chemotherapy

I want to hold your hand….not

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Atrasentan, chemotherapy, David Emerson, PCa -

It’s now been a week and things are returning to ‘normal’. Over the weekend I experienced what I was warned about… I felt like I had the flu. My body ached, I was tired and spent a lot of time on the couch watching golf.

Yesterday we went in for my monthly Lupron shot and Zometa infusion. What should have been a maximum two hour visit to the lab and treatment room turned into a series of missing lab requests and incorrect orders. We were there for nearly three and a half hours.

We did get a blood test back, no PSA test but it did show a HUGE drop in my white blood cell count. Normal is around 11, last week before treatment I was a little low at 8.9, yesterday I was at 1.9. Ouch! This is normal and the basic intent of the chemotherapy. The WBC should begin to recover before the next treatment on the 30th.

A count this low can make me very susceptible to germs, infections, etc. I am now using more hand sanitizer than I have ever used in my life! No offense intended if I don’t shake your hand!!

“C” Day + 4

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Atrasentan, chemotherapy, David Emerson, PCa -

The good news is I’m tolerating chemo very well so far. The bad news is….well there is none to report!!

It’s been four day, except for the first night, sleep has returned to my normal broken pattern.
I was able to play golf on Wednesday (worse than ever!) but have been able to work out the last three days. Only about thirty minutes each session, this morning I pushed it pretty hard.

As we were told might happen, I’m a little “flu like” today. My back is a little sore but I’m doing fine.

I picked up the study medication yesterday morning and began taking it immediately. There is no telling if I am getting the placebo or the Atrasentan? A runny nose is one side effect but because it doesn’t happen in all cases it’s going to be a guess.

I’ll take a shot at disc golf tomorrow and check in here later in the weekend.

I could use a good nap……

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Atrasentan, chemotherapy, David Emerson, Prednisone, taxotere -

It’s a day later and I feel completely fine. I did have trouble sleeping last night. I woke at 11:30 and was up until about 12:45. Then a slept for an hour, was awake for 20 or 30 minutes, would sleep for another hour, wake up etc.

I forgot to enclose this yesterday.
Historic Data:
6/9/08 52.02 (Started Chemotherapy)
Day before and day of treatment (12mg Dexamethasone)
Daily (10mg Prednisone)
With Treatment (once every three weeks); Benadryl – 25mg, Dex10mg, Zofran 24mg, Zantac 50mg, Taxotere 151mg
Waiting for trial drug (Atrasentan)/placebo to arrive.
5/19/08 48.87
4/21/08 38.31 (Stopped Nilandorn as required by clinical trial starting on June 9th)
3/24/08 34.7
2/25/08 29.4 (Started taking Nilandron on 2/4/08; Started Selenium 200 mcg on 2/26/08)
1/28/08 36.2 (Stopped taking Ketoconazole and Hydrocortisone in anticipation of next treatment)
12/31/07 30.9
12/3/07 21.9
11/5/07 23.3
10/8/07 19.30
>10/8/07 Changed Lupron from 120 day dose to monthly dose> 9-12-07 Began taking .5mg of Avodart per day. Changed Ketoconazole from 600mg twice per day to 400mg three times per day)
9/4/07 21.80
8/6/07 19.25
8/2/07 16.96
7/02/07 20.30
6/04/07 17.80
4/30/07 16.25
4/2/07 17.68
3/5/07 21.87
2/5/07 20.90
1/8/07 18.90
12/11/06 24.86
11/13/06 43.61
10/16/06 51.48 (Started “High Dose” Ketoconazole and Hydrocortisone, 10/01)[at this point and for a second time we prepared for Taxotere. First my Oncologist wanted to try High Dose Ketoconazole and Hydrocortisone.]
9/11/06 83.97 (started Zometa)
8/23/06 41.77
8/18/06 54.66(no tests in June or July)
5/19/06 11.37 (stopped Casodex)
4/3/06 4.25
3/5/06 1.45 (started Casodex again)
1/27/06 0.46
12/28/05 1.85[at this point we prepared for Taxotere, chemotherapy treatments. First I had a new PSA test and new bone and CT scans, lymph nodes clear, spine clear, ribs, femur and hips stable. The PSA dropped to 1.85 and the scans revealed marked improvement. Chemo was cancelled 72 hours before it was scheduled to begin]
12/15/05 7.18
11/03/05 4.64 (Stopped taking Casodex)
9/22/05 0.8
08/11/05 0.35 [nadir]
6/24/05 0.55
4/17/05 2.51 (taken at MD Anderson, Gleason lowered to 7/7)
4/06/05 3.51 (Six weeks after starting Lupron and Casodex)Original Gleason scores (7/8)
Pre-treatment tests:
2/18/05 Started Lupron
2/11/05 Started Casodex
2/?/05 219
12/?/04 189 (Original test)

The one, but not the only

Advanced Prostate Cancer, chemotherapy, David Emerson, PSA, taxotere -

I’m in the chair waiting for the multitude drugs to be delivered:
In no particular order….
– Benadryl – 25mg
– Dex (more!!) 10mg
– Zofran 24mg
– Zantac 50mg
– Taxotere 151mg

The first four are given for swelling, nausea, allergic reactions etc.

