Update on Jim - 3/17/10

I'm sorry I haven't given any updates during the last week (other then the short one yesterday), but until today there really wasn't a whole lot to say. Here is the rundown...

Last week and weekend were really good. Jim felt good, had energy and a good appetite. We had a full weekend, which included a surprise BD party for a friend Saturday night and a trip to Riverside Casino on Sunday (for Jim's mother's BD). We came home, took a short walk and cleaned the garage floor which was nasty with sand from the long winter. As always Jim felt his best just before his next chemo (which was Monday).

Chemo #5 went very smoothly on Monday. When Dr. Nabi did the spinal infusion at the end of the day it was one insertion and right in. Jim told her she got an A+! Home we went and the next four hours were spent in the prone position. When he got up on Tuesday he felt pretty good. In fact he told a couple people that it was his best "day after chemo" so far. He may have jinxed himself, because it didn't last!

This morning at 4 he was up and in the bathroom. The next several hours were like that. I was very concerned about him becoming dehydrated again. He would take his anti-nausea pill and lose it an hour later. Late morning it finally stopped. At that point he became very good about drinking his liquids (of course I was nagging big time about it). And he finally ate his first solid food around 6 tonight. It wasn't much but it stayed down. We are hoping that he will feel better when he gets up tomorrow.

I wanted to share one of the things that I asked the doctor about at Jim's appointment on Monday. Dr. Nabi had written all these wonderful notes at Jim's first visit so we would have something we could look back on if we had questions about something discussed that day. One of the things she had told Jim was that after the 6 chemo treatments (by IV) that there was a POSSIBILITY that he would have an additional round of chemo - 4 treatments that would be given via spinal infusion. So, what I wanted to know was why the spinal infusion was being done simultaneously with the IV chemo treatments if the original plan was to possibly do it AFTERWARDS. Well, Dr. Nabi said that because Jim was doing so well with his IV chemo treatments, having so few problems, that it made sense to get a start on the spinal infusions and that way shorten the length of time that Jim would be undergoing treatment. The spinal infusions are highly recommended to aggressively treat lymphoma that is in the bone marrow. Dr. Nabi said she does not want Jim to come back a year from now with brain cancer. So even though there is nothing enjoyable about this part of the treatment plan it could make the difference in making sure that his cancer is completely cured. Also, Jim asked for specifics on the last PET/CT scan that was done a few weeks ago. Dr. Nabi said that all the spots that were there before the chemo are all gone. Thank you Lord!

We are very fortunate that our boss is as understanding as she is. Jim missed all of today from work and said for him to take tomorrow too if needed. That has been how she has been all the way through this. We are very blessed to work where we do and to have the type of boss we have. We have good insurance too which is another blessing.

As we go forward please continue to pray for him to have minimal side effects from the chemo. We want him to feel better and to be able to eat and drink as needed. Thanks in advance! We appreciate it so much.

NEXT CHEMO (#6 and final) and spinal infusion (#3) on 4/5/10 (the day after Easter) . The final spinal infusion (#4) will be four weeks later. Dr. Nabi wants another PET/CT scan before the final spinal infusion. We are hopeful that by early June Jim will be ready to some camping!

Update on Jim - 3/16/10

This will be very short, but in case anyone is checking this a.m. I wanted to let you know that Jim did really well with his chemo (#5) and spinal infusion (#2) yesterday. He knew what to expect and that helped in itself. The days leading up to his chemo were very good. He had some energy and felt really good. He was able to do some normal activities - such as taking a short walk and cleaning the garage floor.

I will share more tonight when I have more time.

Update on Jim 3/7/10

Jim used an ice pack to help him with his headache earlier in the week.

Jim has officially missed his first full day of work that was not a "chemo" day. On Friday the 6th Jim did not go in to work at all. He just felt like he had no energy. He talked to the doctor's office and they said that it is a side effect of the chemo. The headache issue has been mostly resolved and the stomach issues are under control with the meds that he has, but he is just dragging butt. I've kind of pushed him here and there to do some things and once he gets up and going he feels alright, not great...but okay. If he is up for an extended period of time that is when he seems to feel beat. He seems to need to rest between things. At least that is the way we handled it this weekend.

Not sure what this next week will bring. All through the years we've gotten to work around 6:30 in the morning. Since this whole cancer thing started we started going in around 7 - 7:15. Jim has now decided that we are going to go in around 8. And if he needs to take a long lunch and get a 30-45 minute power nap then that is what he'll do. It might even be necessary to work half days periodically. Whatever it takes! Fortunately for us Margaret is totally supportive and has given Jim free reign to do whatever he needs to do.

Please keep praying that the side effects of the chemo will be minimal. We know that Jim has been very fortunate so far and we hope very much that things won't get any worse than what he has experienced thus far. Thank you for that.

