We had a really interesting conversation with the nurse this afternoon regarding blood, and in particular, platelets. Obviously, I would ask that everyone consider giving blood as often as you can remember to do so, its just a good practice. Until you see how it is used up close, you can't appreciate how much the hospitals, military and medical centers need it. I know we do a blood drive at work, and I'm convinced we should do a couple of them a year. Funny how becoming a "net taker" of blood gets you to inspire others to give blood. But, at least consider it... I can't imagine how much blood our troops need, let alone someone like me.
While we all know about the importance of blood, the interesting part of the conversation revolved around the platelets and the overwhelming need for those as a donation. Its a slightly differing process taking 1.5 to 2.5 hours that extracts the platelets out of the blood and returns the blood to you. Platelets are essential in the clotting process and someone in my condition needs them badly in case I get a cut or bruise. If I need platelets, I will get a specific transfusion of platelets to fight external and internal bleeding.
Both of these donations can be done by the Red Cross. If you donate platelets, they will provide you with a movie to watch. And, you can always tell the Red Cross you are donating on behalf of < insert name > which can possibly help offset blood charges during someones hospital stay.
All of your support is appreciated and if you can spare the time, please give.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Random Thoughts (cont.) - Chemo Friday
More later on treatement, and it will begin tonight or tomorrow... but as I watch some of the game show(s), I am reminded of all the great ones from years gone by... some of my favorites:
The original $25,000 Pyramid - How great was Dick Clark? From the "Ready.... go!" as he gets marginal TV stars to interact with people in polyester suits and dresses. The best part was always when someone missed winning the prize and he would come over, look at the contestant and say something like "crackers" and immediately, it was the perfect clue for "Words that contain an 'a'" He was uncanny.
Card Sharks - How this didn't develop into the first high stakes live poker typo game is crazy. The format would work today.
Still looking for Joker's Wild and Jack Berry...
9:45 PM
Here's how the Pyramid might work...
Dick Clark: "Ready... Go"
Clue Giver: "Intern"
Clue Giver: "Nurse"
Contestant: "Things a Doctor likes!" (wrong answer)
Clue Giver: "Blood"
Clue Giver: "Emergency"
Contestant: "Band Aids!" (wrong answer)
Clue Giver: "Specimen"
Dick Clark: "Time is up, I'm sorry..." <Dick walks over and sits in the Clue Giver chair and addresses the contestant> "What if the clue was "Stool"?
Contestant: Immediately gets the category "Terms freely used too often in a hospital"
After a couple weeks in a hospital, you get used to talking about all of the things that are taboo in normal public conversation. Seriously, we talk about what are typically private matters freely. So freely, you can finish your lunch while the conversations are going on and its not a big deal. I digress...
Friday morning I start the chemo. I got briefed today and am just ready to get at it, weird. I'll try and post some pictures of me with hair, because this may be the last time it is publicly gray. My bet is that the hair comes back brown, maybe curly.
Have I mentioned the cable is bad here? No Buckeye game for me this week, Big 10 network only. Looks like they will roll tonight.
Keep the comments and questions rolling, I'll try to respond.
The original $25,000 Pyramid - How great was Dick Clark? From the "Ready.... go!" as he gets marginal TV stars to interact with people in polyester suits and dresses. The best part was always when someone missed winning the prize and he would come over, look at the contestant and say something like "crackers" and immediately, it was the perfect clue for "Words that contain an 'a'" He was uncanny.
Card Sharks - How this didn't develop into the first high stakes live poker typo game is crazy. The format would work today.
Still looking for Joker's Wild and Jack Berry...
9:45 PM
Here's how the Pyramid might work...
Dick Clark: "Ready... Go"
Clue Giver: "Intern"
Clue Giver: "Nurse"
Contestant: "Things a Doctor likes!" (wrong answer)
Clue Giver: "Blood"
Clue Giver: "Emergency"
Contestant: "Band Aids!" (wrong answer)
Clue Giver: "Specimen"
Dick Clark: "Time is up, I'm sorry..." <Dick walks over and sits in the Clue Giver chair and addresses the contestant> "What if the clue was "Stool"?
Contestant: Immediately gets the category "Terms freely used too often in a hospital"
After a couple weeks in a hospital, you get used to talking about all of the things that are taboo in normal public conversation. Seriously, we talk about what are typically private matters freely. So freely, you can finish your lunch while the conversations are going on and its not a big deal. I digress...
Friday morning I start the chemo. I got briefed today and am just ready to get at it, weird. I'll try and post some pictures of me with hair, because this may be the last time it is publicly gray. My bet is that the hair comes back brown, maybe curly.
