Vince's Journey

For those of you who have read my recent 'blogs', I'm sure you'll recall me mentioning Molly Brown Boulay. Molly and I worked together while we were both at Wright State University. We both hade an interest in running marathons and we've kept in touch over the years since leaving WSU back in the late 1990's.

Molly recently asked me to be her 'Hero' as she prepares to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training program. She plans to compete in the Memphis Triathalon in May and in the process, raise money for the LLS. I've attached a link to Molly's TNT website and encourage you to check it out. If anyone is interested in supporting Molly in her efforts, I know she would greatly appreciate it. So would I! She has it set up so you can easily make a contribution right from her website.

Thanks for making this tremendous commitment, Molly! As far as I'm concerned, you're a 'Hero', as well!

I meant to add this to my previous post but forgot! Today is my sister, Venetia's 43rd birthday! (She's probably shocked that I remembered her age...shocked and pissed!)

So Happy Birthday, Venetia...I hope you have a great day and wish you many, many more!

Love you,

Vince

PS - I better remember to wish my brother Steve a Happy Birthday on February 25th...he'll be 39!! In case I miss it Steve, Happy Birthday!

After a one week delay, I was able to receive treatment #3 yesterday. Hopefully this means I'm halfway home! Things went pretty smoothly but they're still a little concerned about my white blood count levels. The white counts did go up a little this past week but not to where they would have liked so now the plan is to give me a different shot every day for the next week which hopefully will do a better job of stimulating the white blood cell production. I talked with Ken Murawski last night and he said he would get this shot 10 days in a row when he was being treated for Leukemia and it did the job. Hopefully I'll have the same results.

Special dinner thanks go out to another one of those wonderful Church Ladies, Laura Schneider. Laura prepared a great meal of chicken, broccoli and carrot pasta along with a waldorf salad, bread and chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has been so nice to prepare us meals on treatment days. It's probably part of the reason I've gained over 10 pounds since the start of the year1 (That and the little 'deesh' (dish) of ice cream I eat just about every night!)

I'm feeling pretty good today. I have the cobweb feelings in my head which I've experienced the first couple days following treatments, but nothing bad enough to put me out of commission. I'm at work today and still haven't missed a day (except for treatment days) since we started in early January. Being able to get into work has been very helpful...I'd hate to be sitting at home by myself all day long. I have to admit there are some days where I don't accomplish a great deal but just being around my co-workers helps get me through the days a little easier.


Thanks to everyone for your comments, best wishes and prayers....you are a big reason we are making it through this difficult time. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to help a family through difficult times. Thank you so much for being a part of our village. We will be forever greatful!

Yesterday, our family was treated to a beautiful and delicious Valentine's Day dinner compliments of the 'Church Ladies'. It was quite a surprise and we were overwhelmed that they took the time to make this Valentine's Day such a memorable one for us. We will never forget it! They had balloons and candles, flowers, a special table cloth, music compliments of Michael Bouble (I may be spelling that incorrectly) and plenty of pasta and pizza 'catered' in from Pitrelli's Italian Restaurant. In addition there was lots of chocolates and sweets to enjoy afterwards.

The 'Church Ladies' are a wonderful group of friends. Julie and her sisters, Jeanne and Jenny, are charter members along with our sister-in-law, Jane. I believe there are 12 other members; all from our parish, St. Susanna. I'd try to name them all but I wouldn't want to leave anyone out. I could also go into a lot more detail about these great ladies but you would probably start to wonder why they call themselves 'Church Ladies'; lets just say they like to have fun! All I know is we're very lucky to have them as friends and thank them from the bottom of our hearts for making last night so special!

Well I was all set to get my third round of chemo today but due to a low white blood count reading, Dr. Leming recommended that we hold off until next Tuesday. Needless to say I was a little disappointed (as disappointed as you can be about not getting chemo) but Dr. Leming assured us it was no big deal and we'll get back on track next week. So, they unhooked the IV and five hours later (after a 15 minute meeting with the doc)they sent us home.

The reason we hung around for a 15 minute meeting was we wanted to hear Dr. Leming's opinion on the results of the scans from last week. In short, he was very pleased with the way things are progressing. The nodes are all shrinking and Dr. Leming said they have probably reduced by a total of more than 50% overall at this point! That is excellent progress and news. So, while we didn't get to have the third treatment its great to know that the first two treatments have been doing the job!

