Chemotherapy Course Summary

Carl asked me recently how many chemotherapy "rounds" or "courses" he has been through. I didn't know, so I thought I would summarize them.  Websters dictionary defines a "course" of chemotherapy as a "series of doses or medications administered over a designated period".  Carl's doses of chemotherapy are three week blocks time.  He gets the chemo drugs to start the chemotherapy course, and the rest of the "course" is built in recovery time before he can get the drugs again. 

Dec 28, 2009 to Jan 1, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 1,
Main drug was Ifosomide, with concurrent radiation to the neck.

Jan 18, 2010 to Jan 22, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 2 - five days inpatient (meaning he stays at the hospital the whole time, overnight as well.)
Main drugs were Ifosomide and Adryomycin.

Feb 8, 2010 to Feb 12, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 3 - five days inpatient
Main drugs were Ifosomide and Adryomycin.

[ Feb 22, 2010 Pet Scan and MRI's. ]

Mar 1, 2010 to Mar 4, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 4 - five days inpatient
Main drugs were Ifosomide and Adryomycin.

April 19, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 5 
dose of ? on day 1 and day 8 with concurrent
[ April 20, to May 7, 2010] Weekday radiation treatments to the leg.

[ May 17, 2010 Pet Scan ]

May 24, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 6 - 
Day 1 and Day 8 dose of

Gemzar (also known as Gemcitabine) and
Taxotere, (generic name - Docetaxel)


June 24, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 7 - Day 1 and Day 8 dose of

Gemzar (also known as Gemcitabine) and
Taxotere, (generic name - Docetaxel)

July 12, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 8 - Day 1 and Day 8 dose of 
Gemzar (also known as Gemcitabine) and
Taxotere, (generic name - Docetaxel)

[ July 22, 2010 Pet Scan ]

Aug 9, 2010 to Aug 13, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 9 - five days inpatient
Main drugs were Ifosomide and Adryomycin.

Aug 31, 2010 to Sept 4, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 10 - five days inpatient
Main drugs were Ifosomide and Adryomycin.

Sept 24, 2010 to Sept 29, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 11 - five days inpatient
Main drugs were Ifosomide and Adryomycin.

[ Oct 4, 2010 Pet Scan ]

Oct 18, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 12 - Day 1 and Day 8 dose
Main drug was Irinotecan

Nov 11, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 13 - Day 1 and Day 8 dose
Main drugs were Irinotecan and Vinecristine

Dec 6, 2010 to Dec 10, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 14 - five days inpatient
Main drug was Ifosomide

Dec 27, 2010 to Dec 30, 2010 Chemotherapy Course No. 15 - five days inpatient
Main drug was Ifosomide

July 11, 2011 to July 14, 2011 Chemotherapy Course No. 16 - five days inpatient
Main drugs were Ifosomide and Etopocide

Lance Armstong only had to have 4 courses of Chemotherapy, according to Carl, who recently read Lance's book.
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Michigan Vacation 2011

We have visited Carl's Dad in Michigan every summer for years, often over the 4th of July weekend.  



Carl and the children, Michigan, July 2011

This year, we loaded the car and headed to Michigan on Thursday, June 30, 2011. 

We hadn't been sure we could fit the Michigan vacation in because of Carl's chemo and surgeries schedules; but fortunately, Carl had recovered enough from his neck surgery (on June 18, 2011) that we could go. 

View of Chicago from the road (I94)

Carl and I usually split the driving, but this time I drove the 350+ miles each way.


Fountain at the Chicago Botanic Gardens


We decided to stop more often so Carl could stretch his legs.  The first stop was the Chicago Botanic Garden, were we ate lunch.

Lunch at the Gardens

We stay at Carl's Dad's log cabin on Little Wolfe Lake when we travel to Michigan.  The cabin's address is in 'Grass Lake' Michigan, which is kind of confusing.  There are so many beautiful lakes in Michigan.  Grass Lake is in the middle of the Michigan, between Ann Arbor and Jackson. We almost always spend time in Livonia, Michigan as well, where Carl's Dad lives.  Livonia is a nice suburb of Detroit.  This was the first time that we didn't travel on into Livonia, but Carl was tired enough from the ride to Grass Lake. 



View of Cabin from the lake



Grass Lake Michigan is a great place to have awesome $1.50 ice creams.  The dollar gets you a LOT more ice cream at Grass Lake's "The Lovin Spoonful" ice cream parlor then at home.

