Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I can't believe its December!

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to shoot a quick update out on the blog. I have finished 4 full rounds of my second dosage level of chemotherapy. I am headed to Houston on Wed AM with my brother in-law Tyler, for a series of tests, and a meeting with my primary doctor on Thursday morning. Hopefully I will be on here on Thursday evening with some more great news. This has been a tough year to say the least, and I am looking forward to a great 2010! So far so good on how I am handling this current dosage, it consists of 10 days of chemo in a row, with 9 days off in-between. The major side-effect is usually a bad case of "the runs." I have been fortunate to not experience that yet, nor any issues with nausea, mouth sores, or weight loss (I think I'm the only cancer patient in the world to gain 20 pounds during this process, hahaha.) I'm trying to get up enough guts to ask the doctor "how long do I have to do chemo for?" but I'm not quite there yet! I think I can at least get comfortable with asking "what can I expect in 2010 as far as chemo treatments?" Its easy to be scared sometimes knowing the full truth and wondering how that would effect your long term outlook on the whole situation, but I'm at least ready to ask the sort-of truth for the near future, haha.

We are now at almost a full year from diagnosis, and 11 months of treatment. I have some big decisions to make over the next few weeks with respect to job, living situation, etc. Please keep me in your thoughts as I try and make some of these tough life decisions. The support continues to be tremendous, as I continue to hear from so many people both from my past, and current life on a daily basis. Its cool to see how many people reach out to you in tough times like this. I hope to have great news on progress, as well as a better idea of the total plan for treatment for 2010 the next time I post later this week. Again, I have tests Wed. of this week, and meet with the doctor THU. AM. Please root for great news! All of your prayers have continued to be such a blessing!

Thanks Everybody!

Andrew

5 comments:

Sue Reifeiss said...

Hey Andrew-
I'll tell you why you've gained 20 pounds. You've had all the women in your family taking care of you and feeding you!!! I pray you'll get good news at your next doctor visit. I know it has to be scary. In spite of it all, you still have that same crazy sense of humor. Merry Christmas.
Sue Reifeiss

Chris said...

Andrew...you have so many people in St. Louis thinking about you all the time. Good luck this week...we'll be sending positive thoughts and prayers...Chris Clark (Jimmy' mom)!

Laurie and Alan said...

Yes, Merry Christmas Andrew! You are in our thoughts and our prayers, as always. I know that many, many souls are shooting prayers up for you continually, that is powerful!

So good to hear you are doing so well with the chemo and all, keep it up!

Paul Beeman said...

Andrew!!!! Miss ya dude. Happy Festivus.

Anonymous said...

Hey Andrew!

Great to hear chemo is going well! You're in my thoughts as we wait to hear more good news from your visit to Houston!

Stacey