Family Support

My brother Todd had orange wristbands made that read "FCML" (you can guess what the "F" stands for). Each person in my family is wearing one for me.

In the photo (starting from the chubby leg and moving clockwise) are my nephew Cole, my dad, my brother Todd, my brother Ryan, my mom, Cancer Dog, myself, my wife Wendy and my sister-in-law Ellen.

We visited my family this weekend because, well, I just wanted to be close to my family. On the drive up Thursday evening I was very sick. I tried Dramamine as a nausea remedy but it put me to sleep in about 20 minutes, so I'm not sure whether or not it worked. The bone pain was back on Saturday and I took 3 Advil. It helped but made me so sick I spent the rest of the evening on the couch sucking Jolly Ranchers.

I've received several sympathy cards in the mail from my family and a few friends of family (including my pre-school teacher, you have to love growing up in a small town...). It's comforting knowing that people are thinking about me and I can't express how much a simple gesture such as a card means to Wendy and I.

Road Trip!

Wendy and I drove out to Montrose, Colorado on 7/25/08. We left at 5am with the dog and made it to Montrose at 11pm. For the first 3 hours Leu whined uncontrollably, I think he was nervous. In Baker, he finally flushed some bad mojo out of his system and seemed better after that. It's a good thing since we were contemplating leaving him on the side of the road if he didn't shut up... :-)

We spent the first few days at Wendy's parents just relaxing. A short day trip to Ouray was pretty much the only outing. The rest of the time we visited with family and played with the dogs.

On Monday my blood was expertly drawn by Alicia at Montrose Hospital. A couple hours later we had the results. My neutrophil count is back up in the normal range. My overall white cell count is still low though at 3,600. That afternoon we drove over to Wendy's brother's house in Fort Collins. We took highway 285 (through Park County, home of the infamous South Park) for the scenery instead of highway 70 through Vail. To celebrate my last night off Gleevec for the foreseeable future, we got tanked. I picked up some wine and some Odell 90 Shilling and we proceeded to drink ourselves under the table.

Needless to say, Tuesday was spent sleeping and eating and not much else. We had Big City Burrito for lunch (possibly the best burrito I've ever had). I'm officially back on the Gleevec as of tonight.

Wednesday we played on Horsetooth reservoir, just outside Fort Collins with Jeremy and his boat. I barefooted for the first time ever!

Back in Montrose on Friday we went Jeeping with my father and mother-in-law to Yankee Boy Basin (the pictures at this link are from someone elses trip) behind Sneffels mountain. It was a great ride with some amazing scenery. It's the closest thing I've seen to the Swiss Berner Oberland in the United States. Here's a shot of me at in at the end of the jeep trail posing as if I'd done anything other just ride in the jeep.



And here are Wendy and I after being bumped around for 2 hours in my father-in-law's Rubicon.


On Friday night I began to feel the familiar fatigue, nausea, light-headedness and dizzyness from the Gleevec. Saturday I spent entirely on my in-law's couch. I had forgotten how crappy I feel on this drug. We had originally planned on returning home on Saturday but decided to stay an extra day since I was in no shape to travel.

Sunday and Monday we made our way back across the Western United States to good old California. Wendy did all the driving except for 1 hour on Monday. I was too out of it to be safely behind the wheel.

Getting Out Of Dodge

Wendy and I have decided to take a break and drive out to Colorado to see her family for a week. We need a change of scenery. Early tomorrow morning we'll pack up the car, load the dog and head out.

We've arranged to take Monday's blood test at Montrose Memorial Hospital to see how my white cell count is doing. We got an order from Dr. Cohen that we'll fax out to my mother-in-law who has kindly offered to set things up for us. If my neutrophil count has risen back above 1000, I'll start back on the medication.

Since my neutrophil count is so low right now, I'm supposed to avoid people with infections, colds or the flu. Unfortunately, as of last night, this means my mother-in-law. We're hoping that hand sanitizer and possibly a hospital mask will do the trick. Hopefully we won't have to stay elsewhere while we're there (or worse, kick her out of her house...).

Losing Weight

I've been off the Gleevec for 4 days now and have lost about 5 pounds. Gleevec can cause you to retain fluids. Based on the number of times I had to get up to pee last night (6), all 5 pounds were fluid.

Something Positive

I think things have been pretty negative lately. Sometimes it's hard to remember the good things. On the profound advice of my mother to "think positive" here are some things that are positive in my life:

1. I love my beautiful wife.
2. My beautiful wife loves me.
3. My family loves us.
4. Wendy's family loves us.
5. We're both successful.
6. We've been boating this summer.
7. My brothers are also my friends.
8. Our dog is pretty cool.
9. My boss has been more than understanding with the amount of work I've missed.
10. I've received sympathy cards in the mail. I love mail.
11. My health insurance is paying for my treatment.
12. We still have options.
13. We have good friends.
14. We like the town where we live.
15. Things could be much worse.
16. We have a beautiful back yard.
17. It's not 10 years ago when Gleevec didn't exist.
    

Bob Ropp, a longtime family friend, married Wendy and I on June 24, 2006. He and his wife used to babysit my brothers and I when we were very young. Wendy and I scripted the entire ceremony ourselves except for a section where Bob could inject whatever words he felt appropriate. This is what he said:

It doesn't matter where you go in life...
What you do...
Or how much you have...
It's who you have beside you.

Wendy and I have always thought that was the most thoughtful and touching part of the entire day. As a wedding present he gave us the same saying painted on canvas under a red heart. It hangs in our bedroom where I see it every time I wake up or fall asleep.

The most positive thing of all is who I have beside me. I couldn't do this without you Wendy. I love you very much and I promise to grow as old and wrinkly as I can with you.