Brad and Mary are here, my God I love them so much!

My pre-treatment PSA came in at: 52.02
Up a little, not as high as 2006, the last time I almost started chemo.

Just to give you an some insight into today’s hospital visit: I’ve been in the chair since 11:10. Treatment was schedule for 11……It’s 11:52 and we have yet to begin. So drag this out for 6 weeks….then make me wait another hour, what ever works for you!!! Sorry, just venting – thank goodness the people are so nice here.

*Live update!!
12:35pm Pre-meds have all been administered and as of three minutes ago….the Tax (chemo) is flowing!

Peace be with you each…

…I’ll get by with a little help from my friends.

Advanced Prostate Cancer, chemotherapy, David Emerson, Dexamethasone, Prednisone -

I’m about 18 hours away from chemo infusion #1 and a few hours away from beginning the pre-medication.
This evening I will start taking Dexamethasone and in the morning Prednisone. Both are steroids used to assist the chemo.
The Dex I take 12mg the night before and morning of chemo. Regarding the Prednisone, I will take one 5mg tablet twice a day…., for the duration of the trial, 36 weeks from now.

There is one thing that concerns me; though they are very small dosages, I have visions of being up at 3:00am, unable to sleep and needing to work a few hours later. Dr. Van said we could adjust the Prednisone and just take both pills each morning if I am having trouble sleeping.

Not knowing the road ahead, I got a lot accomplished this weekend. Two rounds of disc golf and today I mowed the lawn and dug up three stumps from some Japanese Yews I cut down last week. I took Brad to the driving range and practice green and now we are off to Mass and a surprise dinner of some sort? I’m not asking and she’s not telling!!!

So now I come to the title, I need your help, your prayers like you’ve never sent them before!

Stay tuned for a complete update tomorrow.

Scanning the horizon

Advanced Prostate Cancer, bone scan, chemotherapy, David Emerson, PCa, PSA, xrays -

I had my sixth set of scans Tuesday. Chest X-Ray (as part of the clinical trial), CT scan of my abdomen to look for organ and lymph node ‘involvement’ and a full body bone scan.

Not much to report on items one and two, the results will be discussed on Monday prior to my first chemo treatment. (By the way; 96 hours and counting).

The bone scan was the usual process; lie on my back, the first few minutes are very claustrophobic [I just say a few Hail Mary’s and keep my eyes closed] but after twenty minutes it’s over. This time they took extra pictures from the side focusing on my ribs and pelvis. These are the areas that have always had noticeable tumors.

I was able to talk the technician into showing me the x-rays! The following is only my unprofessional opinion; full body scan: looked the same; spots on my left rib, pelvis area (a.k.a tumors) and the ankle I broke last May appeared the same as in February. Best news – my spine appears to remain tumor free! Finally, no new areas showed up (again, the radiologist may say differently).

As for the side views: not much was revealed on the rib scan, the side view of both hips showed three tumors on the left side and two on the right. I hate to describe these as ‘substantial’, they are there are have been there throughout. I’ll post the scans after I get the CD on Monday.

Happy Birthday Trevor and Happy Anniversary Doug and Michelle!

that is all…..

May, where art thou?

Advanced Prostate Cancer, chemotherapy, David Emerson, PCa -
Sunday is June the 1st…..exactly where did the month of May go?
On one hand, as the days get longer, time drags, and drags. At the same time, what happened over the last four weeks?
Some random thoughts……
– 4 days – I get re-scanned, x-rays, etc.
– 10 days – I receive my initial chemo treatment
– 30 days – I receive my second chemo treatment, this would have been my mother’s 75th birthday, God rest her soul
– 32 days – major project at work launches
– 34 days – Fourth of July ~ God Bless the USA! (If you didn’t see John Adams on HBO, I recommend you watch it when it comes out on DVD)
– ?# of days until a vacation….the Lake? Colorado? St. Louis?….the back yard…..

