The Holidays

So I hope everyone Had a great Christmas! I know I did, it was nice to be able to spend time with the family.

I am having a hard time focusing today on writing my blog. It is about 3 pm right now and I started typing this at 10:30 am. I have been doing some research this morning on things for the non profit. Also I have been writing an article forwww.voicesofsurvivors.com

I was pretty excited when Lynn Lane, the founder of Voices of Survivors, asked me to write “My Voice” to share with him and the people that visit his site.

I want to be able to share my story with as many people as I can. I want to be able to share my sense of hope and that things can get better. Really, like I have been saying, I just want to help people, and as time has gone on I have realized that I really want to be able to help people on a large scale. Of course I need to start small...gotta start somewhere, and that is why we have started Protect Your Pair. If you go towww.ProtectYourPair.org you will find a page called events. In there you can find the information for our first event to try and start to raise money to support our cause.

Please help me spread the word! It would be greatly appreciated, and with every person that someone tells, it will help raise awareness that much more!

I guess this is all for today. I am feeling a bit off, so I think I may try and take a nap. Not too much longer until my final treatment. Then I am done and I can really get started on all of this!

So long for now!

-The Tech

HOLY COW I"M HOME!!!

So this is great, I got home yesterday from the hospital! If you read my blog from yesterday you would know that I was very excited to come home and I expected to make an early day of it!

Haha...Right...I should have figured it wouldn’t work like that. So The Nurse Practitioner that works with the group of doctors that I see came in and told me my red levels were a little low in my blood. I was sooooo excited to be able to leave by like 10 am, it would have been awesome! Instead though I needed to get two units of blood. It was the first time I had ever had a transfusion, and let me tell you at first I was all “this is gonna suck” and “what the f**k” I want to just go home. I was literally at the end of my rope and just wanted to get out of there. Of course the only person who really sees this behavior or these feelings while they are going on seems to be my mother. (Sorry Mom, I love you)

So after me breaking down and saying ok...fine...do it, they got the blood, tylenol, all that crap gave me some Benadryl and I passed out for about 4 hours while I became a vampire...or at least thats how I like to look at it.

Anyways...so I went through it, and felt better than ever, had great color in my face and extremities. I probably look and feel better than I have since I started my chemo! Not only that but on top of that add the GREAT NEWS I had gotten the day before my treatment, the fact that it is the holiday season, I am out of the hospital, and I get to see my friends and family....I don’t think I could ask for anything more this holiday season! I mean what is better than beating the pants off of cancer for christmas!

So I am also excited to announce again the official launch of my other website, www.protectyourpair.org. We have created a facebook group for it too, and soon enough there will be a forum section on the site where people will be able to post questions, concerns, and all of that!

Anyways, I am currently working on getting our first benefit set up with my friend Jenn <3.>

Ok, I have precious precious sleep that I am going to catch up on...or watch Inglorious Bastards...or like I am doing now watch my little sister make Empire Biscuits...

This is new for me...I am starting to like the holidays, but not for the bullshit...I have finally realized how much my friends, family, and life mean to me.

Until next time...

-The Tech

Oh it is early

So I am awake...it is 6:47 am ET, and have been working on the recently launched... PROTECTYOURPAIR.ORG

I have been working away at this just trying to get it ready for people to see and use. There is some valuable information on there about the cause, and the wonderful people behind it including myself! HAHA!

Anyways, today is officially the start of day 6 in the hospital since the start of round #3 of chemo! That means I should be getting the hell out of here though! Granted my counts need to be high enough and my PICC line needs to be taken out (No Blood Clot please), but I am almost home free and for the holidays!

I have friends coming home that I am going to see, and I plan on spending as much time as I can with, not to mention my family, because they mean more than anything right now. As most of you probably know I got great news the day before I came in for my chemo! For those of you that haven’t read that great news yet please go here and check it out! It is probably the best news I have got in a long long long time!

Ok so anyways, I think I am going to get some more rest before I leave this place, then rest when I get home, and then rest till after the New Year when I start my FINAL TREATMENT!!!!

-The Tech

Worst I have felt yet

So my roomate is snoring and I cannot fall asleep. On top of that, I am feeling sick finally now that I am into my third treatment. I have to expect that though...I am just over half way there. I will luckily be home for Xmas and New Years!

Then right after the New Year, I will be back in on the 4th, and I will be here till about the 9th or 10th.

