Vince's Journey

Well, the pile of hair on the bathroom floor told me it was time to cut my hair off so Saturday I walked up to 'Great Clips' and got the ultimate buzz. In the two days since, I've been called John Kitna and my personal favorite; Curly. It really isn't as bad as I thought it would be but I have to admit, the head gets a little cold when it's not covered with hair.

I'm hopeful I'm through the worst part of this second cycle. My appetite is back to normal and I only had a couple days where I had to stick to the bland foods. If this cycle is like the first, I should feel pretty decent the next couple weeks.

With the Super Bowl this weekend I'm sure all the guys in the family will be convening at Mike Schmitt's house for the annual Boy's Super Bowl party. Plenty of White Caste's, Cheese Coney's and draft beer will be consumed and someone is destined to go down in the Super Bowl party Hall of Shame for performing an incredibly stupid act. Perhaps we'll recreate this list this weekend and list all the inductees at a later date. For my money, I'm picking the Steelers in support of my buddy Ken Murawski and hope they keep the Lombardi Trophy in the AFC where it belongs.

Other than that, nothing new to report. We hope all is well with you and will and your family. Until next time, Peace and blessings!

Vince

Yesterday was chemo treatment #2 and everything went pretty smoothly. there were no allergic reactions and I was done and on the way home by 5:15...far better than the after 7 pm finish on the previous treatment.

My blood counts were fine prior to the treatment and I'll go in for a Neulasta injection later today to help boost the white blood counts throughout this cycle. I am trying to figure out how I gained 4 pounds since last Tuesday; I've been excercising so I guess that means i've been eating like a horse. I've had a pretty good appetite throughout the early stages of my treatment and only really had one bout of nausea. If I start taking the anti-nausea medicine tomorrow I should be able to avoid the nausea altogether this time...last time I just waited a little too long.

Dr. Leming would like me to do a CT scan in two weeks. He said there is a good chance everything will be gone at that time. The nodes you can feel have been gone for several weeks. Obviously that would be great news if they're all gone but we won't build ourselves up to much for that news...there are at least 4 cycles to go.

So, we're moving along. I'm really starting to shed my hair now. Its just to the point where I actually have to comb it and now I'll probably have to buzz it off this weekend. I think there are a lot of people who don't even know what i'm dealing with (especially many of the donors I work with at XU). Of course that will all change when I'm walking around looking like Kojak!

Still touched and amazed by the outpouring of support our family is receiving. Mary Wersel brought us dinner last night (great chicken noodle soup, Mary) and I understand Debbie Federle is feeding us tonight. We still feel all your prayers...there is no way we would be getting through this so well without the support of all our family, friends, parish community and co-workers. My colleagues at Xavier have been wonderful, words cant describe how blessed i feel to be surrounded by such caring people.

So until next time, i'll sign off. Root home the Muskies tonight against Temple. We need a big win before this weekends showdown with Dayton.

Blessings to all...
Vince

Pittsburgh is the early favorite to win the 40th Super Bowl as they'll square off against Seattle in Detroit in two weeks. Both teams appear to be playing their best football and hopefully, unlike many of the Super Bowls, this years' game will be a close one. Since the Bengals were able to beat Pittsburgh once this year, I have to favor the Steelers to win it all. You have to wonder what might have happened had Carson Palmer not been injured but give the Steelers credit, they had to play all their playoff games on the road and they've gone in to three tough places to play (Cincinnati, Indy and Denver) and sent the home crowd home unhappy.

Last Thursday we attended the annual Crosstown Shootout as Xavier knocked off UC for the 7th time in 10 games. It was a classic college basketball game with both teams leaving it all on the court. UC never quit and forced OT on a late 3 pointer but Xavier took control in the overtime period and survived a last second three point attempt to win 73-71. The results weren't as good for Xavier last night as they lost to St. Louis in Atlantic 10 play. The Muskies appeared to be out of sync all night long, maybe they were still a bit hungover from the UC game a few nights before. They'll need to rebound this week as they play Temple in Philadelphia and then the UD Flyers at home on Saturday.

Tomorrow I'll get my second Rituxan/Chemo treatment. Hopefully the cycle will go as smoothly as the first. I had a couple difficult moments but nothing was untolerable and I was able to do everything I wanted to do. I even excercised almost every day throughout the first cycle.

Nothing more to report. I hope all is well with you and your family. I'll let you all know how the treatment goes tomorrow.

Yesterday I had another appointment at Cincinnati Hemotology/Oncology. Dr. Leming wasn't in so I saw the nurse practitioner. My blood counts were all good, I lost 2 more pounds and everything continues to look great. There should be no problems the rest of this cycle. My next treatment will be Tuesday, January 24.