Have I mentioned the cable is bad here? No Buckeye game for me this week, Big 10 network only. Looks like they will roll tonight.
Keep the comments and questions rolling, I'll try to respond.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The Treatment Update
For those interested, the final diagnosis is Undifferentiated AML, here's a link to some of the info.
http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/hematology-oncology/acute-myelogenous-leukemia/
Treatment was to begin today, however, on Monday night I began to run a fever and headed to the ER. I was admitted and figured that no matter what, I was in for the long haul. Good assumption.
The first order of business is to get rid of the infection. Cultures will be back tonight to determine if I need more time before I am up to starting the chemo. No word yet, but if its OK, I will start chemo on Thursday/Friday AM. Believe it or not, I want this to start (I think I am getting on a couple nerves).
Once all of the consultations were completed (and all agreed), I was asked to participate in using an experimental drug in addition to the standard chemo drugs. This would be part of a clinical trial and I may or may not end up getting the actual drug. In clinical trials, 50% of the patients get a placebo and the other 50% get the actual drug (midostaurin). The trial last for 18 months and is an "add on" in pill form. I have full opportunity to stop at any time should I not want to participate, but my thought process is that I'd like every opportunity to A) gain the potential benefits and B) thought that if others will benefit, why not? The side effects listed appear to be very similar to chemo, so I don't feel as if there is a whole lot of risk (but there always is some).
The best part (sarcasm alert) of participating is that they needed another bone marrow biopsy, and that took place this morning. If you are keeping score, that's three of them in three weeks. This mornings biopsy went well, and if I had to rank, it was the best so far. I think the nurse who did mine at UofM last week took the whole Ohio State fan thing a bit personally, as it hurt the most. Maybe I'm just getting use to getting needles shoved everywhere.
Back to Tuesday... I think my Dr. noticed that I can be a bit high strung or irritated at times. We hadn't had the best experience with the ER the night before and I let them know how we felt. As well, I think I may have been irritated by the horrendous cable channel lineup and/or the poor TV and started to let people know it in an unspoken way. These things can be communicated non-verbally, I'm told. I was offered a tranquilizer to calm my nerves. I declined because I thought my nerves were fine (and mostly irritated that someone thought they weren't) For the balance of the afternoon I read about the clinical trial and pretended to not be irritated.
Later in the evening, watching the Reds game, the overnight nurse and I were discussing what I might want/need and I think she was asked to reiterate that I had some Xanax left for me if I wanted it. I found it fairly humorous at that point and declined. The Reds game was fantastic, because I can watch on my computer, but anything on the TV really was unwatchable. This thing is circa 1990's.
I got essentially little sleep, but when I did, I apparently snored decently as the nurse mentioned it in the morning. But, I was up by 5:30 and walking the halls looking for coffee. No one on the night shift drinks coffee! Annoyed again, I must have made an impression, because someone purchased a cup of Seattle's Best for me and delivered it to me around 6 ish. We are purchasing a coffee maker. Around 7:30 the Dr. arrives with a couple other of the fellows and a nurse or 2. Nothing like a crowd. We're chatting and its that awkward "get to know you stuff," which most of you know is right up my alley. I'm fine with the Dr. and like him a ton, but all the others are just kinda "there." If I could have excused myself, I would have, but where the hell was I going to go, I had a marrow biopsy coming up in a few minutes. So, I look up and say, "you guys are making me nervous, is there something I need to know?" The answer was no, we were all just waiting for the biopsy cart. The Dr. had everyone leave.
Side note for Blaki (my uncle Jim the surgeon)... I think you'd like this guy. He was filling out some paperwork as we continued to wait and was over by the window. From the angle I was looking, he had the white coat, and facing away from me, I swore it was you. I'm not saying the bald top of his head had anything to do with it, but it reminded me of you getting home when we were in Georgia and us getting ready for an evening of food, a cigar and a couple scotch's (of course it wasn't an "on call" night).
The biopsy gets completed and we talked for a few minutes. Within 10 minutes of him leaving, the nurse arrives and has me take the Xanax ordered by the Dr. He must have been convinced that the Xanex was needed and I was going to take it...
I pretty much had this entry completed and within a 1/2 an hour, I couldn't type anymore, so I slept for about 4 straight.
Maybe I am a bit high strung.
Last, how about them Reds, 7 games up and the Cuban Missile has arrived. Look out Braves fans...
The Cuban Missile
http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/hematology-oncology/acute-myelogenous-leukemia/
Treatment was to begin today, however, on Monday night I began to run a fever and headed to the ER. I was admitted and figured that no matter what, I was in for the long haul. Good assumption.