Looking West

Advanced Prostate Cancer, bone scan, chemotherapy, Colorado, CT scan, David Emerson, Lake of the Ozarks -

A few medical updates after Monday.

I / we were not real comfortable waiting an additional week to start chemo (until June 16th).
Tuesday, Mary did the leg work, called the doctor’s office and inquired if if there was anything we could do in the next four weeks, or if there were any alternatives/options.

Yesterday they called back with some encouraging news. I will start treatments on the 9th as originally planned! This means on the 3rd I will have to spend most of the day at the hospital getting; a chest x-ray, a C/T scan and full body bone scan. This will mark the 6th set of the latter two tests. I imagine I might begin to glow at night, as they have to inject me with low-dose radiation each time they do a bone scan.

These last three weeks have been draining. Not only are the days longer, but the weeks seem to drag on and on. I never thought I would look forward to starting chemo. It’s just this; we made a decision, let’s get on with it.

Another somewhat stressful aspect is that we can’t really plan our summer. We wanted to take Brad to Colorado, I was going to take him camping, a trip to the lake, a weekend at my brother’s property, a trip to see my dad in St. Louis, and the annual get together with my sister from Ohio. Well all of that is currently in limbo. The whole chemo process could go according to plan; very few side effects, little fatigue, white and red cell counts stay high or near normal etc. but because we don’t know, we have to be careful not to plan too far ahead.

I pray for results like I had with Ketoconizal and other medications. I consistently responded well to previous treatments. Our hope is that the chemotherapy will get the cancer under control, my PSA will decrease, we can follow it up with other meds to keep it under control and resume a somewhat normal lifestyle for years to come. We’ll see.

I thank God daily for such a loving wife and wonderful, understanding son. I know he’ll love Colorado, when we finally get there……

m’aidez

Advanced Prostate Cancer, chemotherapy, Mayday, medical port, PCa -

Mayday
The term was made official by an international telecommunications conference in 1948, and is an anglicizing of the French “m’aidez,” (help me).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a little humor regarding a very serious subject.

We got a call yesterday from the hospital, seems I have to go in on the 12th to have a port inserted. What is a port? Click here to see it in action. The webpage is that of a man who was being treated for Pancreatic cancer at the time. I include it for the pictures, read the narrative at your discretion. Not only will this be used for the Chemo treatments (beginning June 9th) but also for blood draws, monthly Zometa infusions and infusions for upcoming bone and CT scans.

Mary’s a little freaked out about it. I’m not……yet.

Chopsticks

Big and Rich, Cardinals, chemotherapy, disc golf, i, Kansas City Disc Golf, PCa -

Mary, Brad and I watched the movie “Big” on Friday night. I must have seen this movie fifty times. I still love it every time. The scene that takes place in the FAO Schwarz toy story is one of my favorite parts of the movie. I’m not sure why? Perhaps it’s Robert Loggia acting like a little kid with Tom Hanks as they play ‘Chopsticks’ on the big piano.

On another note, here is yet another example of the irony of what I am going through. As I’ve mentioned my PSA continues to climb and on June 9th I will begin Chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial. So what does one do when facing events like this? How about play disc golf three days in a row!

On Friday I played nine holes and qualified (along with my friend Gary) to represent our company in the ‘Kansas City Corporate Challenge’. The event, is like a corporate Olympics and lasts for several weeks. The men’s disc golf event is next Sunday morning.

Saturday, most of the usual gang played and I got a little lesson from young Joe….I added about fifty feet to my average drive! The rest of my game needs a tune up but my drives are looking good!

Even after 5 hours working in the yard yesterday, I played again today with Pete, Joe and Steve. We played at a course I haven’t played at since last summer. This course is longer and harder than our usual course but I shot really good on the front nine but two bad holes on the back cost me a good round.

So after that lead in, one that was probably much too long, I recant – after what I am going through with Prostate Cancer, I can’t believe I played three days straight AND worked in the yard yesterday? Is this crazy or what? No fatigue, no pain…..no worries!!

And now we reach the point where I wax philosophical…..
We are on the 10th hole yesterday, Steve and I started discussing this one particularly loud sound bird. After locating a stunningly beautiful male Cardinal we further discussed the fact that unlike most birds, the male Cardinal is the more colorful bird.

Big deal right? Then yesterday afternoon, I take a break from mowing the grass and I’m sitting on the back steps and I hear the same song. No sooner do I find the Cardinal when up flies his mate. They sit there for a minute or two and off they fly together.

I wish there was more, but that’s the story, just a moment of time from a beautiful spring weekend.