Monday, November 15, 2010

Pardon the Interruption

To be blunt about it, the second half of October and the first half of November kind of sucked. I started my fourth cycle of chemotherapy on October 18 and by October 20th I was pretty miserable. I experienced fatigue on an order of magnitude that I'd not experienced previously plus I had to contend with the usual body aches. Couple that with the fact that the side effect symptoms which usually go away in a couple of days before my next infusion didn't. On October 25 I went in for my 2nd infusion of the cycle and I hadn't even bounced back from my the 18th's yet. The week of the November 1st was even worse because by the end of the week I had contracted a pretty severe cold/flu. Thursday November 4th I had a fever that was about .5 degrees away from putting me in the hospital and I had a CT scan scheduled for that morning. I decided to go ahead with the CT scan despite me not feeling well.

And now for the bad news. November 8th found us back in the doctors office for the usual pre-cycle doctor's appointment. He also had the results of the previous week's CT scan. Unfortunately the results of the CT scan were not what anyone had hoped for. The tumors that had previously been shrinking had stopped shrinking and in fact a couple of them had started growing again (albeit minuscule growth). There were also new "areas of interest" in the same general vicinity as the largest cluster of the original tumors. The long and the short of it is that the first line chemotherapy drugs have stopped working. To continue their use would be futile. Couple that with the fact that first-line drugs cumulative effect on my overall physical well being had me reduced to watching TV on the sofa for 12 hours a day for the previous 3 weeks. All of this being taken into consideration we opted to go try second line of chemotherapy drug called Alimta (Pemetrexed).

Today is November 15 and I had my first infusion of the new drug regiment. The doctor and nurses have all told me that the new drug is much better tolerated than my old regiment, but only time will tell. Their effectiveness is what is important. Another upside to the new drug is that I only have to have it administered once every 21 days.

My lack of writing has been due to the fact that I did not want my physical state of being to transfer into my posting. I try to be as upbeat as possible but the last three weeks had really put me in a bad place. Now that I've had an extra week off and have started something new, I'm feeling positive and my energy levels seem to be back up. I had noticed that I had started to receive messages from people for not updating in a while, so please pardon the interruption. I certainly wasn't trying to hide it or make anyone worry. I just didn't want the words to come out wrong. I'll try to be a little better about keeping this updated in the future, but I didn't want to come off as "Donny Downer." I always hate being the bearer of bad news, but I'm trying to keep this as honest as possible and wanted to be in a better place before I wrote about it. It is what it is and you can only play the hand that you're dealt. As always, thanks to everyone for their support and here's to turning a new page and starting a new chapter.

Ride On Wrap Up

I really didn't expect my motorcycle trip to end up the way it did. Having the transmission blow out with approximately 900 miles to go wasn't really part of my plan. I was really fortunate that Progressive Insurance's road side assistance covered the tow from Morrison to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I've had lot's of people ask me if I thought my trip was a failure because it ended up having the bike carted home in the back of a Budget box truck. I answer that question with a resounding no. My only regret is that I didn't get an opportunity to ride through the Ozark mountains on back roads on my way home. The view was still gorgeous from the cab of the truck but it would have been nice to get the full sensory experience of riding Wheezy through them.

Ultimately I thought it was a huge success. I achieved the solitude I was looking for. I had lots of time to think. Overall, the weather was fantastic but even when it was bad I was right out in it and didn't let it deter me. I got to ride 2000 miles of the United States that I'd never seen before and really get a flavor for the states I rode through because I was on back roads. I had to overcome some obstacles on the road with no assistance. I got to visit dear friends and family. It was awesome to be able to go half way across the country and visit them at their homes. The trip was the experience of a lifetime and I was fortunate to be able to do it. I also need to say for the record that my Uncle Dick is the greatest tour guide known to man. We squeezed all of the quality time that we could out of my time in Colorado and I wish I could have spent more time there. It is beautiful country and I was fortunate to have such a fantastic insider to be able to show me around. He and Jan showed me hospitality second to none. Also a big shout out needs to go to Stephen and Nat for putting me up for longer than expected and dragging me around while my bike was in the shop. I don't know what I'd have done if my breakdown hadn't occurred so close to good friends.

I'd say that the worst outcome of the trip was that it did absolutely nothing to quell my wanderlust and may have just made it worse. Within a week of coming back I was already trying to figure out when and where I'd like to go next; although, it doesn't look like that is going to occur any time soon. Wheezy is parked in the garage attached to the Battery Tender and waiting for a decision to be made as to his fate.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my musings while I was on the road. A little part of me felt like I got to bring you all with me.