I have to say, all things considered, things went pretty well this first cycle. I had a short bout with nausea, the barfing episode on the highway was a new adventure and I felt a little edgy from the prednizone but other than that, everything has been tolerable. I haven't taken the nausea medicine for over a week and my appetite has been very healthy. I haven't missed any work and I've continued to excercise. I also haven't noticed any feelings of excess fatigue. I know as treatments continue there will be a cumulative effect on my body but so far I'm dealing with things fairly well.

We got great news on Julie's mom, Viv Riestenberg, this week. Many of you probably know that she had surgery for lung cancer last August and has had quite a battle; in fact, things didn't look very good at all back in September. Well late last week Viv got the news that her latest scans revealed no sign of cancer! She actually could go home by the end of this month. Viv is a true miracle and we are all so proud at how hard she's worked to get to this point. It just goes to show that no matter how bad things may look, don't ever give up. The human spirit is such a powerful thing and if there is one thing Viv has plenty of, its spirit!

Tomorrow is the big Crosstown Shootout. I have to say that without Huggins around there doesn't seem to be as much intensity. That will probably change by game time, tomorrow night. UC roughed up Xavier last year so hopefully the Muskies will return the favor tomorrow night in the Cintas Center.

Nothing more to report at this time. The bottomline is, so far so good but we still have a long road ahead of us. This first cycle has been very encouraging but there are at least 5 more to go. So keep the prayers coming; knowing there are so many people out there praying for our family is tremendously inspiring. Also remember fellow St. Susanna parishioners Ken Murawski, Marcia Koepfle and Kellie Pitocco in your prayers as they are also battling a form of cancer.

Wishing you all the best in 2006!

Yesterday I had my first visit with Dr. Leming following my initial chemo treatment. The appointment went very well and Dr. Leming was pleased with where I am at this time. My blood counts were good, temperature was normal, my weight had not changed and it appears the port is healing as expected. Basically, Dr. Leming said everything looks great and that I'm a 'boring' patient. He said that given how active I am, I should breeze through the treatments. I'm going to hold him to that. I have to admit I do feel better than I expected I would feel. I realize the cumulative effect will probably tire me out as we continue through the tretments but at least I now know what to expect and that I can handle the treatments. I don't feel 100% but so far everything has been tolerable.

I did feel a bit edgy due to the prednizone over the weekend...what a weird feeling...it felt like I was about to jump out of my skin. Fortunately you only take prednizone for the first 5 days of the cycle so now I'm off of it for the next two weeks. Dr. Leming said I'll probably start to experience hair loss early next week. Apparently that will feel somewhat itchy. Time will tell.

This past weekend we watched the movie, "The 40 Year Old Virgin". If you were thinking of seeing it, don't waste your time...it is one of the 10 worst movies I've ever seen. It made the "American Pie" movies seem like Academy Award material. This weekend we'll try to watch "Wedding Crashers", hopefully it will be lightyears better.

I got a nice present from my footbll team. When we learned I had lymphoma our team adopted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's 'Relentless' theme as our slogan. Well the parents got the boys together and took a picture of them standing behind the word 'Relentless' and presented me with the picture earlier this week. I have it hanging in my office and I'm sure it will serve as a great source of inspiration as I go through my treatments. Thanks to all the Titans and their parents for this wonderful gift!

I guess that just about covers all the latest. Thanks to everyone for checking in to see how things are going. I appreciate all your comments. I hope all is well with all your families and look forward to visiting with you again in the near future.

Peace and Blessings to all!!!

Well, I can add one more thing to the list of things Ive now accomplished in 47+ years of life...yesterday I had to pull over and barf on the side of I-75 following the insertion of my port catheter. The opertion went very well but you're not supposed to eat prior so I was pretty hungry following everything. I also had not had a chance to take any of my medications, including the anti-nausea medicine, so I guess drinking 3 glasses of orange juice wasnt a very good idea. So there we were, pulled over around the I-75 Mitchell Avenue exit with me puking on the berm...unfortunately the first wave landed in my lap but I was able to get the rest out the door. Once I got home and got some food in me, I felt a lot better. I then proceeded to sleep therest of the day and most of the night. Right now, Im feeling pretty good and getting ready to head out for a day of basketball and volleyball watching with the kids.

So far, the only bad part of the Chemo hasbeen when the anti-nausea medication wears off...that can be rough. Other than that, I feel a little different but able to function. I wish I could go out and run afew miles but I'm not supposed to joggle myself around for a fewdays. I was jealous watching our neighbor, Ann Hansen, run up the street today but I'll get back out there.

I'd like to thank Diana Honerlaw and Jane Riestenberg for the meals they brought over this week. Jane, the Skyline was great but probably not the best thing to eat following a chemo treatment...still, I washungry and it tasted great...I just felt it a little in the morning! Diana, the chicken and Noodles were awesome along with the chocolate chip cookies...Im looking forward to the leftovers!