The first order of business is to get rid of the infection. Cultures will be back tonight to determine if I need more time before I am up to starting the chemo. No word yet, but if its OK, I will start chemo on Thursday/Friday AM. Believe it or not, I want this to start (I think I am getting on a couple nerves).
Once all of the consultations were completed (and all agreed), I was asked to participate in using an experimental drug in addition to the standard chemo drugs. This would be part of a clinical trial and I may or may not end up getting the actual drug. In clinical trials, 50% of the patients get a placebo and the other 50% get the actual drug (midostaurin). The trial last for 18 months and is an "add on" in pill form. I have full opportunity to stop at any time should I not want to participate, but my thought process is that I'd like every opportunity to A) gain the potential benefits and B) thought that if others will benefit, why not? The side effects listed appear to be very similar to chemo, so I don't feel as if there is a whole lot of risk (but there always is some).
The best part (sarcasm alert) of participating is that they needed another bone marrow biopsy, and that took place this morning. If you are keeping score, that's three of them in three weeks. This mornings biopsy went well, and if I had to rank, it was the best so far. I think the nurse who did mine at UofM last week took the whole Ohio State fan thing a bit personally, as it hurt the most. Maybe I'm just getting use to getting needles shoved everywhere.
Back to Tuesday... I think my Dr. noticed that I can be a bit high strung or irritated at times. We hadn't had the best experience with the ER the night before and I let them know how we felt. As well, I think I may have been irritated by the horrendous cable channel lineup and/or the poor TV and started to let people know it in an unspoken way. These things can be communicated non-verbally, I'm told. I was offered a tranquilizer to calm my nerves. I declined because I thought my nerves were fine (and mostly irritated that someone thought they weren't) For the balance of the afternoon I read about the clinical trial and pretended to not be irritated.
Later in the evening, watching the Reds game, the overnight nurse and I were discussing what I might want/need and I think she was asked to reiterate that I had some Xanax left for me if I wanted it. I found it fairly humorous at that point and declined. The Reds game was fantastic, because I can watch on my computer, but anything on the TV really was unwatchable. This thing is circa 1990's.
I got essentially little sleep, but when I did, I apparently snored decently as the nurse mentioned it in the morning. But, I was up by 5:30 and walking the halls looking for coffee. No one on the night shift drinks coffee! Annoyed again, I must have made an impression, because someone purchased a cup of Seattle's Best for me and delivered it to me around 6 ish. We are purchasing a coffee maker. Around 7:30 the Dr. arrives with a couple other of the fellows and a nurse or 2. Nothing like a crowd. We're chatting and its that awkward "get to know you stuff," which most of you know is right up my alley. I'm fine with the Dr. and like him a ton, but all the others are just kinda "there." If I could have excused myself, I would have, but where the hell was I going to go, I had a marrow biopsy coming up in a few minutes. So, I look up and say, "you guys are making me nervous, is there something I need to know?" The answer was no, we were all just waiting for the biopsy cart. The Dr. had everyone leave.
Side note for Blaki (my uncle Jim the surgeon)... I think you'd like this guy. He was filling out some paperwork as we continued to wait and was over by the window. From the angle I was looking, he had the white coat, and facing away from me, I swore it was you. I'm not saying the bald top of his head had anything to do with it, but it reminded me of you getting home when we were in Georgia and us getting ready for an evening of food, a cigar and a couple scotch's (of course it wasn't an "on call" night).
The biopsy gets completed and we talked for a few minutes. Within 10 minutes of him leaving, the nurse arrives and has me take the Xanax ordered by the Dr. He must have been convinced that the Xanex was needed and I was going to take it...
I pretty much had this entry completed and within a 1/2 an hour, I couldn't type anymore, so I slept for about 4 straight.
Maybe I am a bit high strung.
Last, how about them Reds, 7 games up and the Cuban Missile has arrived. Look out Braves fans...
The Cuban Missile
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Internet Issues - Sat Recap
Here's how the balance of the afternoon and evening played out...
Whitey called and wanted to get in on the Pick 4 with me, which means he is going to cover 33% of the wager.
We've pooled our $ on several wagers over the years, but its generally when we both want to get in a football pool or something and its a little more than we want to go in for, so we split the investment. As is always the case, we are great at remembering the wins and less inclined to remember the losses. A couple of the highlights:
1990 - This would be our senior year atAlbion and that budget thing that we tried adhering to had become scratch paper by March. We failed to understand that the budged for a senior is not close to the one you might have your first 3 years. Typically, we would work the summers and save up for the school year. And, it had worked out well. Not as a senior. Too many, "we're going to Ann Arbor
Enter the Fortune 500 NCAA March Madness Pool. We made out selection and scraped up the entry fee and sent it into our "contacts" at Proctor and Gamble. Still considered one of the great pools of all time, Whitey and I won a couple of the early rounds and had a check arrive shortly thereafter which was enough to cover us for the last couple months of our career in higher education.
