Sid Bacon

This is just a brief update to let you know that, among other things, I was discharged this morning from the hospital.  It is great to be home!
 

I met this morning with someone from a pain management team … this was the primary reason I was in the hospital.  They specialize in managing pain in cancer patients. We talked about various options, including a permanent pump that would deliver medicine directly to a nerve site in my body, thus allowing more precise control of pain with considerably (200-300 times) less medicine.  We decided I wasn’t quite at the stage where I needed that. Instead, we are going to try to control the pain with an increased dosage of my pain patch.  I am content with that decision. If need be, we can go with the pump later.  For now, we are taking the less-invasive approach.
 

I had a CT scan yesterday.  On the bright side, there is no longer evidence of cancer on my liver and no new signs of cancer.  On the negative side, the main tumor is slightly larger (though still significantly smaller than it was at the beginning of this journey).  This could be a true growth in the tumor or an inflammation.  It is also the case that my gall bladder is distended, which could cause some of my symptoms.  
 

I am going to have chemotherapy tomorrow, but we are going back to the original regimen.  We know that it was successful the first time and, moreover, I tolerated the treatment extremely well, particularly during the last several months.  I am fortunate that the medical team at Piper does not have to follow the protocol and have me go through six months of the more toxic chemotherapy.  Instead, they are in a position to do what is best for me, and that is precisely what they want to do.
 

In some ways, it is like we have gone back to the beginning of this journey, except there is less cancer in my body and I am considerably stronger.  I am optimistic that this chemotherapy will fight my cancer successfully and – to the extent that my symptoms are caused by the disease – will help mitigate my symptoms and help me feel better.  I sure have a lot of people working hard for me; we are all doing our best.
 

Thanks for your support! This is quite a journey … quite a fight … I definitely could not do this alone.

It is so good to be out of the hospital …
 

It was so good to be home last night and to sleep in my own bed, untethered!

Cathy and I are now at Piper, waiting for me to receive my pre-meds before the chemotherapy drugs.  I had an excellent exam today.  We talked for a while about “hope”.  It was uplifting.  When we started this journey in early February, I was so sick that there seemed to be little hope.  After time, that changed.  The chemotherapy was successful and there was every indication that we were beating this disease – the tumor marker kept decreasing (and ultimately hovered in the normal range for several months) as did the size of the tumors.  We had a considerable amount of hope, and it wasn’t a false hope.  But the last two months have been quite difficult, with worsening symptoms and, quite frankly, decreasing hope.  It is hard to be optimistic all the time, particularly when things are not going well. The tumor marker has, as you know, increased slightly, as has the main tumor on the pancreas, but the tumors on the liver have essentially disappeared … so at least there has been some good news.  So, getting back to hope … the medical team at Piper is quite hopeful that they will get the tumor marker back down to normal, that the scans will improve, and that we may get to the point of treating this as a chronic disease.  It isn’t clear whether there will be a ‘cure’ in my lifetime, but with additional funding and bright, dedicated researchers, who knows?

I am so thankful to be under the care of the Piper team.  I don’t know what I’d do without them!

When we were waiting in the lobby today, Cathy picked up a brochure for the 7th Annual stepNout Run Walk Dash.  This is an event to raise money for pancreatic cancer research. It includes a 5-k run, a 5-k walk, a 1-mile family fun run/walk and a 50-yard dash for children under 12 years.  The event takes place on 4 November 2012 at Kiwanis Park in Tempe, AZ.  Cathy and I will be registering online at www.helptgen.org. I will register as a pancreatic cancer survivor, and will plan to do the 5-k walk (I plan for Cathy to win the 5-k run!). Registration fees increase by $5 after 19 October.  It would be great if some other members of Team Bacon could participate … we’d love to see you there.
 

The pre-meds are now done and we are just waiting for the chemotherapy drugs to arrive.  It takes about an hour to infuse them into my system.  Cathy will have to leave before I am done in order to go teach her class at ASU. Fortunately, Laura will be able and willing to pick me up and take me home. It is great to have such support from my family.

I am truly blessed to have so much support from so many people.  I thank you all for your support.  It means so much to Cathy and me.

I feel like we have put our fighting gloves back on and that we’ve stepped back into the ring to fight this disease with our best weapons.  It is time to start throwing some knock-out punches!

It is always great to reach Friday …
 

Dan decided to come a day early … he arrived last night about 10:00. It is so great that we get an extra day with him.  Cathy, Dan, and I had a personal appointment this morning at Piper with a holistic nurse who guided us through some restorative yoga poses.  It was very nice; I am sure that Cathy and I will take advantage of that wonderful service many more times in the future. Piper offers so many great services for their cancer patients.  Along those lines … I think we also will meet with the nutritionist again, to get some new ideas on weight gain.  That is something that is really important for me, as I am down about 13 pounds … I am certainly optimistic that I’ll gain those back; it just takes me a long time. (I lose them quickly, but gain them slowly … some people would love that problem.)
 

