new plan

Hello again! I'm sorry it's been awhile since I updated this. There are a couple reasons for this. One, I had a rough week. And two, I wanted to wait until after my doctor's appointment today. I've had several appointments since I last updated this. Last Tuesday I met with my oncologist. He wanted to wait a little longer for my thyroid to calm down before starting another treatment. I also had an appointment with the endocrinologist on Friday. I'm still on a couple of drugs for my thyroid. Unfortunately they take a couple of weeks to reach full effect so that is probably why my thyroid is still overactive. It's really been making me feel bad. I'm hoping that it will calm down soon.

Jess and I went down to my parents this weekend and had a good time with them and my sister and her husband. I wasn't feeling good, but the warmth of family helped me get through the weekend. We didn't really do much because I tire quickly with physical activity. A lot of relaxing, played some games - just what I needed probably.

Today was an eventful day. I had an appointment with my oncologist this morning. He said last week that he would have a plan for me by today (this thyroid thing apparently is really complicating things). So I'm not going back on the interleukin-2 treatment that I had in the hospital several weeks ago. That treatment would interact negatively with my thyroid medication. He did have a treatment plan for me today though. It involves infusions of three chemotherapy drugs every day for four days, then two weeks off, and then the same four day treatment again. After two 4-day treaments like this, I'll get a new set of scans and they'll decide whether it is working or not. If it seems to be working then I could end up having 4-6 rounds of this treament.

The surprising thing was that I started the treatment today! They sent me right over to the infusion center at the hospital and it took about 4 or 5 hours then to get the treatment. I was surprised because it just seems you always have to wait another week for the next thing to happen. I'm excited that I could get going on this right away. The infusion wasn't the most fun I've ever had, but it was bearable. It sounds like the main side effects are nausea and vomiting, however, I'm on two anti-nausea drugs during the infusion and I have two other for use at home so hopefully it won't be too bad. In any case I only have three more days of infusions this week!

The odds of success with this treament are similar to the interleukin-2 treament. It works for about 1 in 10. When it works, the results are great - long-term remission. I figure that I've always been a little different so there is no doubt that it will work for me. :)

Well, I guess that is it for now. I really want to try to update this twice a week instead of once a week - I'll do my best. Thanks to all who posted to the blog. It was fun to read all your notes and I really appreciate your support!!

Take care,
Brian

Change of plans

Well, I've been meaning to put a new posting here for a week now, but am only now getting around to it. Last week was a pretty interesting and busy week that did not go according to plan. My plan was that I'd feel spectacular by Sunday and enjoy the rest of the week. But my recovery from the IL-2 treatment was slower than I thought it would be. Then on Wednesday, things started to get complicated.

I started to get a real jittery feeling and my heart was racing. On Thursday I had an appointment with the oncologist to check up on my status. My heart rate was very high during this appointment and they told me that I had hyperthyroidism and that needed to be taken care of before they could do anymore IL-2 treatment. So I saw some endocrine people on Friday who said my thyroid hormone levels were higher than they had ever seen in their careers. Not exactly a record I was hoping to hold! They told me I needed to be admitted to the hospital so they could watch me. To make a long story short, we were in the hospital from about 9-7 on Friday and then they finally decided it was safe for me to go home. It was a long and stressful day, but at least they got me on some medicine to take care of the hyperthyroidism.

So here I am on a Monday morning and I won't be in the hospital this week. Not sure about next week either. I'll be seeing my oncologist tomorrow and the endocrine people on Friday - I guess they'll decide if I'm fit for more treatment yet. Overall I'm doing ok I guess. Last week was more difficult than I expected. It's hard to keep my spirits up at all times, but I'm trying!

I guess that is it for now. I'll update as I learn more!

First posting

This is my first try at creating a blog. Really the only reason I want a blog is to update all the friends and family who have been praying for me during my treatments for melanoma. I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support through prayers, cards, letters, and phone calls.

I just returned from my first week of treatment at the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor. I'm on a treatment called interleukin-2 which has shown good promise at ridding the body of stage 4 melanoma. I had to stay in the hospital from Monday to Friday this past week, receiving treatments every 8 hours or as often as my body would allow. I was able to receive 9 doses in total this week.

Side effects included heart racing, low blood pressure, and other general non-fun things. The doctors thought I tolerated the treatment quite well though. One of the more interesting things that happened during the week was that I turned a lovely shade of yellow. Maybe you didn't want to know this, but apparently I'll be getting rid of this yellow color through my urine. Pretty cool.

I'm supposed to be feeling better before I go in for my next treatment a week from Monday. I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow!

I've got some fun things to look forward to this week. My sister and brother-in-law will be stopping by to see me tomorrow. Also my fantasy football draft is tomorrow evening - pretty much the most exciting sports event to occur since March Madness. Thinking about going to a Tiger game on Monday if I feel up to it (up to seeing the Tigers lose, that is). Then heading down to my parents on Thursday after a doctor's appointment to see all my family for a couple of days.

Well, that's my blog for now. Please keep Jess and I in your thoughts and prayers - physically, spiritually, emotionally. I'll try to get this blog location distributed and keep it updated as much as possible.

Peace and love,
Brian