Bradley and Marissa

Chemo Rounds 19 & 20

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Well, there’s not much to tell since the last update. I guess no news is good news in this case. I started the 19th round of chemo on October 12. So far, the chemo does not seem to be too harsh. I am having some aches and pains but I don’t really think they are side effects of the new chemo. More than likely I am just dealing with the side effects of 18 months of chemo.

I have been having some trouble keeping my blood counts up. The dose that I should have received on October 19 was delayed until Thursday, October 22 to allow my white count to recover. By delaying that week, my infusion was moved to Thursday the next week as well. When I went in on October 29, my white count was borderline. My doctor decided to go ahead with the chemo and supplement my blood count with Neupogen for a few days. On Sunday, November 1, I came down with a low grade fever, indicating that my white count had dropped to zero and infection had set in. I have been on antibiotics since, which have kept my fever under control. Since my counts were so low, I did not begin chemo again until Monday, November 16.

During my 2 ½ weeks off from chemo aside from having neutropenic fever, I also had been having severe back pain. The pain started low and would radiate up to the base of my skull. Every breath that I took would be accompanied by a throbbing, intense pain. I was beginning to get worried because the pain was very reminiscent of my hip and nerve related pain when I was first diagnosed. Dr. D’Amato, my local oncologist, decided to schedule an MRI of the spine and brain for as soon as possible. On Friday, November 13 I underwent a three hour long MRI of the entire spine and brain. I was not prepared for such a long test which was not only long, but uncomfortable, and almost unbearable. They told me during the MRI that it should have been scheduled for several different days instead of one long test on one day. I could certainly see why they normally schedule it that way, however after it was all over with and I made it through the whole test I was just glad to have it done with. We left our house at about 12:30 that day and did not return home until 7 pm that evening.

On Monday, November 16 my white blood cell count was extremely high at 24. This was because of the Neupogen injections Marissa had been giving me for the seven days prior. We discussed with Dr. D’Amato keeping my counts high before the chemo infusion, so when they fall they do not fall so low that I would continue to get neutropenic fever. So before every infusion on Monday, Marissa will begin my Neupogen shots the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before. I am having tremendous amounts of muscle pain and fatigue and I can only think that the Neupogen is contributing to these symptoms. During this doctor’s appointment, we also received the results from my MRI. Fortunately, everything looks good and it showed only a little arthritis in my lower spine. To try and help alleviate these symptoms, we are trying Celebrex. I was happy to add this to my daily regimen of medicines as it is a COX II Inhibitor, this basically means that it helps to block a cancer cell pathway. My list of medicines is getting longer and longer, we are trying to add other drugs that also have a double benefit like the Celebrex and Lovastatin. My only real complaint is that it is hard to manage all of these medicines, some must be taken alone, some with food, some on an empty stomach, so fitting them all into one day is proving to be challenging and I must become more diligent about it. I will also say that Marissa and I have been extremely pleased lately with my local oncologist. She is very receptive to new possible beneficial drugs that I suggest, and she helps to start me on these therapies.

At this point in the post, I (Marissa) will be taking over. Bradley has given this task over to me. He said he no longer enjoys posting as it is a constant reminder that he is sick. He said he also feels that people are no longer reading. He said people’s support for him is like when people watch a marathon, they want to be there for the beginning and the end but not the entire race in between. Unfortunately, I do not know what to say about this, as I agree with his thinking. Regardless, I will be doing the posting from here on out if not for us, than for those that do read that are also fighting their own cancer battles. They, all too well know about the in between days that carry on from one to the next. I know it is helpful to us that they know how we feel, so maybe it will help them in their own day to day struggles.

On Saturday, November 21 my whole family came over and everyone helped with our huge leaf situation. It took all day, but our house and yard look great. Everyone was a huge help, even the nephews. Bradley felt well enough to enjoy being outside and take our nephews for rides on the riding mower. I think Bradley had a really great time and it was great for him to be outside on a beautiful day.

Today is Monday, November 23 and it is Bradley’s second dose out of this round of chemo. He will have one more infusion next Monday and then we head to New York for scans. Bradley’s scans are scheduled for Wednesday, December 2. Please remember Bradley in your prayers. This is a scary time for us with not knowing the effectiveness of the new chemo. Bradley has also been doing chemo for a year and a half straight. Dr. D’Amato told us children can usually tolerate 2 years of chemo, adults less. I think the chemo is beginning to take its toll on Bradley’s body and his physical and emotional strength, understandably so. The trial in NY still does not have a start date as far as we know. So a major question we will be asking in NY is if it is time to pursue other treatments, perhaps radiation. If we had never been told about this trial, Bradley would have done total abdominal radiation. However, the trial is supposed to essentially take the place of the total abdominal radiation. However, he has been waiting 10 months since his surgery for this trial, and we still do not know if we are any closer to it starting. I do not want Bradley to have any more side effects brought on by total abdominal radiation, but at the same time radiation works best when there is minimal to no disease. Since I do not know how much longer he can continue to do chemo and we have no trial start date, where does that leave us? I suppose thinking about radiation (he can still participate in the trial even with radiation) or trying the Interferon and Lovastatin treatment (since he is still doing chemo he is currently taking only the Lovastatin). Please pray for clean scans, a trial start date, and guidance for where we need to be and what we need to be doing for Bradley’s health care.

The next few weeks will be very busy for us. Of course Thanksgiving is Thursday, but on Wednesday my sister Meaghan will be delivering our niece, Ella. We are very excited at her arrival and to finally have a niece. Then of course is our trip to New York the following week. When we return my high school friend, Jenny, and her husband Steve will be coming to visit us. Bradley and I were supposed to have attended their wedding in August, but we were unable to. We were very disappointed, but we are so happy they are coming to visit us. This will be the first time they have been to see us in our Atlanta home, as we have not seen each other in 3 years. After that we will be traveling to celebrate Christmas with the family. We know it is a busy time for everyone, and I will try to post as I am able. Thank you to those who continue to read, support and pray for Bradley and myself.

A Few Pictures

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:42:00 +0000

May 1, 2008...About 2 weeks before I was diagnosed

February 8, 2009...Just before surgery

October 17, 2009...Today, Marissa's Birthday Party

New Chemo

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:32:00 +0000

The scans that were done on September 21 showed a lymph node in my abdomen that has swollen to 1.4cm (just over ½ inch). Dr. Chou believes that the lymph node is just inflamed from the chemotherapy, but the rest of the team is not as optimistic. They say that it is very likely malignant tumor growth. To try and figure out which it is, they have put me on a new chemotherapy regimen. The new chemo will not be as hard on my stomach, so any inflammation that the old chemo caused should be gone with the next set of scans. If it is malignant tumor growth, the fact that it is there means that it had become resistant to the chemo that I was taking, and the new chemo will have a better chance of controlling its growth. Regardless, through trial and error, the next set of scans should provide valuable information.

There is an option to surgically remove the suspect lymph node, especially since it appears to be a localized occurrence. Of course, I am still waiting on the 8h9 monoclonal antibody clinical trial to start, which will required a surgical implant of the antibody. Because the trial should begin in the next few weeks, (hopefully not months), if I decide to have it removed, I will wait and have it removed at the beginning of the trial. I just don’t want the risk of an additional surgery, when I have a planned surgery coming up soon.

The surgery that was planned for September 22 to replace the line in my chest was delayed until September 25. By delaying the surgery, I was able to get a mediport in place of the central line that I had. They perform essentially the same function, but the mediport is implanted below the skin, which allows me to take a shower and swim. With the old line, I couldn’t swim at all, to shower I had to wrap my chest in plastic, and Marissa had to change my bandages at least once a week in addition to daily flushes with heparin. Needless to say, I am very excited about having the mediport. I am still having an unusual amount of pain in my neck and shoulder from the surgery, but hopefully it will be gone in a few days.

I am also excited about my new chemo. I know that sounds a little weird, but let me explain. I will be taking two drugs, Vinorelbine and Cyclophosphamide. The Vinorelbine is given just once per week, for three weeks, then one week off. The drug is administered via IV push, which means that it is from a syringe and the nurse just pushes it in slowly over 10 minutes. The Cyclophosphamide is just a pill that I take at home every day. Not being at the hospital all day every day is very exciting. This new chemo is also supposed to be very mild, so side effects should be very tolerable. Also, if necessary, this combination can be taken for as much as two years.

I was supposed to start the chemo on Monday, October 5, but my white blood cell count is too low. They are delaying me another week to recover. Hopefully they will come up soon and I can start the new chemo on Monday, October 12.

As always, thanks for all of the prayers, and thanks for your support at the SL100 tailgate fundraiser Friday night at the DCHS football game.

Rounds 17 and 18

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Well my insurance company finally came through and approved the drug I needed to stimulate stem cell production. I believe that I have now successfully collected enough stem cells to allow me into the 8h9 clinical trial. My doctor’s told me that they wanted to harvest 7 million cells but that 2 million was the bare minimum. After six days of collection, I was able to produce 3.4 million cells. Hopefully this will be enough, as the protocol for the clinical trial has still not been released, but they told me that I would not be able to collect any more cells because I have had so much chemotherapy.

I returned to New York as planned. I had a little surgery on Wednesday, August 12, to insert a leukapheresis catheter in my groin. I had originally been told I was going to have my chest catheter replaced, but they later said that the only vein in my body that was large enough to support the stem cell collection was in the groin. The second collection began immediately after my surgery, and ended up lasting three more days. Because of the temporary catheter in my groin, I was kept inpatient until Friday, August 14. Fortunately, I was able to stick around just long enough for the candy cart to come by my room on the pediatric floor. Marissa and I stocked up for the long drive home starting Saturday morning. We got back home on Sunday evening, August 16, Just in time to start chemo on Monday morning.

I started my 17th round of chemo on August 17th. This round, like the last few was relatively uneventful. I have had some mild nausea, but most of my side effects are now attributed to the steroids that I am taking. Decadron (dexamethasone) is given with my chemo to help prevent nausea, allergic reactions, and to stimulate my appetite. I have recently learned that taking this drug at high doses for a long period of time can cause Cushing’s syndrome. The effects are completely reversible when I stop taking it, but symptoms are severe swelling, back pain, bruising and thinning skin, fatigue, and insomnia, all of which I have. I spoke with my doctors about it before I started my 18th round and they drastically reduced the dose. Hopefully I will see some results in the next few weeks.

As Marissa and I were looking at the calendar, we noticed that we would be in NY for medical treatment on our 5th Anniversary. That is not very romantic, so we decided to take a spontaneous trip to Nashville on September 1st to celebrate. We spent the night at Hotel Indigo near Vanderbilt and went to the Grand Ole Opry. Marissa seemed to really enjoy it, and although I’m not much on country music, it turned out to be a fantastic evening.

Because we were so close, and feeling relatively well on my off week, we decided to visit my family in West Tennessee for the remainder of the week. Our last visit there was in April. Because it was more or less a spur of the moment trip, we caught everyone of guard, but that made the visit a little more relaxing. I was able to go watch my nephew’s play football, Hunter on Thursday night for Northview Middle School and Dawson played Friday night for Dyer County High School. Saturday, of course, was Tennessee football, and a fabulous family dinner. Sunday morning, September 6th we returned back to Atlanta.

After we got back home, Marissa was changing my bandages on my chest catheter and noticed that once again all of the sutures have pulled out. The catheter had pulled out of my chest about 2 inches. Tuesday morning I had an x-ray of my chest to see if it was in a safe position to receive chemo. They said that I could receive this round, but that it would have to be replaced immediately afterwards. I will be returning to NY this weekend for another set of scans on Monday. Dr. Laquaglia will be replacing my chest catheter Tuesday morning, September 22. I should get scan results back on Tuesday or Wednesday. Until then, we pray.

Thanks for taking the time to check in on me and for continuing to pray for me. I have no doubt that is why I am still here.

Stem Cell Harvest and Scans

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:36:00 +0000

As always, it has been a long time since my last post. A lot has happened since then, but not much has changed the last few weeks. We have asked many questions, of many doctors, and received very few answers. My most recent scans were performed on July 22 in New York. The scans show no new tumor growth, only the same questionable spots from previous scans that are still believed to be scar tissue. I am very thankful for these results, as significant tumor growth would make me ineligible for the 8h9 clinical trial that I have been anxiously awaiting.