2000 - There were definitely times in between where we had some mutual investments, but nothing will top the result of January 2000. It started in the fall of 1999 and we entered a "survival" pool where you choose one NFL team each week who will NOT lose. If you get it right, you move on to the next week. It started with about 100 entrants and the last survivor would take the whole thing. We made it through the regular season and assumed we would split the pot with the other 10 or so that had done the same. But, they carried the selections on to the playoffs and we had to make additional selections. We hemmed and hawed for the week leading up and made our selection. In the last minute of the game, we were toast and had called one another pretty depressed. We hung up the phone, and the following occurred....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2I4_UP8_2M
From that point the St. Louis Rams became our team and we ended up making it to the Super Bowl where the last 3 remaining decided to split the $10,000. We never again made it past week 5 of the season.
Saturday - As noted, I played the Pick 4 (select 4 straight winners) yesterday and had managed to make it through the first 3 races with the winners in tact. That left the last race in the sequence remaining, The Travers Stakes. AC had made his selections and we were going to watch the odds before making his play. The way I had played the Pick 4, I wanted to be alive with a chance to win in the last race and had 6 horses that could complete the win. I wanted the one with the highest odds for the best payout. The problem is that my internet and phone then went out with 20 minutes to the race. So now I have no way to A) know who I am rooting for to win, and B) watch the race.
I was confident that of the 6 horses I had alive to the wager, I would win, and here's how it played out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qNy7Oy0PUw
We got the right horse to win the photo and ended up winning, but a very frustrating afternoon and evening. I would have liked it to pay a lot more, but if you have a winning ticket, you can't really complain, can you? The ROI for the day was positive. It did take far more than the $6.00 wager to get the return though.
It reminds me of a favorite quote, "There really isn't such a thing as a gambling problem, just a losing problem." This could lead to stories from Vegas, but I think I'll save those.
Whitey called and wanted to get in on the Pick 4 with me, which means he is going to cover 33% of the wager.
We've pooled our $ on several wagers over the years, but its generally when we both want to get in a football pool or something and its a little more than we want to go in for, so we split the investment. As is always the case, we are great at remembering the wins and less inclined to remember the losses. A couple of the highlights:
1990 - This would be our senior year at
Enter the Fortune 500 NCAA March Madness Pool. We made out selection and scraped up the entry fee and sent it into our "contacts" at Proctor and Gamble. Still considered one of the great pools of all time, Whitey and I won a couple of the early rounds and had a check arrive shortly thereafter which was enough to cover us for the last couple months of our career in higher education.
2000 - There were definitely times in between where we had some mutual investments, but nothing will top the result of January 2000. It started in the fall of 1999 and we entered a "survival" pool where you choose one NFL team each week who will NOT lose. If you get it right, you move on to the next week. It started with about 100 entrants and the last survivor would take the whole thing. We made it through the regular season and assumed we would split the pot with the other 10 or so that had done the same. But, they carried the selections on to the playoffs and we had to make additional selections. We hemmed and hawed for the week leading up and made our selection. In the last minute of the game, we were toast and had called one another pretty depressed. We hung up the phone, and the following occurred....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2I4_UP8_2M
From that point the St. Louis Rams became our team and we ended up making it to the Super Bowl where the last 3 remaining decided to split the $10,000. We never again made it past week 5 of the season.
Saturday - As noted, I played the Pick 4 (select 4 straight winners) yesterday and had managed to make it through the first 3 races with the winners in tact. That left the last race in the sequence remaining, The Travers Stakes. AC had made his selections and we were going to watch the odds before making his play. The way I had played the Pick 4, I wanted to be alive with a chance to win in the last race and had 6 horses that could complete the win. I wanted the one with the highest odds for the best payout. The problem is that my internet and phone then went out with 20 minutes to the race. So now I have no way to A) know who I am rooting for to win, and B) watch the race.
I was confident that of the 6 horses I had alive to the wager, I would win, and here's how it played out...
We got the right horse to win the photo and ended up winning, but a very frustrating afternoon and evening. I would have liked it to pay a lot more, but if you have a winning ticket, you can't really complain, can you? The ROI for the day was positive. It did take far more than the $6.00 wager to get the return though.
| Pick-4 | $1.00 | 3+7/1/4/2+5+7 | $6.00 | $422.50 |
It reminds me of a favorite quote, "There really isn't such a thing as a gambling problem, just a losing problem." This could lead to stories from Vegas, but I think I'll save those.
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