Vince's Journey

I know it’s been a while since my last blog entry. Truth is - between road trips, Abbey’s field hockey, coaching the best 0-5, 6th grade football team in the city and going to several Buckeye football games I just haven’t had the time to sit down and hammer any blogs lately. So, here is a recap of September….

Health wise, I’m actually feeling pretty well. I felt a bit queasy a few days after my treatments but that lasted less than a week. A couple weeks ago I had a follow-up appointment to check my blood counts and everything looked very good. My white blood counts were as high as they’ve ever been and the red counts were also in the normal range. The nurse practitioner told me that she didn’t think I would have any problems but to let the doctor know if I experienced a temperature higher than 100 degrees. With about a week before my next treatment I feel pretty normal, continue to feel strong exercising and feel very optimistic that this treatment phase won’t be nearly as bad as my first experience 5 years ago. Round two will be October 6 and 7 – at that point I’ll be a third of the way done!

Abbey turned 18 on September 14 so we now have 3 ‘adult’ children. To celebrate the occasion she went out and bought a lottery ticket and a cigar but she was somewhat disappointed when the clerk at the store didn’t ask for her ID. Her field hockey team is having one of those roller coaster season – they win one, they lose one. Since they lost their last game hopefully they’ll pull out a win on Thursday at Oakwood! If you are in the vicinity feel free to stop by, I know she’d love to see some fans in the crowd. Game time is 5 pm and the field is close to UD.

We visited Aaron over the weekend at SLU and had a very nice time. He seems to be settled in and insists that he’s doing well in his classes. This trip we discovered ‘The Loop’, a restaurant/shopping district that claims to be one of the ten best ‘streets’ in the US. We had a great time and got to watch Ohio State dismantle Eastern Michigan at a fun place called Blueberry Hill.

Obviously I’m fired up by the start the Buckeyes have had so far. I think the two key games will be at Wisconsin and at Iowa. Win those and I expect Ohio State to be playing at the NC game in Glendale in early January, 2011. I’m hoping the running game kicks in to gear but with Pryor playing the way he is, it may be better to just let him improvise like he did in the Miami game.

I haven’t had a chance to see the Bengals play yet due to the football team I’m coaching. I read that they aren’t playing well but they’re still 2-1. Hopefully Carson Parson will quit playing like a ‘Sally Boy’ and start getting the ball to Chad and TO. I probably won’t get to see them play until our season is over but with an 0-5 record, it will most likely be over sooner than we’d like. We just can’t seem to score any points – we move the ball but we stall down by the goal line. Plus, we have so many injuries – we only have 14 healthy kids available this week…it has been quite a grind.

On the good side, it looks like the Reds will be back in the playoffs after a 15 year drought. With the magic number at 1 it would take the biggest choke in baseball history for them not to make the playoffs. (Editor's note - the Reds clinched since this blog entry was originally written) Obviously I’d love to see them do some damage in the post season but I’m not sure we have the experience to beat a team like Philadelphia. Nevertheless, things are looking up for the Reds and if they can stay injury free they should challenge for the playoffs on an annual basis over the next 5 years.

Here’s the next 10 songs on my top 50 songs featuring female vocalists…(I’m going to cut and paste this e-mail to my blog so you won’t have to read unless you want to make a comment)…

30. There’s Your Trouble/Dixie Chicks – I know this one will piss off my Republican friends but I have the ability to look past someone’s political views when it comes to entertainment. (Personally, I’m registered non-partisan.) I do think they shouldn’t use their status as a entertainer as a platform for their views but I still like the Dixie Chicks and this is the song that started it all for them.

29. Here You Come Again/Dolly Parton – This was a hit when I was in college and quite frankly, just about the only song by Dolly that I can stomach.

28. Rapture/Blondie – One of several songs that helped make rap a mainstream music genre. On second thought, maybe I should hate this song.

27. Stand By Your Man/Tammy Wynette – This song spawned some controversy back when it first hit the charts. Women’s Lib was a hot topic and I recall it didn’t sit well with women on that side of the issue. Still, I like it for Wynette’s vocals and how it still shows up in movie soundtracks some 40 years later.