Before the scans, beginning June 8, I began my 15th round of chemotherapy. It was very uneventful, as are most rounds recently, which is a very good thing. My 16th cycle of chemotherapy began on June 29. It too was uneventful. My scans, normally scheduled during my off week between cycles, were not scheduled until July 22. The delay was necessary because my scans were scheduled along with my stem cell harvest to prepare for the 8h9 clinical trial. Because I have had so much chemotherapy, my body is not able to produce enough stem cells for collection. To get around this, I was given a drug called Neupogen (G-CSF). This drug can be given at home, but unfortunately, it is an injectable, meaning Marissa had to give me multiple shots in each arm for 8 days. She did a fantastic job, but she was not thrilled.

My stem cell collection began on July 23. To collect the cells, an oversized IV line is placed in each arm. Blood is drawn out of the body from one arm, run through a centrifuge machine, and then given back through the other arm. Although very little blood is out of the body at one time, over the 5 hour process, the entire volume of the body’s blood is removed three times. Some patients are able to collect their required amount of cells in a single collection. Unfortunately, I was unable do this. I was told that I needed to collect a total of 7 million stem cells. On the first day, I was only able to collect 500,000 cells, or 0.5 million. I went back on Friday, July 24, hoping to collect more cells, but only produced 400,000 that day, giving me a total of 900,000. The facility was closed on Saturday, but open Sunday. On Sunday, I was able to produce only 200,000 stem cells, totaling 1.1 million. I was told that I can only collect for 5 days without taking a break, and after doing the math, it was apparent that I was not going to be able to collect enough cells. On Monday, July 27, my doctors decided to stop collecting. I was told that I needed to take at least a 7 – 10 day break to recover, and that they would attempt to collect again using a different stimulating drug called AMD. They also had trouble during collection finding veins that would hold up to the oversized needles. For the next round of collection, they have decided to replace the central line in my chest with a larger version. For this, they are scheduling surgery and I will, hopefully, only spend one night in the hospital. In the meantime, we are waiting for insurance approval for the AMD and to be scheduled for surgery.

The problem that all of this presents is that I have now been off of chemotherapy for almost a month. I am nervous to go without treatment for so long before entering the 8H9 clinical trial. We are sitting on pins and needles waiting for a phone call from New York, which they tell me will be on Wednesday, August 5. If all goes as planned, I will return to New York for surgery and another collection starting Tuesday, August 11. If my insurance decided not to cover the new drug or waits too long to do so, I will begin chemotherapy on Monday August 10.

This is essentially a repeat of the last post, with a little bit of added drama. As always, I am sorry it took so long to update, but we have been waiting for weeks on these answers, which we still don’t have. Thanks again for your thoughts, prayers, and cards. Thank you, also, to those of you who wished me a happy birthday. I was able to celebrate with Marissa and her mother, Christine, in Knoxville, before returning home on Saturday. I will make a short post, hopefully by the end of this week, when a decision is made about my future schedule.

Clean Scans!

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:46:00 +0000

Today is June 17, 2009, time for another long overdue update. The primary objective for our last trip to New York (the week of May 25) was for my latest set of scans. If you will remember from the previous scans (April 13), the results were inconclusive, showing a few areas of “thickening” and also a 1cm spot in my abdomen. I was told this was area for concern but not alarm and the next set of scans should clarify the results.

Fast forward to the May 27th set of scans. The results really were exactly what we were hoping for. The areas of “thickening” were still present, but unchanged in size and location. This reinforces the idea that these areas are just scar tissue left over from surgery and may never go away. The 1cm spot that had caused all of the concern on the last scan was completely gone. For all practical purposes, “Clean Scans!”

The next big step in treatment for me is an upcoming clinical trial in New York called 8h9. It is a phase one clinical trial that is still in the approval stages, but years of research shows lots of promise as a wonderful treatment for my cancer. Because it is a Stage 1 trial and still under development, most of the details regarding the treatment are still under tight wraps. What I have been told is that it “should” be available by the end of summer and treatment will last approximately 3 to 4 weeks. Dr. Chou has convinced me to stay on my current regimen of chemotherapy until the trial is available. After the trial, assuming things go as planned, I would be finished with formal treatment. At that point I plan to start the NeoPlas alternative treatment regimen that would hopefully allow me to return to a normal lifestyle.

As you can imagine, I have had a lot of questions lately regarding my treatment choices. Understandably so, and I am not sure I understand them enough myself to explain, but I will try to do so without getting too technical. Most cancers have what are referred to as tumor markers. This means that with relatively simple tests (blood tests, etc), the amount of cancer activity in the body can be monitored. Unfortunately, I was blessed with a cancer for which no tumor maker has yet been discovered. What this means is that I will never know if all of the cancer in my body is gone. My tumors can only be seen when they become large enough to show up on a CT scan and/or PET scan. Of course, at this point they are already millions, if not billions, of cells. My cancer has also proven that it can double its tumor size in as little as three weeks, growing exponentially.

In short, because I will never be able to prove that I don’t have any remaining cancer cells, I will never be considered to be in “remission”. The term that is used for my cancer is N.E.D., or No Evidence of Disease. All of this combines to make future treatment options very difficult to decide upon, but the general consensus seems to be to take treatment as long as you can tolerate it. I’m almost to that point.

As far as the rest of the update, the last trip to New York was relatively uneventful. The scans were preformed on Wednesday, May 27th. The results came in for the CT scan on Thursday and PET results on Friday. We left New York on Thursday with a slight detour. We headed for Toledo, OH for a visit with Marissa’s grandmother. She had been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, but is now doing much better. We arrived back in Knoxville late Saturday evening to pick up our dogs.

We learned on Friday that there is a national oncology conference held annually at this time of year, despite my scheduled chemotherapy during the conference. I was told that I had no choice but to delay the schedule and start my next round on Monday, June 8th.

Since my side effects from the previous rounds were relatively mild and controlled, there wasn’t much to discuss with the doctor. I was still having some nosebleeds, so the Avastin was reduced an additional 25%, for a total of 50% dose. I have also been having frequent headaches, so I had an MRI to check for internal bleeding. That test was performed on June 3rd and only a sinus infection showed up on the scan. Also, I had developed a painful rash on the trip back from New York. My first chance to see the doctor about it was June 2nd, about 5 days after I noticed the rash. She diagnosed it at a glance as shingles. Fortunately, they were not as painful for me as I had been lead to believe and have since all but disappeared.

Since then it’s just been back to the same old chemo routine. Last week I had a surprising amount of nausea, but nothing I haven’t been through before. Overall, things really couldn’t be better, considering… Every doctor’s report is better than the previous report. Thanks again for your continued prayers and well wishes. I would not be where I am without them. The next set of scans is tentatively set for the week of July 13th in New York.

NY Scans Next Week

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:58:00 +0000

So as not to let too much time elapse between posts, I will give a quick update on Bradley. We left off on Monday, April 27 with Bradley on his second week of chemo. Bradley tolerated the rest of his chemo very well that week. Decreasing the dose of the Irinotecan seemed to help immensely. For Bradley’s “off” week we went to Santa Rosa Beach in Florida. My family rented a four bedroom condo for us all to be able to vacation together. My mom, Meaghan, Nathan, Jack, Maison, Ashleigh, Owen, and Ethan all stayed at the condo. It was definitely an interesting week. Most of the little ones were sick, Nathan got sick during the week, and I did also. Bradley felt pretty well the majority of the week. He didn’t feel wonderful, but he did not feel horrible either. All in all it was a great vacation, and we were able to enjoy the week. We returned home Friday, May 8. That night Bradley’s parents came for a visit. It was Bradley’s dad’s birthday and that Sunday was Mother’s Day. We wanted to be able to celebrate with his parents so they drove down for the weekend. They arrived late Friday night and had to leave Sunday evening. It was a short trip but we were able to get a couple of things done around our house with their help, and we had a very nice visit. Sunday, May 10 was not only Mother’s Day but also Ethan’s Baptism. Visiting with our families over the last week kept us very busy, but we really enjoyed every minute.

Monday, May 11 Bradley began his 14th total round of chemotherapy. This is his 4th round of Irinotecan, Temodar, and Avastin since his surgery in February. This dose was also to be decreased to help with Bradley’s side effects. This round the Avastin was also decreased by 25% as a precautionary measure. Bradley was having some mild nosebleeds. The Avastin can cause internal bleeding, that is why his dose was decreased to play it safe. Bradley has felt pretty well. His main side effects are still pretty intense stomach aches and also insomnia. We have filled 3 different prescriptions to try to help Bradley get a good night’s sleep and unfortunately none of them really help. It started off with him not being able to get to sleep until 3am or so, and now it has advanced to not sleeping all night. The past two nights he was awake all night. Hopefully as suddenly as this insomnia started it will also end.

Today is Thursday, May 21 and tomorrow is Bradley’s last day of chemo for this round. We have been going in to receive his chemo around 1pm. This chemo only takes about an hour and a half to get (of course with waiting for the nurses it turns into more like 3), but it has been nice going in late since Bradley hasn’t been sleeping well. When he finally does fall asleep in the morning he has a couple of hours before he has to get up and go to treatment. It has also been better going in later because it has allowed me to watch Jack several days this week.

This Saturday, May 23 we are headed to Knoxville, TN to my mom’s house. We are staying until Tuesday morning then we are headed back to New York for scans. The dogs are staying at my mom’s house while we are away.

Bradley’s scans are scheduled for 5pm on Wednesday, May 27. I am not sure if we will meet with the doctor on Thursday or Friday for results. These scans are very important. They will tell us if the questionable spots from the last scan are still there and if they are tumor. Of course we are praying and believing that these spots will be gone and are not tumor. We do not have any chemo scheduled for now, as we are awaiting the results of these scans. If all goes as planned when we return home instead of starting chemo on that Monday, Bradley will begin the Lovastatin/Interferon treatment from the doctor in Nashville. This will really help in so many ways. It will allow us to be at home and rest for more than a week without running to chemo everyday. Of course it will alleviate the side effect’s from chemo, though it presents side effects of its own, not as harsh though. It will really be the start of regaining Bradley’s physical strength and allowing us to slowly start getting back to normal life, while still be medically cautious. These are our hopes, our plans, and what we are praying for.

Here, There, and Everywhere

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:15:00 +0000

Were you beginning to think we were never going to post again? In order to get an update posted I will again be writing in place of Bradley. Our last post ended with Bradley’s 12th round of chemo, his 2nd round with the Irinotecan and Temodar. Unfortunately Bradley’s off week from chemo was still accompanied by severe cramping and feeling terrible. Bradley had a list about a mile long that he was experiencing as side effects from the chemo. I called Dr. D’Amato’s nurse at Emory to see if his side effects could be better controlled. Not only was Bradley feeling very badly, but his morale was also starting to suffer. After 12 rounds of chemo and a major surgery, he was just feeling as if he couldn’t handle anymore chemo and feeling so sick constantly. I also mentioned this to Dr. D’Amato’s nurse along with the fact that his weight was still dropping. Unfortunately, Dr. D’Amato’s office was not very concerned about Bradley. Their lack of concern made me even more concerned and overcome with helplessness. I decided to call Dr. Chou in New York and explain what was going on with Bradley.

I left a message with the receptionist and unlike at Emory, Dr. Chou personally called me back. Keep in mind he was not able to personally examine Bradley, but he too was concerned by the symptoms and feelings Bradley was having. Dr. Chou stressed the last thing they want is for Bradley to stop treatment because his chemo side effects cannot be controlled. I told him Bradley wanted to take an extra week off to try and recover his strength and appetite. I also asked him if there was any way we could move Bradley’s scans up from their scheduled date of April 28. I explained that depending on the scan results Bradley may decide to stop the chemo and continue with a less harsh treatment (more later in post on this). He agreed that Bradley should definitely take another week off and that his scans would be rescheduled sooner. By the end of the day, his scans had been rescheduled for Monday, April 13 the day after Easter. This left us with one week before we had to leave for NY.

Friday, April 3 Bradley had begun to feel slightly better, and I know we were both getting tired of sitting in our house day after day. We decided to go to my mom’s in Knoxville, TN until Monday. Gary was home for the week and Bradley and I had a great visit. Gary’s kids and their families came over for an early Easter dinner and egg hunt. We enjoyed many homemade meals, and Bradley was steadily regaining his appetite.

On Monday, April 6 we left Knoxville and continued on the rest of our week long adventure. We were headed for Newbern, TN where Bradley’s parents live. We arrived around 8 pm to find Bradley’s entire family gathered to welcome him home. We’re not only talking about brother and sisters and their families but aunts, uncles, cousins, everybody. Bradley was so excited, and it was really great that everyone came out to see him. Bradley and I hadn’t been to Newbern in over a year, since before his diagnosis. We had so much fun catching up with everyone.