Next chemo (#5) is 3/15 - a week from Monday.

Sugar Cookies

Do these not look delicious? Well they are! I just L-O-V-E sugar cookies. They are definitely something that calls me. So anyways, I wanted to make something that could be sold at the Hooley today. What is a "Hooley" you ask? Well, it is a money making, food-eating, beer-drinking (by some), dancing, etc., party that is held before the SAPADAPASO Parade. SA (Saint) PA (Patricks) DA (Day) PA (Parade) SO (Society) is the host/sponsor of the party and the parade. My family is deeply involved, from being a volunteer that helps with staging at the parade, to crowd control, to being a part of the organizers. My Dad and bonus Mom, my brothers and sisters, my daughters, my aunt, uncle, cousins, nieces, nephews....and the list goes on and on. Let's just say there is alot of "Davis" blood, sweat and tears involved in each year's parade.

So back to the purpose of this post. I wanted to making something to be sold at the Hooley and it needed to be green and tasty. I decided cookies would fill the need. I had bought shamrock cookie cutters last year so I went with sugar cookie cut-outs. So on Friday night I'm flipping through cookbook after cookbook trying to decide what recipe to use. I found one that I had written in the margins, "Very good, 4/01". And so I decided to go with it. The recipe name just said "sugar cookies", it did not say "cut outs". So I started out trying to roll it with a rolling pin and that did not work at all. The dough just stuck to the roller, regardless of how much flour I put on it. I then noticed the recipe said to roll it into balls, so this was meant to be more of a "drop" cookie. Now I understood. So I tried patting the dough out with my hands and it worked like a charm. I divided the dough into sections and then after I did my cut-outs would re-wad it up and pat it out again. I was able to do that over and over with no problems. (Usually with cut-outs it starts getting difficult as you keep adding more flour.) The important thing was to make sure the dough was cold and sparingly use the flour.

Here is the recipe I used:

Sugar Cookies (St Ludmila Parish Cookbook)

1 cup margarine or butter
1 cup shortening
1 cup powdered sugar (plus more for rolling the balls)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Cream first 4 ingredients together; add eggs and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Chill dough 1 hour. Roll dough into balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 5-6 dozen medium sized cookies.

I did NOT roll the dough into balls. I sectioned off the dough and patted it out on a floured board and used a cookie cutter.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

1 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix together and add food coloring if desired. I had to quadruple this recipe to frost all my cookies.

This is the board I used. You can see my shamrock cookie cutter if you look close!

I would pat out the dough with the palms of my hands, doing one section at a time.

Make sure that you don't get it too thin, or leave it too thick.

The cookies puff up nicely so make sure there is plenty of room between them.

I left them on the pan for 1-2 minutes to cool and then put them on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Here are they are - waiting to be frosted!

Make sure you let them dry for a couple hours then storage won't be a problem.

This is a great recipe and now that I've found it (again) I will be using it alot. I have lots of cookie cutters and I like to make cookies that go with special days. These were super easy and I actually liked patting them out rather then rolling them. And did I mention...they are delicious!

Update on Jim - 3/4/10

Jim’s headaches that started end of last week had continued to worsen. Yesterday he talked to the doctor’s office again, and Dr. Nabi said for him to come in - which we did at 3:30. It was determined that Jim was likely dehydrated due to the spinal puncture that they did at the end of the last chemo session. Seems there can be fluid leakage that happens in the spinal canal, which then results in a spinal headache. The only reprieve is when you lie down. A vicious circle had ensued. He’d get up in the a.m. and feel okay; the headaches would start up and worsen as the day went on. Jim didn’t want to eat or drink anything because the headache was making his stomach not feel good. Each day was getting worse. On Tuesday morning Jim woke up with cramps in the calves of both legs - which should have alerted me to what was going on. I just wasn’t thinking dehydration!

Dr. Nabi decided that Jim needed an IV of fluids. Because of the lateness of the day they couldn’t do it there at the office so he was sent to the hospital on an outpatient basis. We got there, checked in and were sent up to the Infusion Room. Jim got his IV set up and they started the fluids. They also gave him some stronger pain meds and a different anti-nausea medication thru the IV. By the time we left (around 7:45) he was feeling pretty good. (J) So home we went and he got comfortable on the couch, laying comfortably till bed-time. In the meantime I ran to the pharmacy and filled the new meds that Dr. Nabi had prescribed.

This morning we are back at work. He got something in stomach right away and took the new meds. He has a glass of water on his desk and I’ll be pushing fluids like crazy for the next few days! We don’t want any repeat performances.

Jim has two chemo sessions, plus three more of the spinal infusions to go and I have a feeling that he is going to be more susceptible to the side effects as he moves towards these final treatments. We need him to stay healthy and to keep eating and drinking. He needs to continue to be surrounded in prayer so please don’t let up in your prayers! Thanks in advance for that!

