Brothers!
Bando here. I had a treatful conversation with his Birdness this evening. He called a few minutes before the last bag of poison finished emptying into his veins to tell me that that the tumor on his lung shrunk from 5.9 cm in diameter to 3.9 cm in diameter.
Now, Bird asked me if I remembered the formula for the volume of a sphere. I reminded him that I tried to learn calculus by the osmosis method in the Delphic Room; he and Yoda would get me to talk in my sleep while I used my calculus book as a pillow, hoping the learning would somehow make its way into my brain. As a result, I had to readily admit that I had no earthly idea what the formula for the volume of a sphere was.
Of course, I do have Google, so I now know the formula to be volume=4/3¶r3. Essentially, Bird did a quick calc in his head and thought that this 2cm in diameter reduction equates to approximately 50% in volume loss. Needless to say, he is VERY keyed about this news! This means that our prayers and good vibes, and the poisons those wolverine doctors have been dumping into him, have been working. This is very positive. If it continues to respond, they can excise the mass come August and not have to take so much of his lung in the process.
I had the good fortune to have dinner with Bird, Barb and their kids last week in Fenton, along with Chris Suydam and his family. After dinner, we walked down the street and toured Chris' new home. Well, to call it new wouldn't be quite right; it was built in 1902. Bird's three kids, my three kids, Chris' two kids, and the four kids from next door (that happen to be friends and classmates of my kids) all had a very rambunctious game of hide and seek in the massive home, followed by a rousing game of duck, duck, goose on the front porch until the mosquitoes chased us all away. Bird continues to be amazed at how the brothers have come together to help in his grovel, and how much we have poured into his support with prayer, friendship, and our cold, hard cash. All of these actions give him great strength, and remove a huge weight from his shoulders. Today's positive news helps even more.
His spirit improves with each piece of good news, whether its from his doctors, or from the brothers. Part of the good news the brothers have provided is regular infusions of cash that help make ends meet while the medical bills continue to roll in. Many brothers, myself included, have set up regular repeating monthly payments through their bank or credit union to pump much needed capital into the Big Bird Support Fund. If you can, please take a few minutes this week to do the same. Your support, along with the work of Bird's doctors, will help him achieve victory over this menace.
Fraternally,
Bando
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Yuk
Today brings no appetite and feet a dragging. I have felt worse, but, well, I can not remember what I was going to say thanks to the latest batch of pills and IV additives. They gave me marinol this morning (on top of all of the other stuff) to try and get me to rest. Nobody inquired anything regarding tolerance, so it will probably be ineffective. Well that is about it, just thought I would throw out some mindless babble for whomever's consumption.
By the way, if anybody knows how I can remove that God awful picture of me with the nose tube in the hospital, please holler. That was not meant to be a permanent fixture on the blog as it is quite repuslive. I have a lot more repulsive photos that could be posted, but are a lot more fun!
Yay! Today's bag of poison is empty and back to the bags of flushing liquids and bladder protection medicine, which means time to drink lots of water to flush out that wonderful ifosfomide aftertaste. Wow, this apple tastes good...nice surprise. Talk to you all later.
By the way, if anybody knows how I can remove that God awful picture of me with the nose tube in the hospital, please holler. That was not meant to be a permanent fixture on the blog as it is quite repuslive. I have a lot more repulsive photos that could be posted, but are a lot more fun!
Yay! Today's bag of poison is empty and back to the bags of flushing liquids and bladder protection medicine, which means time to drink lots of water to flush out that wonderful ifosfomide aftertaste. Wow, this apple tastes good...nice surprise. Talk to you all later.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Back in the Saddle.