Tuesday we just hung around his parent’s house and rested. We were still tired from the drive and Bradley’s welcome home party. Later that night Frankie, Doris, Dawson, Hunter, Lori, Steve, Grammy and our friends Chad and Jessica all came over for homemade pizza. We enjoyed more great food and Bradley was now even asking for “seconds”.

Wednesday Bradley woke up at 6:30 am to go Crappie fishing on Reelfoot Lake with our friend Chris. Chris bought a boat several months ago, and Bradley could not wait to get out on it. They did not have much luck with the Crappie, but Bradley felt well enough to stay out until the late afternoon. It was such an improvement from the week before, and I was thrilled to see him feeling well enough to enjoy getting out. Later that night we went to church with Grammy. Her church is small on people, but huge on love and prayer. Many, many members send Bradley cards weekly even though they had never met Bradley. Bradley really enjoys receiving these cards regularly, we know not faces but names very well. We really enjoyed visiting Lake Road Baptist Church and finally being able to put a face to a name. We felt incredibly welcome and Bradley was really honored for the wonderful prayers the congregation prayed for him and us. We were both so happy we could visit with everyone.

Thursday Bradley and I took Paddington and Yogi to a local groomer we like to get their spring ‘do’s. For dinner that night we went to Chris and Amanda’s house with Chad and Jessica. Chris grilled deer tenderloin and again Bradley filled his plate several times. We had so much fun hanging out with all of them. It was such a nice escape from what we are going through now, and it was a great reminder that life will be “normal” again soon.

Friday around lunchtime we packed up the car and returned home. We had such a busy, but WONDERFUL week. It was exactly what we both needed. Spur of the moment trips are always fun, and I am glad despite the short notice we were able to visit with all of the family and friends. Hopefully that visit will be the start of more frequent visits.

Saturday, April 11 my family celebrated Easter dinner early so Bradley and I could enjoy it too. There was another Easter egg hunt and excited nephews and of course, more great food. Bradley had gained back about 7 lbs. by this point.

Sunday, April 12, Easter Sunday we left for our 14 hour drive to NY. We drove about 9 hours so we would only have 5 to go the next day. We were upset we did not even get to attend an Easter Church Service, but we pleased the scans were able to be moved up.

Monday, April 13 was scan day. We woke up and drove about 5 hours plus one hour of sitting in traffic. It was a good thing we left early enough to make it to his scans on time. We were on time, though not by much. We had to drive straight to the hospital instead of dropping off our luggage first. Bradley’s PET Scan was scheduled for 4:15 that afternoon. He had to be fasting, so neither of us had eaten all day. His scan lasted 3 hours. Afterwards Bradley told me of the ordeal he had to go through. Apparently, the PET scan portion of the test went fine. However, they always do a CAT Scan simultaneously. Before this was performed more contrast had to be given to Bradley in his IV line. There ended up being a leak in the tubing and all of the contrast went all over the floor. Bradley had to lay there about an extra hour while they called in the Radiologist to see if the scans needed to be redone. The Radiologist believed he had gotten “good enough” images with the contrast that was still in Bradley’s system from the PET scan. It was also decided that there was too much radiation exposure for Bradley to repeat them that same day. We left around 7pm and went to drop our stuff off at The Ronald McDonald House, where we were staying again. We had a very quick dinner and went right to bed out of pure exhaustion.

Tuesday, April 14 we woke up to meet with Dr. LaQuaglia and Dr. Chou to receive scan results. Dr. Chou found us in the waiting room only to tell poor Bradley that he would have to repeat the CAT scan that afternoon. Anticipating this, we had not eaten that morning. So, more fasting and more gross contrast drink. This pushed not only the results back a day but also our departure and follow up plans.

Wednesday, April 15 we arrived for our 1pm appointment time. After waiting and more waiting, we finally received the results. The PET scan showed a small spot in Bradley’s colon. The CAT scan measured this spot to be about 1cm. Dr. LaQuaglia, Dr. Chou, and the Radiologist all discussed the results and decided that while it may be a small tumor, it was more likely left over scar tissue or inflammation from surgery. PET Scans can show infection, inflammation, all sorts of things really that may be nothing. It was reassuring having Dr. LaQuaglia there to review the results with us and to show us the scans. This area will be watched closely, but it did appear in an area where Dr. LaQuaglia had done some work. It was decided that Bradley would do 2 more rounds of Irinotecan, Temodar, and Avastin. Though the Irinotecan would be given at half dose to try to cut down on side effects. We will return to NY after those rounds for another set of scans. They are confidant the spot will be gone, and we are praying this to be the case. We got out of his office after 5pm, packed our bags and headed out. We were off to Nashville, TN.

After a long drive and some overnight stops, we arrived in Nashville. Bradley’s dad’s old college roommate is the General Manager at Hampton Inn there in Nashville. He was gracious enough to give us a room for the night, which really helped us out. Why were we in Nashville you may wonder? I believe in the past Bradley described the forum we are on for Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor, (DSRCT), patients. We have learned so much from everyone on there. One patient who is very active in his care and researching better alternatives to chemo, receives treatment from a doctor in Nashville. Dr. Cantrell, is the founder of NeoPlas Innovation. This is a treatment consisting of Interferon injections combined with oral Lovastatin. These are two FDA approved drugs used for two different purposes. Lovastatin is a cholesterol drug. Dr. Cantrell has combined these two drugs and is studying their response to certain cancers. Thus far, he has had a great success in many patients. He is working on getting a patent for this treatment. Our friend from the forum, is having great results from it. He stopped doing chemotherapy and started using this product about a year ago. He had several small tumors located in his abdomen and this treatment has not taken these tumors away BUT they have not grown either. That is wonderful news considering the aggressiveness of DSRCT. Our friend has been able to essentially “manage” his disease while living a pretty close to normal life. Of course these drugs, as all drugs do, have side effects but compared to chemotherapy and its toxicity and side effects ,it is a no brainer. Our friend has also done extensive research on alternative therapies and supplements. He has come up with a daily supplement regimen that he has been using for over a year also. He has kindly agreed to customize a supplement therapy and regimen for Bradley. Please understand, Bradley is not stopping chemo treatments. However, there is a point when your choice for maintenance options becomes limited. This cancer has an extremely high recurrence rate. Many patients after chemo sit back and do nothing. The supplements may or may not truly help to keep the cancer at bay, but at least we will have peace of mind that following chemo we did not just sit by and do no treatment. As long as these supplements do not cause harm, then why not try them when treatment options are so limited? Our friend has been told by 3 different doctors that if they were in his shoes, they would be doing the exact same thing. We also presented Dr. Chou with the research for the NeoPlas treatment. He reviewed it all and told us that everything about it made sense. He was very excited that we were going to learn more about it. So in short, in Nashville, we learned about the treatment and were given the necessary training and prescriptions. Bradley may begin it at any time, even during chemo. However, I think he is waiting to finish these two rounds of chemo and get his scans back. I know we are both praying that they come back clean so he can begin a less harsh treatment with a clean slate.

We returned home late Friday night. I must add that yes I despise flying, but I am at the point where I am beginning to despise driving. In 2 weeks time we drove here, there, and everywhere. The weather was nice over the weekend, and we worked a little bit around our yard. Monday, April 21 Bradley began his 3rd round of this chemo. As planned the Irinotecan dose was cut in half. Dr. D’Amato thought this would help greatly with Bradley’s side effects. She said that Bradley’s original dose was incredibly high for an adult. She said that is a pediatric dose (Dr. Chou is a pediatric oncologist). Children can handle higher doses since they metabolize things quicker. We spoke to her in depth about future treatment options. It is very frustrating how every doctor, everywhere we go,tells us something different. For instance she knows about upcoming potential treatments locally, not in NY. NY knows about upcoming potential treatments there. We are at an advantage because we travel, thus we get the benefit of hearing about more upcoming treatments. Nonetheless, it is still frustrating because no one in your care is really on the same page.

Today is Monday, April 27. This is his second week of treatment and next week he is off. While he hasn’t been feeling great, he seems to be doing slightly better than previous rounds. Next week will be the true test to see how this new dose is working as it is always his really “bad” week.

I apologize for the world’s longest post. Now everyone is up to speed with all of the decisions we are facing. Please continue to pray for Bradley, that his scans come back clean and that he makes the best decision possible regarding future treatments.

Another little tidbit of information-Bradley is now weighing 157 lbs., he is down about 16 lbs. from before surgery, but it is better than 25 lbs. Also, he is beginning to grow his hair back. His eyebrows and eyelashes are fully in. He is really looking fantastic!

A Very Rough Week

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:16:00 +0000

Bradley finished his first five days of this chemotherapy treatment on Friday, February 26. He had that weekend off from chemo and we were hoping to be able to enjoy New York a little bit. However, Bradley felt very sick and nauseaus all weekend so we stayed in at the Ronald McDonald House.

Monday, March 1 Bradley began his second week of this chemo cycle. The doctors addressed his nausea with multiple anti-nausea medicines, none of which really seemed to work for him.

On Tuesday, March 2 Bradley and I went to see The Lion King on Broadway. Bradley’s chemo nurse knew of our plans for the evening so she gave Bradley about every kind of anti-nausea medicine they have before we left the hospital, hoping he would feel well enough to enjoy it. Thankfully, Bradley felt well, and we had a very good time at the show. The masks and costumes were amazing. We were so happy we chose The Lion King, it was very neat and entertaining.

Bradley finished out the rest of his chemo week with more nausea. Also during the week Manhattan received 4-5 inches of snow. Bradley was so excited by this, and he kept hoping for more snow. It did not stay pretty for long with all of the taxi cabs on the roads the white snow quickly turned to black slush. Bradley received the “ok” to leave on Friday afternoon since all of his blood counts were holding up well.

Saturday, March 6 we woke up early to begin washing our linens at The Ronald McDonald House and cleaning our room. The guest is responsible for all of the room cleaning prior to check out at the house. We finally started out at about 10:30 am for our long drive home. Poor Bradley delayed his morning dose of pain medicine in order to drive us out of New York City. I guess in the long run this probably caused him less pain than dealing with me trying to maneuver us out of the crazy city. So after about 25 minutes I took over. Bradley routed us home differently. On our drive to New York we faced multiple toll roads. We are not talking 50 cent tolls either, rather 8 dollars and up per toll. Our drive home was much more scenic. We drove through the most beautiful farmland in New Jersey and Pennsylvania while saving about 50 dollars in tolls. The downside to this drive was a lot of it was two lane highways that were very bumpy and full of pot holes, something you try to avoid with someone who just had a major surgery. We stopped at about 7:30 pm for the night in Waynesboro, Virginia. We grabbed a very quick dinner, Bradley and I were both very, very tired.

We returned home at about 6:30 pm Sunday, March 7. Our dogs were home to greet us, and it felt great to be home again. Bradley was feeling good and wanted to go to the grocery store. So after spending all day in the car, we got back in the car and went grocery shopping. We got back well after dark, at about 8:30pm, to find we had surprise visitors. Meaghan and Jack had come to visit us and welcome us home. We enjoyed visiting with them for awhile, but again we were tired. It had been a long, full day.

Monday, March 8 Bradley started feeling very, very nauseaus. He also had severe abdominal cramping, another symptom of the chemotherapy. He was in a lot of pain due to the cramping and could not get comfortable during the day, nor sleep at night. This continued into Tuesday. I called his oncologist in NY. They said it was completely normal, and that Bradley was having a delayed reaction to the chemo, which is common. They instructed him to begin talking his pain medicine, left over from his surgery, to try to lessen his pain from cramping. They said if need be he could also double the amount he had been taking. This continued throughout the rest of the week, with his symptoms really not improving from day to day. We only made it to get lab work once during the week instead of twice, but thankfully his labs looked good. While he did feel terrible, at least he did not get his typical low white blood cell count and the neutropenic fever that accompanies it.

On Saturday Bradley was still not feeling well. Keep in mind that this was supposed to be his “good” week to enjoy before he started chemo again. Bradley has also not had much of an appetite throughout all of this. His pre-surgery weight was 173 lbs. and he is now weighing in the high 150’s. He also went from taking no medication, including pain pills, to taking anti-nausea meds and double doses of pain medicine around the clock, which were still not even helping.

Sunday, Bradley began to feel ever so slightly better. Maison, Ashleigh and the boys and Meaghan, Nathan and Jack all came over to visit and just hang out with Bradley. While he was still not feeling well physically, this was important to him emotionally and he really enjoyed the company.

Monday, March 16 Bradley began his 12th round of chemo, his 2nd round on the Irinotecan. We arrived at Emory at 9:30 am for the usual doctor appointment and lab work and mostly waiting around. His chemo drug is infused in only an hour, yet we still did not leave the hospital until 5 pm. It was after 7pm when we finally got back home. It had been a long day and again we were both tired. Oddly enough though on chemo again, Bradley was feeling better than the previous week.

