The world is a much better place with family & friends!

I am very grateful for many things in my life.  I have a wonderful wife who is truly my best friend.  We have been married for, what will be, 24 years on February 11th. She is my strength and the LOVE of my life!  I have two fantastic sons.  I could not be more proud of them.  We are like any other family...we have our good days, we have our not so good days but we are a family.....!

I am grateful for the many friends that I have made through my life.  From the boys & girls in high school, the men of the TN Theta chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon at MTSU, the courageous men & women of Echo Battery 8/43 ADA (PATRIOT) I served with from Texas to Germany to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Strom; the many fabulous people I've met and worked with in my career outside the Army....needless to say this list could go on for a long time.

More recently, I am grateful that I met and have been associated with the folks in the cancer community; specifically, 24 Hours of Booty & the LiveSTRONG Foundation.  I have met so many awesome people with these two organizations and now consider these folks family.

Thanks to everyone for being a part of my life!  Thanks to everyone who has reads my blog and sends me words of encouragement!  You guys are awesome!!!

A year later....a new treatment!

So, I haven't posted in some time primarily because there has not been a lot to talk about.  I had been watching a few spots on both arms as well as a place on the back of my neck in the hairline.  I went back to my dermatologist last Friday for my 6 month follow up and here is that update.

If you read some of last year's post I went through complete rounds of Kerastick Blue-U treatment.  Basically, they coated my arms in some chemical and let it soak in for 2 hours, then I sat under a blue  blue UV lamp for 17 minutes.  This was supposed to pull out all of the bad cells.  Well, I guess it didn't do the job.

My doctor was not at all pleased that my left arm was covered in Ak's again and my right arm had one small ak.  So I am now on a 2nd type of chemical treatment.  He put me on a drug called 5-FU.  For the 1st week, I used Tazorac again to soften up the dermas.  Then today, I started with the 5-FU application....twice a day....for 4 weeks.

I've been told it should be a much better job pulling out the remaining "bad" cells.  I will be posting pictures starting tomorrow with before, during, and after the treatment.  I will tell this, my arms are already itching like crazy.  

48 hours and the itching sets in

Yesterday was rather uneventful with the Blue-U treatment with the exception of a mild headache all day.  I don't do well with most drugs and whatever that stuff was they put on my arms to soak in for 2 hours gave me a headache that lasted most of the day Friday through about 11 p.m. last night.  Throughout the day yesterday, my arms gradually turned more red...brighter red in some places which I can only assume is where some bad little carcinoma cells are hiding out.

This morning; however, the persistent and nagging itchiness has set in just as if I had gotten a really nasty sunburn or sun poisoning.  I am trying to ignore it, placed ice bags on my arms, and even have resorted to a long sleeve shirt to no avail.  I have applied the prescription cream which is helping a little.  Hopefully, it will clear up soon.

Doctor induced sun burn!!!

Yeah, you read the title correctly....I am blogging about a doctor induced sun burn aka Photodynamic Therapy (PDT for short).  Who would have thought that the best way to combat future outbreaks of skin cancer would be to get a sun burn???  Well, I am exaggerating just a little....

As posted in my last update, my appointment in January went well except for having to burn/freeze off several more nasty little pre-cancerous places on my arms.  At the end of the appointment, my doctor says that he would like to do a Blue-U treatment which should provide me with several years of relief and should slow down the growth of any more carcinomas on my arms.  He said it would be a bit like a chemical peel only not quite so harsh. Yeah right, I thought, but I agreed to the procedure. 3 weeks and a pre-certification call to the insurance and the day finally arrived to go in and have the treatment.

I arrived at the office and was taken in to a typical exam room with a "mini" sun tan chamber on wheels.  The nurse started telling me what was going to happen all the while cleaning my arms with an alcohol prep.  Once she was satisfied with the prep work she grabbed a long thin cylindrical tube and crushed the inner chamber.  As she started swabbing down my left arm with the applicator on the end of the tube she said I would feel a little tightness and tingling, which I did, and that would be the extent of the discomfort, for now she added!  After completing the same process on my right arm she took me out to the patients waiting area and said I'll be back to see you in 2 hours.  So, I sat there listening to the television, doing crossword puzzles, and checking email for 2 hours.  The nurse came strolling in with "guess what time it is now..." comment followed by "you are not going to like me when this is done."  Obviously, not the most comforting of thoughts coming from a nurse but I applaud her for giving me ample warning.

