CANCER FREE

This is the last post I'm going to write because ROBERTO IS CANCER FREE!

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The visit to the surgeon on Wednesday was full of great news!

First, the surgeon divulged some more tidbits about the surgery.  Another reason why the tumor was difficult to remove was because it was "hard" and "had cartilage" in it.  :\  The cartilage is actually normal for teratomas (teeth and hair have been found in some). 

Second, the tumor had NO malignant cells!  Hooray!  I'm guessing this means the teratoma was around for a while (maybe since birth?) and the seminoma was a recent development.  Also, the teratoma will *probably* not come back.  Roberto will have to follow up with the oncologist to periodically check for the seminoma.

Third (I told you, lots of news), the surgeon took the staples out of Roberto without any trouble and put some skin glue on the incision.  There's some tape on the incision now so Roberto doesn't burst open.  Oh yeah, the adhesive I mentioned in the last post is from all the bandages for the dressing and tape to keep the sensors on Roberto's body.  Yep, there's still bits on him because I've been lazy.

So, all in all, ROBERTO IS CANCER FREE.  FREE!

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Roberto is making really good progress and is slowly weaning himself off of the pain medication.  We are cautious because we don't want him to get to a point where he is "chasing the pain."  He's slightly more mobile now but it's still hard for him to move his arm around.  There's a part of Roberto's chest below the pectoral muscles that are numb.  The surgeon told us that when they spread his ribs during the surgery, there is a nerve that was affected.  Roberto might be numb there for a long time. 

I feel like I can finally breathe a sigh of relief now that the surgeon has told us that Roberto is cancer free.  It's almost strange to think that I won't have to occupy my thoughts with how sick Roberto is feeling or how to juggle Roberto's care with life's other activities.

We're lucky:  the doctors found the cancer in time to treat it effectively and the treatment only took up 6 months of our lives.  I know others who were/are not as lucky.  I said this already, but I'll say it again - I'm going to cherish every day that I have with Roberto now. 

Robostrong!!!

Is this it?

Roberto is doing great.  We compromised and he's on a 5 hour schedule for his pain medication.  He's also having an easier time moving around.  He still has random bits of adhesive on his skin, though.  No, we aren't lazy.  There are some parts of his body that are a bruised and tender from his stay at the hospital so we're just leaving the adhesive stay for a bit longer.  

Wednesday afternoon, Roberto will meet with the thoracic surgeon one last time.  Roberto will have the staples removed from his body (yikes!).  I'm fairly sure Roberto is at the end of his treatment.  The next step would have been radiation - but that's out of the picture because the teratoma tumor cells are dead.

Unfortunately, Roberto's cancer, specifically the seminoma, has a 50% chance of recurrence.  The seminoma was the cancer that responded well to chemotherapy but grew rapidly.  Roberto will have to be checked every couple of months or so to make sure that the cancer has not come back.

Honestly, this scares me.  The unknown of whether or not it will come back and if it will come back stronger and worse.  There's also the suffering that he may endure if he has to undergo chemotherapy again.  I didn't take Roberto for granted before (at least, I hope I didn't) and now I have even more motivation to enjoy every day I have with him.  :)

I hope this Friday will be the last post I'll write for this blog! 

Slowly Recovering

Hi all!  My bad about posting late.  Roberto is continuing to make progress and even tried to wean himself off of the pain medicine by relaxing his medicine schedule from every 4 hours to every 6.  I thought he was being a little ambitious and made him get back on the 4 hour schedule. 

My friend Martin stopped by with his wife to drop off dinner for us yesterday!  It was delicious and more convenient than I realized.  Driving back and forth to and staying late at the hospital last week really drained me of energy.  Also, the stress of the surgery probably took more of a toll on me than I had realized. 

While Roberto is recovering fairly quickly, he still needs lots of help because he can't lift his arm too much.  I have to run around and get food and drink for him, but at least he is not feeling sick!  It's easier to take care of someone watching TV all day than someone who is throwing up all day.  Although, he made me go out at night to get him soda.  I'm pretty sure that wasn't a medical emergency.

Home Sweet Home

Good news everyone!  Roberto was released from the hospital in the morning!  The surgeon checked on him in the morning and said that Roberto was making great progress!  The more important news is that the pathology report came in and the tumor cells are all dead!  DEAD!  That means NO RADIATION! 

I'm not sure if this is the end of Roberto's cancer woes, but he is at least out of trouble for now.  The cancer Roberto had has a 50% chance of returning so he will be monitored for the next few months.  Also, he is not out of the woods just yet.  Roberto has to make sure to do his breathing exercises and walk around to help his body heal.  The incision still has the staples, but those will be removed on Wednesday when we see the surgeon one last time. 

I'm going back to the MWF updates for at least one more week now.  Hopefully, I won't have to update this blog for much longer.  :)

Totally Disconnected

There's not too much to report on for Friday.  Roberto's chest tube was removed and he's no longer connected to an IV bag.  It's amazing how free Roberto feels to not be connected to so many tubes.  I didn't know this, but apparently the chest tube was sewed onto Roberto somehow?  I wasn't around when the tube was removed, so I didn't see it, but I really don't want to know any more about it.

Roberto will definitely be going home on Saturday!  It'll be so nice to be at home and not at the hospital for a majority of the day (I guess the entire week in Roberto's case). 

I got a glimpse of Roberto's incision, and it's crazy looking!  They closed it up with staples.  Roberto looks all Frankenstein's-imonster-y.  I have a picture of it and I'm hesitant to post it...but why not?  I took this picture on Thursday when Roberto still had his chest tube.  You can see the bandages and such on him.  It's normal for the chest tube stuff to leak. 

Anyway, don't scroll down if you don't want to see the giant incision.



This one is a little worst than the PICC line picture...

By the way, when we asked the surgeon how big the incision was, he indicated that it was 5 inches or so...basically less than what is shown above.  Gaaaaaaahhh, so gross!

Fewer Poking Tubes

Another boring day, which is a good thing!  Thursday was full of removing lines from Roberto's body and receiving plants.  I could probably stop right there; that really is all that happened.

In the hallway and outside the patient rooms are signs asking visitors to be quiet and such.  However, the typo on one of the signs just cracks me up every time I look at it.

hahahahahahaha!  That's such a funny sound!

Roberto is getting stronger everyday.  :)  He went for another walk down the hall today with a physical therapist and I got a front picture of him this time.

They seem to be doing a great job with the pain medicine because Roberto has not been in any pain since getting out of surgery.  I just hope that we can keep that up when he gets home.

Along with walking, Roberto has been doing his breathing exercises with the spirometer.  Roberto has to take a deep breath and get a little plastic piece to a certain height.  The exercises help Roberto's lung and prevent him from getting pneumonia. 

Also, Roberto got a few flowers today!  I got a picture of the first one from the Hendersons.  I forgot to take a picture of the ones from the Fergusons.  :(  Sorry!  It's really great to have some plants in the room.  Also, Roberto loves to be spoiled with gifts.  :P

 Okay, enough with the slide show.  Roberto is getting stronger everyday.  He got a lot of good sleep yesterday because the machines were not as noisy as the ICU ones.  The nurses took out several lines today:  the epidural, the catheter in the bladder, and the central line in his neck.  All that's left is the IV and the chest tube.  I was told that the chest tube will come out tomorrow sometime.

Speaking of tomorrow, it's looking iffy for Roberto to be leaving that day.  Not for lack of progress, just for medical reasons that haven't been explained to me.  Also, they (the resident and nurses) might be just hedging their answer so I don't flip out if Roberto is not released tomorrow.  The definite thing is that Roberto will be home on the weekend and he will be so happy to be home!

