Treatment Vacation

Hey everyone-

I haven't really updated all of you since the treatments ended shortly before Thanksgiving. We all have a lot to be thankful for. I, for one, was just pretty thankful to be around for Thanksgiving and with my family. I hope that each of you had such a good Thanksgiving.

I have been on what I have been calling "Treatment Vacation". Basically, I completed the radiation treatment and the overlapping Chemo. Now I have to wait for about 30 days for everything to cool down up in my head. The various doctors need to do a follow up MRI to see how everything is going. However, the MRI cannot be done until the effects of the treatments wear off for about 30 days.

The next MRI has been scheduled for 12/14, along with a bunch of doctor appointments for the same day. Then we should know what the next steps are. I will accept plenty of prayers from all of you good people. That always helps!

I am feeling pretty well at the moment. The week right after the treatments ended, I didn't feel so great. Mostly really tired and a few aches, etc. This is probably b/c all of the treatments are cummulative and b/c at the same time I stopped taking a steroid that I had been taking. That steroid makes you feel pretty darn good....until you stop taking it. After a week or so of that, I started feeling better again.

So what is next? After the MRI on 12/14, I will likely go back on chemo treatment regardless of what the MRI shows. Even if everything is great with the MRI, I will probably take 6 months worth of chemo cycles. The cycles will likely be 5 days on, followed by 23 days off to recover. These cycles may have more impact on me than the 42 day straight cycle I just finished, b/c the dosage will probably be significantly higher for the new cycles. I will keep all of you appraised of the next steps.

Other news? I am back behind the wheel....so watch out. I got approved to drive again and am no longer caged up in my house. I had an EEG test (which basically shows what kind of electrical activity your brain is putting out) to be reviewed to see if I could drive. They reviewed the EEG and said that everything looked good and told me I was free to drive. I spent some time getting up to speed by driving slowly on the local roads for a little while and yesterday made my first drive to the office. I am also very thankful for the ability to drive myself around. I also am very thankful for those of you that drove me around for the last few weeks. I am a terrible back seat driver. In particular, my wife and my dad have taken the brunt of my back seat driving.

I should have written this part on Thanksgiving Day, but--all of you blog readers should take a moment, take a deep breath and think about all that we have to be thankful for. I am certainly thankful for all of you.

Much love.
SRS