Category Archives: Stine Thoughts

An Apple a day keeps the chemo away (or at least off the mind)

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Stine here. Yesterday was Brian’s chemo day, and it was made far more tolerable by the new iPad many of you so generously got for us. Have I told you yet how grateful we are? Brian spent almost the entire time on it, and from his perspective, the treatment flew by. I’m sure the Lorazepam helped, too, but he was able to sufficiently distract himself the whole time. So, one more time, we would like to say thank you:

The virtual thank you card!Here he is in the chemo chair, thanking everyone for the gift.

Even though this was mainly Brian’s toy yesterday, I had a little fun with it, too:

I couldn’t resist. =)

“You mean there’s a 6 O’clock in the morning, too?”

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Stine here, again. Brian is in a series of late night rehearsals for a show right now (more about that tomorrow or Thursday), and because he’s getting home so late at night, you get the pleasure of reading what I write again today so he can get his beauty sleep when he arrives home. It’s probably not the last time this week, either.

Don’t worry, though. Brian will be back to talk to you in detail about all of his most peculiar bodily functions and the side-effects of cancer in no time.

Yesterday was a really long day for Brian, because he had to be in Bellevue at 7 a.m. for a CT scan. It’s amazing to think that it’s already been two months since his last one. I still can’t believe how quickly time passes when you’re living in two week chunks, punctuated by chemo sessions.

Brian had a really late night at rehearsal the night before, and got home at about 11:20 p.m., which as far as I can tell, is just before dawn.

For someone who already doesn’t have a lot of energy, I’m sure 6 a.m. came really early for him. In fact, he spent most of his time in the waiting room yawning:

Waker, waker, little mate!I didn’t have to wait long to get a picture of him yawning. In fact, it would have been harder to get a picture of him not yawning.

In between yawns, he grimaced at the two “venti” cups of contrast solution he has to drink before a CT scan.

Bottoms up!He really, really doesn’t like this stuff.

Fortunately, the technician gave him one cup flavored with banana, and one with wild berry. So, at least they switched it up a little for him.

The staff were in a particularly generous mood for such an early Monday morning, and they brought him two toasty warm blankets to keep the poor sleepy guy warm while he waited.

"I wanna go back to bed now."See how he can almost fall asleep in hospitals now?

The early hour might have had something to do with it, or his late night, but he was very calm, cool and composed. It was a huge contrast to the first time he had to go in for a CT scan (where we were both nervous wrecks, and wow was he sickly  skinny), and even the last time when it was still only our second trip to the rodeo.

We won’t get the results until we meet with the oncologist on February 3, so we are just going to put it out of our minds, hope for the best, and look forward to an early bedtime sometime soon!

One more down… THREE LEFT TO GO!

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Stine here, with good news!

The oncologist told us yesterday that she has seen enough progress to start the countdown to the end of Brian’s chemo. He will have four more sessions, and the beginning of the end happened yesterday immediately after our meeting with her. That means he now has three chemo sessions left, and he should be done at the end of March!

However, he still has to get an “all clear” PT (or “pet”) scan in two months at the end of March when he is done with chemo. Based on the results of the pet scan, and a consultation with a radiation oncologist, we may or may not be totally done. She is considering having Brian go through a month of radiation after the end of chemo, which would happen Monday through Friday for a month, pushing his total treatment time to the end of April. That would only happen if the radiation oncologist thinks it is necessary after the results of his pet scan.

So, we still have to wait and see what his pet scan looks like at the end of March. However, we do know that we can start counting down to the end of chemo, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Today was also our lucky day, because we arrived a few hours earlier than we normally do so we could accommodate an opening in the oncologists schedule. That means we were a few hours ahead of schedule all day, and little did we know, that they serve lunch if you’re in a chemo session at noon! The food was actually pretty good.

Better than jello.

Chicken dijonaise, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms with artichokes, and a side of lorezapam, and AVD chemo (hold the bleomycin).

The lung function test indicated that he will stay off the bleomycin for the remainder of chemo, which is fine by us.

Brian spent the evening napping and enjoying the celebration taco dinner Tanya brought over for us, and then he went to bed at 7:30. For the record, that was 30 minutes before he would have normally gone on stage. Thank you to Brian’s cast for for being patient with us, and letting Brian work around his chemo schedule. I gave the oncology nurses the promotional materials, because they were interested in attending a performance. =)

Thanks all for your good thoughts over the last few days and weeks. I am so pleased to finally be able to say that he only has two months of chemo left, and we can start the countdown. Finally, the end is in sight!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

One month left

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Yesterday was Brian’s chemo day, and now that it’s over, he has exactly one month left. That means he has two more trips to chemo, and then he’s done on March 17.

That’s great news, but yesterday was tough because Brian is more than ready to be done. Normally, he’s quite the gregarious treat for everyone on staff. Even when he is having a rough chemo day, he’s always funny and a friendly face for all of the nurses. Yesterday, he was his usual gracious self, but it was apparent that he was more than ready to be out of there quickly.

I don’t blame him one bit.

Oddly, yesterday was the first time that he felt really nauseous during chemo. He has not thrown up at all during this whole process since his diagnosis in September, but yesterday he came darn close to breaking that streak. After the moment passed, Brian remarked that his state of mind and the way he was reacting physically were probably connected. He was probably right. It’s amazing to think that the mind-body connection is that powerful.

The good news, is that he didn’t seem to react as badly to the chemo yesterday as he has in previous sessions. Instead of falling asleep half way through, then sleeping all the way home, and going to bed around 6, he actually stayed awake the whole time and seemed fairly lucid.

So, we continue the countdown, and know that in exactly one month he will be through it. On March 17, the days will be 1 hour and 28 minutes longer than they are today, the average temperatures will be in the mid-to upper 50’s, and Brian’s long-term outlook will be decidedly sunnier. =)

One less thing “needling” at Brian

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Stine here. Tuesday night marked a momentous occasion in the Lange house, as Brian had his last neupogen shot! Back in early February, he talked about how this is one thing he will absolutely not miss.

In October, we were given the large sharps box by the pharmacist, because he needed one shot per day for 5 days after each chemo session. He will have had 12 rounds of chemo when it’s all done, and he didn’t have shots after the first, and he won’t have any after the last. By Brian’s calculations (because I’m not so good with math), he had 50 shots:

Sorry I couldn't get a "sharper" picture. =)

That’s a lot of shots. It feels like it was more than 50, simply because it was spread out over such a long period of time. I feel like it was years ago when I was given a tutorial by the kind nurse.

You can see the syringes through the plastic, with my thumb as a reference for size. That's a lot of shots poor Brian had to put up with.

Tuesday night was a happy night in our house as we put the last needle in the sharps box. One more thing checked off the list, and just one more chemo session left to go! I’m glad I get to stop being a “prick” by forcing the sick guy with cancer to get shots he doesn’t like. For someone who doesn’t work in the medical profession, it’s an interesting skill to have. But I’ll be happy if I never have to give another shot again. =)