I'll be happy, too, because I haven't been getting much sleep for various reasons.  Well, maybe I could stop updating the blog, but that's no fun!  Sleep deprivation has definitely taken its toll, though.  It was definitely a struggle at times to form coherent sentences.  Hopefully, tomorrow make better words.

ICU - No More!

Roberto has been upgraded to the main patient floor of the hospital!  It kinda doesn't feel like an upgrade, though, because the room is smaller and he is definitely sharing it with another person.  The ICU suite was much bigger and Roberto had a neighbor for maybe 1/4th of the time he was there.  Before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you about the other exciting things that happened to Roberto.  

The morning seemed to go pretty well.  Roberto had some breakfast.  Then the nurses moved him into a nice chair so he wasn't just in bed the whole day.  Unfortunately, this made Roberto throw up.  The nurses think it's due to one of the pain medications.  Boo.  :(

The good thing is that throwing up was the only setback of the day!  At some point, a physical therapist came by to get Roberto moving.  After spending several minutes untangling the lines and getting the machines on a movable stand, Roberto, the physical therapist, and the nurse took a short walk around the ICU.  In the picture, you can see them walking down the hall.  Pedro is trailing them in case Roberto felt like throwing up.  The nurse and physical therapist would comment on how fast Roberto was!  For the next couple of days at the hospital, the physical therapist is going to get Roberto strong enough to climb stairs since that's what we have at the townhouse. 

After that walk, the nurse took out Roberto's arterial line that was in his wrist.  This is great because it's one less line sticking out of Roberto's body!  He only has the IV, central line (in his neck), the epidural, the chest tube, and the catheter in the bladder.  That's all. 

If you want to send anything to Roberto at the hospital, you'll have only a couple of days!  The surgeon came by to check on Roberto and was very happy with his progress.  In fact, the surgeon said that Roberto would probably be able to go home on Friday!  Hooray!!!

Alright, I'm actually writing this post near 1:00 am instead of having it scheduled to be posted at 1:00 am.  I'm going to catch some zzz's.

Surgery Recap - Roberto DOES Have Lungs

I'm going back to the old format of writing about the previous day.  For today's post, I'm going to talk about Tuesday - the surgery day.  I know that the two blog posts from yesterday were extensive, but there are some tidbits I didn't include and some things I want to clarify.  The important bits are in between the *** below if you want to skip.

The morning wasn't too bad and went pretty smoothly.  All the pre-operation prep was standard: change into a gown, get an IV, and sign consent forms.  The nurse did sort of mess up inserting the IV, though, and got a bunch of blood over Roberto's gown.  He had to awkwardly change into a new one with a blanket over himself (I'm not sure why the nurse didn't just give him the gown and some privacy).

Then came the anesthesiologist.  While he was talking to Roberto, he said, "I saw in your chart that you were suffering from heartburn.  Is that gone now?"  Roberto said, "I haven't had any heartburn."  The doctor then said, "Okay, I'm going to go talk to a nurse.  I'll be right back."  After a while, I took a peek around the corner and saw the anesthesiologist looking over Roberto's CT scans.  Yeeeah, I guess he looked at the wrong chart?  Well, thank goodness he did that mini-cram session because he definitely needed the proper info about Roberto.  When he came back, he informed us that he'll have to keep Roberto partially awake during the surgery.  If Roberto went too "under" the anesthesia, his lung could collapse and that could lead to death.  Conveniently, even though Roberto would be awake, he would not remember the surgery.

Most of my ramblings from yesterday are probably all you need to know about the 3.5 hours we waited to hear any word about Roberto.  I felt as though I would burst into tears at any moment once we passed the 2 hour mark (the surgeon said the surgery would take only two hours).  Having Pedro and Adam around definitely helped.  I would have probably started bawling as I curled up into a ball on the floor of the waiting room.

******  The Important Bits ******

Okay, this is what the surgeon told me.  The reason why the surgery took so long is because part of the tumor grew from the right, through the middle of Roberto's body (medaistinum) to the left side.  I don't know how much of the tumor this was.  The reason why this was hard to remove is because they made the incision on the right side of Roberto's body.  I imagine it's like reaching for something in the back of a super full freezer; that is probably the worst analogy I could use.

The other complication is that there was a lot of scar tissue from chemotherapy.  The surgeon stated that the chemotherapy was really effective because of all the scar tissue.  You know how a scar forms on your skin?  It's a nice covering the connects all the bits of skin together where there is no skin.  Okay, now think about your internal organs.  They are made to be slippery inside you, because you're a flexible person that might bend in weird ways.  When there is internal scar tissue, slippery internal organs are now connected.  This is what happened to Roberto's tumor and his lung - they got connected via the scar tissue.

The surgeon told me, "I had to remove part of the upper and middle lobe."  Okay, I don't know about you, but that sounded like he removed a chunk of the lung!!!  Thankfully, I saw the surgeon again at night and asked him specifically about how much of the lung he removed.  He said that he "didn't remove that much of the lung" and, in fact, Roberto's entire lung is inflated.  *Whew* and hooray!!

This is super important:  Roberto might need to have radiation later.  It depends on what the pathologists find when they study his tumor.  We'll just cross that road when we need to, which might be next week when we see the surgeon again.

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Roberto has a nice room in the ICU with a window view.  It looks down into an unfinished courtyard of the building, but from Roberto's vantage, he gets to see the pretty sky.  To help rehabilitate his lung, Roberto has to do breathing exercises using a spirometer.  It's like a plastic toy that you blow air into and it moves a plastic bit in a tube.  I'll get a picture.

Also, Roberto has a bunch of tubes sticking in him.  There's the IV, the central line, the chest tube, a catheter for the bladder, and possibly another IV somewhere else?  The chest tube did have disgusting red liquid.  I did not freak out, though, because I was prepared.  Thank you, Lucile!

Unfortunately, the anesthesia made Roberto nauseated (nauseous?) and he's vomited a few times.  It bought us all back to the chemo days, but Roberto said that this made him over come the fear he developed for vomiting.  I guess that's good...?

Okay, the hard part is over.  Time to sleep!

SURGERY DONE

10:56 am
I finally got up and talked to the nurse in the waiting room here and asked if she could check on Roberto's status.  She said that she couldn't while the patient is in surgery...but that he just got out of surgery and they will be taking him to the recovery room.  YAY!  Why couldn't she have lead with that???

11:03 am
Theories:

1)  The tumor was a bit more complicated than anticipated.
2)  They didn't start the surgery right away
3)  The TV with patient statuses is not accurate
4)  Roberto made a deal with the surgeon to get some bionic implants (this is the most likely)

11:09 am
Roberto's official time out of surgery is 11:06 am.  The surgeon should be out soon to tell me the gory details.

11:18 am
Good News:  he's doing well and is awake.  There was no blood loss and they got the tumor out.
Bad News:  the tumor had actually grown past the mediastinum to the left side of his body.  This is partly why the surgery took longer.  Also, because the chemotherapy was so good, there was a lot of scar tissue around the tumor which made it harder to extract.  They took part of the middle and upper lobe (I don't really know what that means).

I should be able to see him soon.  The surgeon thinks that Roberto will be out of the hospital by the weekend.

11:49am
Wow, I didn't realize how much time had passed.  I just saw Roberto and he looks good and totally out of it.  He's still in the recovery room and is going to be moved to the ICU soon.  Adam told me that "removing the lobe" part means they removed part of his lung.  :(

12:05pm
I just want to say that they didn't remove an entire lobe, so it wasn't that much of the lung. 

Surgery Day

5:27 am
We're awake somehow and at the hospital.  Roberto has checked in and now we're waiting on ... something.  I'm totally not sure what is going to happen next, but I'm trying not to let myself get too nervous.  I had five hours of restless sleep.  Perhaps now is a good time to drink some coffee...

