Back on chemo and on schedule. Met with the Oncologist before chemo today. We are in round 2 with 2 days to go. 6 rounds altogether. No more Nuelasta due to my reaction to it. Tomorrow and Wednesday will wrap up round 2. CT Scan in December to check effectiveness. He did say that there are a couple other options if this chemo doesn't work like he wants.
Keep praying.

Taking infusion at home now, 3 times a day for the next 5 days. There are some nurses in big trouble at Bayfront. Dr Contreras was livid because he had it set up for release this morning. They were supposed to deliver the walker this morning, they screwed that up also, maybe tomorrow morning. They were on the spot with the infusion antibiotics though. While in the hospital, I was getting 3 - 4 hour infusions per day for a massive UTI, actually 2 different UTIs.  This was my second bout and worse than the first. I don't remember much of the 5 day ICU stay, 7 day stay altogether. I am very weak and a wheeled handicap walker is supposed to be on it's way to the house. I'm tired of these UTI's, every 2 years or so they try to kill me, this time was close. WBC was down to 1.1, should be around 7. I have a powered Pic line and they plan a port as soon as they think the infections are taken care of. Meanwhile the pic can be used for blood draw, scans and whatever. Old and sick is not a good combination.  

Another round we fought and won

I'm doing this for Mark and so that I don't forget.

On Thursday, Nov 6th Mark stated that he didn't feel good.  We gave him a non aspirin and later he couldn't get out of the chair.  At 1 am he fell out of bed and an ambulance was called.  He was admitted to ICU with a fever of 101 and an UTI on Friday morning at 3 am.  He was put on antibiotics and cat was put in.  Mark was ver disoriented and not reponsive.  By Saturday his temp had gone up to 103.8 and he was wrapped in ice and a cooling blanket added to his bed.  His temp went down to 101 and then up to 102.9.  At one point, he was slurring his words and his mouth started to droop.  The nurse got to him immediately and he was able respond but very slowly.  His brain was not letting him tell it what to do.  On Sunday, our minister, Father Ken, came and saw him and did a prayer for him. I got sent home by the nurse.   An oncologist called after I got home and said he would be fine.  When I walked in Monday morning, Mark was alert and talking.  It was like a light switched had been turned on.  His temp is now down to 96.7 to 98 and is staying there.  Yesterday, was the first time he was able to get out of bed and sit in a chair.  I told the nurse he would be able to walk but they won't let him yet.  I guess it's a Johnson thing according to Roxanne.  They are keeping him in ICU to make sure his white blood counts stay stable, which they have come back from 1.1 to 7.

The scans that were done show,  no cancer in the brain.  They are planning on putting in a power port Friday morning and then he will be able to come home.  He was up and got to walk to the nurses station today.  When he comes home, he will still have to have antibiotics 3 times a day.  Guess I'm going to learn how to do it.  They say it's easy.  Sure will be nice having him home again.

Next round of chemo is on the 23rd.

They had one heck of a time finding a vein today. The one they had for 2 days quit. At least it happened on the last day of the first cycle of treatment. They went to the left lower forearm near the wrist. Bad location and it blew out. Now it looks like they want to put in a chemo port. I really think it's the low seniority nurses working the weekends.
Now I have an OBI (On Board Injector). https://www.neulasta.com/on-body-injector/
It will inject something to help with white blood cell counts to fight off infections. They used to have you come back for a shot. After 27 hours it injects the medication for 45 minutes, then you take it off and put in into a medical waste container. I should be done with chemo for 3 weeks. They told me that between 7 and 14 days are when the immune system takes a dive and stay away from crowds. I guess I'm a hermit until chemo is done, 4 to 6 treatments, every 3 weeks.
The battle continues...

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

I received my liver biopsy results today at Moffitt.
Originally they thought the spot seen on the CT Scans was a fatty deposit. It turned out to be the Small Cell Lung Cancer that has spread. The lung Cancer hadn't been seen on the CT scans since Jan. 2014. The small spot showed up in April and July of this year, it hadn’t grown but they decided to do a biopsy on Oct 19th. I will have a PET and MRI scan on Thursday.

On top of everything else my son ART has B Cell Lymphoma Stage 4 and I'm stuck here.

I am starting chemo on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week. Chemo will be every 3 weeks for 3 days. 

My Medical Oncologist just called. He said there is definitely something going on with my Liver. Whatever it is, it hasn't grown in 6 months and small cell lung cancer grows fast. They want to do a needle biopsy to check and see if it's the Small Cell Lung Cancer that spread to the liver or a different kind of cancer, we'll see. He asked me how a felt, I feel fine, so if it is, it's early, hopefully, HERE WE GO AGAIN! To be honest, I always felt cancer was going to get me sooner or later. Hopefully later, much later. Whatever prayer list you have, add me to it, Please.

On September 18, 2015 I had an MRI on my liver. DR Tan at Moffitt was not that concerned because the spot has been there since my April CT Scans and has not grown. He just wanted to make sure it wasn't serious.
They were 2.5 hours behind at Moffitt on the MRI. DR Tan came out into the waiting room to tell us to go home and if it was something serious or needed following, he would call me. I guess no news is good news because I haven't heard anything yet.

Everything went well for my CT Scan on July 24, 2015. Lungs are still clear. They do have some concerns about a spot on my liver. They are pretty sure it's not cancer because the type I had is fast growing, if it spreads. The spot was there and the same size in the last scan, They think it is a fatty cyst which is common. A MRI in middle September will tell them what's up with that. It's always something, 'old age ain't for sissies'.
There is also concern about the LEMS hanging on so I have an appointment with a different Neurologist on the 28th, Dr Khouri at Moffitt. He may adjust or change the LEMS medication. If all goes well, we will be on our way home on the 29th or 30th.

I had my colonoscopy today. They use Suprep instead of Golightly here. Suprep is easier to take and you are flushed in about an hour.
DR Bin-Sagheer found 3 small polyps and said they looked fine. He will biopsy them and told me if everything is OK, 5 year return.

5th CT Scan and Blood work.

We went to Moffitt today for a check up. The scans were clear and the blood work normal but
Dr Dilling wants me to loose weight, no big surprise here.

He wants to stay on a 3 month schedule for checkups for a couple of years, so my next scheduled checkup will be the end of July.

I was also told that the LEMS may never go away. I am starting to look at diet but there isn't much information available. Maybe it's time to go see my neurological oncologist. He has an office in Brooksville along with Moffitt.

Either a very short trip to Michigan or wait until August to spend a couple of months visiting.

All in all, a good checkup.

4th CT SCAN

I had my 4th CT Scan today at Moffitt. Dr Dilling said there was no activity but he wants to watch 2 other nodules closely. He said allot of people have these 'benign' nodules and not to worry about it. The original cancerous nodule is not active and that part of the lung is clear.

The next CT Scan will be in 3 months and I will meet with a different Oncologist, DR Tan, the lead medical oncologist on my case. We are starting alternating consultations with DR Dilling and DR Tan.

All in all. very good news for me.