Today is Wednesday, March 18. Bradley is still nauseaus and eating only small meals. Despite all of this he is still feeling better than he was all of last week. I am hoping his “good” week is just that and that he is able to enjoy feeling well for a change. We are thinking that maybe he felt so bad because he started chemo so soon after surgery, only 1 week, and that maybe he needed more time to recover his strength and his appetite. As yuck as Bradley is feeling now, we look back and are very thankful for how well he felt with all of that high dose chemo. He truly had very few side effects from all of those rounds, and we are reminded of how fortunate he was. Hopefully very soon Bradley will feel well enough to resume writing future posts.

A New Treatment Plan

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:56:00 +0000

Right after my last post on Monday, February 16 Bradley was moved from the step down ICU back to a regular room. He also received a roommate. Thankfully his roommate was also an adult, and aside from having no privacy (for Bradley or his roommate), it really wasn’t that bad. On Tuesday, February 17 Bradley was switched over from IV pain medicine to oral pain medicine. He was experiencing quite a bit of pain from this. We found out that he was on the lowest dose of pain medicine, so they increased it slightly. This seemed to make Bradley much more comfortable. Also on Tuesday, half of Bradley’s staples were removed. Bradley’s parents left to return home on Wednesday.

Thursday, February 19 was a very busy day for Bradley. The rest of his staples were removed. I counted over 70 staples total removed, but lost count after that. We also met with a new oncologist, Dr.Chou. We all discussed what Bradley needed to do next in terms of treatment. It was decided that Bradley will do 6 rounds of a new chemotherapy. This chemo is comprised of 3 drugs, Irinotecan, Temodar, and Avastin. These are not considered “high dose” chemotherapies, and therefore are not supposed to have as many side effects. Though, it may affect Bradley slightly differently as he has already had so much chemo. It was explained to us that the purpose of this chemotherapy is to target any remaining cancer cells, where as the previous chemotherapies were targeting tumors. This combination of drugs has been studied and appears to work very well in DSRCT. In the future the doctors are considering making it part of the treatment protocol right from the start in conjunction with the other chemotherapy agents. The Avastin is a new drug that again shows promise in Bradley’s cancer. It seems to be so new that we are not sure that any other DSRCT patients have used it. After the 6 rounds of chemotherapy Bradley will possibly be having a stem cell transplant. However, they usually harvest stem cells from siblings. Bradley only has “half” siblings and as of now he is not a candidate for this treatment. It is being thought that in the next several months the National Cancer Institute will be expanding the stem cell transplant protocol for DSRCT patients to include non-sibling donors. This is certainly a hope of ours. There is also some discussion about needing radiation. In the past patients received total abdominal radiation which is quite hard on the body and toxic to not only the “bad” cells but also the “good, healthy” cells. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is however in the process of getting FDA approval for a new treatment that would take the place of total abdominal radiation. It is our hope that this will be available by the time Bradley finishes these 6 chemo cycles.

Also on Thursday, Bradley was released from the hospital. He walked all six blocks back to the Ronald McDonald House in the freezing cold. We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in our room. Bradley was able to get some much needed rest, and unfortunately was still quite uncomfortable. Bradley was supposed to begin weaning himself from the pain medicine starting Friday, February 20, only a week after his major surgery. As his pain was quite intense over the weekend I continued to give Bradley his pain medicine around the clock. We both felt he was released too soon from the hospital.

Monday, February 23 Bradley met with Dr. Merola another oncologist on the pediatric sarcoma team. She noticed that he was in pain and instructed him to continue to take the pain medicine as often as he needed it. She said he was still on a very low dose of immediate release pain medicine, and she seemed quite surprised that Bradley was not on a long lasting pain medicine as well. Bradley was given the ok to begin his 1st round of the new chemotherapy. It is administered over an hour infusion daily for 10 days. He will go Monday-Friday, have the weekend off as the clinic is closed, and then Monday-Friday again. Bradley will not start the Avastin until the 2nd round of chemo, as it is a wound inhibitor. So, we will finally be able to leave for home on Saturday, March 7, after over a month of being in NY. Bradley will be able to receive the chemotherapy in Atlanta from Dr. D’Amato, and just like with Houston, we will have to return to NY for scans every 8 weeks.

Tuesday, February 24 Bradley met with the surgeon, Dr. LaQuaglia for his follow up visit. He was told everything looked very good, but he needed to start weaning from the pain medicine. Since Bradley was receiving different orders as far as taking the pain medicine, he and I just decided if he needed it he would take it and if not he would begin the weaning process. Dr. LaQuaglia also explained that there are 4 oncologists and 6 nurse practitioners, in addition to him and his staff that will all be in charge of Bradley’s treatment. We were very pleased in hearing that Dr.LaQuaglia will remain active in Bradley’s treatment, as well as to hear that the entire "team" are all aware of Bradley, and his treatment is frequently reviewed. No one person can make a decision in terms of Bradley’s treatment, the entire “team” reviews options and decides together on a treatment plan. Thus, we will not be returning to Houston for further treatment. Memorial Sloan Kettering will become Bradley's main treatment facility.

Today is Wednesday, February 25 and Bradley’s 3rd day of chemotherapy. Thus far he has done very well on it. He has however begun to experience some typical nausea. Bradley continues to walk the six blocks to treatment and the six blocks back to the Ronald McDonald House after treatment. The Ronald McDonald House is very nice. It has 84 patient rooms and is filled with all sorts of amenities. There are free tickets to shows and musicals, all sorts of in-house entertainment and activities, and several times a week a great meal is provided. We are fortunate to be able to stay here for Bradley’s treatment, and we will also be able to stay here in the future for our “scan” visits.

Hopefully the next week and a half will go very quickly, especially for Bradley. Even in the midst of his pain I have yet to hear Bradley complain. He is a true inspiration and example of one who remains ever strong in spiritual, emotional, and physical strength, and I am continually learning from him. As always thank you everyone for all of the prayers, cards, and well wishes.

Moved to ICU

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:42:00 +0000

We left off on Friday afternoon, February 13. Bradley was doing very well. He was able to get up and walk two laps around the hospital. All of the nurses were shocked and surprised at how well he was doing so quickly. Bradley does like to impress the ladies! His pain was controlled, and he was also diligently using the breathing thing they give you to prevent pneumonia. That night a “candy cart” came around for all of the children and their families. It had full size candy in every assortment you could imagine. Our nurse told us to stock up for the week and we gladly obeyed. Just another perk to being on the pediatric floor.

Saturday, February 14, seemed as though it was going to be another great day for Bradley. The tube in his nose used to suck out his stomach acid was removed. It was done very quickly and was very uncomfortable for Bradley and caused a nosebleed. Later in the day his chest tube was removed. Thankfully the removal of this did not hurt, as it was painful having it in and it was also leaking. Unfortunately after this things started to go downhill fast.

Bradley had not needed blood during his operation or on Friday. However, on Saturday his hemoglobin had dropped to 7.6. At Memorial Sloan Kettering they transfuse at 8 or less. So Bradley was given 2 units of blood. Near the end of the second unit Bradley had a mild fever. I did not think much of this as this has happened in the past. The resident assured us it was normal to run a mild fever for up to 4 days post op. Bradley was also producing an “ok” amount of urine, but the resident wanted to jump start the body’s natural process by giving him more fluid to help push it out. I think this was the start of our troubles. Bradley’s oxygen level fell to around 70. The normal amount is supposed to be 95 or higher. It was just by chance that they did his vitals at that moment as Bradley was not feeling short of breath. This seemed to alarm everyone as suddenly a rush of 3 residents and 2 nurses came in trying to fit him with an oxygen mask. This was one of the downsides to being on a pediatric floor. They had to raise his oxygen level using the highest amount of oxygen they are comfortable giving. Also at this time Bradley began experiencing intense pain in his incision. He felt as if his stomach was swelling with fluid causing his incision to stretch apart. We also learned the blood he had been given did not raise his hemoglobin as it should have.

So within a matter of hours Bradley developed a fever, low oxygen levels, intense pain and still low hemoglobin levels. I was worried of course and the fact that the residents seemed worried made me worry more. They drew blood to culture for infection as well as to send off to see if Bradley experienced a reaction to the blood transfusion. They said it would typically have happened early on, but since he had so much chemo his body may have had a delayed reaction. Another theory was he may have had too much fluid causing there to be fluid in his lungs. The scary part was these were all theories and none of them seemed to really know. He was sent for multiple chest x-rays, no easy task switching beds when you are in an extreme amount of pain. The x-rays came back looking pretty normal. Lasix was ordered (a diuretic) to help flush fluid. Bradley was hoping this would help with his pain and abdominal swelling. We went to bed with Bradley on high oxygen and no real answers or relief to pain.

Sunday, February 15, did not start out any better. Bradley had a long night due to his pain. His oxygen level had not improved, nor his pain, but his fever was gone. More chest x-rays were ordered as well as an abdominal x-ray. According to the resident it showed a small amount of fluid in Bradley’s lungs. She seemed quite concerned and said she would feel more comfortable transferring Bradley to the step down ICU unit. I thought this was one of the better decisions they had made so Bradley would receive more individualized care.

When Bradley entered the step down ICU unit the nurses and a nurse practitioner immediately came in to evaluate him. The nurse practitioner immediately addressed his pain. Bradley and I had asked his nurse in the old room several times to check his epidural. Bradley thought that being transferred from bed to bed for his x-rays knocked the epidural catheter out. I also asked the nurse when he was getting an x-ray about a puddle on the bed. Bradley and I put 2 and 2 together and realized his epidural was out and this was causing his pain. In ICU the nurse practitioner confirmed our suspicions and removed the epidural. It was a great idea to help with pain, too bad it did not serve its purpose. I was however relieved that this was what was causing his extreme pain. I felt horrible that Bradley had been receiving next to nothing in terms of pain medicine. The NP immediately adjusted his pain medicine and also said that his dose was not effective for his weight. Within 20 minutes Bradley was getting relief from his pain. She also reviewed his chest x-ray and said there was definitely fluid on his lungs as well as a partially collapsed lung. Thus, causing Bradley’s decreased oxygen level. They started him on lasix and by the end of the day he had lost 2 liters of fluid. His pain was controlled and the oxygen they were giving him was reduced, and he was doing fine maintaining the normal oxygen level. They also had him up walking, sitting up, and using his breathing thing. They said this would help greatly in getting rid of all the excess fluid. The resident had told him not to sit up or walk because it would further hinder his breathing and oxygen level. Bradley had not walked for a full day and this set him back some.

By the end of yesterday, Sunday, Bradley was walking and on clear fluids and looking overall 100% better. I felt much better about everything since we knew why everything was happening and they were working to correct the problems. I was not very happy that 3 residents each told us different theories, and that they did not bother to up his pain medicine or check his epidural until we went to ICU. I was just thankful though that while in ICU the nurse practitioner addressed all of his problems and corrected them shortly thereafter.

That leads us to today, Monday, February 16. Bradley has been walking, sitting up, and beginning to eat soups and such. His pain has subsided some and he is not using his “pain button” nearly as much. He is maintaining 95 for his oxygen level on his own. He is continuing to receive lasix and that in combination with moving around will help to flush out any remaining fluid in his lungs, etc. He received 2 units of blood taking his hemoglobin from 7.7 to over 10, and he did not experience a fever this time. His other drain was removed as well as the bandages over his incision. He will stay in ICU until his room there is needed. I am glad to have him there as long as possible. His care there is wonderful.

He is getting stronger and getting himself out of bed, each time he says it becomes easier. We are hoping tomorrow is an even better day yet and that there are no more setbacks to Bradley’s recovery.

Surgery Update

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Bradley and I arrived at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at 6:30 yesterday morning (February 12) in preparation of his surgery. He had lab work done and received fluids until about 10 am. We then went down to the pre-op area where Bradley received an epidural catheter. This was inserted to control Bradley’s abdominal pain better than just IV pain medicines. The epidural catheter will remain in for 3-5 days and will come out when Bradley is able to eat and drink and take oral pain medicine. Bradley’s mom, dad, his sister Lori and her husband Steve, and myself all were allowed to stay with him until he was wheeled back to the operating room. Bradley was not the least bit nervous. He was very talkative and was laughing and joking around with everyone right up until the surgery. The nurses even commented that he was very social with them while being anesthetized. Bradley went to the operating room at about 11:20 am.

