No Fight, No life

 First day of chemo

Today at chemo (day 3)

It has been a while since my last blog. I have gotten my results back and my urologist has told me that  I have a multi cellular cancer, which one of the cells was aggressive. It has spread to my lymph nodes and my doctor tells me I need chemo therapy. I don't really feel good about poisoning my body as chemo just doesn't kill the cancer, it messes up some of the good stuff too. On the positive side though this cancer is highly curable. I think my doctor said like 98% curable. Makes me wonder what happened to the other two percent or why they can't  just round it up.

I think it is funny when people tell me that if you get cancer that testicular is the best kind to get since it so curable. Yup its just like being handed a plate of warm, home made chocolate chip cookies...  It's still cancer!

In the meantime I've been busy at Combat Fitness training and coaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA.  I sparred and trained up until I got my port (click here to learn more) put in....  A port is a device they implant right under the skin and feed a catheter into your jugular vein, in order to administer the chemo better and not damage the smaller veins.  I got mine put in on my right side just below my collar bone.  The surgery took 2 hours I was awake, but sedated for the procedure.  My wife tells me that the nurse came out to give her a progress report and she quoted me as saying " These drugs make me feel AWESOME!".  It was put in on Sept. 4th and I received my first treatment of chemo on the 10th.

In recovery after having my port put in

For chemo I will have a total of 20 sessions, spanning four months.  I will have treatments for five days out of the week for five hours a day, repeating every three weeks.

What it's like-
First I have two medicines that they are treating me with, Etoposide and Cisplatin.  The procedure goes as follows. . . A nurse injects a small needle into my port through the skin, the needle is then hooked up to I.V.  tubing and then the port is flushed with saline to clean the port of blood (which makes me have a metallic taste in my mouth).  Then I am given a bag of fluid to keep me hydrated which takes about an hour.  Then I am given Etoposide which takes an hour. Then before the next medication I am given Heparin (which leaves a rubbery taste in my mouth) to clean out the catheter before the next med. Finally I get my cisplatin which takes two hours to drip.  Then I am given Saline yet again to flush everything out.  The drugs and all the fluid make me urinate ALOT.

The first two sessions went well, I had little nausea and a little bit of fatigue.  Today was my third session and was a bit emotional for me, as I can feel the chemo starting to take over and penetrate my body.  I am very tired, I feel slightly nauseated.  But most of all I feel upset that I cannot do things  I want to do.  As I go through chemotherapy I have to be very careful, as my immune system will pretty much be nonexistent ... I will be more susceptible to infections and side effects of the chemo.

To be honest I am quite scared that I am going to get sicker, in fact it is inevitable.     My hair will fall out within a couple of weeks, more fatigue will set in and I will become more nauseated.  Although this struggle will ultimately bring brighter days ahead.

I want to thank all of you who read this blog and continue to support me.  Remember NO FIGHT, NO LIFE!

The View from my window at the cancer center