This was originally an email written to my family and friends on the date above. I decided to make these public in the event they may be helpful to someone in the future who is embarking on a similar journey to mine.
Hi Everyone–
I’m 2/3 of the way through my chemo treatments!
The doctor isn’t going to let me shave off any treatments, even with the clean PET scan, but I can appreciate his “this is the time to be aggressive” approach. I’ll be done with the 12 treatments at the end of August.
Assuming that the PET scan after my last treatment is clean, we’ll likely be looking at continuing the Avastin[1] on a 3-week schedule or similar. The side effects with Avastin are minimal, so that doesn’t sound too bad to me.
My weight is all the way back now; strength isn’t bad but isn’t where I’d like it to be. That really won’t change until the treatments are over as I just can’t work out much, and my body is busy doing other stuff.
This week will be back to bed, etc. as I rest up and let the fatigue and other side effects lessen but I’m still enjoying my “off” weeks quite a bit.
Last week I went to Scottsdale, AZ for a great conference. There were about 30 people, all business owners of shops similar in nature to Crowd Favorite. Team sizes ranged from 8 to 62, so we were in the lower-middle at 15 (There were common tiers, most were 15 or 30 people). I really enjoyed the group and it gave me some great ideas. Mostly minor course-corrections and additions.
I tacked an extra night on to the trip so that I could get in a round of golf with my friend Mike who had moved to AZ from CO a few years back. I also played golf as my conference “activity”, so in told I was able to get in 2.5 rounds while I was in town.
Sunday night we attended a dinner benefitting Junior Achievement. A friend of ours is on the board and Crowd Favorite has been a sponsor now for 4 of the last 5 years. As a personal perk, I get to be part of my friend’s 4-some for the Monday golf tournament. This year we played well with a net score of 53 (60 gross) in a “shamble” format[2]. We tied for 3rd gross, and won the net (handicaps applied).
I’m looking forward to being back at the office next week, then on the MN for the following week where we’ll be sharing a cabin with Heather’s family. I plan to get in a little golf there too, but the real treat will be a (Dr. approved) week lag in my chemo treatments. Having two off weeks will really be nice.
I think that’s about it – I’ve pretty much settled into the groove with these things now. I know what to expect with the side effects and can manage them reasonably so far. Looking forward to that light at the end of the tunnel.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevacizumab
[2]: http://golf.about.com/od/golfterms/g/bldef_shamble.htm
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