Sid Bacon

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  Cathy and I did.  Of course, it didn’t last long enough …
 

Cathy and I went on a nice walk this morning. She didn’t have time for a run and a walk, so I feel honored that she chose to go on a walk with me. The morning was beautiful.  It is certainly warmer than it was a week or so ago, but that warmth feels good early in the morning.  I wish it weren’t going to be so warm in the middle of the day, however, where the high temperature will be in the low 90s.
 

We are having our windows washed today.  We have them washed twice per year; those times are tied to swapping the window screens.  It is now time to take off the regular screens and put on the sunscreens.  The windows stayed pretty clean until the dust storm we had several weeks ago.  It will be good to get them cleaned.
 

I have considerably more back, and now stomach, pain.  We adjusted the dose of my pain patch from 150 to 200.  And I’ve also been taking oxycodone as needed.  The greater dosage has helped somewhat, although I am still in pain.  I am hopeful that chemotherapy will ease the pain and I’ll be able to adjust the dosage of the pain patch back down to 150.  One of the negative consequences of the back pain is that I am unable to sleep on my back.  I can sleep on one side (the one that doesn’t have the biliary drainage tube), although that side tends to get sore, so I need to limit the time I am on that side.  I have tried to sleep on the other side (the one with the tube), which has been mildly successful.
 

I am anxious to adjust the pain patch back down, as there are side effects with the pain medication (fentanyl). I am more tired than I was.  And I’ve recently lost my appetite. I don’t know if it is due to the increased dosage or due to the pain in my stomach.  I’m still eating, though not as much.  And of course I need to eat to at least hold steady on my weight.  I’ll keep trying.
 

I am looking forward to going to Piper on Wednesday. I assume that my blood work will be good (certainly the platelet count will be good) and that I’ll get chemo.  It is important to me that I get those chemotherapy drugs in my system. 
 

The student group participating in the Relay for Life raised more than their goal of $1,000.  The last count I saw was $1,453.  I know that some of you contributed.  Thank you!  I was really touched by the fact that they were doing this in our (mine and Cathy’s) honor.  We have so much support from so many places.  It is truly overwhelming.
 

I am so grateful for your support.  It means so very much to Cathy and me.  I can’t thank you enough.

Cathy got up before me and went on a run.  When she got back, we had a cup of coffee and then went on a walk.  We had to walk fast in order to be done in time for her to go to work.  It was nice that I was feeling so good that I could go on a walk with a quick pace.  We had a wonderful walk, as usual.
 

Cathy has a cousin, named Cathy, who lives in Scottsdale.  She has twin girls (Jennifer and Danielle).  Jen lives in Kansas City and recently went on a walk for pancreatic cancer in my honor.  I am amazed and humbled by the amount of support I receive.  It is truly amazing.  Today’s picture shows Jen after her walk; she is pointing to her Team Bacon wrist bracelet.  Jen and Dan have been very supportive, as has Cathy and her husband, Mark. It is great to have family so close by.
 

The service for Cathy’s mom will be held in Phoenix this Saturday. All five of her children and all four of her grandchildren will be there.  Liz and her family are going to provide the music (they are a very talented family!). It was awfully nice of them to offer to play. 
 

When I think about the support we receive, I can’t help but think about the support we receive from all of you.  We so much appreciate it, and couldn’t get along without it. It means so much to us. Thank you for all your love and support.

Cathy and I are at Piper, in our own little room (most people are sitting in a recliner in the middle of the room); it is not clear why we get a room (we doask for it), although it is nice when you want to get work done or when you have visitors.  We often have more than Cathy and me at Piper, so it has been nice to have the privacy and space of our own room.   (The rooms have a hospital bed, recliner, and side chair; it is closed off by drapes.)
 

We just got all the blood work back.  My platelets were just over 220 (tells you something about the variability of measurement … I can’t believe that my platelet count dropped by 40 in the past week without any intervention). Maybe I should insist on two measurements when my platelets are below 50 …

My liver function is good, which means my biliary drainage tube is doing its thing.

We are likely going to have lunch with Laura today.  She will either come to Piper and eat with us in our room, or we’ll go somewhere once I am done with chemo (around 1:00 PM).  Laura is usually hungry on the early side, so we’ll probably eat at Piper.  We look forward to seeing her.

