Cancer Really Does Suck

 Last week was a pretty rough week.  We had a friend and a coach who battled cancer for 12 years pass away.  For the last 5 years we have spent our entire summer with him and his family at the baseball fields.  He was only 43 years old and leaves behind a wife and 3 children.  This has hit home for me for obvious reasons.  Cancer is a very scary diesease but the research they are doing is helping and they are starting to figure it out.  Our support and love goes to the Kap family.  #fightlikekap

The night of his funeral Jen and I headed to LA for another treatment.  The kids headed to Fish Laje with their grandma and grandpa Jensen.  We have been fortunate to have family and friends be able to help us out sooooo much.  We are very appreciative of all the support that has been provided to us.  The treatment went well.  I was given a combo treatment of both Ipi and Imo-2125.  The last couple of times I have felt pretty crappy with some flu like symptoms.  This time there were none.  My liver continues to be inflamed, which the doctor thinks is a good thing.  I think the assumption is that an inflamed liver is fighting an infection or disease.  We were actually done at the hospital around 2:00 in the afternoon which gave us some time to head to the ocean.  We spent our time taking a walk along the pier and beach.

When we got home on Saturday the kids were still at Fish Lake so Jen and I went to the USC vs Utah football game.  People have asked me where my alegience lies since I am getting my treatments at USC.  let's just say I wore my red Ute gear to my doctor's appointment on Friday.  Kids came home and we're so excited with their trip to fish lake.  They couldn't stop talking about the fish and things they had done down their.  Thank you for all the support, we love you all and appreciate the things you do for us.  We don't deserve it.

#cancersucks #fightlikehell

1 month of Treatments

Well it has been a while since I posted anything.  We have been to LA a total of 4 times now and 3 of those times I have received treatment.  Jen has been with me Everytime except once.  My dad came with me the last time.  3 times I have been injected with the IMO drug directly into the liver and once I have had an infusion of Ipi.  The injection I have been awake for.  They give me some local anesthesia (litocaine) and most of the time I don't feel the injection.  This last time though they either didn't give me enough litocaine or I am becoming immune to it because it didn't feel very good.

The side effects in the beginning were minimal but have seemed to be getting worse the further along we go.  This most recent visit I had some serious chills and then muscle pains and headache.  Think flu like chills and pains.  I have also had some rashes that are pretty itchy.    My next visit is next week where I will get both the IMO and Ipi.  Then I go back about every 3 weeks and get both drugs everytime for a while.  The drugs kind of make me a little awnry/testy so be nice to me.  😉

The doctor told us that the lesions are not growing right now but they are not shrinking either.  He says it usually take about 2 1/2 months to see any progression.  We are about a month into the treatment so we are about half way there.  We are hopeful and optimistic still that this will work.  I still feel pretty good and am able to do just about anything I want.  I do have some pains mostly related to the injection site but those are more than bearable.

My dad and I were able to attend our first playoff baseball game while in LA last week.  It was a lot of fun but the atmosphere is nowhere near a Jazz playoff atmosphere.  We have eaten at some good places, sushi, Mexican and noodles.  Of you know of a place we should try let us know.  Thanks for the continued prayers and support.  We appreciate it very much.

#cancersucks #fightlikehell