Thursday, April 08, 2010
Catching up on the latest news......
A lot has happened since my last post. The NCAA crowned a new champion as Duke withstood a spirited challenge by the hometown, Butler Bulldogs, to win their 4th National Championship. The Cincinnati Reds opened up the 2010 baseball season on a beautiful April afternoon, unfortunately the outcome wasn't beautiful as the Cardinals beat up on Redleggers, 11-6. I just finished watching Tiger Woods shoot a -4 on his return to the PGA golf tour. He trails The Masters leader, Fred Couples, by only one stroke as he heads toward day two. Tonight I plan to watch Miami's hockey team try to win a berth in the NCAA Hockey National Championship as they take on Boston College in the semi-finals.
Yesterday I reached my fund raising goal for my upcoming bike ride in June. I'm currently at 110% of my goal and I'm hoping to go way over that total as I still have almost two months before the ride. I thank everyone who has supported this effort and if you still would like to make a contribution, visit my TNT page at the following link...
http://pages.teamintraining.org/soh/montauk10/vhopkins
On Tuesday, I had the first of the 4 Rituxan treatments I'll be receiving to hopefully take care of the lymph nodes that have grown a bit over the past 6 months. What a day! As happened the first time I received Rituxan almost 5 years ago, I broke out in hives all over my body. That meant I had to get another dose of Benadryl, slow down the drip and a procedure that typically takes 4 hours lasted well over 7 hours. Thankfully, Julie was there to check in on me from time to time - it would have been a lonely day without her friendly face popping in to check on me. The good news is, I shouldn't have this problem for the final 3 treatments. And you know what; as long as the Rituxan takes care of the nodes, I'll sit there for 10 hours if needed. My next visit is scheduled for April 14 and at the end of that day, I'll be halfway through the process - certainly better than the 7 months it took my first time around.
Finally, I'd like to ask for prayers for our friends, Peggy and Jerry James and their family. I'm sure everyone from Cincinnati heard about the tragic death of their son, Matt, while he was in Florida on spring break. Many of you also know that Peggy is one of Julie's best friends and to say the past week has been very difficult would be a huge understatement. You think about the events of last last Friday and it simply leaves you numb. I really am at a loss for words as to what else you can say but I know they are going to need the prayers and support of everyone who has touched their lives so if you could lift up some prayers for this wonderful family, I know it would be greatly appreciated. With that, I'll end for the evening. Peace to all...
Yesterday I reached my fund raising goal for my upcoming bike ride in June. I'm currently at 110% of my goal and I'm hoping to go way over that total as I still have almost two months before the ride. I thank everyone who has supported this effort and if you still would like to make a contribution, visit my TNT page at the following link...
http://pages.teamintraining.org/soh/montauk10/vhopkins
On Tuesday, I had the first of the 4 Rituxan treatments I'll be receiving to hopefully take care of the lymph nodes that have grown a bit over the past 6 months. What a day! As happened the first time I received Rituxan almost 5 years ago, I broke out in hives all over my body. That meant I had to get another dose of Benadryl, slow down the drip and a procedure that typically takes 4 hours lasted well over 7 hours. Thankfully, Julie was there to check in on me from time to time - it would have been a lonely day without her friendly face popping in to check on me. The good news is, I shouldn't have this problem for the final 3 treatments. And you know what; as long as the Rituxan takes care of the nodes, I'll sit there for 10 hours if needed. My next visit is scheduled for April 14 and at the end of that day, I'll be halfway through the process - certainly better than the 7 months it took my first time around.
Finally, I'd like to ask for prayers for our friends, Peggy and Jerry James and their family. I'm sure everyone from Cincinnati heard about the tragic death of their son, Matt, while he was in Florida on spring break. Many of you also know that Peggy is one of Julie's best friends and to say the past week has been very difficult would be a huge understatement. You think about the events of last last Friday and it simply leaves you numb. I really am at a loss for words as to what else you can say but I know they are going to need the prayers and support of everyone who has touched their lives so if you could lift up some prayers for this wonderful family, I know it would be greatly appreciated. With that, I'll end for the evening. Peace to all...
# posted by Vince Hopkins @ 7:26 PM 