The surgery began at 12:30 and lasted until right about 7pm. Bradley’s incision starts at his breast bone and extends to his pelvic bone. He did very well throughout the entire surgery and did not lose a lot of blood. Dr. LaQuaglia met with me after surgery and told me that everything looked good and that he was able to remove all “visible tumors”. I was so excited to hear this news, and I was also very happy to learn that several places we initially thought contained tumors did not. We are definite believers in the power of prayer.

We were able to see Bradley at about 8:30pm in the recovery/ICU unit. He spent the night there because of the late hour and also because he remained intubated. The uncomfortable tube was kept down his throat because of the length of the incision and the duration of the surgery. Prior to surgery Bradley and I had worked out all sorts of hand codes to use to communicate since he would not be able to talk. Much to my surprise Bradley did a better job at remembering them than I did. He wanted to know all about the procedure and outcome. He was quite alert and was able to nod and answer questions. The nurse said the tube would be removed from his throat when he became even more alert.

Bradley’s dad and I spent the night in a hospital waiting room. At midnight I received a call from his nurse and I immediately became concerned. Thankfully, she told me they had removed the tube from Bradley’s throat, that he was talking, and that he wanted to talk to me. Bradley got on the phone and said his nurse would let me go and visit him for ten minutes. I was thrilled that Bradley was doing so well and that I was able to sneak a visit in to see him.

This morning at 10 am Bradley was moved from ICU to his own room. He is on the pediatric floor as everything about his care is pediatric as this is a pediatric cancer. At MD Anderson he was not treated by pediatric specialists. Of the two I much prefer the pediatric side of it. Before Bradley's surgery Bradley's dad told Dr. LaQuaglia to "take good care of his son." To this Dr. LaQuaglia replied, "In the operating room he is my son." I was extremely impressed by Dr. LaQuaglia. He could not be any nicer. All of the staff here are very kind and caring. They have all sorts of juices, snacks, and extra little perks that also help.

We have been told Bradley is doing great. The nurse practitioner asked him if he had a high pain tolerance and he said, "No, I just don't complain." Boy is that the truth. He is already using his breathing machine and in an hour it is time for him to get up and walk. I dread this so much for him, but he is strong in many ways. He is a real trooper.

Bradley is well on the road to recovery. He is doing great, the surgery was a huge success, what more could we ask for? We certainly give thanks to the Lord for hearing and answering our prayers and for His guidance every step of the way on the journey to recovery. We so appreciate everyone’s prayers and support, and we thank you all. I am sure Bradley will come back later and post various specifics about our New York adventure and his recovery, as for now I hope my post gets Bradley’s approval.

Surgery - February 12, 2009

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:43:00 +0000

This round of chemo wasn’t quite as smooth as the last. Because the ifosfamide is so hard on my kidneys and bladder, the main blood count that is monitored while I am inpatient is my creatnine (which is a kidney function indicator). My normal creatnine level is 0.7, so any reading above that is cause for concern. While I am inpatient, I receive 6 liters of IV fluids per day to keep this level at 0.7. The day that my chemo finished my creatnine level had elevated to 0.9. After an additional two days in the hospital, the level had come down to 0.8. They agreed to discharge me but I had to wear a backpack with additional IV fluids for four days. My creatnine level was back to 0.7 by the second day.

Because of the concern that I had over my neutropenic fever from Round 9, I had decided to stay in Houston until my blood counts returned to normal, even after I was discharged from the hospital. This usually takes about another week. Fortunately, Gary allowed us to stay in his hotel room again this trip. Thanks again Gary. I take several antibiotics every round to prevent infection, but also if the antibiotic cocktail is just right, they can prevent the fever I have when my counts are low. My fever was so out of control last round that they decided that they would change my antibiotics. They almost succeeded this time. My fever only lasted two days and only got up to 101. As soon as my fever broke, my counts began to rise, and we headed for home.

After ten rounds and eight months of chemotherapy, I have decided to forego the next round in favor of surgery. The surgery is scheduled for February 12, 2009 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. As you know, we have been discussing surgery options for a while now. Marissa has been very proactive in researching my options regarding surgery.

Marissa and I follow an online forum with other DSRCT patients and family members. This forum provides a wealth of knowledge to us that we would otherwise not have access to. Through this forum, others share their experiences, good and bad, so that people like me may either help them with their needs, or just have the knowledge from their experience for the future. The most helpful part of the forum for me is hearing the others tell the medical advice that they have been given. For me, it is like getting the advice of many doctors for the price of one. As you can imagine, with such a rare disease, there are many opinions on how to treat the disease, and rarely do any two people agree on what would be the best treatment option for a patient. With that said, most everyone on the forum seems to agree that there is one surgeon that stands above the rest. Dr. Laquaglia at MSKCC has performed more surgeries on DSRCT patients than any other surgeon in the world. He is the chief of pediatric surgery with 29 years of experience. While we were in Houston, we met with the surgeon at MD Anderson, Dr. Hayes-Jordan. She, of course, explained the procedure and her experience with DSRCT. When we asked her opinion of Dr. Laquaglia, she had nothing but good things to say. While she would never some out and say this, she seemed to imply that she knew that Dr. Laquaglia was the best and that if he was willing to perform my surgery then I should accept.

With all of the information that I have, I couldn’t think of going with any other option than surgery in New York. The one problem that we have is getting the cooperation of my oncologist, Dr. Trent. I did not finalize my decision until I was out of the hospital. I didn’t want to leave Houston without discussing my decision with him, but he is only in the office to see patients on Thursdays. We spoke to his nurse before we left on Wednesday, January 14, and she assured us that he would call us on our way home and that if he didn’t call, we could page him. Well, today is January 27, and after many messages we are still waiting on that call. He is clearly not on board with my decision to go to New York, and I feel like that may jeopardize my care in the future. Fortunately, his nurse has been helpful in getting Dr. Laquaglia the information that he needs, e.g. clinical dictations, CT scans, blood test, etc. The main reason that I needed to speak to Dr. Trent was to determine whether I should continue with my next scheduled round of chemo before my surgery. Dr. Laquaglia said that he could not advise me because he was not my oncologist but hinted that he would rather I skip it to let my blood counts recover. With no advice from Dr. Trent, I was forced to decide on my own to skip the chemo. At this point, I am really hoping that Dr. Laquaglia can recommend an oncologist at MSKCC so that I never have to go back to Dr. Trent.

Since we returned from Houston on the 14th, things have been rather quiet. On Saturday, the 17th my mom, dad and grandmother were finally able to make their Christmas visit. My grandmother’s visit was a complete and pleasant surprise. They didn’t tell us that she was coming until she got out of the truck. Marissa was babysitting our nephew, Owen, so the rest of us went to eat barbecue and ribs at “Swallow at the Hollow” in Roswell. Sunday morning, we went to our church and a quick lunch afterward. Sunday evening, we were able to meet my cousin Gavin, his wife Amanda, and their two kids, Jackson and Morgan at Fellini’s for pizza. Amanda has since given birth to their third child, McKenzie Marie, on January 24. Congratulations, Gavin and Amanda. My parents and grandmother returned home on Monday, the 19th. As always, the visit was too short, but we hope they enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed having them.

Fortunately, I am feeling just as well after the 10th round of chemo as I was after the 9th. Also, because I have some extra time to recover before surgery, I have been able to enjoy some normal activities. I have made a few visits to work, worked on some small projects around the house, and had some quality time to spend with Marissa. I just feel very blessed to have taken this second chemo regimen so well.

We will be leaving for New York on Saturday, February 7th. I have a consult with Dr. Laquaglia on Monday, February 9th. February 10th and 11th will be full of CT scans and blood tests. Surgery is scheduled for February 12th. I was told to expect two days in the ICU and then an additional ten days in the hospital after that. I will have Marissa make a post following surgery to give an update. Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.

Round 10 Of Chemotherapy To Start The New Year

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Let me start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. The holidays went by so quickly this year and thankfully I was feeling good enough to enjoy them. After my last round of chemotherapy, the ER visit for my fever, and the blood transfusion I felt better than I have felt in a long time. We spent Christmas Day at Marissa’s sister’s house with her family. Friday, December 26 Marissa and I spent preparing for the arrival of my family. I felt so well that I cleaned out our garage, the inside and outside of our car, and helped with the housework, and believe it or not I actually enjoyed being able to clean.

My sister Lori, her husband Steve, and my other sister’s son, Hunter, arrived on Saturday, December 27. This was the first time they had ever been to our house and for a visit to Atlanta. That evening I took Hunter to the Ferrari dealership so he could see them up close and in person. Then we all went downtown to Centennial Olympic Park which was still lit up for Christmas with outdoor ice skating. We showed them a little bit more of downtown Atlanta, and ate at Felini’s Pizza, one of Marissa and my favorites.

Sunday, December 28 my brother Frankie, his wife Doris, and Hunter’s brother Dawson arrived. Marissa and Lori spent most of the day cooking for our big meal that night which we all enjoyed upon Frankie’s arrival. We spent the rest of the night digesting our food and relaxing at our house.

Monday, December 29 we all went to the aquarium downtown. We spent most of the day there as it was so crowded. We had a great time at the aquarium and viewing the Titanic exhibit they had there. Lori and Steve left after the aquarium to head back home, they both had to work on Tuesday. We all ate at Chili’s for lunch at 5:30 pm (which was more like dinner) because traffic was so bad that this was the first opportunity we had to eat. After that we all went back to our house and hung out. We were all pretty warn out from our long day.

Frankie, Doris, Dawson, and Hunter all left the next afternoon, Tuesday, December 30. The rest of the day Marissa and I spent taking down Christmas decorations and packing for our trip to Houston.

Wednesday, December 31 we rang in the New Year while driving to Houston. We arrived in Houston Thursday, January 1. We went out to dinner with Gary that night, and he allowed us to stay with him again at his hotel.

Friday, January 2 I had lab work and a chest xray and then met with Dr. Trent. We discussed my fever from the last round and were told that it could have potentially been a life threatening situation. That being said we have decided to stay in Houston until my blood counts return to normal after this round of chemotherapy. We are also going to be meeting with a surgeon while we are here to discuss surgical options. Back in November Marissa and I sent my medical records and scans to a pediatric surgeon in New York at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. LaQuaglia is a highly renowned surgeon who specializes in Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor resections. Dr. LaQuaglia reviewed my records and scans and feels that I am a good candidate for surgery. We are very pleased that surgery seems to be a fast approaching option. That being said, it also brings about new concerns, frustrations, and worries. After discussing this with Dr. Trent he recommended a pediatric surgeon at MD Anderson named Dr. Hayes-Jordan. Marissa and I will meet with her during this visit to compare surgeons and all of our options.

I began my 10th round of chemotherapy Friday night at about 4 am. I will be on my 5th dose tonight(Sunday, January 4) with 2 more to go for a total of 7 doses. I will finish Tuesday morning, and will probably be released on Wednesday the 7th or Thursday the 8th of January. Then it is just a matter of my counts returning to normal. Hopefully I will not experience another fever, but if I do at least I am in Houston under Dr.Trent’s care.

We go home only briefly before having to return to Houston for scans January 22. These scans are very important as they will tell exactly how the new chemo is working, as well as depict how soon my surgery will be. We thank everyone for their support and continue to ask for prayers for healing as well as for guidance on all of our upcoming decisions.

Traveling To Houston, New Chemo And The Holidays

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:49:00 +0000

Marissa and I have been very busy since our last post. I finished my 8th and final round of Ifosfamide and Adriamycin, and I was not sad to see that regimen over with. After my usual “bad” week after chemo, I was feeling well enough to travel. Marissa and I left to go to Knoxville, TN to spend Thanksgiving with Marissa’s mom and grandmother the Monday before Thanksgiving. We were able to spend a week there before having to leave again for Houston. We had a great time and really enjoyed getting away. It had been almost a year since our last visit to Knoxville, and we had a lot of fun doing some of the things we always enjoyed when we lived there. It also gave us a chance to visit with some friends we hadn’t seen in awhile. Our dogs went with us, and they stayed in Knoxville while we went on to Houston the following Monday.

We arrived in Houston on Tuesday, December 2. This visit we actually had someone to greet us when we arrived. Marissa’s mom’s husband, Gary, is in Houston working for FEMA. He gave us his hotel room for several nights, it was only about a block away from MD Anderson, and we all went out to dinner a couple of times during our stay. This made our stay in Houston go by much quicker, and we enjoyed being able to visit with Gary.

Wednesday, December 3 my lab work and scans were performed. Thursday, December 4 we met with Dr. Trent. Dr. Trent told us that the chemotherapy was still working well and shrinking my masses. Of course Marissa and I were happy and very grateful for this news. We then decided to stay in Houston for my 9th round of chemo, as it was a new regimen and required me to be inpatient for 5 days. We decided we were more comfortable receiving this treatment at MD Anderson. I was scheduled to be admitted right after my appointment with Dr. Trent. However, we were sent back to the hotel as no rooms were available. So, Gary gave up his hotel room for another night, and Friday, December 5 I would be admitted.