6:11 am
Roberto is in the back patient area, and I'm waiting with him. I've confiscated his phone for now. Roberto is all cute in the patient gown that opens up in the back and he has little booties on his feet.

6:22 am
Roberto and I just realized that today is 11/12/13! That's some sort of good luck, right?  We briefly spoke to a nurse here and she lauded the skills of the surgeon. Apparently he is the best in northern CA. We've heard this before, so I don't think she was lying to make us less nervous or anything.

6:35 am
Another nurse is now getting his vitals and started an IV.  She has the Grey's Anatomy brand scrubs (call back to a previous post!).

7:13 am
We just spoke to the anesthesiologist. This surgery just got really scary.  If Roberto goes too far under, there's a chance his lung will collapse because the tumor is right on top of it. With a lung collapse, there's a chance of mortality. Also, Roberto is going to have a lot more tubes in him than we thought. He'll have an epidural, a central line, and some arterial line as well.

7:30 am
 Roberto's been wheeled away from us and we've been sent to the waiting area.  I could see Roberto getting a little scared as the nurse took him away, but I think he felt a little better when Pedro comforted him.  There's an interesting setup in the waiting room; they have TVs setup showing where patients are such as "in transit" and "in the OR."  We might be able to see when the surgery is done before the surgeon comes out to talk to us.  Okay, it's time to play the waiting game.

7:52 am
Here's a picture of Roberto before all the scary surgery talk.  I was able to make him laugh.  He shaved his mustache yesterday and I didn't realize that until this morning.

8:37 am
I started getting anxious about the surgery but then realized that they are half-way through.  I cannot believe Roberto is getting cut up and having things taken out of his body.  :'(  Just one more hour and Roberto will be in recovery.  Pedro and I might be able to go see him during that time, which will be nice.

9:21am
A couple of therapeutic dogs have come to visit all the people in the waiting room!  This is a nice distraction and the mood of the room definitely changed. There are a lot of people here today getting surgery.

9:35 am
No word yet.

9:44 am
I keep checking the TV with the patients statuses.  I feel like I'm compulsively checking sports scores.

9:51 am
Still no word.  :(

10:07 am
Is it wrong that I'm jealous of the other patients and patients' families whose surgeries are done?  Also, I think we chased some people away from us to the other side of the room.

10:11 am
Just got accosted by a person in the waiting room.  Awesome.  No, I do not want to listen to you expound about WEAVE.

10:18 am
OMG, she's on the other side of the room now, too.  Am I a terrible person???

10:24 am
I lied, she left the room completely.  *sob*  Patti just told me that I'm not a terrible person, though.  So I feel a little better.

10:40 am
I don't know what to say right now except that I can feel my emotions wanting to bubble out of me, but I won't let them.

10:44 am
I just exchanged a mutual, knowing look of concern with Pedro. *sigh*

10:51 am
There's an equal number of people playing Candy Crush that are reading books in here.  I'll let you mull over that number.  It's more than one.

*Taking a deep breath*   *Remembering to exhale*

10:58 am
I started a new post because Roberto is OUT OF SURGERY.

Last Day of Being Normal

Well, we are about 24 hours away from Roberto's surgery (depending on when you read this, I suppose).  I got a bit more explanation from a friend of ours who is a nurse about how Roberto will be after the surgery, so I'm feeling a better now that I'm armed with more knowledge.

Here's a recap of the surgery information that we have.

Roberto is having a major surgery called a thoracotomy which is an incision on the chest.  There are several types of thoracotomies; Roberto's will be on the right side of his chest.  The surgeon wants to do a thoracotomy in order to preserve the cells of the tumor for further study.  This way, we can know what the tumor definitely is rather than extrapolate from the needle biopsy.  That's about all we definitely know about the surgery.  From reading up on what a thoracotomy is, I learned that small incisions are 4-6 inches long which does not seem that small to me.

The surgery is on Tuesday, November 12th.
5:30am -  Roberto will have to be at the hospital at this time to prep for surgery (insert IV line, etc.)
7:30am - The surgery starts
9:30am - The surgery ends and Roberto is taken to the ICU
11:00am-ish - Roberto can see visitors

For at least 24 hours (maybe up to 3 days) Roberto will be in the ICU.  He will have a chest tube during this time to help drain fluids from his chest cavity.  Apparently, this tube is gonna look crazy but I shouldn't freak out because it's absolutely normal.  I will probably still freak out.

Once he is well enough, the chest tube will be removed and he will be moved out of the ICU.  His total hospital stay is estimated to be 3-5 days.  Hopefully, Roberto will be home sometime during the weekend.

***If you want to visit Roberto while he is at the hospital, just message me and I'll let you know when he's up for seeing visitors.  I can also give you our address if you want to send a card!***

I'm planning to "live blog" the day Roberto is in surgery (Tuesday).  That means I'll keep updating the day's post with manual time stamps.  You can then refresh the blog during the day, or just wait until the end of the day to read all the updates at once.  The general timeline is at the top so you know when the major events of the day will occur.

Gah, I'm getting more nervous.  The reality of having major surgery is also hitting Roberto now.  On Saturday, we had a night dinner and games night with a bunch of our close friends.  Explaining the surgery to our friends made the surgery more concrete for Roberto.  He's not freaking out (he is Roberto after all), but he knows it won't be a walk in the park.  We had a nice talk while driving to see our friends near Berkeley on Sunday.  Roberto realized that, while this all is pretty terrible, he's still pretty lucky he didn't have some other type of cancer that would be harder to treat.  He's optimistic about recovery since he's handled pain before (50 mile races anyone?) and that will be much easier than handling nausea. 

Roberto's hair is really showing now and he's grown a mustache!   Before he lost his hair, he usually shaved the mustache area, so it's amusing to see him with one.  I'm going to make a tasty steak dinner for Roberto for Monday's dinner.  He can eat regular food after the surgery, but I think it'll be a nice treat. 

Clever Post Title

I read my last post.  I'm going to blame the cold medicine for the few incoherent moments.

Roberto has started his smoothie regimen.  I tried a bit and they are actually pretty tasty!  And tiny.  This is good because we didn't want it to become a huge hassle.  When he was on chemotherapy, there were only a few foods and drinks he could tolerate but the lack of variety made it hard to continue with the same diet. 

I'm still sick, but I can see healthy days in my future!  So far, this wasn't a terrible cold ... and hopefully I'm not speaking too soon... Roberto was super sweet and made me breakfast one morning when I was in a cold medicine haze.  Do you think he's starting early on making up for when I took care of him on chemotherapy days?

We don't have any big plans for the weekend, which is just as well.  Maybe it'll be good to just stay at home and enjoy each others company.  We might also plan a huge last-minute party!!! 

For next week, I'll be updating the blog daily until Roberto gets back from the hospital.  I figure I'll just be complaining a lot about Pedro (Roberto's brother) and how So Cal he is and that Nor Cal is better (you know it's true).  We'll be at the hospital at 5:30am on November 12th and the surgery will start at 7:30am.  Maybe I'll do a pseudo-live blog update on Tuesday if I'm awake enough.

Anyway, please send good thoughts and prayers Roberto's way!

Less Than a Week!

Sorry for the lack of a Monday post.  Things have been going well for Roberto, so there's not much to report.  I, however, have a cold.  Well I was careful about bringing germs to Roberto, I neglected to be cautious about not getting germs *from* him.  I think it's the same thing he had which is a scratchy throat and feeling terrible.  Hopefully, this will pass soon!  My mind has been in a fog and sometimes it's hard to concentrate on ...