26. The Rose/Bette Midler – Nice, simple song. Midler doesn’t over sing like she does on many of her other songs.

25. Still the One/Shania Fiessinger – This one is for our neighbor, Doug Fiessinger.

24. Respect/Aretha Franklin – A Motown anthem by the Queen of soul.

23. Chuck E’s in Love/Rickie Lee Jones – I really liked Rickie Lee Jones and this was her first big hit. She had one of the truly unique singing styles and if you want to hear a wonderful version of ‘Making Whoopie’, check out Rickie Lee’s duet with Dr. John – classic.

22. Fast Car/Tracey Chapman – Kind of a downer of a song but whenever I’m cruising the dial looking for a good tune to listen to, I’ll always listen to ‘Fast Car’.

21. Because You Loved Me/Celine Dion – Normally I compare Celine’s voice to the sound of finger nails down a chalk board but I really like this song because it tells us we are all who we are because somebody loved us which I believe is a great message to pass along.

Hope all is well with you and hope to see you soon….

Vince

Well, I’m back for day two of my first treatments. Yesterday started smoothly but around 5 pm I started to get itchy and sure enough, I had an allergic reaction to the Rituxan. So they stopped the drip, gave me another dose of Benadryl and after about an hour delay they turned everything back on. I closed the ‘Chemo Parlor’ down at around 8 pm – a mere 7 hours and 20 minutes following my arrival. Today I got here at 9 am and had to wait an hour for them to deliver my medication – it’s now 10:30 am, I’m hooked up and should be out of here by 11:15 am, just in time for lunch!!

I’d like to thank Steve Bruce for dinner last night. One of the greatest comfort food in the world (at least in my humble opinion) is chicken pot pie and Steve made a delicious one which Abbey and I devoured. I also had a bowl of one of my other favorite comfort foods, ice cream. Maybe that’s why I gained 4 pounds since weighing in yesterday! That seems almost impossible but when you consider all the fluids they pumped into me yesterday I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. So today at lunch, I need to go sweat all this stuff out of me.

I’ll keep things short today but I do have the next installment of my top 50 songs featuring female vocalists starting with …

40. Zombie/ The Cranberries - Kind of a haunting song, which I guess is what you’d expect from a song titled ‘Zombie’ but I think the vocal by Delores O’Reardon is awesome and the instrumental at the end of the track has to be turned up as loud as possible to truly enjoy it.

39. Put Your Records On /Corrine Bailey Rae – Bailey Rae has a great singing voice and this song is what put her on the map. Loved it when Megan Joy sang ‘Put Your Records On’ on season 9 of American Idol – she wasn’t very good put she seemed to enjoy performing it, she looked like a fish out of water.

38. I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet /Carole King – One of the truly great song writers from the past 50 years, King will forever be remembered for her Grammy winning album, Tapestry, which seemed to be on the Billboard charts forever. ‘It’s Too Late’ may have been the big hit from that album but I’ve always felt ‘I Feel the Earth Move’ was a better song.

37. Coal Miner’s Daughter /Loretta Lynn - This is a great song which was obviously highlighted in the movie of the same time. I learned to appreciate Loretta’s talents after seeing that movie and where she came from. Loretta’s is a very remarkable ‘rags to riches’ story.

36. Say a Little Prayer /Dionne Warwick – Dionne had a string of hits in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, many of which were written by Burt Bacarrach – they made each other a ton of money. I needed to include Dionne and this is my favorite by her. I almost listed it by Ruppert Everett from the move ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ but he is not quite a woman.

35. Let the River Run /Carly Simon – Theme song from the movie ‘Working Girl’ which won Simon an Academy Award. Love the choir in the background and the instrumentals throughout.

34. Time After Time /Cyndi Lauper – Not quite as peppy as ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ but this is a better song and along with ‘True Colors’ proved that Lauper had a serious side.

33. I Go Out Walking /Patsy Cline – Patsy blazed the path for all the country female singers that followed her, including Loretta Lynn, and I had to include a song by her; it came down to this or ‘Crazy’ – I like this song better.

32. Goodbye to Love/ The Carpenters – I think Karen Carpenter had the best female voice of her era and she appears twice in my countdown. It was a tough call between this song and ‘Superstar’ but what I like about this song is how it transitions from a beautiful ballad to a somewhat out of place guitar solo at the end with Karen singing ‘Ahhhhhhhhhhhh’ till the end. You wouldn’t think it would work but it does to perfection.