Friday, December 5 I finally received a phone call from MD Anderson at 5 p.m. telling me my room would be ready around 6:30 p.m. So Friday evening Marissa and I settled in, and I prepared to start my 9th round of chemotherapy. This regimen consists of high dose Ifosfamide only. It is given inpatient because of all of the fluids that must accompany it, as well as monitoring my kidneys daily. There are many pre-medications to receive before the Ifosfamide. The Ifosfamide runs every 12 hours for 2 hours for a total of 7 courses. My first course of Ifosfamide began at 2 a.m. Over the next couple of days I experienced some nausea, but discovered I preferred to be inpatient. Before with my outpatient chemotherapy I had to bring home back packs with infusion pumps that gave me continuous chemo and fluids, and I did not enjoy lugging those heavy packs around. Tuesday, December 9 I received my last dose of Ifosfamide at 2 a.m. All of my lab work was coming back great so I was on track to be released Wednesday, December 10.

Wednesday, December 10 I was told I could be discharged, but there was a catch. I had been receiving over 6 liters of fluids a day and to be released I would have to be able to drink over 2 liters on my own. I was having a hard time drinking as I was feeling nauseous, so Marissa and I discussed it and we decided the best thing to do was to stay in the hospital 1 more day. We were concerned about such a long trip home and we wanted to play it safe. The rest of Wednesday I received fluids, and the next day I would be released. All in all my inpatient experience was very pleasant, and the nurses were really great.

Thursday, December 11 I was released as promised at about noon. Marissa had the car all packed, and we left for home straight from the hospital. We decided to make the drive all in one day so I would be back at home in case I needed fluids. We arrived at home in GA at about 4 a.m. Friday morning. Driving straight through made one really long ride for me and one really long drive for Marissa. Needless to say, we were very glad to be home. Friday, December 12 we were relaxing at home with our dogs, who were delivered that afternoon.

Saturday, December 12 I had a sudden fever. Later that evening it was only getting higher so Marissa and I headed for the ER at Emory Crawford Long. They took several blood cultures to send off, took some lab work, a chest x-ray and gave me fluids. When my lab results came back we learned that my white blood cells were only at 0.2. On Thursday before we left Houston they were at 16. We did not anticipate them falling so quickly, but then again with this new chemo we did not really know what to expect. My fever was due to my low white blood cell count (neutropenic fever), just as I had experienced my first round of chemo. The doctor on call wanted to admit me and give me IV antibiotics until my blood cultures came back. This would take between 24-72 hours. As I am already on preventative antibiotics I decided with my low white blood cell count I would probably be better off at home. From Saturday until Tuesday, December 16 I had a high fever and had to take Tylenol almost around the clock. My blood cultures did come back during this time and were negative for infection.

That brings us up to today, Wednesday, December 17. My fever is gone, but my lab work today showed that my hemoglobin is low (7.5). While all of my other counts (white blood cells, platelets) have started to come back up my hemoglobin is falling. Tomorrow, Thursday, December 18 I will go in for an outpatient blood transfusion. This will be my second transfusion. The first time they did not catch my low hemoglobin until it was 6.6, this made me have to receive the transfusion inpatient as it was necessary to get it that same day. That time I received 3 units of packed red blood cells, tomorrow I will receive 2. This should be enough to boost my hemoglobin to above 9 and prevent me from needing blood over the holidays (hopefully). Despite the fever and blood transfusion I have not felt as bad after the chemo with this new regimen. Hopefully this continues to be the case, and that the next round I will not have the fever and low hemoglobin to deal with.

As far as Christmas celebrations go, Marissa’s family got together this past Sunday while her mom and grandmother were in town. With my fever I was not able to go, but Marissa did bring me home a plate of dinner which I did get to enjoy. My family is planning on coming to Georgia to visit and celebrate Christmas the Saturday after Christmas. I am very excited about this as my siblings have not ever even seen our home in Georgia. We have decided again to travel to Houston for my next round of chemo, we are more comfortable with my care and treatment there. We will be leaving on December 31 with my chemo being scheduled inpatient to begin on Friday, January 2.

Marissa and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with family and loved ones and a safe, happy, healthy New Year.

A Night In The Hospital

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:38:00 +0000

I finished my 7th round of chemotherapy on 10/24/08, and it was another very tough round for me. The week after chemo is usually my “bad” week, and the following week is usually my “good” week. Well, not this round. Saturday, 11/1/08 ordinarily would have begun my week of feeling much better, where I can actually get out and enjoy doing things before chemo starts again. This time however, I was just not feeling better. We have been told that each round can affect me differently, so we just thought I would perk up a day or so later. By Monday 11/3/08 I was still not feeling better. My home health care nurse came and drew my blood as she normally does on Mondays, but Marissa and I were surprised by the results we received on Tuesday.

When Sharon, our nurse, called us with my lab report she told me that my hemoglobin was only 6.6 which was very low. She said she was calling Dr. D’Amato because she felt I needed a blood transfusion. Sure enough, about an hour later Marissa and I got the phone call to go to Emory Crawford Long for a 23 hour admission and blood transfusion. Upon arrival the doctor told us that they normally administer transfusions at 7.0, and that if I had been older and my hemoglobin was that low I would not have even been able to walk. We felt this explained why I was still feeling so weak and so tired. The doctor was also very impressed that I had not ever had a blood transfusion prior to this, and she told us this would make me feel better within hours. I was definitely looking forward to that.

We checked into the hospital at around 2:30 pm on Tuesday 11/4/08. I was typed and cross matched and it was confirmed that my blood type is A+. At around 9 pm I was given my first of three units that each take 3-4 hours to run. I was given each unit back to back throughout the night. It was a long night as the nurses were in taking my vitals and changing out my IV often. This was also election night and as soon as Obama was elected President people came out of the woodwork to celebrate, scream, and honk their horns in downtown Atlanta. This began at 11 pm and lasted until 3 am when police finally arrived and soon after the streets were quiet. The next morning my labs were drawn again, and I would be discharged based upon the results. At 11 am my results came back. My hemoglobin increased to 9.5, but unfortunately I wasn’t feeling much better as promised. My lab work revealed that my potassium was only 2.7. The low end of normal for potassium is 3.5 so 2.7 is low, and it had dropped from the day before. This most likely explained why I still was not feeling very well, as well as my poor night’s sleep. I was going to have to stay in the hospital for another 4 hours to receive potassium through IV fluids. I told the doctor that my home health nurse could come and administer the potassium, so the orders were faxed, and I escaped staying prisoner in the hospital. I was discharged around noon on 11/5/08.

Thursday, 11/6 I felt some better but not much. I received potassium at home and my blood work showed my potassium was up to 3.1. Friday, 11/7 I was given more potassium at home which should have been enough to bring my levels up to 3.5. I finally began feeling significantly better on Friday and was able to get out, for more or less the first time in 2 ½ weeks, with exception of my hospital adventure.

This was the hardest round I have had, and I hope it is better this coming round. I had a fever higher than normal, my white blood cells did not return to normal as quickly as usual, of course my low hemoglobin, and my low potassium all added to my “routine” symptoms. As a side note I received my results from the MUGA scan (the heart test I had 3 weeks ago), and my heart is functioning just fine. We are definitely thankful for this news. I begin my 8th round of chemotherapy on Monday, November 10. I had very few “good” days this time and chemo time has come all too soon. This round I will speak to the doctor about altering some of my precautionary antibiotics as with our research we have found I should not be taking Levoquin with low potassium, as it may contribute to that, as well as having a low white blood cell count. Too bad we are just now figuring this out. We will see if a new antibiotic alleviates any of my post chemo symptoms. It is hard to predict as my chemo and my antibiotics, as well as several other factors, all result in the same symptoms. This is my last round of this chemo regimen, next round I begin one that is not supposed to be so hard on me. I really hope this is the case, and as far as round 8 goes we are praying it is not nearly as hard as the last.

Houston Results, Round 7

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:42:00 +0000

Marissa and I have just returned from our latest trip to Houston. Again, because of Hurricane Ike we had a difficult time finding a hotel to stay at in Houston. We left last week to travel, with my lab work, chest x-ray, and cat scan scheduled for Wednesday, October 15. We were scheduled to meet with Dr. Trent on Thursday, October 16. After a long, nerve racking 3 hour wait for Dr. Trent we finally heard the test results. The chemotherapy is still working well and Dr. Trent, Marissa, and I were all very, very excited. We feel truly grateful and exceptionally blessed.

The plan for now is to continue with two more cycles of the same chemotherapy (Adriamycin and Ifosfamide). The Adriamycin can be hard on the heart so it is usually stopped after 6 rounds. However, Dr. Trent feels confident that it will be fine to continue another 2 rounds of this regimen. A heart scan is scheduled just to be completely sure it has not had a negative effect on my heart. After those next 2 rounds I will do 4 rounds of only high dose Ifosfamide. This can still be done at Emory Crawford Long in Atlanta, but it will have to be done inpatient. I am not looking forward to a week hospital stay every 3 weeks, but thankfully this will only last 4 rounds. Then I will do another 4 rounds of chemotherapy that consists of a daily injection for 5 days every 2 weeks. This can also be done in Atlanta and is not supposed to have as many side effects as the other chemo drugs. We will continue to travel to Houston every 6 weeks for tests.

As for now, I have started my 7th round of chemotherapy today, October 20. With each new round my symptoms seem a little more persistent and they linger a little bit longer. I am excited to be moving on to chemo that may not take such a physical toll on me.

We thank everyone for their constant prayers. We firmly believe I keep getting such great reports because of everyone’s prayers. It is very important that the chemotherapy continue to work and that my masses do not become resistant to the chemotherapy. We ask everyone for their continued prayers, praying that the chemotherapy continues to work and remove the cancer from my body, as well as continued blessings into the future. Again, we are grateful for our wonderful news, and also the support of family, friends, and even kind strangers.

Houston Results, Rounds 5 & 6

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:06:00 +0000

After many weeks, it is certainly time for a long awaited update. After Round 4 of chemotherapy Marissa and I were scheduled to return to Houston for testing. “Gustav” had just passed through Louisiana and was headed to Houston, this made planning for travel slightly complicated. After checking and double checking that MD Anderson would be open and that Houston did not receive much damage, we left for Houston on Tuesday, September 2. We decided not to travel our usual route of I-10, as much of it was closed, we would instead travel on I-20. Traffic was not too bad, but we had a horrible time finding a hotel that night. We stopped in Mississippi and after initially stopping to find a hotel at 8pm, we had to continue driving until well past 10pm, as all of the hotels were booked solid along the way. It was pouring down rain and eventually we had to take what we could get. We arrived in Houston on Wednesday, September 3.

Thursday, September 4 began my long battery of tests. Around 11am I started the tests with lab work and a chest x-ray to follow. At 4:40pm my abdominal and pelvic cat scans were scheduled to begin. Last time I had to have a cat scan it was a ten hour day so I was definitely dreading all of the wait time. However, this cat scan was scheduled at a MD Anderson building across from the hospital and when we arrived we were 1 of 4 people waiting. Marissa and I left there by 6pm which was much better than the previous time.

Friday, September 5 we were to meet with Dr. Trent at 11am. After two long hours of waiting for him, we received the news that we had been praying for. The chemotherapy was working even better my 3rd and 4th rounds of chemotherapy than it did my 1st and 2nd. Overall my masses had shrunk by 30%. Marissa and I were so excited, as was Dr. Trent. He also told us that I would be continuing the chemotherapy for as long as it continued to work so well. This was not the exact news that I wanted to hear, but I still felt tremendously excited that all was working so well, which makes enduring all of the chemotherapy a little easier and definitely worth it.

We left to return home immediately after our doctor’s appointment. This time however, we decided to stop sooner to find a hotel. We arrived home on Saturday, September 6. We used the rest of the weekend to run errands and prepare before my 5th round of chemotherapy, which was scheduled for Monday, September 8.

My 5th round of chemotherapy was not an easy one, and the following week was even worse. On my “good” week Marissa and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, and I just enjoyed feeling so well. My one “good” week goes by entirely too fast, and before I know it, it is time to start my chemotherapy again.

That leads us up to this week. I am on my second day (Tuesday, September 30) of my 6th round of chemotherapy. I have begun feeling worse sooner this time. After this round of treatment we are scheduled to return to Houston yet again, for more tests. We will be traveling the week of October 13, and hopefully will be able to return home as quickly as we did last month, especially after this last hurricane, “Ike”, we are not sure what shape we will find Houston to be in.

