Cycle #4

Well, this is it, the last week of chemotherapy!!!  I honestly can't believe it is already here.  After the 1st cycle I didn't think I could make it through but now that I'm almost done it feels like it has gone by so fast.  I'm definatly grateful for that.  I know this week is going to be brutal but I'm not worried because my outlook now is so completely different from what it was in the beginning.  I'm so grateful for good friends that help keep me distracted, a loving wife who is always by my side, a great job that I am so looking forward to going back to and the most supportive family in the world (at least from my perspective) !!! 

I know I've been terrible at writing on the blog and I've kept a lot of people in the dark for a few weeks.  My good friend Rob hit the nail on the head in his comment on my last post, I've been feeling good and have been so busy that I've almost forgotten about writing.  My wife sort of scolded me a little bit last night.  She said she's sure people would enjoy reading that I'm doing well and enjoying myself so I should be writing on my good weeks as well as my bad weeks.  I feel bad for not writing but we have been busy getting ready for Christmas and spending time with my girls so I don't feel too bad. 

Over the last 2 weeks I've been trying to enjoy some good family time and have been trying to eat as much yummy food as I can.  For anyone who can go, I'd definatly recommend 5 Guys Burgers and Fries.  We just got one in Spokane and its right across the road from Noelle's work on the South Hill.  Brynnley and I met her there for lunch one day.  Yummy yummy!  I've also been spending a lot of time in my "Man Cave" playing with my Christmas presents.  Building shelves, calibrating speakers, painting and moving furniture around...  It's such a man thing but boy has it been fun. 

Since I will be out of commission this weekend, we decided that Santa was going to come early to our house.  He came yesterday and it was awesome to watch Brynnley get so excited.  She's at a stage where she is starting to really grasp the meanings of some things so we've tried to teach her some of the true meaning of Christmas.  It's pretty cool when she remembers that we are celebrating Christ's birthday before she remembers that Santa is coming to bring her presents.  But, boy did that girl get a lot of new toys!  So much so that she had a little toy meltdown by mid-morning and needed a break.  It was a lot of fun watching her tear through wrapping paper and get excited about everything.  The steak and king crab we had for dinner on our Christmas Eve was a really nice treat as well!

As far as chemotherapy goes, my body is getting sick and tired of these drugs.  While I've felt good overall, I get knocked back to reality when I go in to have my blood checked.  I was in having it checked 3-4 times in the last 2 weeks and I've also had 5 neupogen shots.  I'm borderline neutropenic.  In addition, I've been anemic and my platelets have been low.  It's super fun to walk up the stairs and be so winded that I have to sit down.  The doctors say my bone marrow is tired and taking longer to recover from each treatment.  It also means that I feel the effects of the neupogen even more.  The last two shots where effective in boosting my numbers but holy crap were they miserable.  The hip/back and joint pain was ridiculous and they made me slightly nauseated.  It was not very fun few days.  I've been extremely lucky to not catch a cold or any type of infection so far.  I think even a common cold might land me in the hospital at this point.  We are keeping our fingers crossed.