Sid Bacon

As always, it is great to get to the end of the week.  This has been a relatively good week for me.  I am pleased with the lack of nausea and the increase in appetite.  I have just started a new medication, thought possibly to increase longevity in patients with pancreatic cancer, whose potential side effect includes nausea.  Most people tolerate the drug well; I hope I am one of them.  We’ll soon see.  If I do well with the drug this week, we’ll double the dose for the following weeks.
 

We had a wonderful evening last night with our friends, Mary and John, and their delightful son Johnnie. We enjoyed a BBQ meal outside Gammage Auditorium just prior to the show “Memphis”.  And then we enjoyed front-row seats at the play!  Wow, what an experience!  The energy level on stage was palpable.  Everything about the play was fantastic, and it was so much fun to be so close to the action to experience it all.  The evening couldn’t have been better.  We are so lucky to have such great friends. They do more for us than they realize.
 

And now we gear up for company for the weekend. Dan and our nephew, Andy, will arrive tonight. Their ETAs are within an hour of one another.  Laura will pick both of them up at the airport and bring them to our house.  Cathy’s sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Kevin, will arrive tomorrow morning. We’ll have an enjoyable houseful of family and fun.  They will all be here until Monday.  And then my sister, Su, arrives Tuesday afternoon for a couple days. She wants to be here for one of my chemotherapy treatment days, so I better build lots of platelets between now and Wednesday.  I am taking a prescription-level dose of folic acid in hopes of doing just that.  I am not overly optimistic, but I am hopeful.
 

It has been raining this morning, so we haven’t gone on a walk yet.  Perhaps we’ll sneak one in later today if there is time (and the weather is permitting), or else we’ll call it a day of rest.  Rest is good.
 

I feel fortunate that the worst side effect I experience from chemo is fatigue. That is easy to deal with.  I hope I am able to participate in the festivities of the weekend (I don’t plan to run the race … I am happy to forgo that activity), but if I am not, I know that everyone will understand.  That sure takes the pressure off.  Indeed, our friends and family all understand my situation and are very flexible in working around how I feel at any given moment.  I am grateful for that. 
 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  As always, I am grateful for your love and support.  It means so much to Cathy and me; I really can’t underscore that enough.
 

I may not write again until Tuesday, as we’ll still have company on Monday …
 

Until then … Go Team Bacon!

The weather has been changing dramatically.  On Saturday the high was probably in the 50s; today it should reach into the low 80s; and later this week it will reach into the low 90s.  It is a little early for the 90s, but Cathy and I prefer the warmer temperatures over the cooler ones.  And I’m sure the temperatures will drop back down to the 70s and 80s in the near future. It should be nice.
 

We enjoyed the spring training game on Saturday.  It was a close game, although we didn’t brave the weather long enough to see the entire game. The Rockies scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning to beat the Angels (I had to read that in the paper, as we left during the 7th inning stretch …).
 

My sister, Su, will be arriving this afternoon; she goes back to Kansas City on Thursday morning.  She wanted to be here for one of my chemo days. We’ll go to Piper tomorrow, but who knows if I’ll get chemotherapy treatment (the platelet count has to be 50,000 or higher).  I certainly hope I do.  We need to keep that in our arsenal, as we fight this terrible disease.
 

I have been feeling good this past week or so.  I have been eating well and have not been experiencing much if any pain.  What a treat!  I sure hope I’ve gained a pound or two.  I certainly have been trying.
 

As always, I want to thank you for all your love and support.  It is much appreciated. 
 

Go Team Bacon!

We are at Piper; they have drawn blood and are now giving me fluids.  The fluids have become part of the routine, as they tend to make me feel better and certainly keep me hydrated. I’ll feel even better if my platelet count is sufficiently high to have chemotherapy today …

I neither gained nor lost weight at weigh-in today.  I keep thinking that I’ll start gaining weight, given that I have an appetite again.  I guess I’ll have to work a little harder.  I’ve noticed that I have less of an appetite at dinner, so perhaps I’ll particularly need to eat more at breakfast and lunch.  Despite not having a big appetite at dinner, I still seem to have a good appetite for dessert after dinner.  Cathy made an apple pie last night, and I had no trouble eating that with vanilla ice cream!

We are planning to meet Laura for lunch today, so she can see her aunt Su. Laura works construction, and the house she is working on is fairly close to Piper.  We may go to a nearby Chipotle, because Cathy’s prize for taking second place in her division in the Mountain to Fountain race was dinner for four at Chipotle.  It is hard to beat a “free” dinner.

I have noticed that we are almost at 50,000 visits to my Caring Bridge web site.  I think we’ll hit that milestone today … the question is: who will be the one to be the 50,000 visitor?  I must say, I am truly overwhelmed by the support this number represents.  As we sit here at Piper discussing this milestone, we realized that the number 50,000 has great significance – we need my platelet count to be 50,000 or greater.  Maybe this is an omen.  I sure hope so. 

