MICHAEL'S JOURNEY

Happy belated Thanksgiving all and hoping the upcoming holiday season will be a joyous and fulfilling one.

Ok, let’s catch up. I had an ultrasound in late October to verify that the kidney paths were clear and we could proceed with treatment (chemo). I went to work on Nov 3 and was playing phone tag with the Oncologists office to schedule a meeting for game planning the next steps. After work on Nov 3, I went home, had some dinner, watched some tube and when about ready to turn in I could not. Massive back spasms nearly crippled me and it was all I could do to get to my bedroom. No sleep that night, or the next, or the next. Tried the usual heat pad, ice, heat pad, ice, but nothing worked. Susan took me to the emergency room on Thursday that week. They ran a full MRI and discovered I had two bulging discs in the lower part of my back. Sent me home with some pain medication that worked slightly and did bring some relief. However, they said that what I had been doing, would be the treatment they would recommend. Ice, heat, and some yoga stretching. Was not able to return to work or even get into my truck until the following Thursday. So now I’m out two weeks from the early November date we wanted to get started with the cancer review treatment. Still have some pain in the left-hand side of my lower back, but hopefully it’ll reside. I am able to drive, sleep and be fairly mobile.

We scheduled the oncology meeting for Friday, Nov 21. My Dr prescribed more pain medication for the back and explained to me that I wouldn’t be going through hard-core chemo. We would be mixing two immunotherapy drugs designed and exclusively built for bladder cancer. Unlike some traditional chemotherapy treatments, this will not attack the immune system throughout the body and instead will invigorate and wake up the immune system and attack the cancer cells exclusively in the bladder. In addition, no port needed to be put into my chest area and the treatments would only take an hour as opposed to four hours. This past Tuesday I completed my first one. My schedule will be treatment once a week for an hour for two weeks on one week off. I did get prescribed some medication for nausea. However, here it has been three days later and I don’t seem to show any side effects. Yet.

Have most of my appetite back to will try and gain some of the weight and strength that I’ve lost over these ordeal(s). Had a nice T-Giving dinner last night and just inhaled a large and tasty plate of huevos rancheros.

So for now, time to keep working on the back, ice, heat, stretch, repeat. And once again, thank you all for the prayers positive thoughts and good vibes overall. 

Until next time.