Vince's Journey

Well, the trip to New York City is over and I'm back home. Jules went from NYC to Orlando for a business conference - she'll head home tomorrow. As luck would have it, we'll cross each other in the sky as I'm heading to Orlando tomorrow for a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society volunteer meeting. Why couldn't the conferences been held at the same time - that would have been fun! At any rate, I'll head home Saturday afternoon and then we'll head up the highway to see the Dayton Dragons play later that night...it's the annual Xavier Alumni Night at the Dragons game. We had a great time in New York...we made our way around Manhattan several times on the double-decker tour buses visiting Soho, Chinatown, Battery Park, Little Italy, Hells Kitchen, Central Park and of course; Times Square. On Saturday we went to see a play on Broadway staring Matthew Broderick called 'It's Nice Work if You Can Get It'. The show was set during the prohibition era of the 1920's and featured the songs of George and Ira Gershwin...it was very, funny and Matthew Broderick was great. The featured actor and actress were also great - they actually won the Tony award last year for best featured actress and actor in a musical. Of course, as I mentioned in my previous post, we decided to go to NYC to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary...hard to believe it's been that long...seems like only yesterday we were in the basement of St. Antoninus Church exchanging our vows! 28 years later I'm showing some wear and tear but Jules is looking as great as ever...she's been on an excercise kick lately and has gotten herself into great shape! (I have to say Jules has never really been in bad shape but she's been working hard to 'tone-up' and she's done an awesome job!) She asked me recently if she's getting too skinny to which I replied, "You don't hear me complaining, do you?" I'm biased but she really does look great! I know once I get through my treatments I'm going to need to step up my training game because I'm looking a bit flabby...nothing a couple hundred miles per week on the bike can't take care of! I'm really looking forward to putting some miles in as we train for our Scotland ride in September and feeling my pants get looser and looser in the process! As I also previously mentioned, I've been in a lull with my treatments. My next day at the chemo parlor will be May 6 and it's been a couple weeks since my last treatment. I'm feeling a lot better and have been able to do some light work on the bike. I typically like to mix in some running with the biking but due to the stent, it's difficult to stand for an extended period of time without needing to go to the bathroom. The urge is pretty much constant but standing only intensifies the feeling. This is day 54 of my life being held hostage by this stent and I'm afraid it may get close to 70 days before I actually get relief. I'll get CT scans on April 30 and if things are where they need to be, Dr. Leming will let Dr. Bennett (the urologist) know he can take it out. That is a date I can't wait for. Things have gotten a little better but it is still a very uncomfortable situation to have to deal with. Thankfully, our neighbor - Ron Vogler - has been kind enough to mow our grass for us this spring. This time of year it needs mowed twice a week and Ron has one of those riding mowers that makes the lawn look like a baseball field - it really looks great. So thanks to Ron for all his help - I look forward to being able to mow myself but his generosity has been most appreciated! I guess I'll end for now. I hope all is well with everyone reading this. I appreciate you checking in. One final thing, we are going to be manning 3 beer booths at the Taste of Cincinnati over Memorial Day weekend as part of our LLS fundraising efforts. If you have some free time and would be interested in helping, just let us know. It really is a lot of fun and the Taste provides a great avenue for people watching. Best of all, it's a great way to raise money to support LLS! Shoot me an email at hopkinsv@xavier.edu if you'd like to help. I'll be posting again soon....

So we're at the Cincinnati airport waiting for a plane we were supposed to be on at 9 am. We're heading to NYC for a few days with several other couples and the latest update is we should be on a plane by 11:30...originally we were scheduled to land in NYC at 11 am. So we're a bit delayed. Hopefully the 11:30 plane will be on time and we'll be on our way. So I'm kind of in a lull with the treatments. I did have my bloodwork done on Monday and everything looks fine. The next key date is April 30 when I get another round of scans. At that point we'll hopefully get the go ahead to remove the stent and life will be a lot more comfortable. My next treatment will be May 6. I guess that's it for now...we are going to board our plane. I will have more later after we get to New York!