So, after Week One of chemo and the hospitality of the Jensen and Landis families as well as a northward boost from Air Bando, my two weeks off started in the middle of a Lund family weekend get-together. I was feeling pretty beat up, but managed to take my son for his first canoe ride down to the new bridge construction and back on Saturday along with some minor activities around my folks place. The highlight of the afternoon was getting the "Neulasta" shot for bone marrow stimulation which similar to being stung by a wasp (Dad enjoyed his position as administator as I think there is still some pay back due from earlier decades). Sunday brought more lake fun which was accompanied by a temperature drop to about 50 degrees to enhance the traditional jump into the lake at Wickum's Point. The day ended early as about 7:00 pm the bone aches typical after a Nuelasta injection began to take hold. However, I did receive a call from Sleeper and Marcie indicating they would be able to visit briefly before their flight home from Traverse City to the Pacific Northwest. To my surprise, the Nuelasta shot had me and my sole energized Monday morning. Instead of waking up just before noon as always, I woke up wide awake and raring to go at 5:00 am and, after a two hour kitchen cleanup/breakfast/kitchen clean up, I proceeded raking the garden until the arrival of the Allen family at about 11:00 am. After a brief house and yard tour, and some major catching up, we went to my folks house and continued the same right up until the last possible moment for their departure to the air port.
It was a treatfull weekend, with the following week following the same tack with regard to my energy level and enthusiasm. I hit only one bump about Wednesday when my hips and lower back put me back on the hydrocodone for a few days, but the end all was a very enjoyable and productive week. The second week left me with a somewhat lesser energy level, probably due to overdoing it a bit the week before. On Wednesday our good brother Jeff Lobdell sent a handfull (heaping) of cupons for meals at any of his resturaunts, so we went to Boones that evening and fattened me up by a few pounds...I recommend the 24 oz Porterhouse (Thanks). We will definintely be returing soon.
By Friday, things went in the toilet, and I kind of dragged my feet trying to continue my victorious push started during the earlier portion of the two-week period. Fortunately Barb's parrents arrived to take over activities and assist us with family life for the upcoming months until we can determine my long term path.
During the previous two-week period I did manage to get a few fruit trees, 20 or so bean plants, 20 rasberry/blackberry plants, and 300 strawberry plants in the ground during this period; not to mention fixing three drawers, wheel burrow wheel replacement, squeegie handle repaired, miscellaneous sorting of a nut and bold collection, fighting and winning the battle Messiah started with the little green Tazmanian Devil rottotiller, as well as plenty of other nonsense. This past Saturday was reduced to a drizzly bonfire day as I worked on burning one of my last brush piles and consuming the last of the leftover light beer collection that has been decorating the fridge for several weeks.....and Sunday, it was back for another week of fun.
Air Bando was not available for this trip, so he recommended applying for Wings of Mercy, a program where pilots volunteer their time and the wear and tear on their planes in order to fly patients over long distances. Fortunately, the organization pays for the fuel, however I am guessing this is a smaller percentage of the overall cost. The long and the short of it was that we were approved for the program and were picked up at Cherry Capitol Airport by pilots Jim and Chuck, who originated from Battle Creek...two very generous and caring men. They buzzed us around two sets of thunderstorms as we flew southward and delivered Barb and I without incident 90 minutes later. During the same time period, Skinny was pulling fire through Jack Debor's (spelling?) back channels at the Candlewood Suites based on an earlier conversation Skinny had initiated. After settling in and deciding to negotiate things after the fact due to our early arrival, we received a call from the front desk indicating that we had been comp'd for our entire stay and offered an upgrade to a full sized suite for this period. Again, an unbelievable, but greatly appreciated brotherhood (and associated friend) hook. We can not thank everybody who have been providing the all of the support, above mentioned included, enough. I can not imaging having gone up against this alone. As I mentioned to some during the good part of the last two weeks, I have not felt this good or happy in recent memory...Thank you Everybody!!
This is week three of five chemo sessions it has begun to kick my ass. I know, however, sitting or laying on the couch just maintains the misery, so Barb and I walked to the Briarwood Mall and kicked around for a while, bought the kids some souvenirs, and drank some terrible green tea lemonade (grass clipping flavored) at Starbucks using a gift card..thankyou whomever, I am sure it was very good for me in spite of the flavor. I did an extremely limited try on the weight machine, just enough to pump my arms and test my incision area, which resulted in a pathetic attempt a flex or two in the mirror just to remind myself I had, infact lost significant muscle mass when I dropped those 30 pounds. Only two more days....I am already looking forward to being home for the next recovery period. Tomorrow will be fun as we have been invited to the Landis residence for dinner and may run into Yoda and JWI along the way.