Like the blog post title says, we have less than a week now until Roberto has his surgery.  Yikes.  I'm getting a little scared about it all.  Tomorrow, I may spend the time thinking about how to get ready for it all.  I already made an information sheet about the surgery and the post-surgery recovery advice I got from the surgeon and whatever my mom found on the internet.  I showed it to Roberto who read it all in a couple of minutes.  His biggest concern is that he cannot lift more than 10 lbs for about 6-8 weeks.  I can worry about the other stuff for him, I suppose, like the 4-6 inch incision that he *may* have (that's for the smaller type of thoracotomy incision). 

Roberto is practically back to his old self now.  He's been full of energy and even made dinner a couple of times!  I've embraced the change since that means I don't have to get burgers and pizza or make jambalaya for a full week.  Also, he's been admiring the peach fuzz that has started to grow on his head.  The eyebrows have come along nicely in the past few days, and Roberto looks like a normal person again!

On Thursday, Roberto will be starting a regimen of a special nutritional smoothie that the surgeon recommended.  The drinks have a patented combo of nutrients that purportedly support the body's immune system and reduce the chance of infection after surgery.  I'm not sure if it works, but it's good for Roberto to be as healthy as possible before the surgery anyway. 

Am I ready for life to change again?  Not really.  Well, I still have time to find some more confidence!

Late Happy Halloween!

Well, the brain cupcakes didn't work out.  I didn't have time to work out the logistics of my mold with the frosting I had.  :(  I guess I'll have to make Thanksgiving-themed brain cupcakes now.

We did spend Halloween playing the appropriately themed Ghost Stories board game ... and won!  Finally!  Now we might be ready to play on normal mode instead of easy. 

Roberto seems to be mostly over his cold even though he still has the sniffles.  At this point, the cold is just annoying more than anything else.  Roberto called up the nurse today to ask how long the surgery would be.  We were thinking something like five hours or so.  The nurse told us that the surgeon set aside *two* hours!  Thinking about it, that does make sense since the surgeon only has to cut out the tumor.  He's not doing anything too complicated...?  My training in optimization algorithms and machine learning techniques is really failing me right now. 

The other day, I heard Roberto yell in surprise.  I raced up the stairs to the bathroom to make sure he was alright.  He happily told me that his eyebrows were growing back!  He has the cutest little eyebrow hairs now.  Maybe now the rest of his hair will start growing back. 

I've been reading up on a thoracotomy and the recovery afterward.  Apparently, thoracotomies are one of the most painful surgeries.  Also, it'll be really important for Roberto to stay on a regular schedule for taking his pain medication and for him to perform the rehabilitation exercises daily.  Hopefully, Roberto will be back to his normal activities by the end of December! 

T-minus 13 days

We found out early Monday morning that Roberto's surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, November 12th.  Two weeks seems about the perfect amount of time so that we can prepare and so Roberto can enjoy "normal" life before recovering from surgery takes priority.  There are no major plans for now, but that might change.  Maybe this is the time to do some sky diving? 

We don't have many details about the surgery itself; I guess surgeons like to keep that information close to the vest.  We did confirm that Roberto will have a right side thoracotomy, so no breaking of the sternum.  Yay!  A thoracotomy is a major surgery so he will spend one day in the ICU (intensive care unit) and then spend a total of 3-5 days at the hospital.  The main reason the surgeon elected to do a thoracotomy rather than laparoscopy is to preserve the tumor so the pathologists can study it.  While the needle biospy was useful, it didn't give a complete picture of the tumor. 

Roberto is still suffering from his cold and his temperature has been climbing a teensy bit.  We asked if the cold would be a problem and the nurse said it shouldn't get in the way of surgery.  That's good because I don't think any of us want to delay the surgery unless it was necessary.

So, I'm thinking about putting together some sort of "care package" for Roberto when he's in the hospital.  I have running magazines and his iPad.  That really doesn't seem like enough, but maybe it is?  He probably will be sleeping most of the time.   Roberto has doubts that he can hold a laptop, but maybe there's a table he can use?  Then I can bring him a bunch of dvds.  Eh?  Let me know if you have a good idea. 

The Waiting Game

It's a bit frustrating to wait for the surgeon's office to call, but there's not too much we can do about it right now.  I've used some of the time to prep for pre and post surgery (I would help with the surgery if I could, but I doubt there's much use for a mathematician in the operating room).  Knowing Roberto, I will have to find ways to restrain his enthusiasm for physical activities and overcome his willingness to endure pain.

One new hurdle is that Roberto seems to have a cold.  He has an itchy throat and makes disgusting sounds when "snoring."  The symptoms started manifesting on Saturday so he must have caught it before then.  I'm easily the one at fault since I come in contact with so many different people.  Maybe I can blame it on our trips to the UCD campus?  Undergraduates are notorious for spreading germs, right?

My sister had a birthday recently.  Fun fact: our birthdays are exactly 6 months apart - we are 18 months apart in age, if you're trying to follow along with the math.  Anyway, that means it was my half-birthday (I had to bring the focus back around to me)!  My uncle gave me the newest Batman video game in celebration.  I might not have time to play it to completion any time soon, but Roberto, being the eternal Batman fan, dove right into the game once I brought it home.

We didn't get a chance to do any fun Halloween activities this weekend because of the birthday get together with the family.  Maybe we'll do something for the day of All Hallow's Eve?  There must be something fun we can do with Roberto's bald head.  Also, I've been eying a cupcake recipe that uses a candy brain as a topper.  Yum!

We're Boring!

There's nothing exciting happening here, and that's great!  Actually, it feels as though our lives are finally returning to normal.  We're going to campus to do grad student-y things, I can get Roberto to run errands for me (pick up food, pick up after himself), and we are making plans to do things with friends.  Of course, we only get to enjoy our slice of normalcy for a short, couple of weeks before Roberto's major surgery.  :(

A part of me want to keep enjoying the chemo-free life we have now.  I would rather have my mind occupied with wondering when Roberto's hair will grow back instead of learning about what a thoracotomy is and how one recovers from that procedure.  One thing that keeps me going is Roberto's constant optimism and confidence.  It's nice to sort of lean on him for now.  I know that once the surgery date draws near, I'll have to be the optimistic and confident one. 

Okay, time to get ready for the weekend!

It's Half the Battle

We finally know a little more about the surgery.

Roberto will have the surgery in about two to three weeks from now.  The thoracic surgeon wants Roberto to have as much recovery time from chemotherapy as possible - about six weeks in total. We don't have an exact date right now because the surgery has not actually been scheduled yet.  Don't worry, it'll be scheduled soon!

The type of surgery will be a thoracotomy (rather than a laparoscopic surgery which is minimally invasive).  Just a warning, the Wikipedia page on thoracotomies has a really gross picture.  There are several types of thoracotomies and I'm not completely sure which type Roberto will undergo.  In general, a thoracotomy is an incision in the chest that allows access to the thoracic organs (think heart and lungs).  The surgeon stated that he'll make an incision on Roberto's side which implies, to me, that the surgery will *not* require Roberto's sternum to be cracked.  However, we don't know all the details about the surgery just yet and I could be completely wrong.

Also, I made the terrible mistake of watching a video of a thoracotomy and now I cannot get the images out of my head.  WHY DID I DO THAT.

Here are a few other details we got today.  Roberto will be in the hospital for 3-5 days after the surgery with the first day being in the ICU. Apparently he will be able to walk out of the hospital when he's well enough to go home.  Also, he will have pain from the incision for about six months afterward. 

We're on our way to curing Roberto!

Phase 2: Surgery

We'll be meeting with the thoracic surgeon Wednesday afternoon.  I'm not sure when I'll be able to post about the meeting, so your best bet is to check back on Thursday.