Right now though I am super exhausted, and I am going to get some sleep!

I will type more tomorrow, the NPO is really starting to take off, and the official site will be up soon!

www.protectyourpair.org

Thanks Everyone!

Drew

Great News!!

So I got some of the best news I have in awhile today! I went to the doctor for all my...ok screw that lets just get to it!

My Lymph node has shrunk back to normal size!!!! I am “Cancer Free”. Of course we cannot be completely sure just yet, so I am going through my next two treatments as planned, but things are looking great. When my doctor walked into the room earlier with a giant smile on his face I knew it was great news...it is pretty easy to read him...I think because he is so straight forward!

Anyways, not only that, but I also got to see my friend Reid today, and we went to the movies. It was nice to hangout with a friend today, I haven’t done that in awhile!

I need to get some sleep though, I have treatment tomorrow and the next 5 days, so I will post more tomorrow about progress with the NPO and the new website and all that!

Thank you all so much for your continued support through my hard times, I really appreciate it and don't know where I would be without you!

-The Tech!

Ahhh What the hell

So you have to love this, two day....two days that is all until my treatment on wednesday and I wake up...feeling like shit. Oh yea real fun stuff here, I mean I hate it when I feel nauseas when I am treatment, but at least there is an actual reason for it then. I mean I guess there could be a reason that is legitimate for this too, but come one...I have been feeling sooooo good the last few days that I am a little put out by this.

Anyways, last night I had a pretty good night. I went to my brothers with my mom and dad and helped my dad and my brother put up some boarder for their babies room that is being re-done right now. It is almost finished it seems, I haven’t really been able to help with that room because of my treatment that has been going on, so I was glad I got to help him with it yesterday. Then while my brother and father finished putting up the last piece of border, I went and sat down with my sister-in-law and we were talking about my brother and her new phones that they just got. The HTC Droid Eris, Oh My God, is that an awesome phone! I really with AT&T would carry an Android phone...I really want to get one, but I don’t want to switch carriers...at least right now. Anyways, we had dinner over there last night, my brother made Lasagna and it was delicious! I ate it really fast, but I was starving from not eating much all day, and not to mention taking my Marinol.

So last night we came home, I sat down with my sister and her boyfriend, and watched part of Tropic Thunder. There are some parts in that movie that crack me up, then others where I kind of want to slap whoever wrote it for making it so awkward at times.

Anyways I ended up back in my bed last night, thinking about writing a blog last night, but I didn’t feel I had a lot to write about at the time. So instead I worked on my other website, which at this point still has the coming soon page up, but it is exciting anyways...the baseline for the site is really coming along, but once we have all the information for it together then I will really be able to take off with it.

So anyways, I thought that sitting up and doing something might make me feel better...turns out it hasn’t....soooooo I am going to go back to sleep for now, but I will be back on with more later I am sure.

So long for now!

-The Tech

Rough Start

Hey Everyone,

So this morning I woke up at about 8 am, with no desire to get out of my bed. I did my normal routine though, got up...walked to the bathroom, walked back to my bedroom...jumped in bed, and then grabbed my laptop which I had fallen asleep with in my bed with me last night...along with my phone. So I got on my laptop, checked my twitter, grabbed my iPhone and checked my emails, and then passed out.

Awaking again about 45 minutes later I realized I need to stop falling asleep with my MacBook in my bed because it was about an inch from the edge of my bed where it would have faced an awful fall to destruction! Ok so it wouldn’t have been that dramatic, but it would have been me going, “SHIT SHIT SHIT....(crash)...SON OF A...”, you get the point. It probably would have went on for about 2 hours while I tried to fix whatever was broken and then tried to order new parts for it.

Anyways, so that is not even why my morning has been rough. I woke up and did all that and after checking my email, my twitter, napping again, and waking back up...I got to thinking about stuff. Nothing in particular...just stuff...which eventually led to me thinking about my life and the things I wished were different. I started thinking to myself, I wish I didn’t have Heart Disease, then onto I wish I didn’t have to go through chemo treatments, and finally onto I wish I had never had cancer in the first place and had to have a testicle removed! So while I was getting down on myself and wishing that none of these things ever happened I got thinking some more on how that is not me. How I have had those things happen to me, and sure I may be upset about them but shit, those things are what have made me the person I am today. Without any of those things happening to me I would not want to make a difference like I do today. So instead of sitting around being counter productive, feeling sorry for my damn self I am going to do what I planned and help people that need help. (Of course I don’t mean right this second, I have a blog to write...site to finish...benefit to be set up...)

