Headaches...

Over the past 24 hours Nate has had severe headaches. When he lies down it gets worse so he spent most of the night propped up against the couch. Pain medication gave him a few hours of reprieve in the morning and in the evening but the pain never fully went away. He has also started itching mostly on his back and legs which makes it hard to sleep. He is feeling better otherwise and has been able to resume a normal diet. He did a little research online this afternoon and it turns out the water pill he is taking to get rid of the 10-15lbs of water weight he gained during the week is the probable cause of the headaches. Thankfully Monday morning will be the final water pill.

Good To Be Home

Yesterday afternoon Nate's temperature went up to 101.2 so the 3:00p.m. dose was skipped. This was more than fine with Nate since he had planned to ask to skip it anyway. He was given antibiotics and the fever went away by evening. He was also given some Demerol for the chills he felt coming on and that knocked him out for almost 4 hours. When our nurse woke him up at 5p.m. Nate was so convinced he had slept through the night that it took us a while to prove him otherwise. We had a good laugh about it after.

It was decided that Nate would not get the 11p.m. dose because of his worsening side effects. He had a restless night and I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to the sound of him watching t.v. He felt better in the morning and walked 10 laps around the floor. While walking he met and walked with another patient named Brian who is 23 and has had two remissions from brain cancer and is now having to go through treatments a third time. He was just married 12 weeks ago and lives in Grand Rapids. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

We were discharged at 1:00p.m. and it took me 5 loads to get all of the stuff we had accumulated throughout the week to our car in the parking garage. The gentleman working security stopped me after a while and gave me some free valet passes for our next stay.

It feels so good to be home! Nate is feeling tired and has on/off headaches but is in much better shape than yesterday. He is eating a little and drinking a lot. He is currently watching the Red Sox play the Yankees, which is a perfect distraction for him. He has seven prescriptions that he has to take during the next week. These will help him feel better and prepare him for Aug. 4th when he goes back for another week of doses. The kids are scheduled to return home from Nate's parents house sometime Sunday or possibly Monday.

10 doses complete - Week 1

The last day and a half have been much harder. Nate has extreme nausea 4 hours after each dose. He opted to skip the last two 11pm doses in order to have a better night sleep. Last night he didn't sleep well at all even with the skipped dose. Dr. Flaherty came in this morning and said that what he is going through is normal and that his vitals and blood work are all good. He said the last possible dose would be tonight at 11pm. Tomorrow would be for his recovery to return home in the afternoon. The good news is that Nate should bounce back quickly once off treatment.

Nate's mom brought the kids down from Port Huron for a visit around noon. Unfortunately Nate was at his worst and was only able to say Hi and I love you and just a few other things. The kids were wonderful and seemed to understand what was going on. We told them that Daddy was getting medicine that made him feel yucky and sleepy.

Yesterday we had two visitors; Caroline who is our neighbor and is recently in remission from ovarian cancer, and Josh who is a friend from church.

8 doses complete - Week 1

On Tuesday morning we had our first visitor, Felicity. She is a friend who actually works as a Doctor at Karmanos. It's amazing how much having someone visit lifts our spirits. Nate felt well enough in the afternoon to walk 5 laps around the floor and eat a light lunch and dinner. Karen and Carol, from my small group through Genesis, stopped by to visit. They brought us an additional blanket and pillow along with a Panera veggie sandwich that Nate and I shared. Nate started feeling the chills around 7pm and was given a dose of Demerol. We were told it would make him sleepy but would stop the chills immediately. They were right because he fell asleep for three hours waking briefly around 10pm and then slept through the night.

At 7am on Wednesday he was feeling nausea and was given some meds made him fall asleep for a few more hours. Nate's dad came at 11am to visit while I went to a professional development class for school in the afternoon. In my absence Nate walked one lap but spent most the time sleeping. In the evening we had four visitors- Mike, Eric, Donnell, and Tom who brought us some snacks from Trader Joe's along with a sub for Nate. We have found that we really enjoy the visits as they help to break up the day and energize Nate. After everyone left Nate began to feel nausea again so it was decided that he could skip his 11pm dose. Dr. Flaherty said that it hasn't proved more effective to get all of the doses so to skip a few is fine. Nate slept fairly well through the night and received his 8th dose in the morning. He was able to take a shower and do a little email and reading of the paper but only for a short time. At 11 a.m. he surprised me by getting up and walking two laps around the floor. He just needed to get up and stretch his legs.

If all goes as planned we will be headed back home Saturday afternoon for a week of recovery. Then on Monday Aug. 4 its back to Karmanos for a second week of treatments. Then its back home for another week or so of recovery and that will end round 1 of biotherapy. He will have 4-6 weeks before they will do a CT scan to check whether the IL2 is working.