Hopefully, we'll get more information about the type of surgery and a timeline.  I'm thinking that surgery will be easier than chemotherapy; we won't have to learn about 7 or 8 different drugs and their side effects and won't have to rearrange our lives for three months. 

Roberto and I started watching Frasier on Netflix.  It started as an innocent journey of a popular 90's sitcom and slowly became an obsession.  Obsession evolved into reluctant viewing as we are currently struggling to finish the long series (11 SEASONS??).  Just today we watched an episode in which one of the characters needed open heart surgery.  His wife freaked out while waiting during the surgery and smashed a fire extinguisher through a vending machine.  It was a little more hilarious than my description.  Roberto turned to me and told me that I wasn't allowed to do the same when he has his surgery.  One might think that I would be offended at his implication of me being so violent ... but he knows me pretty well. 

On Monday, Roberto had lots of sushi with Adam.  He was so happy that he posted about it on Facebook.  With that wish fulfilled, Roberto has been checking to see if his hair has started growing back.  We were told that his hair would start growing back around 4 weeks after chemothrapy.  While he hasn't lost any more follicles, his hair seems to be taking its time coming back 

Okay, let's hope the surgeon has good things to tell us!

Return of Robo!

Whew, what a weekend!

For the first time in many months, Roberto was able to enjoy life outside of the house.  Sure, we had lots of fun with friends and family visiting us, but after the oncologist gave Roberto his approval for resuming life's more adventurous activities, Roberto dashed out the door.

On Saturday, Roberto, Jim and I went to the Hidden Falls Regional Park in Auburn for a hike on the numerous, scenic trails there.  The fall *is* totally hidden and we didn't see it during this trip (there's only one trail from which you can view the falls).  The park has several easy and moderate trails, and (bonus!) there were a bunch of brand new trails that were developed a couple of months ago.  Roberto was super eager to hike around the trails and kicked my butt!  Okay, we should all keep in mind that I had gone out for a run the day before and my legs were still sore from it.  That's my excuse story.  In total, we hiked an astounding 8.33 miles and still didn't cover all the new trails.  We'll definitely have to go back there some time to explore more.

We followed that activity with laziness: a How I Met Your Mother marathon thanks to Netflix.  Thanks, Netflix!  Amanda stopped by to accompany our viewing of season 8's journey of Ted and friends.  It was a good, relaxing way to end the day.

Wrapping up the weekend was a trip to the shooting range on Sunday!  I didn't go because I'm a little scared to handle a gun and I wanted to not use my legs anymore.  I'm pretty sure my legs were close to falling off my body.  Roberto went with Adam and Tania.  Roberto showed me the targets from the range and claimed that he was the best shot.  Suuuuure.  Also, he wants to hang the target posters in the bedroom.  That's *not* going to happen.  NO WAY.

Anyway, I'm glad Roberto is able to do all those fun things.  It's been such a long time since he's done something other than video games, board games, and watching TV.  Also, we don't know when the surgery will be, and he might not be able to do those things again until the next calendar year.  :(  One thing he is excited to do again is running.  He so desperately wants to run again.  He's planned a soccer date with Adam for this Saturday.  I guess that's a step in the right direction?  Well, at least this way he won't be miles from home if he gets too tired.

Woo-Hoo!

We just got back from the oncologist.  He gave a big OK for Roberto to resume normal life activities!  He can now eat raw foods and go hiking.  :)  Roberto has already scheduled a day for pigging out on sushi.  The oncologist confirmed that the tumor that is in the CT scans are probably the teratoma type of cancer cell.  Now it's time for part 2 of the cancer battle: surgery.

The meeting with the surgeon will be on Wednesday.  Hopefully we'll have more information about the type of surgery and how long it will take for him to recover.  For now, time to (cautiously) par-tay!

CT Scan Comparisons

Here's the story about the CT scans.

June:  First diagnosis
July:  Weekend before chemotherapy
August:  After two cycles of chemotherapy
October:  After four cycles of chemotherapy

The next four pictures are at approximately the same spot in Roberto's body.  You can see the progression and regression of the tumor over the months.  

The next set of images are further down Roberto's body (further from the head).  In this set, you can see his heart.

Post-Chemo CT Scans

Roberto wrangled a CT scan appointment for Tuesday!  I've worked my magic on the images and created movies.  If you want a quick recap of the previous scans, I have links to them on this page.

The first movie has the scan moving from Roberto's head towards his stomach.  Roberto's front is at the stop of the image and his right side is on the left (I'm still not sure why the image is mirrored in this way).

This next video has the scan moving from the front of Roberto's body to his back.

We also have a bonus right-to-left perspective of the scan.  Roberto's chest is on the left side of the image and his back is on the right (you can see his spine).  The right lung appears first and you can see the tumor on the left side of the image as a gray blob.  Then a bunch of squishy organs (like the heart) appear and finally the left lung.

Overall, the tumor is much smaller.  The difference in the tumor's size from August to now (mid-chemo and post-chemo) is not as dramatic to the difference in size from July to August (pre-chemo and mid-chemo).  Still, we're glad to see that the extra two weeks of chemotherapy were worth it.  

Now we wait for Friday when we meet with the oncologist.

Tomorrow I'll post CT scan comparisons!

Happy Bartolome Day!

Ah, you thought I was going to say Columbus Day.  The link goes to a kinda long article, so don't click unless you have some time to burn.

Roberto has received a couple more cards and I finally have a new picture of the card wall.  The certificate of chemotherapy completion is in the upper left.  Also, he recently got another gift card to In and Out!  I've bought some extra tofu for dinners this week in an attempt to counter-balance all the burgers I see in my near future. 

Also, Roberto's special thank yous were ALL returned by the post office for insufficient postage!  That automated teller lied to us - the machine uprising is starting.  So, Roberto will be making a fun visit to the post office tomorrow.

Sunday was the last day of the recovery part of Cycle 4 which makes it Roberto's last official day of chemotherapy!  This is the week we learn how much of the tumor is left and the oncologist's thoughts.  We already know the next step after this week is consulting with a thoracic surgeon, but it's still good to get the last word on the tumor from the oncologist before surgery.  There is a minor setback to this week; the order for Roberto's CT scan was not processed or something equally bureaucratic.  Roberto's other fun errand for tomorrow is to call the hospital to make sure the CT scan is scheduled.  Yay!

Roberto also relinquished the downstairs bathroom and cleaned it so the non-chemo people are no longer relegated to running upstairs to relieve themselves.  Yay for convenience!  

There's not much else to update about Roberto's condition.  He's doing more but still gets pretty tired during the day.  We were planning to go hiking on Sunday, but I had to do some grading and Roberto didn't want to go hiking with our friend without me.  He knows that I'm the only person obligated to carry him if he can't make it back to the car.  It has something to do with "being my fiancee" and "you can't just let me die in the wild."  We'll try again next weekend.


Post-Chemo/Pre-Surgery - Day 1!

(This count may not be maintained.)

It's Friday, Friday, Gotta Get Down on Friday

Roberto's almost at the official end of his chemotherapy.  Each round includes two weeks of recovery after the infusion week; this is why I've kept up the countdown for Cycle 4.  For the past two days, we've actually biked to campus!  It's a short 15 minute bike ride and it's just right for Roberto for now.  That burst of high physical activity is enough to make Roberto fall to sleep right away at night.  We've been having fun taking different paths to and from home.  So far, I don't actually like any of the routes.  I think it's because I'm so clumsy on a bike that I am just uncomfortable biking for more than a minute.

