Enjoy the Day!

Jan 15, 2009 at 6:01 PM
7 comments

I guess I'm winding the blog down a bit. I know that's obvious as my entry's are getting few and far between. That's a good thing - there's been little to report. I hope to keep it open for a couple years, making the occasional entry, and then mark 5 years after diagnosis - and then they'll call me cured! My Day to Day is now on Facebook where I invite my new Vox friends to "befriend me" :) I am grateful to Vox for allowing me this blog service. It has been theraputic for me and hopefully informative to my friends and family and other Cancer patients. And of course I'm grateful to my friends, new and old, for making this blog a nice place for me to retreat to during my treatment. I needed it. Thank You.

soooo..... the past 6 months have been relatively care-free health-wise. I still take 100 mg of Mercatopurine (6-mp) daily and 20 mg of Methotrexate weekly. I'll say this about my maintainance therapy 1.5-2 years after diagnosis - I feel like my slightly compromised immune system (from the slightly lower blood levels) cause me to suffer colds and flu's longer. I've been sick 3 times this past year (once for almost 2 months last spring) and twice took antibiotics to help me over "the hump." I'm currently at the tail end of the flu and started antibiotics today because I know now "the tail end" can last for a long time. A couple times, while sick, I felt that familiar "Chemo tired" for a day or 2. But when I'm not sick I feel fine aside from the occassional head congestion I attribute to the chemo - particularly on Friday mornings after I take both medications (thursday night). I'll find out if this is chemo-related in 3 months because....

that's when I stop taking chemotherapy! No more (life-giving) poison in my system! I can barely imagine it! I went to the clinic today and saw Dr. Linker and he suprised me by saying I would be done in April. I had discussed this the last clinic visit with Pricilla (my NP) and she said It would be October before I stopped. I am very curious about how my body will respond after this momentous occassion. Will I feel like Superman? I hope so! I'm just looking forward to catching a cold for a week only! I also found out today my blood levels were stable, where they should be and that my liver is functioning well. woo hoo!

So that's it. I'm in a wonderful mood because of today's report and Dr. Linker surprise. I hope everyone is well and happy! Enjoy yourselves! much love!

Here is a couple fairly recent photos from my trip to Doha, Qatar for tennis and Kochi, India for pleasure:

Kochi and I

Qatar Camel and I

7 comments

Comments

[this is good]

Terrific news. Thanks so much for the update!
See you on Facebook? Oh, a belated Happy New Year and I believe it's going to be a terrific one for you!

Hi JP. Happy New Year! yeah, look me up on facebook! let's both have great years! Chris

Awsome news buddy!!!! You deserve this. See you Sunday night. Wave in the camera. I'll be looking for your mug.
Frank

Hi Chris!

My name is Jonathon Rose. I'm 33 years old and I was diagnosed with ALL on January 21st of this year. I've been through the initial induction therapy with a hospital stay of a few weeks. Now, I'm doing 2nd phase of my induction with having chemo 4 times a week. It's getting hard to stay positive. But I'm on Avitan and Prozac for anxiety and it seems to be helping.

While I do live in South Bend, Indiana, I've been getting treatment at the University of Chicago by a doctor named Dr. Artz. He's very good and treats me very well. His regiment plan originally hoped that I would be in remission 30 days into my treatment. Unfortunately, my Leukemia was not in remission by that time, so now we are preparing for a bone marrow transplant probably to take place sometime in April.

Is there a reason that you didn't have to go through that? I read quite a few of your posts, but maybe I missed something about you not having to have a transplant.

My wife and I started a blog when I was diagnosed - that can be found here: http://jonathonrose.blogspot.com/

I post almost daily on there to keep everyone updated.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated as it looks like you've already been through so much. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared about the days ahead, but I'm doing my best to stay positive and I'm surrounding myself with family and friends who care about me. You can send me an email at jrose2@nd.edu, if you like. I'd love to hear some advice from someone near my age group who's been through this. Everyone I've met so far is much older than me so it can be hard to relate to.

I'm glad to see you're doing well and are healthy. I hope the future stays bright for you and your chemo will be cut as short as possible.

Thank you for taking the time to read my comment.

~Jonathon Rose

Hi Jonathon. very nice to hear from you. I know things are tough for you right now. try to find things that make you laugh and keep faith in your treatment. My cancer went into remission so I didn't have to go the bone marrow transplant route. If it comes back, I will go that route. I met many folks who had successful bone marrow transplants. I also used much ativan to help me relax ans sleep. I think anything to keep your mood up is good. I'll check out your blog and get back in touch. I'm working a lot this month but I'll try to get back to you soon. hang in there! you'll be back on your feet in no time! Chris