This week I had a double header at the chemo parlor. Yesterday I got a double dose of Rituxan and Bendamustine and today, just for good measures, I got single dose of the second drug. When I showed up today the electric was out in the entire building so I had to take the steps up to Dr. Leming's 4th floor office. I imagine there were some patients who showed up and decided not to trek up the steps - the chemo room was basically empty. From what I understand, they also couldn't treat anyone who had to have a CBC test because it would be too dangerous if their blood counts were too low. Fortunately they checked my blood counts yesterday so I was good to go. Nothing is worse than having a set back so I hope the people who couldn't get treated today will be able to get back in for their scheduled treatment in the near future. I should note that the electric came back on about 5 minutes after I arrived so maybe I was good luck today. So now I'm off the chemo plan until May 6th, it will be nice to have a break. I will have CT scans taken on April 30 - let's hope the 'shrinkage' is at least the extra 20% needed so I can get this stent taken out shortly after receiving the news. As I said last week, I've decided to quit being a wimp and get back to being more active. I was able to spin or ride my bike for close to 100 miles and for the most part, I've felt pretty good - far better than I did several weeks ago. At any rate, I think I'm through the worst part of this round of treatments and hope I can get through this with maybe 2 or 3 more sessions. So what else is going on? Well I was quite pleased to see Michigan lose in the National Championship game last night. Once Ohio State lost my favorite team became anyone but the Wolverines and thankfully Louisville was up to the task last night. I've said before, I'm not like those SEC fans who get all heeled up celebrating when their bitter rivals win a national football championship...if my team can't win I don't want to see Michigan or Indiana or Wisconsin or Michigan State get the championship. I guess I'd be happy for Northwestern since they never win but that's about it. I hardly even watched the game last night, it would have been painful to spend 2 hours watching the game only to see TSUN win it all. So I decided to turn it on at the end and was able to see all I needed to see....UM walking off the court with their heads down while Louisville celebrated....very satisfying, indeed. We're looking forward to heading down to Paul Brown Stadium this Saturday to watch Ohio State's spring game. It will be nice to get a football/tailgate fix before we head into the next 4 months of solid baseball. And speaking of baseball, the Reds are off to a solid start after 7 games. They've taken 2 of 3 against the Angels and Nationals and are off to a good start in their first road series in St. Louis. The pitching has been pretty solid and the offense has been coming around. Shin Soo Choo (or whatever his name is) has been a great addition in the leadoff position ( I saw that Drew Stubbs is 2 for 24 out of the shoot in Cleveland - I guess he still hasn't learned how to bunt!) I guess I'll end here. I'll keep you posted over next few weeks....I'm looking forward to getting some more energy and Hoping to get in some good miles on the bike. Thanks for checking in!

Since we started treatment 4 weeks ago the node has gone down 30% so we're definitely moving in the right direction. That's the good news. Unfortunately, for the node to be consider in 'significant shrinkage' mode it needs to be 50% reduced. Anyone who went to Notre Dame can do that math, we need this node to 'shrink' a minimum of another 20% before we can schedule a 'destentizer' (or whatever they call the procedure) and since I can't have a CT scan every week, we probably won't be able to do another scan until early May. I can't tell you how bummed this makes me - four more weeks with this uncomfortable tube of plastic (which I learned is today is 12 inches long)shoved in my kidney...this is not fun. So tomorrow I'm going to start back up on the Rapaflow to see if it might have an impact now. Back when I first had the stent put in I was so uncomfortable it just didn't seem to be working. I really don't have much pain now so maybe I'll notice a difference...I sure hope so. We have some travel coming up and it would truly suck if all I can do is wear a path out to the bathroom. I guess that's the update. Not exactly what I was hoping for but at least we know everything is working and that, obviously, is the most important thing. So I guess I need to suck it up and figure out a way to not be miserable over the next 4 weeks....mind over matter for the month of April. And I'll also be adding a new prayer to my ever growing list of prayer intentions....in addition to a cure for cancer I'm adding a prayer for a better, more comfortable way to 'stent' a kidney! Thanks for checking in....I'm going to get through this but I don't think I'll look back and laugh.

Unlike George Costanza in that classic Seinfeld episode, 'The Hamptons', I'm hoping to learn I've had significant shrinkage today when I get the results of Friday's CT scans. That news would be fantastic on two fronts; first it would mean the treatments are working and the lymph node by my kidney is returning to it's normal size and second, but equally as important, it would mean I can get this uncomfortable stent taken out! It's been over four weeks now and while the discomfort is not as bad as it was a couple weeks ago, it doesn't mean I'd like to make this stent a permanent fixture in my body....the sooner it can come out the better! So I'd appreciate some positive thoughts this afternoon around 1 pm (or if Dr. Leming's punctuality remains true to form, closer to 2:15!)....I really, really, really, really want to get this thing removed! I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Xavier is always off on Good Friday and the day after Easter but I spent Friday getting the CT scan and I'll have a treatment today so it's not exactly the best way to spend a 4 day holiday weekend. Easter was nice as we spent the day with family at the Bruces....it would have been nicer had Michigan lost to Florida but seeing Duke lose did provide some consolation. I'm still disappointed over the Buckeyes loss to Wichita State; they picked a bad time to have a shooting slump. I'm sure WSU had a little to do with it but I still believe if Ohio State plays like they did over their 11 game winning streak, they would be in the final four. Of course they didn't so they aren't and now I'm pulling for an all Big East final with Louisville beating Syracuse by about 30 points in the championship game. Of course the NCAA final four usually signals the beginning of the baseball season. This year, the basketball games are a week later and the Reds will open today in some very frigid temperatures. It was actually flurrying earlier this morning so it's not going to be a very comfortable day at the ballpark....this is one Opening Day I'll gladly enjoy from the comfort of my family room couch. I think this will be the year the Reds make it back to the World Series, they appear to have all the pieces in place. Most of the 'experts' are picking the Nationals but how many times do the 'experts' get it right? I'm sure they didn't pick the Giants to win last year....so the long season kicks off today at 4 pm, hopefully it won't end until late, late October. I guess I'll end here. I'll have an update later today on my appointment with Dr. Leming....remember, channel those positive thoughts!!!