Hey Now, Hey Now,

Day 12, Round 1...by the general plan, this puts me exactly 10% into this thing. I like percentages....everything is determined by percentages. If I do 3 rounds of chemo at 21 days per, and 7 weeks (35 days) of radiation, that is 4 mos, thus the 120 days. You with me?

So, for me, a mini-milestone.

But I ain't getting cocky....2-3 days after the bag was disconnected, the storm began, both inside and outside the house. Some real rough seas, like the worst flu, but I staved off the nausea save for one case of spacing the meds.....fevers/shakes back to fevers....everything is burned from the chemo, from lips (wasted) the nose, ALL the way through the mouth and the complete GI tract. Know what I'm sayin'? My face and chest were fire engine red and it felt like it. The backs of my hands were hot. Weird.

It got so bad I didn't care about March Madness, and that's about all I can say about that.

But Sunday things cleared....woke up (after my now patented 2-3 hour nap pattern) took inventory and declared we were going to feel good today! And I did! And again Monday, enough to go in and see my beloved colleagues at our Monday office meeting. GREAT energy from everyone, and outpouring of support, just super.

That was the last time they, or y'all for that matter, will have seen me in my TS state, cause Kiki and I went into Snippity Chix this afternoon and buzzed me big time! I now look like the cat on Breaking Bad, fully shaven though the goatee is still there. We immediately went to Berkeley Hat Co on Telegraph and scored me some bad-ass lids (no, not those, but I like the Berkeley connection to the joke). Broke out the sun screen too, cause I am a heat sensor now!

Kiki loves the look, and I think you will too. Hey, we all gotta make our way through this slough, and mixing things up, well, what the hell....if God wants it to be this way for me, then I guess I'm in. A gal at the salon said that if your hair is falling out (which it was beginning to prior to it's execution) then the chemo is working, so HEY NOW.

As an aside, the tumor on my neck, to my touch, is down a conservative 80%. You feeling me? We're on this sucker, and the reason is all of you. You are with me, you know and I know it.

Stay with me, don't fall off, keep praying, keep talking me up, don't be part of the initial rush, stay with it.....tug of war is a long game that takes persistence. Remember, worst case I am in the treatment game till the MLB All-Star Game. That's only 1/2 a season. Took till freaking Halloween to get my teeth last year, so COME ON!

Remember, Lafayette Community Music Festival, May 5th......worked on facets of it today.

www.TownHallTheatre.com

Thanks to the many who have bought tix already. Please plan to stay till 11:30 when we wrap.....it will be so worth it.

I love you all,

TomCat

Hey Now,
Thanks to EVERYONE for their wonderful encouragement. I am disappointed to remark that there are only 9 or 10 Grateful Dead lyric references, though, so let's pick it up, huh? I have had 1,275 visits to the blog, and that blows my mind!
Treatment started last Wed, not Monday, for a couple of unimportant reasons. I am due to get the chemo bag disconnected this afternoon. It is about the size of a VHS tape, and it makes a noise like those gopher spikes you put in the lawn, about every 30 seconds.....that's when you know the juice is flowing. Which is good.
Gotta tell ya, this whole thing is so weird. Yes, it is MY journey, and one I am now in the process of, but it is weird. I NEVER get sick, and this is quite foreign to me. I'm Johnny Energy, and this is taking that from me, and it pisses me off. Cross your fingers, I haven't gotten sick, the drugs see to that. I'm eating, hydrating, and the body is functioning, all of which are priorities according to everyone in the know.
I took a listing in Moraga for $1.15M over the weekend, cause I gotta pay for this stuff, right? Going for more this week. I have fantastic support at the office from my "work wives" (c'mon, we all have them) and they are seeing to it that my biz stays rolling.
To my fellow cancer survivors that I have interacted with these past couple of weeks, THANKS. Your perspective and encouragement is invaluable. I pray for you every day.
Remember, May 5th at Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette, for the Lafayette Community Music Festival.
www.townhalltheatre.com
If you all thought or felt that I loved you before all of this (my daily goal) then please know that I do even more now. Keep it coming, stay with me on this, I need you all.
Cheers,
TS

March 11, 2012

Hey Everybody,

            At the beginning of the year, I felt a lump on the right side of my neck. Instead of getting smaller, it got bigger. Not good. I quickly scheduled an appointment with my doctor, who sent me out for a biopsy which detected cancerous cells in the metastasized lump. Further tests revealed the origin of the cancer, a small mass in my throat, at the base of my tongue and near my voice box. The subsequent PET CT scan fortunately showed no other “hot spots”.  That is really great news….

I have Squamos Cell Carcinoma, SCCA. It's medical name is HPV-16 Positive. This is a treatable, “curable” cancer. It strikes my demographic, fair skinned white boys between 45-60. It does not come from smoking, it is a viral cancer. This is the same cancer that ends up causing cervical cancer in women. Girls, don't miss your PAP smear appointments!

I am being treated by the Diablo Valley Oncology Group, having been referred out from the doctors at John Muir in Walnut Creek. I am being treated by the top team in the East Bay, an eminently qualified group that works out of one building and in concert with each other. I have the utmost confidence in their diagnosis and treatment plan.

Commencing the week of March 11th, I begin 2, or perhaps 3 rounds of Chemotherapy, each round lasting 3 weeks. The plan is to shrink the tumors AND insure that there are no rogue cells attempting to inhabit any organs in my body other than where we know they are currently. This greatly reduces the ability for the cells to metastasize and cause a recurrence of the cancer. After the 2 (or 3) rounds, I will begin an intensive 7 week/35 treatment daily radiation procedure, coupled with some attendant chemo. Weekends off.

All in all, about 4 months of treatment. 

The usual side effects will be in play...weight loss, and hair loss...Most people start the year with Jenny Craig to lose weight, but not me! It is kind of like those Viagra commercials where they tell you everything under the sun is a side effect, but I say screw that. I will hydrate, eat as best as I can, exercise and fight, fight, fight. I have WAY too much still to do, too many things on the bucket list not yet accomplished, simply too much more living to do for this to knock me out.

People are graciously asking us how they can help. Kiki, Sam and I are building a team to help with various tasks, and that is local-centric. We are open to the help and the support. It looks like it could be a day to day thing, that's how we are approaching it. What you all can do is come to The Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette on Saturday night, May 5th, for the 2nd Annual Lafayette Community Music Festival. It is a Bridge School inspired and designed show with some of the greatest musicians in the East Bay who will lend their talents au gratis on behalf of the Theatre. I typically MC the evenings, and that evening is on our calendar and gives us inspiration. To know we will have a sold out house and we'll be surrounded by friends will be an amazing reward, a carrot I will chase daily. PLEASE come that night. Go to http://www.townhalltheatre.com/ for tickets!

The purpose of this blog is for you all to share your thoughts, put wind under my wings, and help us through this. We can update everyone with one blast, and you can check in at your leisure. Trust me, I will check in often. We do not want to go through this alone, we need our tribe, and if you are reading this, you are a part of our tribe. Bring the love, my family will feel it, and it will help us!

The journey continues.......