Cathy has gone over to Einstein Bagels to get some bagels for us to eat. We usually get enough that we have bagels to take home, as well as plenty of cream cheese.  We are getting close to the early lunch time (11:30 AM), so we may not eat any bagels at Piper, unless Laura chooses to eat later.

It looks like it will be a late lunch, although we may eat at Piper yet, as we haven’t even started the pre-meds. It won’t matter where we eat; it will just be fun to get together for lunch. It was indeed a late lunch; Laura picked up burritos from Chipotle and brought them to Piper.  They were delicious.
 

Hold on … we are not going to have chemotherapy today after all.  My tumor marker (CA19-9) is quite elevated, with an upward trajectory, so they don’t believe this chemo regimen is doing the trick this time. They want to start me on another chemotherapy drug, this one more experimental than what I’ve been on.  They also talked about doing a biopsy of my tumor (sometime a little bit down the road).  The news about my tumor marker is very disappointing, but we’ll face this next hurdle with the same tenacity we have faced everything else.  We don’t have a choice.

Cathy and I want to thank you for all your love and support.  No one fights alone!

I had three tests this morning: CT scan, chest X-ray, and echocardiogram.  These were done in preparation of being in the new clinical trial.  My medical team is also going to study the CT scan to determine if a biopsy might be feasible (presumably of the tumor on the liver).   If they do a biopsy, they will – in essence – determine the genetic make-up of the tumor, which should help in identifying the most potent drug.  I hope they can do the biopsy.
 

Because of the early morning test schedule, we did not go on a walk this morning. I’ll look forward to going on one tomorrow.  I’ll also look forward to not fasting tomorrow morning …
 

The service for Cathy’s mom is Saturday morning.  We have family coming to town on Friday, beginning early in the morning.  Consequently, I am not going to write a blog tomorrow.  Instead, I’ll wish you a wonderful weekend now.
 

I am feeling pretty tired today, and thus will keep today’s blog short.  Cathy and I appreciated all the responses to yesterday’s blog.  It certainly was the case that we were disappointed by yesterday’s news, but we find hope in the possibility that this new chemotherapy drug will be beneficial.  It targets cells that have lower levels of oxygen (hypoxia).  Some cancer tissue is hypoxic. The drug would then selectively target those cancer cells.  The selectivity of the drug would minimize side effects ... definitely a good thing.  I am ready to get started with this new regimen; we'll start May 6th.
 

Cathy and I really appreciate the love and support we receive from all of you. It gives us a real boost. We know that we are fighting this fight as a team, and we appreciate all the efforts from Team Bacon.  Thank you!

We had a nice weekend, with all of Cathy’s siblings and their spouses in town for Cathy’s mom’s memorial service.  All four grandchildren were here as well; two of them are married and were here with their spouses.  It was a good time to celebrate a life lived well. Cathy’s mom lived a long and prosperous life, and her death was as peaceful as can be.
 

Dan and Liz are now on their way to San Sebastion Spain for a conference. From there, after the conference, they will be going to Paris for a vacation.  I am excited for them.  It will be a great trip.
 

Cathy and I went on a nice walk this morning.  It was warm, but not too warm yet.  It is supposed to reach into the low 100s for the next couple days. Thank goodness for air conditioning. 
 

On Friday I received the results of my CT scan by phone.  The tumors on my liver and lungs have increased in size by about 1/3.  She didn’t say anything about the tumor on the pancreas.  The tumor growth is not terribly surprising, given the increase in the tumor marker and the increased pain that I have had recently.  It is nevertheless disappointing.
 

I am scheduled for a biopsy of the tumor on my liver this Wednesday.  They will be doing a molecular profiling of the tumor in hopes of finding just the right chemo drug for my cancer.  I am lucky to have such smart and caring medical professionals working on my case.  As far as I know, I’ll start the new clinical trial on Monday, although I suppose there is a chance that we’ll start a different regimen once we know more about this tumor’s profile.
 

I am optimistic that we’ll find just the right chemo drug for my tumors.  It may take some time, but we’ll get there.
 

It is time for us to focus on the positive and to keep a positive attitude.  This is a major hurdle, but not one that we can’t beat.  We’ll beat it together.  I know we can.
 

Go Team Bacon.