That is it for now and thanks again for all of the love and support. Our house and my parent's house is open for my mom and my birthdays this weekend if any of you are traveling. Just call for space.
Big Bird
It was a treatfull weekend, with the following week following the same tack with regard to my energy level and enthusiasm. I hit only one bump about Wednesday when my hips and lower back put me back on the hydrocodone for a few days, but the end all was a very enjoyable and productive week. The second week left me with a somewhat lesser energy level, probably due to overdoing it a bit the week before. On Wednesday our good brother Jeff Lobdell sent a handfull (heaping) of cupons for meals at any of his resturaunts, so we went to Boones that evening and fattened me up by a few pounds...I recommend the 24 oz Porterhouse (Thanks). We will definintely be returing soon.
By Friday, things went in the toilet, and I kind of dragged my feet trying to continue my victorious push started during the earlier portion of the two-week period. Fortunately Barb's parrents arrived to take over activities and assist us with family life for the upcoming months until we can determine my long term path.
During the previous two-week period I did manage to get a few fruit trees, 20 or so bean plants, 20 rasberry/blackberry plants, and 300 strawberry plants in the ground during this period; not to mention fixing three drawers, wheel burrow wheel replacement, squeegie handle repaired, miscellaneous sorting of a nut and bold collection, fighting and winning the battle Messiah started with the little green Tazmanian Devil rottotiller, as well as plenty of other nonsense. This past Saturday was reduced to a drizzly bonfire day as I worked on burning one of my last brush piles and consuming the last of the leftover light beer collection that has been decorating the fridge for several weeks.....and Sunday, it was back for another week of fun.
Air Bando was not available for this trip, so he recommended applying for Wings of Mercy, a program where pilots volunteer their time and the wear and tear on their planes in order to fly patients over long distances. Fortunately, the organization pays for the fuel, however I am guessing this is a smaller percentage of the overall cost. The long and the short of it was that we were approved for the program and were picked up at Cherry Capitol Airport by pilots Jim and Chuck, who originated from Battle Creek...two very generous and caring men. They buzzed us around two sets of thunderstorms as we flew southward and delivered Barb and I without incident 90 minutes later. During the same time period, Skinny was pulling fire through Jack Debor's (spelling?) back channels at the Candlewood Suites based on an earlier conversation Skinny had initiated. After settling in and deciding to negotiate things after the fact due to our early arrival, we received a call from the front desk indicating that we had been comp'd for our entire stay and offered an upgrade to a full sized suite for this period. Again, an unbelievable, but greatly appreciated brotherhood (and associated friend) hook. We can not thank everybody who have been providing the all of the support, above mentioned included, enough. I can not imaging having gone up against this alone. As I mentioned to some during the good part of the last two weeks, I have not felt this good or happy in recent memory...Thank you Everybody!!
This is week three of five chemo sessions it has begun to kick my ass. I know, however, sitting or laying on the couch just maintains the misery, so Barb and I walked to the Briarwood Mall and kicked around for a while, bought the kids some souvenirs, and drank some terrible green tea lemonade (grass clipping flavored) at Starbucks using a gift card..thankyou whomever, I am sure it was very good for me in spite of the flavor. I did an extremely limited try on the weight machine, just enough to pump my arms and test my incision area, which resulted in a pathetic attempt a flex or two in the mirror just to remind myself I had, infact lost significant muscle mass when I dropped those 30 pounds. Only two more days....I am already looking forward to being home for the next recovery period. Tomorrow will be fun as we have been invited to the Landis residence for dinner and may run into Yoda and JWI along the way.
That is it for now and thanks again for all of the love and support. Our house and my parent's house is open for my mom and my birthdays this weekend if any of you are traveling. Just call for space.
Big Bird
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