31. Wonders /Natalie Merchant – From Natalie’s solo album ‘Tiger Lily’ – I think this song speaks to everyone because we all have it within ourselves to be Wonders - with love and patience and with faith, we'll make our way!

That's all for today, look for another post within the next few days!

Vince

I don't know how I did it but for the first time ever I'm actually connected to the internet at Dr. Leming's office. I'm not really sure what I did right (or wrong) but I have a connection (be it ever so slow) so I thought I'd do my first ever blog from the chemo parlor over at Cincinnati Hemotology Oncology.

So far things are going smoothly. My port worked to perfection and I'm in the early stages of the Rituxan infusion. This is the drug that has caused a couple allergic reactions so they take it very slow; it will probably take 3+ hours to complete. I don't want to jynx anything but so far there has been no itching or hives but like I said, it's fairly early in the process.

The nurses assured me that this treatment should be far more tolerant than my previous treatments back in 2006. While Bendamustine is a chemotherapy, it is not nearly as toxic as the CHOP chemotherapy and they said everyone they have given it to has tolerated the drug fairly well. Here's hoping I don't break that trend.

As I look around the 'parlor' almost all of the 20 recliners are filled with 'customers'. Some of them appear to be in much better shape than others - the one constant is they all appear to be in great spirits and positive about their future. The nurses around here are very compassionate and do their best to keep the atmosphere light. I don't know how they can take being around this every day but they do a wonderful job and make the visits comfortable for all the patients.

I really don't have much more to add at this time. Besides, the Benadryl has me feeling a bit tired so maybe i'll take a nap. I do want to get a new list started. Since i'll be posting a little more frequently I'm going to countdown my 50 favorite songs featuring female vocals from the past 50 years. Feel free to join in if you feel the urge to share your favorites...today we'll do 50 - 41 starting with....

50. Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves. A classic 'one-hit' wonder. This song hit the airwaves in 1985, just weeks before Julie and I got married. I remember the first time I heard it I was driving from Dayton down to Cincinnati for a wedding that was talking place a couple weeks before ours and I had it cranked up. Whenever I hear this song it always reminds me of that frive town to Cincy and the anticipation of our wedding.

49. Our Lips Are Sealed - The Go Go's. I really liked The Go Go's. They had several catchy hits before fame and drugs ripped them apart. Belinda Carlisle went on to have a pretty decent solo career and I believe they recently reunited for a tour but they never did, and most likely never will, match this catchy tune that rocketed them to stardom in the early '80's.

48. This Kiss - Faith Hill. I think Faith has faded away recently, probably because she was caught on camera acting like a baby when she was beat out for favorite female singer at the CMA's by Carrie Underwood a couple years ago. Nevertheless, Faith had a great run and this song about the joys of 'This Kiss' remains my favorite by Faith as well as one of the top hits of her career.

47. The Spy Who Loved Me (Nobody Does it Better) - Carly Simon. Simon had a string of hits back in the 70's and 80's and this James Bond theme song was nominated for an Oscar for best original song back in the early 80's. Carly will pop up a couple more times in the countdown.

46. Poor, Poor Pitiful Me - Linda Ronstadt. Warren Zevon wrote this tune which Ronstadt performed in the miserable 70's movie, 'FM'...her performance was the the only highlight of the movie and probably was the last decent song Ronstadt ever made. She did a couple movie themes (Somewhere Out There comes to mind) and last I heard she had taken up singing Tejada-style song. I also think she put on a few lbs. But back in the 70's she had a pretty good run.

45. Downtown - Petula Clark. Go ahead and laugh. I know the song is pure 'cheese' but who doesn't wind up singing along with this hit from 1965 whenever you hear it on the radio.

44. Edge of 17 - Stevie Nicks. If for no other reason than the way they used the song in the movie, 'School of Rock'. Stevie's voice has really gotten a lot worse over the years but this was one of her biggest hits.

43. Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack. Grammy winner, great vocal by Flack and another song that was hillariously used in a recent movie; 'About a Boy' starring Hugh Grant.

42. Save the Best For Last - Vanessa Williams. First heard this song watching Saturday Night Live and have liked it ever since. As many of us know, Vanessa was the first African-American woman to be named Miss America only to have it 'stripped' from her when it was learned that she had 'stripped' for Penthouse Magazine. This song was part of Vanessa's comeback from that embarrasing episode and propelled her to a pretty impressive career.