We are rejoicing in the wonderful news I received. We thank everyone for their continued prayers, and we pray for continued blessings this next visit to Houston as well as into the future.

Round 4 At Home

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:45:00 +0000

We’re home! We left Houston on Friday August 8, 2008 and returned home to Georgia on Saturday August 9, 2008. Marissa’s mom and Gary met us at our house with the boys (Paddington and Yogi), who were just as excited to see us as we were to see them. As soon as we walked in the door at our house we noticed our home makeover immediately. All of the projects that we had started had been finished thanks to Christine, Gary, Meaghan, Nathan, Maison, and Ashleigh. They even tackled some projects of their own inside and out. Sunday we went to Meaghan’s and we were surprised by a dinner party with everyone there to celebrate my return. Thank you everybody for all of your hard work and thoughtfulness, you really made coming home special, and our house looks so good we didn’t even recognize it.

Monday August 11, 2008 we met with my new doctor in Georgia, Dr. D’Amato at Emory Crawford Long. She came to Atlanta from Tampa to start up a Sarcoma Department at the hospital. Dr. D’Amato was very informative and very personable, and Marissa and I both really liked her. My chemotherapy was scheduled to start on Monday August 18, 2008.

The rest of the week we spent unpacking, settling back into our house, and getting reacquainted with our dogs. I went to work to visit everyone and catch up on all that had been happening, and Marissa went and watched Jack a couple of days. Saturday we had everyone over to hang out and have pizza before chemo began again, it is so nice being home and having visitors.

Monday August 18, 2008 we left for Emory Crawford Long at 7am. We didn’t get home that night until 7pm, and we were both exhausted. The day was filled with my usual chemo regimen but the staff had to familiarize themselves with my orders and medications. It took a little longer because typically a patient receiving my chemo at this hospital is admitted all week as an inpatient. Since I preferred to remain outpatient the typical little kinks had to be worked out. Marissa and I also had to get used to the way Emory Crawford Long does things-everywhere is different.

Round 4 has not been as bad as Round 3, and I am thankful for that. I have experienced some nausea and definite fatigue. As soon as we get home at the end of the day I eat dinner and go right to bed. It is great being back in my own bed. The days are very long and the commute is tiresome, but I would still rather deal with that than be confined to the hospital for 5 days. Also, the nurses are quite nice and since it is a small facility I see the same nurses daily, and they already know me.

We have a week and a half at home to rest and then we leave again for Houston. We are praying everything is still working as it should be and we will only have to stay there for 4 days. As of right now we do not have internet at home, so I will just continue to post when internet is available and as I am able.

I also wanted to thank everybody back in West Tennessee for all of their hard work in planning and hosting such a successful spaghetti supper in my honor. The turnout was huge and it sounds like it was a great time. I wish we could have been there. I know there are a couple of other benefits in the works and coming up soon and I just want to thank everybody involved, please know how truly appreciated everything is, thank you all again.

The Results Are In...

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:56:00 +0000

Since it has been a couple of weeks since my last posting I will just review the major events of that time. I did much better the last round of chemotherapy. I did not experience that much nausea or loss of appetite. Two days after I was unhooked from all of my chemotherapy medicines I had a follow up appointment with Dr. Lalani, the pain management doctor. After I told him that I am no longer in any pain we decided I no longer need to be taking Oxycontin for pain. He was quite pleased that I was pain free and told me if he had to give credit where credit was due then he said it was from the chemotherapy working, not the pain block. Marissa and I of course gave credit to God. We were thrilled, as this was now the second hint we had been given that the chemotherapy was probably working. As far as the Oxycontin went I was told to wean myself off of it by substituting a shorter acting pain medicine, Dilaudid, over the next nine days. Immediately after doing this the next few days were horrible. I could not eat, I was nauseous and vomiting, and I had a headache that I could not shake. These symptoms ran from one day to the next and did not let up. Marissa and I attributed these symptoms to be withdrawal symptoms from the Oxycontin. We googled Oxycontin withdrawal symptoms and these matched what I was experiencing. We also learned that withdrawal symptoms from Oxycontin are worse than that of Heroin. Thankfully, by day 4 of these symptoms I was feeling much better and my headache was finally gone. After that I felt better each day and slowly began rebuilding my strength, as I was more fatigued than I had previously been with round 1 of the chemotherapy.

Marissa's mom came on Sunday, July 20, and I was feeling good enough to get out and go places with her and Marissa. On Monday, July 21, we received a call that our name was taken from the free apartment list and that a free apartment was available for us to move into. Fortunately Marissa's mom was here to help Marissa pack, load and unload the car. We moved into our new, "free" apartment on Tuesday July, 22. It is nice and new but very small, much like an oversized hospital room with the same tile flooring. But, we were just happy to be there and save some money on rent. We are still enjoying everyone's cards but we ask that they are no longer sent to our old address on Brompton Rd. as we will no longer receive them.

My parents came on Tuesday, July 22 to be here for my testing and results. They were able to stay at our old apartment as the rent was paid up until Monday, July 28. Wednesday, July 23 began my 10 hour day of testing. It started with blood work, then I had a chest x-ray, and lastly I had a cat scan of the abdomen and pelvis, which involved a 4 hour wait.

Thursday, July 24 I had an appointment with my oncologist, Dr. Trent. He was to discuss my test results with me. My appointment was scheduled for 4 pm. Dr. Trent was running 2 hours behind which of course meant more waiting. We had high hopes that the chemotherapy is working and two doctors hinted that they thought that it was, however we were still a little anxious as we had no concrete results. When we finally met with Dr. Trent we were told the wonderful news that the chemotherapy has shrunk my tumors significantly. I asked Dr. Trent if they were smaller even than he would have thought and he said that yes, it was shrinking the tumors more than he expected. We could not be happier or feel more blessed by this news. We decided to start Round 3 of chemotherapy in Houston since we are already here, but we are planning on returning home for my next round of chemotherapy. We hope to leave for Georgia around August 8 as long as my white blood cell counts are normal. Then I would start chemotherapy there around the 14 of August, and then we would return to Houston the first week of September for another round of testing including a cat scan and then meet with the doctor for those results.

Well, that about sums up the last couple of weeks. We are delighted by my fantastic news, and I could not have asked for a better birthday present. I am on my third day of my third round of chemotherapy. I am feeling pretty good, just very tired. We are looking forward to returning home and seeing our home makeover, getting our dogs back, and of course seeing family and friends. Thank you so much for all of the prayers which we continue to ask for.

At the rate at which I make posts, hopefully next time I write I will be writing from home in Georgia.

Round Two, Well Under Way

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:19:00 +0000

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I will continue to try to do better because I know this post is two weeks overdue. On Friday June 27, I had my last visit with the nurse practitioner for my follow up for neutropenic pathway. The doctors told me that my blood cell counts had rebounded incredibly quickly, and they asked me if my bones hurt. I contribute this blessing in part to my age but mostly to everyone’s prayers.

On Saturday June 28, I was feeling so much better that we decided to venture out. After looking up “101 Things to Do in Houston” which included on their list a tour of MD Anderson Hospital and scouring the hospital waiting rooms for celebrities, we knew we had to look outside of Houston for our entertainment. The one item on the list that actually caught our eye was a visit to Old Town Spring, a small town outside of Houston with “over 150 eclectic shops.” We had a good time and true to its description Spring had tons of little boutiques in old houses and cottages. We had bar-b-que on an old caboose, and we enjoyed being tourists for the day.

Sunday June 29, we enjoyed a day of rest while we waited for my brother Frankie and his wife Doris to arrive from West Tennessee. Frankie and Doris arrived around 10 pm. As excited as we were for their arrival we had only a brief visit and we quickly retired.

Late Monday morning, June 30, after catching up on rest and missing breakfast, Frankie and Doris picked us up and we went to lunch at a local bar-b-que restaurant. Although I was feeling better with each passing day my poor appetite was the one thing that really lingered. Lunch was fantastic, but I ended up taking most of it home with me. Despite the fact that we all slept in, we decided that an afternoon nap was just what we needed. Frankie and Doris came back over around 6 pm, and we opted for another Astros game. We did learn something from our previous Astros experience that it is okay to buy tickets at the gate. Houston Astros’ games never sell out, unlike the Atlanta Braves.

Tuesday July 1, Frankie and Doris were planning to leave around 9 am, and my parents decided to leave and ride back with them to give us a little space and take care of things at home. They told me they would come back at the drop of a hat if I needed them to.

So now Marissa and I are on our own with all of our families on standby. Wednesday July 2, we had an appointment with an occupational therapist to go over my wheel chair assessment, that we had requested a month before when my pain was at its worst. MD Anderson actually measured me to fit me for a new wheel chair that is rented on a month to month basis. It can be kept as long or as little as I want, and it can also be picked up and returned even if I go back home to Atlanta for treatment. Wednesday was also a day of errands as I was scheduled to start chemotherapy again on Thursday. This way we would have anything and everything I could possibly need so Marissa would not have to leave me alone during my treatment. We saved the best errand for last, to go to the Social Security Administration Office and enroll for Social Security Disability. While we thought this would be a nightmarish task, it actually turned out to not be so bad. A couple of nice gentlemen helped us, and we were out of there in about two hours.

Thursday July 3, I had routine blood work in the morning as well as a chest x-ray. I had an afternoon appointment with Dr. Trent just for a check-up and question/ answer session before I began my second round of chemotherapy. He said that my blood work came back normal and that my chest x-ray was clear. This in itself was great news because had these tests not come back normal I would not have been able to start my second round of chemotherapy. Dr. Trent was interested in how I tolerated round one of chemotherapy. Since my nausea began on day 3 last time and lasted until after it was over, he added a long lasting nausea medicine to my daily chemo regimen. He also prescribed Diflucan, an anti-fungal medicine, to prevent me from getting thrush again this round. I was also prescribed Levoquin, an antibiotic that will prevent infections. This will hopefully prevent me from ending up in the Emergency Center with another fever. He followed up with a physical exam. After feeling the mass in my abdomen he said that it appeared to be softening. He commented, “That’s encouraging,” which we hope we did not take out of context because most doctors, and especially Dr. Trent, are not into making comments for the sake of encouragement. Overall we were thrilled with the news, and we proceeded to check in for chemotherapy after 5 pm.

Friday the 4th of July we reported to the Cancer Center for day two of chemotherapy. During the chemo treatment all I could think about was being in the Cancer Center on the 4th of July. I had to see some fireworks to liven my spirits. I asked the nurse where we could catch the best show of fireworks and she said without a doubt, Clear Lake City. Clear Lake City turned out to be about a thirty minute drive, and my IV drip was scheduled to end at 7:50 pm. We knew the schedule was tight as we rushed out of the Cancer Center. The fireworks were scheduled to begin at 9:30 pm, and I couldn’t miss the show. We drove into Clear Lake City around 9:15 pm, just in time to sit in a traffic jam on the bay bridge. As it turned out that traffic jam ended up not moving for the entire duration of the fireworks, giving us a perfect view of the show over the water.

Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6, were both uneventful days. Life as a cancer patient on chemotherapy becomes a cycle of 21 days, with day 1 being the first day of chemotherapy. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (days 3, 4, and 5) I felt much better than I did on days 3, 4, and 5 of the first cycle. I did not experience the nausea as I did previously, but on days 6, and 7 (Tuesday and Wednesday) I felt worse than last time.

Today, Wednesday July 9, I am still feeling incredibly fatigued, but fortunately that is really my only complaint. As the chemo works its magic it takes some “good” cells with the “bad” ones. They warned me about “chemo brain,” the effect the chemotherapy would have on my mental capacity. I have noticed that my thoughts are not as clear, and that my attention is not as devoted. This has shown an effect on my blog posts. The solution may be to blog more often so that I do not have to remember as much, we’ll see how that goes over. Special thank you to Marissa for helping me remember past days and typing my posts as I lay here and dictate.