The kids are staying the week up at Nate's parents (Gramodder and Papi as they call them) in Port Huron. For the second week they will be at our house and my mom will come in from Chicago to watch them. Thank you to those who have sent cards, emails, comments, and especially prayers. They mean so much to us.

Starting Biotherapy

Hi everyone, this is Deb. I will be helping update the blog while Nate is receiving treatment over the next few weeks. We checked into Karmanos yesterday so Nate could start receiving High Dose IL2. I found a great online video that gives every detail as to what that is however it is 27 min long so I'll also give you the basics.

High dose Interluken-2 (IL2)
This is a biological therapy not chemotherapy. Biological therapy treatments use your immune system to fight cancer while chemotherapy attacks the cancer cells directly.
Nate has to be in the hospital to receive the treatment because he receives a dose over a fifteen minute period every eight hours through an IV. 7a.m.-3p.m.-11p.m. is his schedule. Also he has to be very closely monitored for side effects which are numerous. He is weighed every morning because the drug almost shuts down his kidneys and he retains water. He could gain up to 4 lbs a day! They say he will lose it all within a couple of days of getting home by taking water pills. He has his vitals taken every two hours which makes for long nights. His blood is also drawn and checked daily. Most common side effects are general flu like symptoms, fatigue, restlessness, flushing and possibly itchy skin, diarrhea, swollen arms and legs, light sensitivity, chills/shakes, and loss of appetite. We were told most patients will get 8-12 doses with the max being 15. Doses are skipped if side effects are too severe.

We checked into Karmanos yesterday afternoon and Nate received his first IL-2 dose at 3p.m. He did great! We were told that most people get really bad chills and shakes soon after the first dose but Nate never got them. He started to feel aches all over a couple hours later along with some restlessness around 10p.m. but was able sleep most of the night. Dr. Flarhety came in at 8 this morning and was impressed as to how well Nate was handling the doses. The only concern was his blood pressure has been low so they will keep a close eye on that. Nate even felt well enough to eat a small breakfast. So far he has had 3 doses and is (as our nurse says) making this look easy.

We have been impressed with Karmanos so far. We were lucky enough to get a private room which is very large and has a nice feel to it. The nurses are wonderful especially Tania who was the first to sit down and go over everything with us. The floor is set up like a rectangle. The are often times patients lapping the halls during their stay (16 laps = 1 mile). We are in room 5219.

Deb

Father's Day

Dad, Mom, and my siblings joined us in Dearborn to celebrate Father's Day.

 

Disney - Part 1

 

 

 

 

Disney - Part 2

 

 

 

 

Slot Car Racing

I have made a number of new friends since being diagnosed with cancer. Bob N. (a colleague at Ford) invited me to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) in the spring. In addition to enjoying the study of scripture I also met a number a really cool guys. Jimmy is one such guy. He has an amazing gift of creating crafts with his hands. Over a number of years Jimmy has built a realistic model scale slot car track in his basement that rivals the best in the world. He invented a way to race 2 slot cars separately on the same track. He has detailed his work on the following website AC2Car

Jimmy was kind enough to invite a number of dads (and moms) plus their kids for a lapping session. Bob and I served as corner workers as the kids gleefully spun their cars out on the tighter corners. Midway through the evening, Landon had mastered shouting CAR DOWN as soon as his car left the slot. Morgan tried her hand at racing but preferred to cheer on from the sidelines.

 

 

Thanks Jimmy for inviting us to such a fun event.

Changing the Treatment Plan

Five weeks have passed since my 6th chemo treatment and my white blood cells have not recovered to a sufficient level. In addition, the cumulative effect of chemo infusions over these past five months has caused major digestive system discomfort. Although the most recent set of CT scans show that the tumors in my lung and liver remain stable, Dr. Flaherty feels that we are plateauing on the benefits of chemo for my cancer treatment. I agree that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to subject me to the "barbaric" side effects of chemo if the drugs are not shrinking my tumors.

Fortunately there are a number of other treatment options available for Stage IV melanoma. For the next round I will be getting a biotherapy treatment called High Dose Interleukin-2 (IL-2). Treatments such as these involve injecting drugs into the body that stimulate the immune system. Essentially my body will perceive it's under attack from a massive infection and increase the immune response. The hope is that the additional white blood cells produced by the immune system will find melanoma cells and destroy them. Side effects resemble those that normally accompany a severe case of the flu. Currently IL-2 is only utilized for melanoma and kidney cancer.

I will get a reprieve from any form of treatment until 21-July to allow my body to recover from the six cycles of chemo. Deb and I will dovetail in a couple of fun vacations in the meantime, a trip to Disney World and a family reunion (my side) on Cape Cod.

Thanks to everyone for keeping us in your prayers. Our God is a mercifully and loving God.