Dr. Leming said the white blood counts should build back up over the next week and we'll get back to the treatments...so I get an extra week of feeling fairly decent! Bottomline; while we didn't get a treatment it was a pretty good day based on the news about the scans...just wish it wouldn't have taken 5 hours!

We'll continue to keep you updated...thanks for all your thoughts and prayers; keep 'em coming!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Vince

For the first time since I started treatments, I'm going to have CT scans done of my neck and abdomen. As I've mentioned before, the nodes that can be felt in my neck have all returned to their normal size so hopefully the effected ones in my abdomen will also be back to normal. Both scans are at 11:30 am so a little extra positive energy and prayers from everyone at those times would certainly be appreciated.

I had my blood tested yesterday and it continues to look great...the white and red blood cell counts are well within the normal range and my platlettes also look good. Thats great news since a couple of the kids have the sniffles right now.

I recently received an e-mail from a friend who I used to work with at Wright State University, Molly Boulay. Molly and her husband, Dennis, moved to Tennessee a few years ago but we exchange e-mails from time to time as well as Christmas cards. Anway, Molly has decided to participate in the Memphis Triathalon this May and is planning to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She wrote to ask if I would be her 'Hero'. Personally, I think Molly is the 'Hero' but I'm honored that she asked me and I humbly accepted her invitation. At some point I hope to post information on how you can support Molly in her efforts, should you be interested. I'm truly touched that Molly is doing this in my honor and wish her all the best in her efforts.

I probably won't know anything about the results of the scans until my next appointment with Dr. Leming, which is Valentines Day. That's also when I'll have my next treatment. I'm not looking forward to spending 5-6 hours on Valentines Day getting treatments but it will all be worth it if I get good news on the results of the scans! We'll keep you posted.

Hope all is well with you and your famly!

Vince

Julie and I were in attendance last night when Xavier lost a tough one to the #10 team in the country, George Washington. It looked like XU would blow GW out in the first half but the Colonials made a run early in the second half to take the lead. In the end, GW's defense, speed and bench-depth was too much for the Muskies to handle and they took home a well-deserved 89-85 win.

Our guests last night were Chuck And Julie Scheper. I've mentioned Chuck before; he is the man who faced the same Lymphoma I have over 13 years ago. Chuck had his annual check-up recently in Boston and remains clean...he has been very supportive of me continues to be a great source of inspiration. We really enjoyed spending the evening with them last night.

Next up for XU is St. Louis on Super Bowl Sunday. SLU was the team that started Xavier's mid-season slump and if the Muskies have any hopes of playing in the NCAA tournament in March, they can't afford to lose this game. Hopefully they'll be able to put together a complete game and get back on the winning track.

Every once in while I look at some of the other blogs at blogger.com. There must be thousands of them. some are interesting others are just plain strange. Following is a little excercise I saw on one recently. If you feel inclined, respond with your answers to the same questions.


- Four jobs I've had in my life...
1. Gas Station Attendant
2. Fruit Picker (for 4 hours)
3. Restaurant Bartender
4. Fundraiser (last 20 years!)

- Four movies I can watch over and over...
1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Forrest Gump
3. The Godfather
4. Unforgiven

- Four places I have lived...
1. Lima, Ohio
2. Piqua, Ohio
3. Dayton, Ohio
4. Mason, Ohio

- Four places I have visited...
1. Salzburg, Austria
2. Yellowstone National Park
3. Silver Star, Montana
4. North Captiva, Florida (after being hit by a hurricane)

- Four TV shows I love to watch...
1. Seinfeld
2. The Simpsons
3. Survivor
4. American Idol

- Four of my favorite foods...
1. Ice Cream
2. Asparagus
3. Steak and baked potato
4. Chicken Pot Pies

- Four websites I visit daily...
1. The O-Zone
2. ESPN.com
3. MyXU.Xu.Edu
4. Beatlymphoma.blogspot.com

- Four places I would rather be right now...
1. On vacation with my family
2. At Buckeye football game
3. Tailgating before a Buckeye football game
4. At a restaurant with friends

Hope you all have a great weekend! Go Muskies!! (and Buckeyes and Steelers!)