David’s Blog

Running from Fay

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Coumadin, David Emerson, hurricane Fay, wbc -

I have been trying to put off work travel as much as possible, but I had to go to Orlando on Monday and Tuesday. I was originally scheduled to return Tuesday night on a 7:20 flight. As it turns out, that was supposed to be nearly the exact time hurricane Fay was to cross over Orlando.
After meeting for most of the day, the folks I was traveling with and I scrambled Monday afternoon to move to a hotel closer to the airport and onto flights that departed Tuesday morning. Things seemed to be in order, I was scheduled to take a direct flight and be back in KC by 12:30pm.
As fate would have it, things turned out a little differently. First, Midwest Airlines decided not to send the planes for their 11:20 and 12:30 flights into Orlando. They were the only airline that pulled the trigger this early. In order to shorten the story I’ll just say my day was filled with many hours of standing in lines, employing patience and dealing with airport security. In the end, I was home by 7:00pm Tuesday night, about 12 hours after arriving at the Orlando airport. That sure beats the first response from the employee at the Midwest ticket counter….”The next flight we can get you on is Friday morning”.
And now a health update, the reason most of you are here…..
I was pretty fatigued over the weekend, but I was able to get in a round of disc golf.
Blood test results from Monday showed the following:
WBC: 1.6 (all time low)
INR: 1.5 (Needs to be 2.0 to 3.0 so they have increased my coumadin from 5mg to 7.5mg)
The first accounts for the fatigue and elevates my risk of infection, amongst other things. The latter is being tracked for the blood clot medication.

Hair today….gone tomorrow?

Advanced Prostate Cancer, blood thinners, Coumadin, David Emerson, DVT, Lovenox, PCa -

First, I’m going public with this a little early: my hair is at best ‘thinning’ at worst I’m losing it.
It started last week at some point. I noticed more than normal on my towel and then Tuesday morning Mary said my pillow was covered in hair. It has not started coming out in clumps (that will result in me immediately shaving my head) for now, we’re going with the description of ‘thinning’.
On another note, the Lovenox shots will only have to continue for another two weeks or so. I just talked to Dr. V’s assistant and I will start taking Coumadin (an oral or pill form of blood thinner) tonight. It might take a few weeks to get the dosage correct, so I will have to keep taking Lovenox at the same time.
I slept very little, three hours on Monday night however last night I was out for seven uninterrupted hours. That was a first in weeks, perhaps months!

BIG NEWS, GOOD NEWS….BIG GOOD NEWS!

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

I was going to drag this out, be cute, be creative, etc. but I am tired!
My PSA today was 39.98, a 25% reduction from three weeks ago!!!
WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I mentioned above, I am beat. We did not sleep well last night, and we had to leave the house at 7:15 this morning to make the 8:00 appointment. I had both my monthly appointment for Lupron and Zometa and my three week chemo treatment all in the same day. We were through at the hospital 12:30ish. In the four and a half hours we were there, I had the following procedures:
– 8:35 blood drawn
> White blood count back up to over 12 !!!!
> Most other markers were back in range, red blood count was still a little low, but no show stopper
– 9:00 Met with Doctor V, the Physicians Assistant and the Clinical Trial Coordinator
Everything seems to be progressing as expected with the blood clot in my leg. The good Doctor did give me the green light to play golf on Wednesday afternoon, so I was happy
– 10:00 Began pre-treatments
– 10:40 Began Taxotere infusion #4
– 11:45 Began Zometa infusion
– 12:20 Received the Lupron shot
Mary and I made our usual stop for lunch at The Blue Koi and were home by 2:00.

I’m not ‘Lovenox’

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, DVT, Lovenox -

Last night I came home from work and after cleaning up dinner I noticed my right leg was slightly swollen and felt rather firm or tight.

Even though it was going on 7:00pm we called my Oncologist office, since they told us when I started chemo to call for whatever reason. Dr. V himself called back in ten minutes. He told me to keep it elevated the rest of the evening and come see him at 8:00am this morning.

Knowing that he would have to work us in, we prepared for another long day at the doctors office.

I was in the lab waiting for an ultra-sound by 8:15, finished with the scan and in his waiting room by 9:15. So quick my head was spinning.

So it turns out I have small blood clot or a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) in my right calf. The good news is clots in this area, though a reason for concern, are far less serious than if it were located somewhere else. The bad news is for at least the next six months I have to take yet another drug, Lovenox.

At first blush this might appear to be so bad, expect the Lovenox is self administer as explained here. And comes with these side effects:

• Bleeding or oozing from surgical wound
• Any other bleeding episodes; for example, bleeding at the site of the injection, nosebleeds, blood in your urine, or if you cough or vomit blood
• Spontaneous bruising (a bruise not caused by a blow or any apparent reason)
• Pain or swelling in any part of your leg, foot, or hip
• Dizziness, numbness, or tingling
• Rapid or unusual heartbeat
• Chest pain or shortness of breath
• Vomiting, nausea, or fever
• Confusion

OK, I know this is serious, but Mary Brad and I are currently laughing about the last one!

With nothing more to say, I’ll just end with this; the saga continues……

Click here, sign here!

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, PCa, Prostate cancer petition -

Today I am writing to ask for your help.

There is a petition that the PCa community is circualting.
On January 20, 2009, a new President of the United States will be sworn in.
On January 21, 2009, that President will receive this petition.

http://www.prostatecancerpetition.org/

Please click on the link above and, after reading it, if you feel compelled to do so, please sign it.
There are currently over 9,000 signatures and we are trying to get to 10,000 by the end of September (Prostate Cancer Awareness Month).