The most significant part of the last two days was that I got to be around people for most of the day!  I think staying at home was great for a while, but it was starting to take its toll.  It was so refreshing to interact with ... people, and to talk about stuff other than cancer, although that definitely did come up.  I mean, it's fine that everyone is asking about how Roberto is doing and what's happening next!  I guess I was getting scared that I would be unable to talk about non-cancer topics since life has basically revolved around cancer for the last three months.  Anyway, it was nice to talk and laugh with my office mates and friends around the department.  I might have been having too much fun; I think the coffee kiosk on campus makes their coffee waaaay strong because I felt super hyped up today. 

Next week, Roberto gets a CT scan, I'll work some computer magic on the images, and we'll talk to the oncologist.  I'm really hoping the tumor is much smaller than what we saw in August, but you never know.  Arg, I'm trying not to speculate too much about what will happen next because my mind tends towards a more optimistic diagnosis such as: no need for surgery; Roberto doesn't need the open-chest surgery; or others. 

Hey, why am I stressing?  It's the weekend.  Time to relax.  :)

Cycle 4 - Day 19

Cleanliness is Divine

Life has been pretty boring since chemotherapy is over now.  One interesting side effect is that Roberto can do things around the house again!  He actually spent the last two days cleaning up around the house.  It almost makes me feel bad for not helping clean because he did such a great job but he was always the neater of the two of us  :)   He also spent the time writing thank you notes.  :D

Unfortunately, he isn't back to 100% because he gets tired easily.  After cleaning a bit around the living room this morning, he was ready for a nap.  However, he was disciplined and resisted the urge to sleep.  The side effects of the chemotherapy drugs along with just sleepless nights during the infusion week have finally worn off and Roberto's adjusted back to a normal sleeping schedule (yay!).  As long as he doesn't take naps during the day, he'll be able to hold on to his normal sleep pattern.  He's still twitching, though, so I might be sleeping on the edge of the bed a bit longer.

Despite not having his normal energy (remember, he ran 50 mile races), he is still planning plenty of activities.  Hiking and the shooting range are on the schedule so far.  I might opt-out of the shooting range.

So, here is something I just don't know how to categorize:  Roberto has lost most of his eyebrow hair.  It was a gradual thinning, of course, and wasn't as dramatic as the head hair loss.  There was just one day when I noticed and since then ... he hasn't looked the same to me.  I know!  I shouldn't be saying such things, but people need eyebrows!  I mentioned this to Roberto.  I know!  I shouldn't have said anything.  He agreed, though, that it looks weird.  On the same note, I get weirded out when I see pictures of him with hair because I'm so used to his bald head.  I know, I complain about him not having enough hair and now I'm complaining that he has too much in pictures!  My brain is having trouble.  

Cycle 4 - Day 17

CT Scans Explained!

Hello and happy Monday!

We had a pretty good weekend.  Saturday consisted of a bit of work in the morning and then lots of video games and watching shows on Netflix.  I managed to pull myself away from the TV just long enough to fulfill Roberto's lasagna request.  We hung out with the lovely Kat and super-duper Rob on Sunday and played some fun board games.  One of the games was based on the TV show Battlestar Galactica, and it was pretty fun!  I was a cylon (bad guy) and totally botched up my role but it was still fun.

I had a few people tell me they have no idea what they are looking at when I post the CT scan movies.  I took a couple of images and put some comments on them so there's a bit more information about what the heck you're looking at.  The images are from the June and July CT scans.  I figure I can do a June/July/August/October comparison later after Roberto get the October scan.

The following images all are taken as the machine moves from Roberto's head towards his feet.  The whitest parts of the image are the bones.  Every thing else is squishy muscles and organs.

Below are images from about the same part of Roberto's body in June and July.  You can see how much the tumor grew in that month and that the bronchial tube shifted a bit.

The next set of images are further down Roberto's body (further from the head) and you can now see his heart!

So, hopefully that helped a bit?  In the June scan, they go all the way to the intestines which looks pretty cool (at least to my nerdy side).

When Roberto gets his next CT scan in about a week, we are really hoping that there isn't much of the tumor left over.  Whatever is left over is probably the teratoma part of his tumor. 

Cycle 4 - Day 15

Burgers

We just got back from Burgers and Brew, and I think my body is in some sort of shock.  Since Adam's been around and cooked dinner, I've been on a mostly vegan diet so the influx of a 1/4 pound of ground beef just feels so foreign in my tummy.  Although, I might be feeling gross simply because I ate 1/4 pound of ground beef.

Roberto had another good day with just hanging out and, of course, dinner with friends at Burgers and Brew.  He didn't have a great night of sleep but he was good and didn't take naps today so he should sleep soundly tonight.

I asked Roberto what activity he would like to do over the weekend and he immediately said, "Hiking!"  Then I had to play the role of the bad guy and tell him that he's not allowed to hike about the hills.  The last thing I need is him realizing the consequences on the body of having no physical activity for three months when we are a mile away from the car.

We got a couple more cards in the mail!   Thanks, again, for all the wonderful cards!  They make Roberto so happy.  The other day, I caught him looking at the wall.  :) 


Cycle 4 - Day 11

Kristin Versus the Bike

The cute noises of plants and zombies are in the background as I write this post.  Roberto is joyfully feeling better and is playing the flora-filled mobile game next to me.  He had another good day of eating normal food and enjoying a movie, games, and friends' company.  I had a pretty good day too except for some technical difficulties with a bike with motor oil-covered handles.  I got absurdly angry about it because the motor oil got all over my hands and made it impossible to hold on to the handles.  I am not that passionate about two-wheeled vehicles.

I found myself explaining Roberto's situation to some new ears today.  The whole process is still so emotionally draining.  I am looking forward to the day when I can recount this story without tears welling up in my eyes.  Or maybe that will never happen.  Maybe I'm an emotionally charged woman who can't hide her feelings.  I *did* get angry at that bicycle today.

Now that Roberto is feeling better, we might be able to go out and do something fun before he has surgery.  I'm sure he'll want to get out of the house.  The problem is finding an appropriate activity.  Movies?  Geocaching?  Laser tag? 

Anyway, now is probably a good time to reach out to Roberto now that he's feeling better and off of chemo!  Although, you might be distracting him from playing Halo or eating a hamburger.

Also, I might switch to MWF updates, but that means I have to post something for tomorrow.  So, this probably means I'll keep posting every day anyway.  *sigh*  What's wrong with me??


Cycle 4 - Day 10

Leaving the Chemo Behind

Finally!  We took a little drive to In and Out today. You know what that means - Roberto's feeling better!  He ate lightly for breakfast and lunch but wanted to go all out for dinner.  He said that he couldn't resist any longer after watching Bob's Burgers last night.  Enough about Roberto's eating (or lack of eating) habits.

Some other highlights:  Roberto wore the wolf shirt, he washed and gassed up his cars, we got two peppers from our plants and there's a lone tomato growing, and we played Ghost Stories and were quickly defeated.  There was still some trouble sleeping last night.  I think one of the anti-nausea medicines was causing him to twitch a whole bunch.  :( 

Now that we're out of chemotherapy and Roberto is almost back to normal, I will update the blog less frequently now.  How does Tuesday and Thursday sound?  Oh, I'll have to write a post for tomorrow!  Hmmm....


Cycle 4 - Day 9

Missing My Z's

Ugh, Roberto and I didn't get much sleep last night.  His naps from earlier in the day and simply feeling uncomfortable from his stomach being upset kept Roberto awake.  Me?  Roberto's tossing woke me up and then I just couldn't get the sleepies back!  :(

The day was a lot better than Monday and we went without major incidents.  Roberto only threw up once!  :\   He's still not eating a lot, but that is probably a good thing for now.  On another note, he's pretty happy that he doesn't have the PICC line anymore.  Roberto got to take a normal shower sans saran wrap!  He had to keep the PICC line dressing dry so we wrapped it with saran wrap for about 10 weeks.  The little hole healed up quickly which is nice.

