Second Treatment Report

January 13, 2009
Second treatment

We moved my chemo day to Tuesday’s. It works better with Denise’s schedule and she really wants to be there with me. The school has been incredibly supportive of this situation. One of the teachers even brought her a list of teachers who had committed specific time if needed for Denise. The principal and vice principal have made every effort and accommodation to let her be with me whenever needed. That is the continuing theme that we keep seeing here. People are so willing to help. It is really humbling to be the object of that desire to serve. I am pretty sure, on Denise’s side that they feel bad for me but they would go to the end of the earth to help her. Our ward continues to be tremendously helpful, always concerned. Again, it is so humbling to be the object of their hope, faith and prayers. Even the fire department and the City have been more that supportive. The mayor told me that their only concern here was for my recovery and well being. They will do whatever has to be done to keep me employed and supported; it felt sincere even if he felt he had to say it. That was appreciated. I have returned to work on light duty. I have responded on a couple of ambulance calls out here and will respond while on duty, if needed. I’ll not likely respond first on many fires in the near future but I could be in a command level if we had enough manpower. That is pretty rare early on in a serious fire. I don’t think there is a question about having the needed energy initially but my energy wanes quickly. I just don’t have much energy right now. I will be doing some training, teaching and inspections. There is a never ending need for coordination and logistics within the department and it will be nice to be actively involved in it on a daily basis.
Denise quit her Medicaid nursing job. It was just too much to keep up with. We will continue doing CPR classes for ISU. I am ISU’s American Heart Association faculty member to supervise the CPR program and evaluate other CPR instructors. Denise and I usually teach together one evening and one Saturday each month. It’s a stress but something we enjoy doing together.
The only significant event of the week was getting over the portacath insertion. I was a little queasy Wednesday and Thursday, mostly in the evening. But it was more of an “I just don’t feel good” than nausea. (Denise says, “Welcome to morning sickness!”) Otherwise I worked half a day Thursday and until three thirty on Friday. The portacath is doing much better; the pain and discomfort are pretty well gone. The nurses were able to access it today without too much trouble and then it worked without a problem. The lady in our ward who had breast cancer had some lidocaine / xylocaine cream that the doctor had prescribed for her to deaden the skin over the port. She gave it to us with directions to put a spot of it on plastic wrap and apply it about the time we reached Rigby. That way the site would be deadened by the time the nurses had to place the needle through the skin into the port. Being the man that I am, I had forgotten the plastic wrap. Being the innovator that I am, I took a wrapper from a granola bar and used it in place of the plastic wrap. The nurses got a kick out of that! They had to show everyone my “wrap and seal”.
The treatments took 4 hours today. That should be the regular time for the three week treatment period. I will then have a week with only a blood test called a Nadir. The Nadir shows the “low point” of the red blood count. They want to be certain that these don’t get too low. If they do they will discontinue the chemo until there is a sufficient recovery to tolerate more. That four week period is a round. I will do three or four of those before another chest CT is done to see if were doing any good.
With permission from Dr. Dickson I am taking a couple of nutritional supplements developed by a Dr Rath in the Netherlands (http://www.drrathhealthalliance.com). One of our medics pointed us to him and the science appears to be sound. His younger sister had metastatic breast cancer five years ago. It had gotten so far that the doctors told her she should go home and get her affairs in order. It is hard to know whether her success was the supplements only, or just part of her regimen, but they helped. Dr. Dickson didn’t feel that they would hurt, so I am taking them. The oncology staff has been impressed with how well my bloodwork has been doing. We recognize that that is a blessing and perhaps the help from good supplements. The other thing we are working on is trying to keep my ph close to 7.0. We have read a significant amount of literature indicating that pathogens including cancer cannot survive or grow in an alkaline environment. Ph is controlled a lot by diet, but can be supported with supplements too. I am doing everything in my power to beat this. Traditional medicine has a lot to offer, but we feel that we also need to be proactive through better nutrition and natural healing science. I expect the Lord will take care of the rest, as promised.
Thanks again for all your faith and prayers. I do love our Heavenly Father. This is a tremendous lesson that we can all learn from. There is tremendous faith that has been shown; we really are grateful and forever humbled. I hope it will give us all a clearer window into the support and love He offers to us so we can all pass this test. Ultimately we want to pass life’s test with a “well done thou good and faithful servant”. I love one of the late scenes in Gladiator where the Djimon Housoun asks Russel Crow about his family. They both reminisce about the time when they will be able to see them again and the eternal nature of the family. Crow talks of his reunion with his family on the other side. He asks Housoun if he will see his family again. He says “Yes, someday I will see them, but not yet…” It is obvious to me that he has great faith in life after death but feels that he has a lot to do before that time. I have a lot of life left to live. I plan to serve it here for as long as the Lord will allow.