The Dog Days

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, Khaled Hosseini, Lake of the Ozarks, PCa, The Kite Runner -

We spent the weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks and it was HOT! The temperature was in the upper 90’s all weekend but the worse part was at night and in the evenings it was so humid sitting outside was not even an option.

Some how, we had a good time anyway. We shopped, just a little, and went out for a few good meals. The most fun was at the water park. We were there for almost five hours and wiped out when we left. The heat is supposed to break tomorrow and last through the weekend.
Mary and I are hoping to get in another long weekend before Labor Day but we’ll have to see.

While there I finally started a new book. I am reading “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini (he wrote the Kite Runner). I’m almost finished and must say that it is quite good. A much different story than the Kite Runner. It takes place in Afghanistan and though this one did not make me cry, it is equally as engrossing. I should finish it tonight or tomorrow.

My brother is recovering at home after having his gall bladder removed last week. Apparently the stone was the size of an egg and the bladder so swollen it was pushing into his liver. It was quite painful but after a few days he’s much better.

My blood test results are due at any moment, I’ll post tomorrow

What does David actually do?

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, EMBARQ, patents, US Patent Office, Wall Street Journal -

I hope this doesn’t come across as braggadocio in any way, shape or form? My intent is this; I have shared so much about me personally, but very little about work and what I actually do for a living.

I am a Product Development Manager at EMBARQ. EMBARQ is the local phone company that was spun off from Sprint in May of 2006. We are in markets across 18 States, mostly in rural or smaller communities, however we provide services Orlando, FL, Las Vegas and some medium sized communities in other states as well. We provide local, long distance, high speed internet and re-sell DISH television services.

So what do I do as a Product Development Manager? In a nut shell I am a dreamer, an innovator and an inventor. For the past eight months I have been leading this project to fruition:

It’s pretty exciting after spending months and months on a project to have it written up in the Wall Street Journal!

In addition to this project I have eight Patents on file with the US Patent Office and 16 more that are in various stages of pre-submission. Though it might sound impressive, in my opinion, until the Patent Office actually grants the Patent, it doesn’t matter a whole lot (though I do take a little pride in this).

I could go on but brevity is key! In the end I hope this provides another look into the man behind the blog.

“WBC” at an all time low….

Advanced Prostate Cancer, chemotherapy, David Emerson, wbc, white blood cell count -

I just received a fax with the results of Monday’s blood test and my white blood cells have run off somewhere!
WBC count: 1.7

White blood cell count (WBC) – The number of white blood cells in a specified volume of blood. White blood cells form the mainstay of your immune system — a low number might increase your risk of infection and a high number possibly indicating that you have an infection.
According to today’s report, normal is between 4.0 and 10.5. At 1.7 all I can say is Yikes! It’s amazing that I’m not more fatigued. Overall, the key is to reach full recovery by August 11th. My red blood cell count is still in the normal range so there is some good news.
By the way, I’m sure you’ve noticed something looks different around here? Brown was so blah, this place needed a little sprucing up! I hope you like it?
Just a brief update, enough for today!

The brick wall

chemotherapy, David Emerson, disc golf, FLHW, Jack Johnson, Journey to the Center of the Earth -

So last week caught up with me on the back 9 Saturday morning. I played pretty good on the front but when we made the turn, my body and brain forgot to follow! I flamed out due to a combination of wicked summertime humidity and overextending myself!

Just to recap last week:
Monday: Chemo treatment #3
Tuesday: Work day, then Tom Petty concert after 3.5 hours of sleep
Wednesday: Work day, 9 hole golf league after 5 hours of sleep
Thursday: Work day
Friday: 1/2 Work day, then 18 hole golf tournament
Saturday: usual disc golf round, then I took Brad to see “Journey to the Center of the Earth” in 3D

So by yesterday, Mary was none to happy with me, and frankly, I can’t blame her. However, I have always been this way; I can’t just sit around, I have to be doing something. Even yesterday, I had breakfast with a PCa friend, went to Mass and then I went to serve my time under house arrest. I worked on bills, the FLHW.org Foundation business and did a few loads of laundry. Just “took it easy”!

So we reach Monday. I got a great nights sleep, worked out and gave my blood sample this morning. I feel so much better than Saturday or Sunday.

I really don’t have a conclusion here? I guess I’ll just say this “Mary, I promise the week after my August 11th treatment, I will take things MUCH easier than this week!”

That is, unless Mark calls me with an 11th hour cancellation to the Jack Johnson concert on the 15th!!!!

OK, just kidding Mary…..sort of…..

I found a cure for the lack of sleep and Dex:

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, music, Rock and Roll, Sprint Center, Steve Winwood, Tom Petty -

Yesterday, after getting through most of the day on 3 1/2 hours of sleep I got a call from my good friend Mark. He was quick and to the point, “How are you feeing today? Great, want to go to Petty?”

So last night, along with 14,500+ other Kansas Citians, we attended the Steve Winwood and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show. We did not leave disappointed!
Steve Winwood’s voice is still incredible after all these years. If I closed my eyes during “Dear Mr. Fantasy“, I would have though it was off the original 1967 recording…it was awesome!

Petty and the Heartbreakers rocked for just over two hours. Here is the set list, one hit after another, after another!
You Wreck
MeListen
To Her Heart
I Won’t Back Down
Even the Losers
Free Fallin’
Mary Jane’s Last Dance
Sweet William
End of the Line
Breakdown
Saving Grace
Face in the Crowd
Honey Bee
Learning to Fly
Don’t Come Around Here No More
Refugee

Encore:
Runnin’ Down a Dream
Mystic Eyes
American Girl

All I can say is, thanks Mark for a wonderful time! Tonight, I go to bed early (after my weekly Wednesday evening ball golf game!) and try to catch up on some of that missing sleep!

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