Okay, time to get some good rest tonight.

Cycle 4 - Day 8

Not Out of the Woods

Roberto did not have a great day despite me throwing at him all the possible anti-nausea medication I could get my hands on.  Only one meal was able to stay in his stomach today and that was a single Asian pear.  He tried eating many other fruits and soups, but those didn't stay down. 

When he was awake, he wanted to do something so I gave him the other wooden puzzle toy my mom bought (a dragon!) but apparently it was super complicated with all the scale parts.  Then Roberto and I played the board game Formula D which simulates formula 1 racing.  Roberto was still scarred from the fiery crash he suffered the last time he played so he was conservative with his car.  I, on the other hand, went wild around the turns and won!  I don't mean to disparage Roberto when I say that the game was pretty simple in that one rolls a die and moves a tiny race car; playing the game totally wiped Roberto of energy.  That's when we moved into the session of watching a Starcraft tournament.  I've come to realize that I've learned an unpleasant amount about Starcraft from watching these episodes with Roberto.  Banelings!  Pylons!  GG!!!

Besides the above activities, we spent the day going upstairs and back downstairs depending on Roberto's comfort level and desire to sleep.  I say "we" because he doesn't want to be alone. While he is sleepy, he doesn't quite stay asleep and I think he's becoming anxious since he is not recovering very quickly.  He kept telling me that he wished he didn't feel so terrible.  Right now, I think my presence is helping because he is totally snoring.

I hope tomorrow is a little better for him.  Robostrong!

Cycle 4 - Day 7

He Earned It!

Cycle 4 - Day 6 (Saturday)

I'm still keeping track of the days of the cycle because the two recovery weeks after the infusion is technically part of the chemotherapy treatment.  

Our (last???) visit to the Infusion Center today came with a reward! 

Roberto got a special certificate for completing his chemotherapy treatment.  The nurses signed the certificate at the bottom.  The certificate has a special place at the top of the card wall.  Roberto is definitely happy that he doesn't have to get the chemo drugs pumped through his body anymore.  He's focusing on regaining his strength and getting ready for the surgery. 

In addition to receiving his certificate, Roberto also had his PICC line removed (as promised).  The nurse simply pulled the PICC line out of Roberto's arm.  It was amazing and disgusting.  There was even a countdown as the line neared the last 10 centimeters.  The nurse sort of cheated at the end because Roberto was getting a little freaked out by the whole process (I was definitely squirming).  I have no idea how well you can see it in this video, but here it is:

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Overall, today was okay.  Roberto, I think, wants to recover faster than his body will allow.  The morning started off well with him eating some fruit.  Then he wanted to go for a quick walk around the block.  After the trip to the Infusion Center, I made him my specialty of "egg in a hole" - an egg fried inside a piece of bread, but then threw it up later.  Then Adam made him some nice soup.  I think that's where Roberto should have stopped but he couldn't refuse the rice/bean/veggie thing that Adam made for dinner.

This post is going up late because Roberto wanted to go on a nearly midnight walk because he was having trouble sleeping.  Not even 10 yards from our apartment, Roberto threw up his dinner.  I was so surprised because it had been so long since he had eaten.  Roberto was going to keep walking but I dragged him back home and got him back into bed with some ginger ale.  He's finally sleeping soundly.

It's always so hard to see him so sick like this.  Let's hope that tomorrow is better. 

Chemo - Cycle 4 - Day 5 - No More Icky Chemo Drugs!

No more chemo.  NO MORE CHEMO!  Wooooooohoooooo!!!  Finally!  I'm so tired, though, that I can't fully process it.  I think it's partly because Roberto is still feeling super crappy and because I haven't been getting much sleep every night this week.  Hopefully Roberto can start bouncing back in the next week.  The fourth cycle was much much better than the third cycle because he didn't throw up most of the time - just a few times. 

Tomorrow, Roberto's Mesna sack is taken from him, he gets a Neulasta shot to promote white blood cell growth, AND his PICC line is removed! 

Okay, time for rest.  We don't have to wake up early to get to the Infusion Center at 8am. 

100% done (I'm not counting the recovery period now)!  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!  I'm processing it!!!

Chemo - Cycle 4 - Day 4 - Final Countdown

Roberto spent some of the night dry heaving and started the morning with throwing up.  :(  Luckily, that was it.  We were able to get to the Infusion Center without problems.  The nurse got Roberto started on the amazing anti-nausea medicine (the same from Monday) and that seemed to do the trick.  He still had some issues with dry heaving, but that's something we can live with nowadays.  I'm just glad that he can eat a small peach and *not* throw it up 30 minutes later.  It's a vast improvement over cycle 3. The thing is, I've gotten used to the weird, disgusting burping/heaving noises that Roberto makes.  :\

ONE MORE DAY!!!  Then Roberto can slowly start building his strength!  We confirmed with the oncologist's nurse that we'll have to wait at least a month before consulting with the thoracic surgeon.  While we want to jump right into surgery, it probably *is* best for Roberto to rest a bit in case he needs to have the open chest surgery (which seems like a strong possibility from how the doctors talk about it).  This also means we get to enjoy a "normal" life for an extra week or two.  But, anyway, ONE MORE DAY!

Chemo - Cycle 4 - Day 3 - Three Down, Two to Go!

Well, it seems that the anti-nausea drug from Monday is wearing off like I feared.  He spent the morning dry heaving, and it continued until we got to the Infusion Center.  I made Roberto take sips of ginger ale and the nurse got him started on his pre-medications early.  Both of those combined seemed to do the trick; Roberto stopped dry heaving as frequently and was able to get some rest in the morning.  The dry heaving still continued but Roberto successfully remained vomit free by the end of the day! 

I'm going to keep this post short.  I gave you guys enough reading for the past two days.  Go out and play some board games for me!

Chemo - Cycle 4 - Day 2 - Life Mimics TV

It's great knowing that the end of the chemotherapy treatment is soon.  The next steps will be getting a CT scan, consulting with the oncologist, and then consulting with the thoracic surgeon.  We still have no information about the surgery since it depends on how much of the tumor is left over from the chemotherapy.  The uncertainty about the surgery is a little scary, but at least it means Roberto is one step closer to being cancer free.

Speaking of Roberto, he had another great day!  The new anti-nausea medication might be doing the trick.  It only lasts for three days, so tomorrow might be a little rough.  The good news is that Roberto will get a second dose on Thursday.

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Here are three fun things I learned in the last couple of weeks: 

1)  Roberto's finger tips are darker than the rest of his skin.  This is because of the chemotherapy.  Skin cells are one of the faster growing cells and so they are affected by the chemotherapy drugs (the drugs target all fast growing cells).  I have no idea the ways in which the skin is affected.  I just know that Roberto obsessed about his skin for a good couple of weeks until we could talk to the oncologist about it (it's normal and will go away).

2)  Some of the nurses at the Infusion Center have Grey's Anatomy (TM) brand of scrubs.  Who knew?

3)  It's really hard to get the word out to people.  Roberto is still getting messages from people who have no idea that he's battling cancer right now!  Either we missed a few key people when getting the news out or Roberto really has a ton of friends.  I guess people don't Facebook stalk like they used to.  *sigh*  Those were the days.

4)  I've been watching a bit of Scrubs lately, and I've started recognizing the drug names.  I don't know if that's a good or bad thing yet.  :-\  Also, I'm very scared of residents now, more than ever.

