Bad Reaction

This has been a very tough week. I had a port put in on Tuesday and started chemo on Wednesday. My body didn't respond well. Because of this, I had to continue the treatment on Thursday. I felt fine for a few hours after chemo. Then it started. I'll spare some details. I'll just say that I couldn't keep anything down for 3 days. I went to the hospital to get some fluids on Friday morning and was admitted Sunday morning. It's Monday night now and I just had my first real meal since Thursday. It was incredibly good. Turkey dinner. I'm still in the hospital, but I should be going home tomorrow. This is really not normal for chemo patients. It's been a rough few days, but hopefully the next round will go better. Thank you for all of the prayers.

The Plan

After more testing, I had another visit with Dr. Kwak. We finally got a definitive diagnosis. This was delayed a bit, because they originally thought that I had sarcoma(bone cancer). All of the testing was geared toward that. After the biopsy, which showed I have lymphoma, they had to do a whole new series of tests. One of these tests was a whole body PET scan. This would show if any of my lymph nodes, or anything else, had a problem. Thankfully there were no other issues in my body. So, the diagnosis is "stage 1 Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma". Next step- chemo.

I want to make sure that I'm being productive while this is going on, but I also have to keep the stress level down. Because I've had a growing desire to become a worship pastor, I'm focusing in on that. Here's the plan: Online Bible college and learn a song a week. This should be a great addition to the experience that I have. So, if anyone needs a fill-in worship leader in the San Antonio area in the next six months let me know!

Break Out the Razor

So, this week I met with Dr. Kwak(pronounced with an "aw"). As it turns out, he is the head of the lymphoma department. I got the best Dr. at the best cancer center there is. He ordered a few more tests. It seems they get worse as I go.
The first test was a pelvis/abdomen/head/neck CT scan. They made me drink two huge bottles of some nasty stuff, gave me an IV and did something else that I will spare you the details of. That had me feeling pretty sick for a while.
The next mornig was my bone marrow biopsy. Luckily, I was sedated for this one. I won't lie. It was pretty nice. They took two toothpick sized marrow samples from the back of each of my hips. I'm still pretty sore from that one. They also did a heart scan.
Dr. Kwak also informed me that I'm looking at about six months of chemo and radiation after that. Once the hair starts to go I'll need some hat advice. Maybe I'll have a poll. What I won't do is try to hang on to what little hair is left once it starts to go.
The only spiritual thought that I'm having is that we all need to remember what a personal God we serve. He desires to be close to us and give of Himself. That's what love does-give. That's why he created us- to give His love to us.