Update on Jim - 2/28/10

This wasn't one of Jim's better weekends. Things didn't start out real good Friday afternoon. I was noticing as the afternoon progressed that Jim wasn't looking so well. He had taken some tylenol after lunch because he felt a headache coming on and his stomach started feeling a bit funny as the afternoon progressed. Jim is not a complainer and he would have most likely just suffered it out. But a little after 4:00 I suggested that he do what he needed to and that we should leave early so he could get home and lay down. He actually agreed quite quickly which caught me by surprise. We got out of there shortly thereafter and we went home and he went straight to the couch. He laid there all evening, no TV, just dozing on and off. We had had plans to go to dinner and a movie with his brother Steve and wife Vicki, but we had to bow out. Around 9 we headed to bed and he slept all night. On Saturday and again today (Sunday) he has had been on the edge of a headache, not ever getting too bad. He has been taking Motrin for it with some relief. We went about normal activities the rest of the weekend although I'd say Jim's appetite hasn't been 100%. I know the headache plays some role in that but part of it is because food hasn't been tasting right. Jim says many things just taste "blah". Hard to get excited about eating when it doesn't taste good!

We are very aware that the side effects have been very minimal up to this point, which we are very greatful for. Please continue your prayers in this regard. Thanks so much!

Next chemo: March 15th

Freezefest 2010 - My first race of the season!

On Saturday, February 27th, I ran my first race of the season. It was a 5K (3.1 miles) at Squaw Creek Park. The race was on the paved roads and they were all cleared of snow so it was a totally dry run. The temperature was a different issue. The temp was around 27 degrees and then there was the wind chill on top of that. The race didn't start till 11:00 which was a good thing. There were 307 runners so I was not the only person out there freezing my butt off! There was even people in shorts! Not me! I had three layers on my core. When I was running into the wind I had my hood up and was zipped up to my chin. When the wind was to my back, the sun would warm me to the point that I would unzip my jackets, take my hood down and take my gloves off.

Rachelle asked me if I had anything left to give after it was over. Interesting question. Yes, I could have run longer. I had decided to hold steady and keep a constant pace throughout - although I did "push it" during the last stretch of the race. My finish time was 33:30. I checked the final results on the CVRA web site last night and found out I was 6th in my age group (women 50-54). There was 11 of us total. The women who placed 1st thru 3rd all ran in 24 to 26 minutes! WOW! That is really fast (from my perspective). I'd like to think that there will be a day in my future that I might run a 5K in 25 minutes. I think I'll consider that a long-term goal!

I know most of the people reading my blog right now are doing so to keep up with Jim's health status. But in case you decided to read this particular post I'm going to recap on how I came to the point that I'm running races.

Our daughter Rachelle has been competing in triathlons for several years now. I've watched her grow and progress in her athletic ability and have been truly inspired. In 2009, Rachelle and I had conversations about my starting to run. For my birthday in May she said she wanted to give me what I needed to get started. First on the agenda was a good pair of running shoes. We went to Running Wild and I was fitted into a pair of great shoes. Next was some running clothes and we went out to Dick's Sporting Goods and got some things that were practical and looked great. The next step was up to me. Rachelle found a running program called "Couch Potato to 5K". This is a 9 week program. I jumped right in and got started. This program starts things very slow and builds you up week after week. If you are interested in more details you can see my post on July 5th.

I ran three races last year - the Fifth Season 5K Race (7/4), the Indian Summer Distance Classic - 4 mile (9/26) and the Especially for You Race Against Breast Cancer - 5K (10/11). This year I have set a new goal for myself. I have registered to do a quarter marathon in Madison WI on Memorial Day weekend. Rachelle has given me a training schedule and I'm following it quite closely. I run three times a week - Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. On Monday, Wednesday & Friday I cross train. I've been doing various programs, Turbo Jam, Denise Austin, yoga, and medicine ball. I'm switching around all the time and trying to keep things interesting. So I'm sure you are wondering when I do all this...right? Well, it is very early in the morning. I get up 4:45 or 5:00 each day and train for 20-30 minutes depending on the day. The morning is the only time that I can control. When you work till 6 p.m. or later each evening like we do, it doesn't leave much time to do much of anything after you get home and eat.

So how do I stay motivated to get up and exercise each day? First, of all I don't call it exercising. I'm in training. It makes a difference for me...in my head. There is something about knowing that I have a race coming up. By registering for races and having goals set up to accomplish, I am thereby motivated to stay on the training schedule. I'm excited. When I think back to my first race on July 4, 2009 - when I had to walk a couple times because I couldn't run the whole thing...and now...no more walking...mission accomplished! The fun has just begun!