Okay, keep your fingers crossed for Wednesday!  Hopefully we'll have a strong and healthy Roberto again soon. :)

Chemo - Cycle 4 - Day 1 - Juicing

He's doing good, so far!  Roberto didn't vomit the entire day!  That means we don't have to worry about him not having enough calories for the day and being dehydrated.  The oncologist moved one of the anti-nausea medications to the first day.  It might have made the difference.

We also got a mini-laugh today because Roberto's nurse's name could be interpreted as a stripper name.  hehehe  Any guesses?  No, it's not Krystal.  Try again.   Is it a fact that nurse's with stripper names help people heal faster???  Stripper nurses?  Wait, I'm taking this in a bad direction.

Anyway, Roberto finally understands the benefits of small portions and hydration despite his usual mode of inhaling all food products.  Yesterday, he went to the Latino grocery store in Woodland to get some special carbonated apple juice that is good for nausea (purportedly).  The icebox we use for infusion weeks is packed with the special apple juice, Powerade and plenty of fruits and yogurts.  Thank goodness for the super Safeway sale on Powerades!

This cycle already feels different from the others.  I feel the optimism returning!  I'm super happy that Roberto is starting the week off well.  I'll just have to ignore his twitchy leg that keeps hitting me. 

Only four more days to go!!! 

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I know that it's the end of the treatment, but I wrote this out a while back and decided that maybe it'll be good to just throw out there.  The stuff below is part of the "Hidden Side" stuff I was writing earlier.  We learned about all the drugs in one day for "Chemo Education."  

There are three main chemotherapy drugs that Roberto gets during his infusion week (the first week of each cycle):  Ifosfamide, Etoposide, and Cisplatin.

Roberto has seminoma with elements of teratoma cells.  Seminoma is a type of testicular cancer and it can occur outside of the testicles; this is what Roberto has.  The good thing about seminoma is that it responds well to chemotherapy drugs. 


Ifosfamide
Good:  Used to treat testicular cancer.
Bad:  Destroys the lining of the bladder

This is the drug that requires Roberto to carry around the fanny pack during the chemo week.  The fanny pack administers the drug Mesna to protect his bladder but it must be given continuously.  Usually Bleomycin is given but it causes lung toxicity.  Since Roberto practically had only one lung at the beginning of chemotherapy, the oncologist replaced the Bleomycin with Ifosfamide. 

Etoposide
Good:  Used to treat testicular cancer.
Bad:  Damages vein tissue.

This is where the advantage of the PICC line is apparent.  Since the PICC line goes almost all the way to the heart, it bypasses the smaller veins and the Etoposide doesn't have a chance to damage them.

Cisplatin
Good:  Used to treat testicular cancer.
Bad:  Damages vein tissue; causes kidney toxicity.

*This* is the drug that induces the most vomiting.  Apparently, most people do not handle Cisplatin well, and I guess Roberto is one of them.  Also, partially to combat kidney toxicity, Roberto gets some saline solution at the start and end of the infusion (so before and after all drugs are administered).  The IV fluid is also part of general hydration for Roberto to help him flush the chemicals out of his body. 

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Gold Trophy: Beginning of the End

Well, that usually is an ominous statement, but here we are looking forward to the end of chemotherapy!  Roberto actually said, "This is the beginning of the end," to me while we were walking tonight. We were on the walk because I felt that his anxiety started to increase after Adam left today.  It's a bit different this time because I feel there is also a hint of determination. To help, I also suggested that we try to find a geocache while on our walk.  Geocaching is difficult during the day and it's down right impossible at night!  It was still fun, though. 

It seems that I was a little wrong when I said that I was the only one who remembered that Saturday was our old wedding date.  I was so glad when I got messages from people saying that they *did* remember!  Yay!  I guess I just let myself get caught up in feeling bad.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we had a surprise on our doorstep!

Patti sent us another wonderful plant.  The above flora is a lemon tree!

Also, our card wall is pretty respectable now.  Thanks so much for all the support!  :)

Okay, time to get prepared for the last chemo infusion week!  75% complete.  :)

Cycle 3 - Day 21

Cloudy with a Chance of Rain

On Friday, the weather forecast called for a 50% chance of rain for Saturday.  I watched that probability become absolutely 100% as Roberto and I lounged around in the living room eating lunch as the ground become splotchy with sprinkles and later glistened with puddles.  I can tell you with certainty that I would have been a complete basket case if we had the wedding today. 

Turns out, I was the only one who remembered that Saturday was Roberto's and my wedding day (except for the few eagle-eyed people who read my post a couple of days ago - thank you for your messages!!!).  It was good not to make a big deal about it, but I felt so weirdly alone today. 

Maybe the gloomy, grey weather affected me more than I thought because I wasn't alone.  Jim and baby Sophia stopped by to have dinner and play some games.  We tried out Ghost Stories and it is such a hard game!  And it's crazy addicting!  I really want to try to get through at least half of the ghosts instead of a quarter of them.  :\  By the way, we are playing on the easy setting. 

Roberto is not as anxious about this coming infusion week as he was before the third cycle.  Tomorrow we'll just hang out at home, play games, watch tv, and I'll listen to the Niners game on the radio.  Kapernick is going to make up for last week, right?  Right???

Cycle 3 - Day 20

Monk Time

We had a good visit at the oncologist's office today.  The nurse today was awesome.  She was faster at drawing Roberto's blood than other nurses Roberto's had and changed his dressing in record time!  Since we were done so quickly, we got to sit around for over 30 minutes until Roberto's second appointment time.  :\

Roberto's platelet counts have remained around the same amount: 76.  I have no idea what this number is but I do know that 25 was the bad number we didn't want to be at or below.  Anyway, that great number means *no* blood infusion is required.  Yay!  One less thing to do.

For our exciting Friday night, we finally learned how to play Ghost Stories!  The evil Wu-Feng is trying to escape his spiritual prison to destroy the world.  Only the holy Taoist monks stand in his way.  I learned that I'm a terrible Taoist monk who is easily defeated by the ghost minions of Wu-Feng.  I haven't even faced Wu-Feng yet!  :( 

Also, Roberto got a couple more cards and some gifts from Jessica! 

 We are big fans of the Buff!  They are great for runners as they can be reshaped to cover the head/neck/face.  :D  Not sure when Roberto can use those glow-glasses, but maybe an Electric Run is in our future? We also got a gardening book from Tasia!  Yay!  Maybe those plants will listen to me now!  Grrr.

Cycle 3 - Day 19

Robostrong Bracelets!

Roberto had a great couple of days.  I figured it wasn't worth blogging about another day of watching tv.  However, he didn't feel at 100% today.  I think he felt nauseated so I made him take some anti-nausea medicine.  Hopefully he did not catch some sort of virus or anything.  I'm going to keep an eye out for a fever, though.

Our roommate, Aubrey, bought a few awesome "Robostrong" bracelets!  It was so hard to take a picture of it.  We have a few extras to hand out, so claim yours today!

I found myself looking at upcoming events that I normally would coerce Roberto into doing with me.  Here are a few of the things I want/wanted to do!

Lost Sierra Endurance Run
http://www.lostsierraendurancerun.com/

Zombie Preparedness!
http://www.rei.com/event/45517/session/77681

Archer Live!
http://www.axs.com/events/244767/archer-live-tour-tickets?skin=goldenvoice

Missed Events.  :(

http://sacburgerbattle.com/

I could be trying to distract myself from the fact that Saturday was supposed to be our wedding day.  It'll be just another Saturday now.  Nothing special.  

Tomorrow, Roberto will have his blood drawn and analyzed so the oncologist can make sure Roberto is healthy enough to start the fourth round.  We are almost at the end!

Cycle 3 - Day 18