when I came to, my pants were only halfway pulled up and I was staring at the underside of the bathroom counter. This probably should have been a good indicator that something wasn't right, but rather than pay a co-pay and find a doctor I just hoped it would pass. Tuesday was terrible. I did not describe this "new pain" that I felt the night before and it's a little embarrassing to share for everyone to read, but at the same time I find it quite funny. So if you don't want to know the nitty gritty details then stop reading now and know that I am still alive and will be just fine. I am going to say that statically nobody stopped reading. Onward ho. The new development was a very dull pain in my lower stomach focused mostly on the right side, with a very strong pain in my groin. I felt like I had been kicked in the shorts all night long, and it was not very pleasant. To make it better, I would be sitting in class or walking around or at work or whatever and sharp surges of pain would come across that left me making funny noises and hunching over like I had just taken a football to the crouch. We all know that these things would have been a good indicator of a time to see a doctor but it wasn't until Tuesday night after telling a few friends about how I was feeling and hearing horror stories of what it could be, and reading on WebMD (thanks a lot Cindy). I finally consented to see a doctor on Wednesday after class. After a quick examination the doctor says "you have Epididymitis." "Oh ya just that huh?" I had no idea what it was so he pulled out his picture book and explained it to me, and then asked a few more questions. There are really two common ways of getting this, one is an STD and we all know that isn't the case, the other is E-coli. It would appear that in my adventure puking all over Northern Utah that bug found it's way into some places he doesn't belong and caused an infection. I am taking some antibiotics and feeling a little better. So if you think you could use a good laugh just imagine me walking down the street and randomly falling to the ground and crying, that should help. As for me I will keep taking my pills and "avoiding jogging or other activities that involve jumping around, as these activities could cause discomfort" like the doctor told me (I laughed at him when he said this, ya I will just go for a jog when walking almost kills me). And thanks Jessie for taking care of me. Click here to view 3 comments. Click here to post a comment 9/13/2010 It has been a crazy summer and I have been terriable at updating my website. I will just blame it on an awesome summer. I was lucky enough to get two boating trips in. One to Lake Powell with the Havens, and one to Flaming Gorge with the Golds. Looking through my camera there has been ton of other fun stuff that happened this summer, seems like not a day went by that I didnt get a chance to go and play. All this play has pretty much caught up with me and I have had my slap to the face to put me in my place and get me refocused on real life. So bring on the snow!!! Pictures are worth a thousand words so I will let them do the talking.
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