Blood

So today my dad took me up to LDS hospital to have my blood tested and the levels checked to see if they can start harvesting the stem cells. It was about a 45 minute drive, and we had to be there at 7:30 AM, so that whole aspect of everything wasn't very fun. We waited for about 10 minutes before they called me back, not bad, and then I was done in about 5. If even that. So to me it just feels kinda annoying to drive that far when it's going to be such a quick visit! They said the results would take about 45 minutes so we left with the knowledge that she'd call me. We had gotten till we were only 15 minutes from home or so when my BMT coordinator called and said all my blood levels were super low and I needed to have a blood transfusion! Thankfully we didn't have to turn around, they just sent the order to the local hospital which is really close to our house. The good news about all this is that it did give me time to run home and grab my laptop and a book before the transfusion. I hadn't taken anything with me to really do up to Salt Lake, so had we stayed I would have been very bored! So I'm actually getting blood pumped into me as I type this. Thanks to this new laptop that has a webcam I could grab a couple of shots. It's very slow, suposedly it'll take 3 hours for all the blood to pump in. Then tomorrow bright and early at 7:30 I get to do it all over again! This time we'll be sure to stay up there till the results are in and I'll be sure to bring my backpack of things to do.

It's nice having this central line in so they don't have to poke me!

Shots Shots and More Shots

So this weekend I've started getting injections that stimulate the stem cells in my marrow to come out into the blood. This is all so that those stem cells can be harvested later this week and frozen to be later transplanted back into me after the high intensity chemo. A nurse came to our house on Saturday morning and did the first injection but then taught my dad how to do it since I have to have shots every 12 hours, at 8 AM and 8 PM. The needles are super thin, thankfully, so I hardly feel the poke of it but the medicine does kinda sting when it's going in. Supposedly people get really sore or have bone and muscle aches with the shots but so far I have felt fine... definitely a good thing! Tuesday morning I'll go up to the hospital to have them check the level of stem cells in the blood and if they are good then they'll begin harvesting on Wednesday. This just made me think today of how unique this New Year's Eve is going to be!

Me trying not to smile for camera.

Today's Consult at the BMT Unit

We had a consult today at the BMT Unit with Dr. Ford and Ryan's coordinator, LaDee. First off traveling from Cedar Hills to downtown Salt Lake City was a bit of a nightmare today. From the Point of the Mtn., north, to downtown on I-15 was a 40mph drive because of snow and ice-packed roads. We took the Jeep on purpose in case we needed the 4-wheel drive which we did once we hit the downtown area. Not fun! Now to the consult, we didn't really learn much new like we thought we would. They just went through stuff we already know and to sign the consent forms. We did learn that the result of this chemo round is Ryan is now officially in remission which is what they want going in to the next phase. I'm sure you're wondering if he is in remission then why the BMT? It's simply because the cancer and tumors will come back and history has shown this. So, tomorrow the shots begin that stimulate his bone marrow stem cells to flood the bloodstream. A nurse will come to our home twice a day at 8 and 8 for the next few days. Starting Tuesday we will take him to the BMT Unit each morning to have the stem cell levels tested then harvested when they are at they're peak, probably next Thursday or Friday. He will most likely be admitted to the hospital on Jan. 5th or 6th and will be there for nearly a month. The shots that he will be given will make his bones ache and we have pain pills for that. We will also need to watch closely for any adverse conditions. 1 in 3 patients get a fever and if this happens he will need to be admitted right away for treatment. Fun stuff ahead but Ryan's tuff and we'll get through!
Steve

A Post from Dad

I love this photo taken from last spring. That's Spencer on the left and Lindsay on the right. Brother and sister. During the last chemo round, Ryan didn't lose his hair until right at the very end of the six-month treatment. This current go-a-round he lost it all right away. We have a big consult meeting at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, LDS Hospital (hereafter known as the BMT Unit!), on Friday. We will find out then exactly what to expect and when he will enter the unit.
As a side note, once he gets admitted to the hospital, please don't send flowers or plants to his room or to our home as they are not allowed. They carry disease, spores and molds. I'm sure he will love getting 'stuff' and some of it is allowable. I will post a list of permissable items as soon as we get it.
Thanks for everyone's support and prayers!
Steve (Ryan's Dad)

Picture Time!

Howdy ya'll. So my dad suggested I throw a few photos up for people to see and give a little background about me and what's going on. So here goes!

One of my favorite things to do before getting sick was going to Moab, UT with my family. We'd just hang out for a few days, go to Arches National Park and hike, swim at the motel, shop for t-shirts and just have a grand old time. I always thought of myself as having a good sense of humor and I really loved to laugh and loved anything that made me laugh. I always had good health too. Other than getting sprained ankles a few times from sledding and basketball, I was rarely in the doctors office. So when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in September of 2007 it was a pretty big shock to me and my family! Thankfully I've been able to keep my good sense of humor and have still found things to laugh at and have hopefully made a few other people laugh as well.

My hair did some pretty crazy things for awhile. I had grown it out quite long right before getting diagnosed, long for me anyway. After a few weeks of chemo it started to fall out just a little bit here and there, but not completely. If I remember right, I cut it shorter just so that I wasn't leaving these long hairs all over the house, but I still had plenty of hair left on my head. And so it stayed for almost the entire 6 months of chemo. I say almost because, wouldn't you know it, about 2 weeks before my last round of chemo all my hair decided to come out. Pretty strange that it would wait so long to completely fall out! Thankfully I didn't stay bald long and my hair grew back fairly quickly after my last round, Feburary of 2008. You can see that by June it was back to "normal" length for me, though oddly enough it came back in darker and little thicker too. I started chemo again in October '08 and after just one round of chemo all my hair fell out again. So it's been quite the winter so far, having to wear a beanie around to my doctors appointments and such just to keep my head warm!

This is the face I make when I make new posts.

START HERE

Alright, this marks a momentous occasion. That's right, it's the first post of my first blog ever. Who even thought of the word "blog"? To me it seems odd especially because I was always into computers and the internet and such, and the word didn't exist in 2003. Not that I remember anyway. I go to Mexico for 2 years, and then I come home and suddenly there is this huge explosion of bloggers and everyone going blog crazy. And here I am, 3 years later than that even, and I'm just barely getting into it... and really the only reason I am is because I have so many people wondering what is going on with me and wanting updates on my health. So this will be good for all of us: It'll give me something to do when I'm stuck in a hospital, and everyone else can easily stay up to date. For now though I am still at home and so I'm not sure how often I'll write.

Yesterday I got my portable catheter in my chest removed, and had a Hickman central line placed on the opposite side of my chest. I had had that "port" for a little over a year, and it had really been such a good thing to have. It allowed the nurses giving me chemo just to pretty painlessly poke me in the port just under my skin instead of having to find a vein in my arm and poke me there each time. It really was nice to have. This new line seems like it'll be an even better thing to have as it has 3 different lines going into me, so 3 different drugs could be given at the same time, thus being much quicker. Also, I won't have to get poked AT ALL, which will be great too! I thought it was kinda funny that they let me keep my old port in a little plastic cup. I set it up on my shelf, just a sort of a reminder of all of this. It's actually shaped like a heart, and it's purple... the nurses said they loved giving out Purple Hearts to their patients, sort of like soldiers.

The portable catheter that was in my chest after being removed.

I'm totally open for comments and suggestions on anything to do with this new blog. Hate the layout? Hard on your eyes? Need me to stop using such big words so you can understand? Oh, that last one will probably never happen! Anyway, I'm just sayin that you can let me know of anything I can do to make this a constantly improving creation.