So, back to the same exam room with the two chairs, the mini/mobile sun tan chamber, and the addition of one of those adjustable stainless steel medical trays you see used in operating rooms or medical procedure rooms.  She asked me to sit down, raised the tray to mid-chest level, and placed a pillow on the tray and asked me to put my arms on the pillow.  Immediately, the nagging pain in my right shoulder, which is probably a torn rotator cuff, begins complaining about the positioning  of my arms.  I start telling myself that this is nothing compared to what I know my Mom went through with chemo before she ran out of time waiting for a cure 8 years ago, or what the 10 year old boy in my neighborhood is going through right now battling Burkitt's Lymphoma, or the list could go on unfortunately....so I deal with it.  While all of this is playing out in my  head, my nurse has thrown some green tinted swim goggles over my eyes, rolled the mini sun chamber and placed it directly over my arms, and says "you have 17 minutes and I'll come back and check on you periodically"  and quietly exits the room.

If you have ever had a sun burn....you know what I mean when I say the prickling sensation of being out in the sun too long....well that prickling sensation was immediate.  Any thoughts of this being a quick 17 minutes vanished as quickly as the nurse did once she hit start.  Almost instantly, even through green tinted swim goggles staring through the glow of blue UV lamps, I could sense and see my skin turning red.  So, for the next 16 minutes and 30 seconds I try to forget about the ever increasing desire to claw at my skin with humming, whistling, tapping my toes, and so on.....with little respites of interaction from my nurse.  She would stick her head in the door like a prairie dog making sure the coast is clear and ask cute little phrases like, "how  you doing", "are you in pain", "you doing okay", and my favorite..."how do your arms feel?"  Okay, I know...I am whining a bit....but I hope that  you are laughing as much as I am retelling the story....!  After the surface of the sun's timer kicked off I was unsure what to do so I sat there waiting for my nurse to come in to give me further instruction.  She walks in with two ice packs, rolls the mini sun chamber away, and places one bag on each arm.  At this point, she starts walking through the: do this and don't do that instructions for post procedure and informs me that I have to come back in 4 weeks for round 2!?!?!  This I didn't know about until just now...the post operative sheet I was sent home with says that the effects of this treatment should be cleared up in 3-4 weeks....just in time for round 2!!! YEAH!!!

So, as I write this some 4 hours after the treatment my arms are a bit puffy, the tingling sensation of a nasty sun burn are intensifying, and I have a headache....probably from the chemical compound rubbed all over my arms.  The redness is beginning to come out more and I expect it will continue through the night.  I have a prescription for Triamcinolone cream to apply to my arms and can  use a good moisturizing lotion whenever needed....! Again, all minor inconveniences.

Modern medicine...go figure.....!  Ignore family as a kid by not using sunscreen, get burnt too many times to count by the sun, get non melanoma skin cancer, and then treat it with a chemically induced sun burn!!!  The irony is delicious!

Stay tuned for updates throughout the course of the weekend!!!

Another win!

It is stories like these that brighten my day.  This little girl is cancer free.  She and her family can stop worrying about her running out of time!

Jordan Jemsek

6 month check up

I had my 6 month check up this morning with the fine folks at Charlotte Dermatology.  With the minor exception of half a dozen pre-cancerous lesions burnt off with liquid nitrogen everything looks good.  The majority of the places were on my arms with one on my face. 

My doctor has recommended that I go through a Levulan Kerastick (Blue U) treatment to help slow down the growth of the pre-cancerous cells on my arms.  Basically, this will involve a topical solution of aminolevulinic acid 20% applied to both arms, hanging out in the patient lobby for 90 minutes, then exposing both arms to some high tech blue lamp for 17 minutes.  The procedure is then repeated in one month.  I am told that this procedure should eliminate most of the other "bad cells" lurking under the skin.  Stay tuned for updates on that once the insurance pre approves it and I get it scheduled.

As for the DSAP, it appears to have slowed down just a bit...probably because I have been inside since October and not riding my bike as much as I should!!!  I just have to remember to apply liberal amounts of sun screen to my legs when I do go outside and continue on my rehab from tanning beds. 

Next full body check up.....one year! 

The little WINS and painful reality of cancer

Wow....it is so difficult to really sum up what this morning has meant to me.  I sit hear reading with great excitement this news out of Israel: Cancer Vaccine and dare let myself think of the day when like every other horrible disease we can all get a shot that will greatly reduce our chances of having to ever worry about running out of time waiting for a cure. 

Then, I open my email to find a sad note from a family I met only through email and my connections to LiveSTRONG.  After chronicling the daily activities of a father, husband, son, and brother in handling not only a recurrence of his cancer but also kidney failur, the last email today was "He's gone."  The family shared a wonderful holiday season after he made a decision to discontinue all treatments and simply go home.  He was able to enjoy Christmas and see his daughter do her gymnastic routine one last time. 

I then open up Facebook just to see what my family and friends are up to and find this story in the Cyclist Combatting Cancer page:  Eli's Army .  Why????

As Lance stated at last year's Ride for the Roses, we have to find a way to keep people from running out of time waiting for a cure.  I hope the research and clinical trials in Israel are the start of this cause.  Unfortunately, my heart aches for two families that I only know through the internet because they had loved ones who ran out of time today!!