41. I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers. Mavis Staples could belt a song and this is the one that she is most remembered for. Awesome song from the early '70's.

That should do it for now. Stay tuned for the next 10 songs in the very near future. I'm about two hours in to my treatment and no allergic reaction so far. Maybe I'm going to get lucky this time around. Still, I'm probably not getting out of here for another 2.5 hours. Take care; thanks for your support and for checking in.

Vince

This is a big week. On Wednesday I'll have my first treatment of Bendamustine. If all goes well, this will be a six month phase - I'll have two treatments on back-to-back days and then be 'off' for another 4 weeks. So by early February the hope is the treatments will have done the trick and we're back to watching and making sure everything is kept at bay. I continue to feel great. I still find it hard to believe that I have this serious issue brewing around in my body. I guess I should feel fortunate that I've never really felt the symptoms of this disease but it's still very frustrating that I have to go through another treatment phase.

A couple weeks ago I had a new port put in. The old one basically quit working so we had it replaced. It's a bit bigger than the old one but I'm getting used to it and as long as it makes the treatments go a little easier and they're able to get blood samples without going through a vein in my arm, it should make the next round of treatments a little easier to get. The old port was so bad they had to hook me up to a machine to pump the drugs into the port. It wasn't painful but it was quite a hassle. Things should go a lot smoother now.

The boys are back at school - Judd's a senior at UD and Aaron is in his second year at SLU. The house has stayed a bit cleaner in their absence and we have a lot less laundry but I do miss having them around. Judd stopped by on Saturday to pick up a car to take back to school; we have four cars now and only three drivers at home so we thought it would be nice for him to have a car for his senior year. Hopefully we'll be able to go over to St. Louis in a few weeks for Family Weekend to see Aaron. Abbey has a field hockey game but we should be able to work out the trip.

Abbey's senior year has started off well. Her field hockey team started off the season with a loss but hopefully they'll bounce back this week and get in the win column. They're playing a couple teams up in Detroit next weekend - I hear there are more teams that play in Michigan and they're supposedly playing a couple of the top teams in the state so hopefully it's not a long trip home. Jules will be making this trip - I went a couple weeks ago to Pittsburgh. I'm planning to go the Ohio State/Miami game in Columbus next weekend - that is if I can find a ticket.

Finally, the Big Ten Network is counting down the top 50 Sports Icons from in the history of the conference. This is a wide open category when you consider the Big Ten has been around for a very long time and it would be hard to estimate how many athletes have been a part of the conference. Here are my Top Ten and I'm sure I'm leaving out some very obvious choices...BTW, I'm not including coaches or Penn State players who played prior to the Nittany Lions joining the conference.

In no particular order....

Jack Nicklaus, Ohio State - golf. The Golden Bear is easily one of the top 3 golfer of all time and given Tiger Woods' recent problems, he very well could maintain his major wins record of 18.

Jesse Owens, Ohio State - track and field. Owens single-handedly humiliated Adolph Hitler and his Nazi regime by winning 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

Red Grange, Illinois - football. Grange was one of the first Big Ten sports heroes and continues to be the most iconic athlete ever from the University of Illinois.

Michael Phelps, Michigan - swimming. Phelps is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. He knocks Mark Spitz of Indiana, who held the previous mark of most Olympic Gold medals in a single games, from the top ten.

Archie Griffin, Ohio State - football. Griffin is the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner in college football history.

Magic Johnson, Michigan State - basketball. Revolutionized the point guard position and his battle with Larry Bird in the NCAA championship game change the scope of college basketball forever.

Bronko Nagurski, Minnesota - football. Another player from the golden age of college football. One of great NFL players of all time, as well.

Dan Gable, Iowa - wrestling. Gable was a Big Ten, NCAA and Olympic champ. Also an iconic coach at Iowa winning numerous National Championships.

Dick Butkus, Illinois - wrestling. Simply one of the great linebackers in the history of the game. He was nasty, mean and a prototype of what a linebacker should be.

I'll leave #10 open for a female athlete - although I'm not quite sure who it might be. My guess is there will be at least one female in the top ten.

That's it for now. I'll be back on Thursday to let you know how the treatment went.