Laura also is going to spend the weekend with us, and Cathy’s brother, John, will be here from Denver as well. It will be nice to have everyone around.  I wish I could feel even better while they are here, but fortunately I’m doing pretty well and will definitely enjoy their company as much as possible.
 

I have done quite well with yesterday’s chemo treatment.  About 3 hours after getting home, I got real tired and was pretty much out for the evening.  I also took a short nap this afternoon, but otherwise I have felt pretty good. Just a little more tired than “usual”, with just a touch of nausea.
 

My back pain is not too bad, but it is more severe than the pain management team wanted, so tomorrow when we replace my pain patches we will increase the dosage of the patches just a bit more.  That should do it.  At least I certainly hope so!
 

Cathy and I went on a short walk this morning (after she had gone on a long run).  I wasn’t feeling real strong, which is why the walk was short (and slow), but I felt it was important to get out and move around at least a bit.  It is one aspect of my fight against this disease.
 

I am so happy to have a Team of supporters, who are helping me with this fight and giving me hope at every step of the way. Cathy and I sincerely appreciate it. We can’t thank you enough.
 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  I will write more on Monday.

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  We certainly did.  It was great having Dan, Laura, and John around. I was in quite a bit of pain throughout the weekend, but I felt better just having everyone here.  I’m not sure why we can’t manage the pain yet, but we’ll get there (soon, I hope!).

ASU has a fall break, today and tomorrow.  I hope we can take advantage of the short time off and perhaps go to a movie or do something to distract me from my pain.

Dan plans to return to Phoenix in less than two weeks, possibly for a longer stay this time.  Whatever time he gets to spend here will be great, but of course the more time he is here the better for us.  I certainly do not want to pressure him to come, as he has so much going on with his work and graduate classes … but he genuinely seems to want to come and he does appear to enjoy his time when he is here (Dan has a good time wherever he is).  One thing is for certain: he takes very good care of his dad while he is here.  I am lucky to have two grown children who are so attentive.

Cathy got up early today and went on a run.  I got up a bit later, fixed coffee, got the paper, and welcomed her home with a fresh pot of java.  After a cup of coffee, we went on a very slow walk.  I am a bit nauseous today, in part because I am not wearing my anti-nausea patch.  Those patches are most effective one day after adhesion, and they last at most one week.  We used to replace the patch on Sundays, when we anticipated chemo on Monday. Now I want to shift it to Wednesday for our Thursday treatments.  During these few days without an anti-nausea patch I am taking anti-nausea pills. They are working pretty well. I certainly feel well enough to eat, although I do not have much of an appetite.  Cathy and I are meeting with the nutritionist at Piper on Thursday to get some more ideas for healthy weight gain. She helped us before and I’m sure she’ll be able to help us again.

We had fall temperatures on Friday and Saturday (highs in the upper 70s to low 80s), but are now facing a week of highs in the mid 90s.  The mornings and evenings are still nice, but I’m ready for those upper 70s to low 80s to return!  I just need to be patient; they will be here soon.

We are certainly dealing with a bump in our recovery road.  It has been a fairly long one. Cathy is holding my hand through it all, giving me strength and support at each step of the way.  It isn’t easy for either of us, but all the support we are receiving sure helps.  Thank you for all you are doing.  Your entries in the guestbook give us great pleasure, and your thoughts and prayers give us great comfort.  Thanks for everything!

Cathy and I had a relaxing day yesterday.  We didn’t leave the house, as we were waiting most of the day for the pain management clinic to call back and schedule an appointment. We had hoped to get in yesterday, but instead our appointment is today at 12:30.  I am anxious to see how they propose to deal with the continued pain.  It is higher than their goal, and certainly higher than I want.

Cathy and I slept in this morning and enjoyed coffee and the newspaper on the back patio.  The mornings are absolutely gorgeous.  We then went on a walk; Cathy went just over half-way with me and then went on her run.  My walk was almost 40 minutes long, at a reasonable pace … pretty good for me at this point in time.

After we got back from our exercise, it was time for breakfast.  We just finished breakfast together on the back patio, which is where I am writing this blog. It will be in the 90s a bit later, but for now …

On our walk this morning, I talked about the fact that this bump is much harder because I can compare it to the time when I was doing so fantastically well (e.g., back in June and July).  I don’t want to look longingly back at those times, because it is painful and disappointing to not be there again right now.  Cathy made a good point: I should look at the time when I was feeling great as an inspiration.  I should strive for that time again, knowing that I can get there … it may just take some time.  She also said we should go back to celebrating small steps, as it will take a series of such steps to get back to where I want and need to be.  She is so wise, and such a great companion. I know this is hard on her, but she is holding up like a rock. I certainly couldn’t do this without her.

Indeed, this fight is a real team effort.  No one fights alone, and I certainly feel the support from so many people from around the states and the world. I can’t thank you enough for being there for me.  It means a great deal to Cathy and me.  Let’s keep up the fight!  Round 2 of the old chemo regimen is scheduled for Thursday.  It will be successful, and I’ll start feeling a bit better day-by-day, week-by-week.  We’ll treasure each positive step, however small, and will continue with great determination. We must be successful. We can do it together.