Thanks again to all for your thoughts, concerns and prayers! We are blessed to have such wonderful and caring people in our lives. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

Peace and Blessings,

The Hopkins clan

Another lo-o-o-o-o-ng day down at the Chemo Parlor yesterday. We arrived at noon and finally were sent on our merry way at about 7:20 pm. Since it was the first day after the holiday break, things were pretty busy. I had to meet with Dr. Leming first and was finished with him at 12:50. The best news to come out of that visit was that all the affected lymph nodes have all been shrunk and are the normal size. That was actually great news! It tells me the Rituxan is working and we are on our way to getting rid of the lymphoma. The worst news to come out of the visit was I've gained about 13 pounds since being diagnosed! I guess like John Candy in 'Stripes' I've been swallowing alot of aggression....and alot of Ben and Jerry's ice cream!

They did my blood counts and everything looked good. By the time I finally was hooked up to the IV it was close to 2:00 pm. There were really no problems this time. I took the rituxan well and didn't have any problems with the CHOP chemo infusion. It took almost 5 hours but we expected it would be 4 to 5 hours. We just didn't realize it would take 2 hours for me to get hooked up. Anyway, I brought the laptop along and watched some edisodes of The Simpson's seventh season and the movie The French Connection to pass the time. I had never seen The French Connection...pretty good movie with probably the best chase scene I've ever seen.

I probably could have gotten out a bit earlier but one of the other patients had a pretty bad reaction to his treatment. He fainted several times and they actually were planning to take him to the emergency room when we were leaving. That was a difficult thing to watch. I know the guy from my work at Xavier and I tried calling him this morning to see how he's doing but there was no answer. They said he would be alright but he sure looked like he was struggling when I left. Anyway, all attention was obviously directed toward the other patient and since I've never removed an IV from my arm, I had to wait my turn.

Last night was fine. Jane brought us some homemade Skyline and it was very good. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a somewhat upset stomach so I probably should stick to foods that are a bit more bland...at least for the time being.

Today I'll get a shot that is supposed to boost the white blood cell count. In the first 7-10 days of this chemo treatments your white cell counts can drop which leads to a greater risk for infections. They'll keep a close watch on this and I'll get checked several times throughout the 3 week cycle just to make sure the counts don't dip too low.

So we're off and running! One cycle is down and hopefully there are only 5 to go!! My hair will probably start falling out within the next 2 weeks. I guess I'll be looking like Kojak for a while. There are a bunch of other side-effects to look for but I won't bore you with all the details. I think they compile a list of everything that happens to people during this type of chemo treatment and tell everyone, this MAY happen. At the same time Dr. Leming is saying...'You'll be fine!!' Anyway, its quite an eye-opening list of side-effects and if you really would like to see it, I'll show you sometime.

As always, thanks to everyone for all your support and prayers. It was 3 months ago today that I was diagnosed and at least I now know that the nodes they can feel are no longer swollen. We'll continue to keep you all posted. I get my port put in on Friday. Hopefully we'll have a great weekend and the Bengals can knock off the Steelers again.

From our family to yours....peace and blessings!

Vince, Julie, Judd, Aaron and Abbey

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's holiday season. We had a great time on our annual ski trip to Holiday Valley...the only down side was that one of the members of our group, Doug Fiessinger apparently blew out his ACL and MCL...he'll learn more this week after he visits a local doctor but the doc at the emergency care facility was pretty confident he blew it out.

As we start the new year, we'll also get more aggressive at treating my lymphoma. Tomorrow (January 3rd) I get my first CHOP chemotherapy/Rituxan treatment and we'll continue this every three weeks for 6-8 treatments. Following the Rituxan treatment in December Dr. Leming told me I should notice that the lymph nodes are significantly smaller and they are. That is obviously encouraging! So we'll just continue to bombard away at the lymphoma until it is gone.

On Friday I'll have a port put in to make future infusions a lot easier to administer. And the next time many of you see me the chances are I probably will be be in the process of losing my hair....fortunately I have a bunch of hats!

So the wild ride is truly set to begin. I continue to feel pretty good. In fact, over the holidays is the best I've felt for a while. I'm more at ease and relaxed. That will probably rise a bit tomorrow during the chemo treatment but once I know what I'm dealing with, I think it'll be a little easier mentally. (At least I hope it will be!)

The only thing left to say is....GO BUCKS!!! There's a big game later this afternoon and hopefully the Buckeyes will be able to show Notre Dame that they still have a ways to go before they can say they're truly back.

I'll keep you all postedon the events of this week. Peace and blessings to all!!