Sid Bacon

I can certainly tell the difference after the transfusion.  I have more energy than I’ve had the past couple weeks.  I do, however, think I need to modify my expectations.  I was hoping that I’d have more energy than I’ve had for months.  Instead, I think the transfusion will bring my red blood cell count back to where it was several weeks ago, giving me the energy level I had then.  Still, I’ll take it, because even then I had considerably more energy than I have had recently.  I look forward to having that much energy for the weekend.  I’ll continue to rest and take it easy, conserving most of my energy for the evening wedding and reception.  I can’t wait!
 

This will be my last blog or journal entry until early next week.  We will be having company coming into town soon and I will be busy with them and various pre-wedding activities.  I will try to get a picture from the wedding that I can post on my next entry.
 

Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend!

At Arizona State University, there is a mountain behind our football stadium that is known as “A Mountain”.  It is so named because of the large “A” located on it.  The A is usually painted gold, in honor of our team colors of maroon and gold.  At times, it gets painted a different color or colors.  For example, when we play the University of Arizona, students from the U of A usually paint (or at least try to paint) the A red and blue in honor of their team colors.  After 9/11, our nephew Andy and other then-ASU students painted the A red, white, and blue.  Today, the A is painted purple … I was told it was in honor of my courage and strength on this Friday the 13th   - “a new perspective”.  This Friday the 13th is certainly better than the one in January when I first learned of the mass on my pancreas and spots on my liver. 

The picture I’ve shown here is the painting in progress.  I’ll write more on my second entry.

I have been feeling quite good these past two days.  My energy level is certainly way up.  If I continue feeling this way (and there is no reason to believe I won’t), then I should make it through the wedding with flying colors. I can’t wait!

The ceremony started at 6:00 and the dinner and dance ended at 11:00. Everyone seemed to have a great time.  And I am happy to say that I had plenty of energy throughout.  I managed to dance off and on throughout the night and even managed to satisfy Laura and Dan’s wishes by performing the robot in the middle of the dance floor (sorry, but no repeat performances for a very long time …).  All in all, we couldn’t have asked for a lovelier wedding or more enjoyable party. 
 

After a couple trips to the airport yesterday, Cathy and I went to Piper for a blood draw and chemotherapy.  Unfortunately, my platelet count was too low for treatment.  Even without chemo drugs in my system, my platelet count tends to be on the low side of what is considered normal.  When the count is as low as it is now, they cannot treat with chemotherapy, because the chemo will drive the number of platelets down even lower.  We went back to Piper today for another blood draw.  We haven’t heard what the platelet count was today, but we are hopeful that my body will start producing more platelets quickly enough that we’ll be able to have chemo later this week or next Monday.  As far as the clinical trial goes, we are just going to consider this a skipped treatment that we won’t make up.  That is mildly disappointing, because I want the chemo in me doing its thing to my tumors, but there isn’t anything I can do about this, so we’ll just have to keep a positive attitude and realize that one reason my platelets are so low is that the chemo drugs are accumulating in my body and fighting the cancer, even without the additional dose yesterday.  So, we are still fighting, even without new treatment.  But we hope to get that next treatment in just a few days.  I’ll certainly keep you posted.

We got a phone call from Piper yesterday afternoon.  My platelet count increased from 23,000 to 30,000 in one day … definitely the correct direction.  We have an appointment for Friday at 7:00 AM for a blood draw and possible chemotherapy treatment.  The plan is to give my body a few more days to generate another 20,000 or so platelets, which would enable us to treat.  If we don’t hit that target Friday morning, we’ll try again Monday morning.  I am confident that we’ll be able to have chemo either Friday or Monday, and am hopeful that it is Friday (as much as we like Piper and the people there, it is a 45-minute drive from our house, so it would be nice to get it all done on Friday; each day we have to travel there is a day that pulls Cathy away from her work and potentially messes up her schedule, though she never complains about that at all! .. she always cheerfully rearranges her schedule, making sure that she is available for me whenever needed … what would I do without her?).  Between now and Friday, pray for and think positively about my body generating lots of platelets.  We can do it!
 

I told Cathy today on our daily walk that I feel more “normal” now than I have for a very long time.  The blood transfusion took care of my anemia, so I have more energy than I’ve had for several weeks.  My blood pressure has increased, so I am no longer light-headed.  My appetite is back and I’m eating more and more each day.  Associated with the increased appetite is the fact that my nausea is at bay.  My pain is completely managed; under the guidance of the medical personnel at Piper, we are working to decrease the pain medication, as the less medication I need to take the better.  We recently lowered the dosage of my pain patch, and recently extended the patch replacement from 60 to 72 hours.  In another few days, we plan to reduce the dosage further, keeping with the 72-hour replacement schedule. If I tolerate that for a week or so, then we’ll reduce the dosage a bit more.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to go off the patch completely just yet, but we are getting close to the smallest dosage available.  I can’t tell you how good it feels to feel this good … I know that I will have days when I don’t feel this good, but I’ll take these and appreciate them as much as possible.  I feel lucky!
 

Dan and Liz will be coming by this morning to pack their car and drive back to San Diego.  They have had a fun few days in Phoenix (kind of a mini-honeymoon … the real honeymoon, to Costa Rica, is planned for this summer).  They have more gifts than will fit in their car, so they are planning to store things at our house.  I just hope it means they will come back frequently to get the rest of their loot … not that we mind storing it at our house, but we look forward to having them back as often as possible. Perhaps I’ll limit the number of boxes they can take back on any one trip … would one small box be fair?  I think so!  Of course, as the weather heats up here (forecast has a few days in the low 100s this week), it may be that Cathy and I will need to plan trips to San Diego.  If we drive, we can probably fit one small box into our car per trip … If we fly, then I’m afraid the airlines will limit us to our regular carry-on and we just won’t be of much help with the gifts.  Oh well.  Liz and Dan, please come back often.