A Few More Pictures

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:59:00 +0000

Frankie and Me at the Astros Game - July 30, 2008

(First picture of me without hair)

"The Card Wall" in our Houston Apartment (which has now turned he corner)

The best picture we took of Old Town Spring - June 28, 2008

Some Pictures of the Good Days

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:58:00 +0000

A larger view of the Profile Picture (Me and Marissa, 9-23-07)

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Panama City Beach Vacation 2008 (Marissa's Family)

From Left: Christine, Gary, Ashleigh, Maison, Owen (top), Jack, Meaghan, Nathan, Marissa, Me

(Click Image for Larger View)

Houston Astros vs. Milwaukee Brewers June 10, 2008

From Left: Hunter, Dawson, Me, Marissa

(Click Image for Larger View)

Mom and Dad at the Astros Game

(Click Image for Larger View)

IMAX movie at the Houston Museum of Natural Science June 22, 2008

From Left: Chris, Me, Chad

(Click Image for Larger View)

The Effects of Chemo

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

In the last post, late Friday night, June 13, after two days of chemotherapy, I had decided this chemotherapy thing wasn’t so bad. Basically, the process consists of going to the Infusion Therapy Dept. at appointment time, and being taken to a nicely appointed treatment room. The rooms are equipped with relatively comfortably beds, nice flat panel TV’s, and DVD players, with a comfortable chair for one caregiver. After starting up a movie, the nurse hooks up my chest catheter to the IV line and the chemotherapy chemicals begin to flow.

As you know, as of late Friday night, I really hadn’t felt any effects of chemotherapy. When I woke on Saturday morning, it was a different story altogether. I had come down with flu-like symptoms, nausea, vomiting, lightheadedness, fatigue, etc. You name the symptom, I had it. Needless to say, the next few days were little more than a blur. I really thought at the time that I was conscious and coherent. I realized later, maybe around Wednesday or Thursday that I was not. I spent most of Thursday and Friday catching up on the few days of my life that I had just missed. I returned telephone calls that I had missed, reread all of the blog comments, reread emails, and reviewed all of the mail that I had received. The mailbox at the apartment is full of cards every day. I must tell you, nothing lifts my spirits more than reading all of your cards, blog comments, and emails. I really wish that there was some way for me to acknowledge each one. Please know that each one is greatly appreciated.

Late Friday afternoon, June 20, I had developed a low grade fever. Fever, of course, is bad news for a chemo patient. Tylenol is off limits, because as a fever reducer, it masks the signs of infection. I have strict instructions with regard to monitoring fever, if it reaches 101˚F I must go straight to the Emergency Center. Friday evening, I was nearing 100˚F. Marissa stepped out for a moment to “make a phone call”, and returned to the apartment with a group of my friends from Tennessee. Chad Dunivant and his wife Jessica, and Chris Chandler and his wife Amanda had made the 13 hour drive to visit. The whole weekend had been planned without me. I was completely caught off guard when they walked through the door. It could not have been a better surprise. Over the next few hours my fever had dropped. I even felt good enough later in the evening to go to their hotel room and visit for a couple hours.

After returning back to the apartment for my nightly medicine regimen, I turned in around midnight. I managed to get a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep. Around 3:30 am I woke with a fever. It had returned, this time a little more severe. I lied in bed for a while, wondering what to do, wanting to go back to sleep. I decided that I should wake Marissa and check it out. The thermometer read 101.3˚F. I guess this meant another trip to the Emergency Center. At least this time I wasn’t going in for unbearable pain. We ended up staying in the EC for about 8 hours. During my EC stay, my fever reached nearly 103˚F. They got my fever under control with Tylenol, gave me a few antibiotics through my IV, and prescribed me a whole host of new medications to take home to treat any infections I may have as well as to treat the thrush I was also diagnosed with. Thrush is an infection that lives in the mouth and throat and that is painful all the way down the chest into the esophagus. It can be caused by oral antibiotics, which of course for me at this time are plentiful. They also took some blood and urine cultures to check for infection. The cultures, they said, would take 48 hours for results. The antibiotics were precautionary.

After getting out of the EC around lunch on Saturday, I spent the rest of the day sweating out my fever. My visitors were able to come to the apartment Saturday evening and watch a movie. I just didn’t feel up to doing much more. Sunday morning turned out to be a different story. I woke up feeling good. I had a few appointments to make at MDA in the morning, but I was able to meet my friends around lunch and spend the rest of the day exploring Houston. We ate lunch at Chili’s, where I decided to splurge and order a kid’s ribs and fries meal. This was the most I had been able to eat since the chemo. After lunch, we went to Houston’s Museum of Natural Science. We saw exhibits on geology, dinosaurs, and Leonardo da Vinci. We also were able to catch an IMAX movie on the Grand Canyon. I was definitely feeling good on Sunday, and I was able to take advantage. The day ended with an Italian dinner at Prima Pasta around 10pm. I was completely exhausted, but in a good way.

My friends left Monday morning around 9:30 am after meeting me at the hospital for a quick tour and breakfast. Having them come and visit was definitely medicine for my soul and a terrific surprise. They did not get home until midnight on Monday, and they all had to be up bright and early Tuesday morning to get back to work. I cannot express to them how much their visit meant to me. The rest of the day I had a quick follow up appointment in the EC where I was told my white blood cells were back to normal. On Saturday they were at 0.6, Sunday they were slightly higher at 2.3 and on Monday they were at 10.2. The normal white blood cell count is 10, so everything is back on track with me regaining my strength and immune system, much quicker than expected. I guess that is just the healthy 25 year old in me making that rebound.

Tuesday was another great day for me. I did not have any appointments so the entire day was mine to enjoy. The nurse practitioner called me for a follow up consultation on the phone. My blood and urine cultures came back, and they were both normal with no signs of infection. I count my blessings and rejoice for each good day I have and all the good news I receive.

That brings us to today, Wednesday, June 25. I had an early appointment for lab work this morning, but we did not quite make it there on time. I woke up and took my shower with a full head of hair only to step out and notice that in that span of twenty minutes most of my hair had fallen out. Rather than leave the house with only small patches of hair I had my mom shave my head quickly before my appointment. I knew losing my hair was part of the process, and I suspect in a few days the rest will be gone. After my lab work I was met at the apartment door by the FedEx delivery man. Again, I found myself surprised. My coworkers at Gwinnett Sprinkler all pitched in to replace my IPOD after reading that it had been stolen out of our car. So not only do I have an IPOD again, but this new one is even better than the one that was stolen. This afternoon I have another follow up call with the nurse practitioner in the ER. Friday is my last follow up appointment with the Emergency Center for my neutropenic pathway (this is MD Anderson’s special program for monitoring patients with low blood counts). I am feeling well enough to get out and enjoy my free time. This is the best I have felt in a long time as I am pain free and able to walk on my own without my wheelchair. Walking is great exercise for me. The weather is so hot here that we usually try to avoid outdoor activities and today I think we will visit the local mall for the first time.

I have received countless calls inquiring on the status of my posts. I am astounded by the number of people who check my blog numerous times throughout the day and I apologize for the delays, but as always I remain grateful for the prayers and support.

***Happy Birthday to Meaghan, June 25, we wish we could be there to celebrate with you, but we hope you have an awesome day and we love and miss you!!

Good Days and Bad Days

bradleydycus@gmail.com (Bradley and Marissa Dycus) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:30:00 +0000

As promised here is a new post sooner rather than later. We have a lot to discuss for only a single day. Wednesday evening just after completing yesterday’s post my pain began to intensify quickly. I tried taking a hot bath, and I took my fast-acting (break-through) pain medication, but nothing would shake the pain. I began to compare notes about the last 3 nights and noticed that my nerve pain symptoms were worsening. Fortunately I had a pain management appointment this morning to review my medications.

As we were leaving the apartment Thursday morning to go to our appointment, my dad went to pull the car around and noticed it would not start. After further inspection he also discovered the side window was broken out. I assume that the alarm system worked because the hood was up and the battery disconnected. Someone had broken into our car and stolen our IPOD and FM tuner out of the glove box, as well as our GPS power cord and mounting bracket. Probably much to their disappointment we had the actual GPS unit with us. We did not have time to evaluate further damage as we still had an appointment that wasn’t going to wait. We had just missed the shuttle bus from our apartment to the hospital by ten minutes. The bus, however, doesn’t include provisions for my wheelchair. Our car insurance has a deductible, so there probably wasn’t even enough damage to claim. Much of this apartment complex is dedicated to cancer patients. Also, my wheelchair was in the car, untouched. But, in my opinion, that is one desperate thief to steal from a cancer patient’s vehicle. God bless him/her. It appears that the earliest appointment for the window replacement is Wednesday, June 18. The internal contents taken from the car must go on homeowners insurance, which is of course filed under a separate deductible.

The first appointment on Thursday was with Dr. Lalani, a pain management specialist. This was a follow-up appointment that had been scheduled last week when I was discharged from internal medicine (inpatient). I was glad to have this appointment set up because over the last three days my pain symptoms have gotten worse. The nerve pain seems less and less responsive to the medications prescribed to treat it. The major downside to it all though is that the side effects (e.g., drowsiness! etc.) are showing up stronger than ever. I have discovered that chronic drowsiness is the most debilitating feeling that I have ever experienced. Dr. Lalani decided to add a few new additions but took none away from the regimen. Obviously, I was a little concerned that adding more narcotics was going to make me drowsier. Dr. Lalani said that it takes my body about a week to acclimate. He promised me that in a few days I would see a 70% - 80% decrease in drowsiness.

After a quick appointment with Dr. Lalani, Marissa and I set off for the Infusion Therapy clinic. For our 11:00am appointment we arrived at 11:05am. We were taken from the lobby waiting area around 11:45am. They started with vitals, and then placed me in a room very similar to an inpatient room but a little more lavish. The drugs were all explained again by the nurse, but it was all a little too much to absorb in one sitting. I have 3 main chemotherapy drugs: Ifosfamide, Vincristine, and Doxorubicin. There are a couple of others that are administered along with these three main ones for side effects. I do not know all of the details on these. The Ifosfamide is given at the first of the appointment. It is set up for a 30 minutes drip time. The Vincristine is set up simultaneously with the Ifosfamide and set up for a 4 hour drip time. The Doxorubicin is set up late in the appointment. It is set up for a 24 hour drip time along with a 24 hour drip of mesna, some type of side effect medicine. So far all is going great with the chemotherapy. I have not seen any effect of nausea, fatigue, vomiting, etc. The only thing that I have noticed is a slight aversion to my dinner tonight. My tastes seemed a little off and nothing seemed appetizing. After four hours in the chemo treatment, the nurse says a simple, “You’re done! I’ll see you tomorrow…” The treatment doesn’t feel any different than receiving a standard saline solution.

After chemo treatment on Thursday night, we all came home to an apartment with no cable. When we signed the lease on the apartment last Friday, we were told that cable was turned on in the room but billed under the previous tenant’s name. They said when the cable month expired we would need to transfer it into our name. The previous tenant did in fact have TV service but did not have internet. We decided to call Comcast to see if we could just add internet. Comcast said that they did not show record of any type of service since December, 2007. We spoke with a Comcast rep Saturday morning outside the apartment who was nice enough to handle the whole situation for us. He gave us a package deal on the internet and TV, changed the service to our name, and personally came back on Sunday to connect the service. He also said that since we had alerted Comcast of service in the apartment, they would schedule someone to disconnect it. Thursday night, June 12, we arrived and had no internet and no TV service. It quickly became apparent what had just happened. The rep took care of our service hook-up quickly over the weekend and Comcast had scheduled our “Free Cable” to be disconnected during the day on Thursday. My dad quickly scheduled a service call for Friday to reconnect the service. We were assured that no one needed to be home for the service call. Friday evening we arrived home to find once again that the cable was still down. A call to Comcast revealed that, “the tech knocked on the door, no one answered, and he postponed.” The next available appointment is Wednesday, June 18.

To top off the Friday the 13TH story, we also arrived home Friday evening to not only find that the cable was still down, but now the air-conditioner was down and there was no hot water. A quick call to the after-hours line at the apartment complex saw a repairman in about 30 minutes to address both of these problems. If only Comcast had this type of customer service.

Back to medical topics for a moment, I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Lalani Friday morning. He had scheduled a pain block steroid injection in my spine. The two shots were located between the L4 and L5 vertebrae. The injections came with a little bit of local anesthesia. The Doctor said the anesthesia would block my pain for approximately 6 hours. After 6 hours, the pain would return for about two days until the steroids started to take effect. The half-life of the steroids is approximately 3 weeks. Having this long-term pain relief should allow me to stop taking the fast-acting Dilaudid pain pills. I think these are the ones causing the bulk of my drowsiness. Also, Dr. Trent thinks that the Chemo, if effective, could shrink that tumor enough in as little as 3 weeks to relieve that nerve pain permanently. I could not be more excited at the idea of permanently relieving this hip pain.

In summary, we have had mixed emotions over the last two days. Always mentioning the positive first, my first chemo treatment is well on its way, and my hip pain is seeing some much needed relief. On the other hand, we were victims of theft from our unattended vehicle, we lost our cable, internet, air-conditioning, and hot water. Fortunately, the latter two have already been addressed.