Chemo #8 and an AWESOME Fashion Statement

Last Friday Allen had chemo treatment #8.  He started with blood work, and then another wonderful meeting with The Ninja.  We discussed radiation again and our great appointment with The Radiator.  Not sure where we will have radiation yet, but we are really close to making that decision.  The one thing that is for sure is that to have the best possible outcome, Allen will need to have radiation.  We also discussed Allen's upcoming travel plans for work.  Since for one of his trips he will need to travel by plane, The Ninja agreed Allen had to be fitted for a special mask to keep germs AWAY! Little did we know the crazy process involved--we should have realized that nothing is easy or "normal" these days! The nurse took Allen away to be fitted and he came back smiling and showed me this picture:

The nurse sprays a stinky spray in the bag to see if Allen can smell it.  If the mask fits properly, Allen shouldn't smell anything.  (No, he doesn't have to wear the yellow bag on the plane, just the turquoise mask.)  What a trooper! Now Allen is fitted with his very own mask that he will debut in a couple of weeks.  Luckily Uncle David (and a few other "spies" from his office) will be going on the same trip, so I can keep close tabs on Allen--and trust me, I WILL!

After the mask fitting, it was time for treatment.  The port was a little ornery, but finally cooperated.  Allen was a pro, sailing through treatment like a champ.

Saturday morning he went for his normal post-chemo long run.  Check out his shirt! The wonderful ladies at Central Rogers MOPS made us a "Chemo Care" basket and included the Ironman shirt! It's Allen's favorite now! Thank you ladies!

So, eight down and four to go.  Next week Allen will have another round of scans.  We are hoping that the mass has continued to shrink, shrink, SHRINK! And, that all the CANcer cells are still gone, gone, GONE!  We would appreciate your prayers that those two things will happen.  Also, we are hopeful that we can keep everyone healthy amidst this crazy weather and sickness going around.  Thank you again for all the amazing support! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

Meet The Radiator

Yesterday we had an appointment with a Radiation Oncologist. He is the guy who will be game-planning Allen's radiation treatment here (if we decide to stay in Arkansas versus being treated in Houston at MD Anderson).  We cannot express how impressed we were with him, who we nicknamed, The Radiator (you know--kind've like The Terminator--eliminating the last of any microscopic CANcer "seeds" as he referred to them). The Cancer Ninja referred us to him, so we should've guessed that he would be amazing--I mean ninjas only hang out with other really cool people, right?

The Radiator took so much time with us, answering our long, long list of questions with ease, patience, and honest interest. You can tell he is someone who geniuenly loves his field and could talk about it all day. (And if you know Allen, his curiousity is very easily spiked, so those two together could probably talk for weeks and weeks! I mean we spent over five minutes talking about protons and photons!) Probably the most impressive thing about The Radiator was the way he thought about Allen's case. He wasn't quick to lump Allen into a "cookie-cutter" treatment. Instead, he discussed with us that while Allen is a Stage III Hodgkins case, he is really more of a Stage II+ because the only thing putting him into Stage III, is a very small node in his stomach. Because of that viewpoint, he is considering also radiating under Allen's arm and along his clavicle where there were a couple of involved nodes. This is a personalized approach because typically in a Stage III, doctors only radiate the chest mass because most Stage IIIs have other areas involved and you can't be radiating the entire body.

We also learned that based on what The Radiator saw in Allen's scans (from after his 4th chemo) that Allen's chest mass has shrunk so much and retreated to the middle of his chest enough that The Radiator does not believe that Allen's heart or lungs will be directly affected by the radiation! Yea! That is such fabulous news! And, of course we are hoping that with Allen's next scans (coming up in two weeks) that the mass will continue to shrink so even less area has to be radiated! The Radiator also believes that what is left of Allen's mass at the time radiaton begins will not move with breathing. This is important because a moving mass means a larger field of radiation. There are techniques that can be used to control the breathing, preventing the mass from moving if necessary, but it was great to hear that The Radiator didn't even think Allen would have to worry about movement.

The Radiator explained that Allen's dosage of radiation will be less than 1/2 of what a lung CANcer patient would receive, and that Allen's relatively short time frame of treatment (3 weeks)  would probably prevent him from dealing with too many side effects from treatment. We also learned that patients who combined chemo and radiation have a 15-20% less likely chance of reoccurrence. Those were great numbers! The Radiator also reassured Allen that the radiation shouldn't interfere with his abiltiy to run and compete in triathlons, which made him very happy (and me a little terrified because somewhere along this journey Allen got me to agree to do an Ironman when he recovered)!

We certainly have A LOT to think about and discuss. Allen is hoping to have a long conversation with The Ninja soon to debrief and go over everything The Radiatior explained. But all in all we were so encouraged by what we learned! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! They are WORKING!!