Carl and company at the ice cream shop

(Carl is wearing a winter coat because he was having a hard time regulating his body temperature in air conditioned places.)


This year, Miranda, Nathan, Anthony and Tom built two cardboard boats for a Cardboard boat race on the 4th of July in Grass Lake. 

Cardboard boats.  Ours were the only ones not painted

Miranda, Nathan, Anthony and I raced them, Tom and Carl cheered the boaters on. 



Miranda placed 3rd in the one person boat race!

Surprisingly, our unpainted boat (above) held up almost as long as the painted boats.


The start of the 2 person Cardboard boat race

There was an extra two person boat that the organizers gave to Anthony and Miranda for the two person race.  Anthony and Miranda are loading in the pinkish boat above.  They  finished 1st in the two person race.
 

Nathan and Nick in the two person race

  

The Cardboard Boat Race winners



Other activities over vacation included boating, tubing, eating and relaxing. 



Carl's Dad, Carl, his Aunt and Mom



Nathan and Carl

We took the pantoon boat to a sand bar in the middle of Big Wolfe Lake, where boats hang out while people play in the water, and a DJ broadcasts fun music.  One thing we really missed was seeing all the cousins, the schedules didn't work as well this year.  Otherwise, we had a nice 4th of July vacation, and then headed home on the 5th of July.

A Covered Bridge Somewhere in Michigan

Carl used a walker most of the vacation, (he uses the walker on uneven surfaces and grass), so we had the walker tied to the top of the car.

We got home, and the next week (July 11-14, 2011) Carl had inpatient chemotherapy at Froedtert Hospital.  Well, at least we managed to fit the vacation in!

Click on any photo to see it larger.
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Rest and Recovery

I am writing this Sunday, June 26, 2011.  Carl was discharged from the hospital just over one week ago on Saturday, June 18, 2011, after a Wednesday June 15, 2011 neck surgery that removed the remaining visible tumor from his neck.  [Actually, before the surgery, no tumor was visible.  (It was on the inside, ha ha)  But once the neck surgeon cut him open...  The surgeon looked around and removed all the tumor in the neck that was visible to the surgeon, and visible to the imaging (CT/MRI/X-ray?) equipment  in the operating room.]  

Froedtert's Operating Room used for Angiograms

The photo above and below shows the operating room used for Carl's two Angiogram procedures on Monday June 13, 2011 and Tuesday June 14, 2011.  Above, the large white structure with the large curved arm is an imaging machine that rotates and slides forward and back to takes images before, during and after the procedure.  A second curved arm in the center of the above photo takes images from the top and bottom of the surgery table.  Carl's bald head is visible on the far right.  Carl is still in the transport bed, and will be transferred to the operating table shortly.

The photo below shows the same operating room from a different angle.  This is the view of the operating room from the monitoring station, a room next to the operating room that has glass windows viewing the operating room.  I believe this is where the machine technicians operate the imaging machine from.  Carl is still on the transport bed.  The curved arms of the imaging machine are visible at the far left.

Froedtert's Operating Room used for Angiograms

Carl has spent the last week resting and recovering at home.  He did get lots of rest, hours of it a day, but there were still four children running to and fro - so not all of the hours in the day were 'restful'.  I estimating that Carl slept more then 12 hours a day, and Carl didn't move around too much.  He has started being a bit more active this weekend, and was exercising a little bit on a reclining exercise bike I bought at a rummage sale.  He went in to his work only for a short visit to say hi on one day.  Of course he didn't stay at home all of the time, though.  Probably once a day we/he left the house for some reason or other.

Carl came home from the hospital this time with a walker.  So now Carl has had a cane; crutches; a foot orthotic; and now a walker.  Today was one of the first days since the surgery that he has been able to move a bit without using either the walker or the crutches.  We went to church for the first time in weeks (with the walker). 

Carl on June 18, 2011

The photo above is from the day Carl was released from the hospital, Saturday, June 18, 2011.  Miranda came with me to pick Carl up from Froedtert hospital, and since it was a Saturday, we stopped at the Wauwatosa Farmer's Market.  Should we have?  Probably not, but Carl wanted to.  We did buy a couple of plants from local farmers for Carl's "earth box" garden.  One of the things accomplished this week was that Carl and the children planted tomatoes and cilantro and basil in two "earth box" gardens.  I can tell that Carl has lost weight in this photo. 