Well, the results are in and the platelet count is too low to have chemo today.  I’m disappointed, of course, but it is what it is.  There is a slight chance that we could get chemo on Friday, as I have to come back Friday morning to have blood work done again (to make sure the platelets are increasing and not still decreasing).  We’ll see. It may be that we routinely go to two weeks on, two weeks off, rather than three weeks on, one week off. That has certainly been the trend anyway, given my consistently low platelet count at week three.

Although I am disappointed in my platelet count, I am not disappointed in the support I receive from so many of you.  I am truly fortunate to have your love and support, and I can’t thank you enough.

Go Team Bacon!

The temperatures are really warming up in Phoenix; the high yesterday was in the upper 80s, whereas today it will be in the low 90s.  It will drop back down to the 80s in several days; that will be a welcome change.  Even when it gets this warm during the day, it cools at night.  Cathy, Su, and I were sitting outside in our back yard last night before dinner, and we all noticed the change in temperature once the sun went down.  
 

Cathy and I took Su to the airport early this morning (she had a 7:55 AM flight) and then came home and went on a nice walk in the desert.  It was a beautiful time to be out walking.  We saw a couple mountain bikers and another walker … there just weren’t very many people out enjoying the desert trails early this morning.  
 

We had a nice visit with my sister.  She wasn’t here very long, but we made the most of it. After Piper yesterday, we spent some time in Old Town Scottsdale. One of the things we did was stop for ice cream at a very popular ice cream diner. I had two big scoops of ice cream, but that didn’t stop me from having apple pie ala mode at night.  I’m working on that weight gain!
 

We’ve had a fair number of visitors lately.  We don’t anticipate any company now for several weeks (Dan is the next scheduled visitor … he is coming back home in early April … we can’t wait!).
 

I am still feeling pretty good.  I have a decent appetite, though I need to eat more and more so that I can gain weight.  And I need to focus on high-calorie snacks and meals.  My nephew Andy – quite thoughtfully – brought me some high-calorie bars from Denver; I’ll keep eating those in hopes of gaining weight.
 

Unfortunately, my back is hurting a bit, but not so much that I need to take any additional pain medication.  I am hopeful that the pain will go away soon. It might help if I were receiving chemotherapy … though it might go away without the therapy.  In any event, it is tolerable.
 

I just heard from Piper. They are not going to give me chemotherapy on Friday, regardless of my platelet count. Instead, they want to count this week as my week off and try again next Wednesday.  I don’t know if my platelets will recover sufficiently (to 100,000) that quickly, but I suppose it is worth a try.  I certainly want to have chemotherapy as often as possible.
 

I appreciate all your support and words of encouragement, especially lately regarding my platelets. I feel very fortunate to have so much support from so many.  Thank you!

I am sorry I did not post a journal entry last Friday.  I was running a fairly high fever and not feeling well.  Fortunately, I have been fever-free for the past two days and am feeling much better; so, Thank God It’s Monday and I’m Feeling Better …
 

We went to Piper on Friday morning.  My platelet count was up to 55,000, so definitely going in the right direction.  Our current plan of attack is as follows: On Thursday the 21st I will have a CT scan.  On Wednesday the 27th we will review the scan and the tumor marker (CA19-9) results and decide the plan of action. I hope we continue with the same chemo regimen, and I hope we can get to the point of being 3 weeks on and one week off.  My platelets haven’t been very cooperative in order to get that 3rd treatment in, so perhaps the schedule will be 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off.  I just hope we are able to continue with the chemo drugs I am currently on, as I have a lot of faith in them given how well they controlled the tumor activity a year ago. In order to stay with this regimen, however, we’ll need to see that the drugs are decreasing tumor activity or keeping it stable. I certainly will be nervous waiting for the results, although I realize there is little I can do, other than keep a positive attitude.  So, that is precisely what I will do.
 

The weather lately has been nearly perfect, and has made for some very enjoyable walks in the desert.  We went on a shorter walk on Saturday, when I was still running a fever, but went on our usual walk on Sunday and today, given that I was feeling so much better (and not running a fever). It is great to be feeling better.  I really enjoy the walks with Cathy; it is one of the highlights of my day.
 

Laura came to our house on Saturday to watch the Kansas Jayhawks beat the Kansas State Wildcats.  She then stayed for dinner, which was even more enjoyable than the game!  It was great to spend time with her.  We even watched some additional basketball.  Laura is quite a basketball fan, so it is fun to watch games with her.  And now we are on to March Madness and the NCAA tournament.  What fun.  I need to fill out my bracket and get it to Dan in order to participate in our pool.  I probably will have Kansas winning it all, although it seems as though any number of teams could do so.
 

Cathy made corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick ’s Day on Sunday.  It is an annual event.  It was delicious.  Earlier that day we went to Dairy Queen for a blizzard … all in the name of adding weight!  Although I don’t have many green things to wear, Dan had left a green Team Bacon t-shirt at our house, so I wore that yesterday.
 

As always, I appreciate all your love and support.  It means so much to Cathy and me.  We couldn’t fight this fight without you.  Thank you so much!