Wise Words from The Cancer Ninja and Chemo #7

Yesterday marked chemotherapy treatment #7 for Allen--we are officially over halfway finished! Woo hoo! And, we might just be able to say that after seven attempts, the port is finally conquered! We have figured out that if Allen does certain stretches right before we start, and then hangs his right arm completely straight down with his back supported on the right side with his "magical" blanket, it WORKS! (Maybe, the truth is the port has conquered us!) Trust us, a working port is so nice--it eliminates some of the gut clinching stress of chemo, and it makes treatment go so much faster!

Before heading into the treatment room yesterday, we had a great meeting with The Ninja.  We were able to look back at Allen's scans from before Christmas and see from the CT how much his chest mass has shrunk. And, it was amazing! After only 4 treatments, it shrunk over 50%! The Ninja explained that as the mass shrinks, the chemo will be able to better penetrate and travel through the blood vessels to make sure that all areas are eradicated from any CANcer cells. This is also why it is important for Allen to finish all 12 treatments and not stop now. We also looked back at Allen's PET. The Ninja confirmed that the dull brightness in Allen's scan was muscle activity, and he is confident that Allen is in remission. We really can't hear that word--REMISSION--enough! Remission, remission, REMISSION!  Allen will have another PET after his next treatment to re-look at everything.  We are hoping for continued improvement!

We also started the discussion surrounding radiation. Should Allen radiate his chest? Well, the overwhelming answer is yes. The next big decision comes with where we will have that done, here or in Houston at MD Anderson. We are hoping to meet with the Radiation Oncologists here in the next two weeks to start figuring out a plan. After all, we also have a baby to deliver in the coming weeks, and we have to plan for that as well.

Allen's counts are back down to critical, which of course isn't good--especially with all the junk going around. So, if you don't feel well, please keep your distance from him, me, and the kiddos. We have to keep Allen healthy so he can keep to his treatment schedule! With that said, The Ninja cleared Allen for some business travel by car. With his new role at Sam's he will be doing some short car trips to Texas and Oklahoma. Of course, he will take every precaution we can dream up (and I promise I can dream up all kinds of ways to clean and sanitize)!

We also wanted to share a couple AWESOME Team ALL-EN pictures we received:

Kent State is ALL-EN! A BIG thanks to Emily's cousin AJ for sending this picture!

Look! Our favorite Pug, Pugola, is ALL-EN! Such a handsome guy!

Thank you again for all of your continued support! Please keep your pictures coming, and if you would like to send Allen a letter of encouragement (mentioned in the previous post) please email me at leahbates1212@yahoo.com!  We are ALL-EN!

Let's Show Allen we are ALL-EN!

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that these chemo treatments are no fun. And with number 7 coming up on Friday, both Allen and I are growing weary of these every other week "cocktail hours."

So, I was thinking, how could we energize Allen and show him support to carry him through his last five treatments?

I landed on letters of encouragement. I have had so many people want to help us over the past months, and I thought if our awesome Team ALL-EN family wrote Allen notes of encouragement and then put them in the mail, then Allen would have little "pick-me-ups" along the way these last 10 weeks. He could read them while he was having treatment or save them to read when he was having a tough day.

If you would like to send a note to Allen, please email me at leahbates1212@yahoo.com, and I will send you our address and give you a week time span to send the letter (so that we can space them out).

Thank you so much for all of your continued support! Let's show Allen we are ALL-EN!!

Chemo #6 (Belated Post)

Last Friday Allen had his 6th chemotherapy treatment, marking his halfway point! (Sorry this blog is almost a week late--both kiddos have been home and things have been crazy with the holidays!)

We were lucky enough to have Mrs. Scott, Brookelyn's Kindergarten teacher from last year, help us out by watching the kids all day, so that I could go sit with Allen during treatment.  Of course, the kids had a BLAST and we were able to relax and concentrate on Allen's chemo knowing they were in good hands.  (We told Braedyn this was his "interview" for Kindergarten, and if he wanted to be in Mrs. Scott's class, he better be on his BEST behavior!)

Chemo actually went great! The Ninja was out of town, so we just went straight back to the treatment room.  And, Allen was assigned to his favorite nurse, so he felt comfortable knowing that she knew how to man-handle his port.  She got blood return right away and we were in business.  Things moved right along after that, and we were in and out in record time!

Allen felt ok on Saturday, and he had a great run and workout.  But, Sunday after his run he felt pretty crummy. The yuckiness carried over into Monday too, and he tried to get lots of rest to get over his "chemo hangover."  The good news is that Tuesday he woke up feeling great!  We think that is a sign that the rest of 2013 is going to bring great days too!