One of the highlights of this weekend has been a family film-festival viewing of the Lord of the Ring trilogy - tomorrow night we hope to watch third movie in the series, "The Return of the King".  We have decided that Nathan would make a good Frodo, the ring-bearer.


Thank you once again for your prayers.  We continue to welcome them. 

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Carl is back home!

I am HAPPY to report that Carl was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, June 18, 2011, after 3 long days of procedures and a neck surgery on Wednesday.

Carl is glad to be out of the hospital.  I am looking forward to a good night's sleep, and sleeping late tomorrow morning.  

I am hopeful that Carl's recovery time at home will be quality family time.  This week has been challenging since the children were out of school for the entire week, and I was gone on most mornings before the two middle boys even got out of bed.  Things at home ran a little crazy.  Here is an example.  The lawn needed mowing all week, and yet with three teenage boys in the family, none of whom had pressing or scheduled commitments ALL week, the lawn didn't get started until after Carl got home today.  (Don't worry, Carl didn't mow it...)  Finally, with a parent (or two) actually around to say "no going to the pool before you mow the lawn",  Nathan tackled the overgrown front yard.  Perhaps Monday Carl and I can establish a good start of the summer routine for the children.

Thank you once again for your prayers.  Carl's surgery seems to have gone better then originally thought possible.  And thank you to those who fed and/or watched and/or drove and/or entertained some and/or all of my children at various points through out the week.  We are blessed to have all the prayers and help, we are blessed to have friends like you.

June 15 Surgery update.

Carl's neck surgery at Froedtert on Wednesday June 15, 2011 went well according to the surgeon.  Now Carl has to recover, which is painful, but the hard part is (hopefully) over.  I don't want to jinx anything, but I want to give out an update. 


Monday June 13, 2011 Carl was in SICU (S=Surgical Intensive Care Unit) after a angiogram with embolization procedure, which was done under full anesthetic.  Carl did not eat at all on Monday.  He had to lay on his back from 9:00 AM until midnight.  

Tuesday June 14, 2011 Carl was in NICU (N=Nuerological Intensive Care Unit) after an angiogram procedure was done to balloon and block off his left vertebral artery.  This procedure had to be done with Carl fully awake, not even lightly sedated.  Carl didn't eat at all until past 9:30 PM, when I tempted him with whatever I could find from Froedtert's all night cafe, because he couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight.  He ate a sandwich, applesause, milk, a candy bar, 3/4 of a pear, and a blueberry muffin. 

Wednesday June 15, 2011 Carl was in NICU after the neck his third neck surgery in 2011 - this surgery debulked the tumor in his neck. (Carl got operating room # 13-sigh...).  This surgery was done under full anesthetic.  He didn't eat at all on Wednesday, and had to lay on his back the entire day, except for when he was being operated on, when they rolled him to his stomach and the surgeon worked from the back of his neck.  Really, though, I haven't figured out if Carl even remembers anything after they took him to surgery at 8:30 AM. Carl got heavy duty pain medication - including Morphine.  It seems almost wrong to type 'Morphine' - like it is a bad drug, and he shouldn't have gotten any, but I am glad that he was able to sleep with apparent comfort.

Thursday June 15, 2011 Carl graduated out of NICU to the Spine care 'floor', walked a tiny bit, had soup and a pastrami sandwich (from Benji's - a deli we both love), and ate several times, watched a movie. His pain medications are back to oxicodone and oxicontin. 

I will be happier once he is home.  Then I will be freaked out that he might get a fever, fall, etc.  That's just kind of the way it is.  Stress either way, but at least at home things are calmer.  

Neck Surgery No. 3

Today, (Wednesday, June 15, 2011), Carl is having a neck surgery to debulk / (remove?) the tumor there. (The neck tumor had grown back over the past 4 months without chemotherapy.)  Long procedures done on Monday and Tuesday have allowed us to get to this surgery today. Again, I would appreciate your prayers for a great outcome. Carl is a trooper.

Carl was wheeled in to surgery at 8:30 AM. at Froedtert Hospital, and there now as I am typing this.

I hope to update my blog with details later this week. 

I really believe the prayers over the last several days have been helpful.  Carl was so calm yesterday; and today, so far. 

Prayer Request

Carl is having medical procedures done over the next several days at Froedtert Hospital - I would appreciate your prayers for a great outcome.