But, when everything is said and done, and in the mean time I want to try and help people. Be it volunteering while I am at the hospital to talk to and visit the kids that are going through chemo, or even some of the older people who are there to keep them company while we are all going through this. I especially want to focus on helping the kids right now. I cannot imagine what it is like being a kid I mean under like 15 that has to go through chemo. Not really understanding why these things are happening to you, or why you feel so bad. It makes me miserable thinking about a child having to go through what I am going through right now. Or their parents having to watch their child be so sick, and so tired that they can’t play, or play with other kids because their immune system is shot from the drugs they are coming in contact with. I just want to be able to help them and their families, or people my age and older and their families get through what could possibly be the hardest time in their life.

Me, I have been in and out of the hospital, more now than ever and I know exactly what it can be like, and I sure as hell know what it is like when things go wrong. If I can use those experiences to help other people I am going to!

Anyways, I need to go get something to eat, my meds are starting to kick in, and and I am getting hungry. I am sure I will post again later tonight though.

Until then, have a great day,

-The Tech

BUSY BUSY BUSY

5:08 PM

So I have actually found myself being pretty busy the last couple of days. My mind has been all over the place. I am currently well...writing this blog, but also working on trying to start a Non-Profit Organization, trying to figure out how to trademark the name Protect Your Pair (I say trying to figure out because it cost $375 just to apply), and I am about to re-install Windows 7 on my PC Laptop. Good thing I have my little MacBook too so I can update my website and keep myself occupied while I wait for that to finish!

Anyways, Jenn and I are so far setting up the benefit concert to really kick this whole thing off. Jenn is doing much more than I to set the whole thing up. So far she has got two bands to play and the date it going to be January 17th. That is really the only information I am going to give out at this time, because we don’t know much more than that. Oh other than we do have a place booked for that day to hold the event.

Anyways, I have been feeling a lot better since I came home from the Blood-Clot stay in the hospital. What a hassle! I mean my mom and I keep saying with me, “if it can go wrong, it is going to” which is pretty much how things have been since November 2nd when I started treatment.

Ok for those of you just joining us lets recap:

Incident #1 - A couple days after leaving my first treatment I ended up in the hospital a second time because we thought I had the swine flu. This was a pain right in the ass as well. I got hospitalized again, and spent about a week in the hospital recovering from all that crap. So then again I went home for a couple days

Incident #2 - The Bleomycin gave me a bad reaction and they determined that they needed to take me off that chemo drug and extend my treatments, so instead of having three treatments I now have four, causing me to end treatment after the New Year...

Incident #3 - While telling me they were stopping Bleomycin the nurses also noticed that I was in Atrial Fib, so we went to my cardiologist where he then admitted me to the hospital and put me on Rythmol to put my heart back to a normal rythm and rate. Luckily I was only there for the night!

Incident #4 - Here we go again, after I left my second treatment I felt like shit, sorry for the language, but I did I felt not good at all. Then when I got home I tried moving my arm and where my PICC line killed when I tried to extend that Arm. So I slept on it for a day....then two...then the pain was in my chest, neck, ear, and head...All on the right side of my body. So....yes back to the hospital. We went to the ER where they did and Ultrasound of my arm and neck, and also did a chest x-ray and a CT. All to find that....I had a Blood-Clot. So I spent the next...6(?) days in the hospital on a Heprin Drip, coumadin, and Percocet. The Percocet was nice, made me feel a lot better, along with my Marinol, Ativan, and Ambien... Anyways it has almost all cleared up now and doesnt hurt anymore.

So now I mean those are the times I have been in the hospital not including my scheduled chemo treatments. Needless to say I am sick of the G D hospital. I am getting to know a lot of people that work there, though I am sorry I have trouble remembering some names all the time. Another thing I need to acknowledge is the nurses at the hospital for keeping me company and talking to me at night while I am in there and I can’t sleep. Not only that but taking such good care of me while I am in the hospital. It means the world to me and my family, but especially me. You all make the stay in the hospital much more bearable!

10:16 PM

So I started this blog post hours ago, and like everything else to day got forgotten in the 5 minute attention span that I have because of my Ativan and Marinol.

Anyways, I am back and I have been spending hours trying to plan out the new website for “Protect Your Pair” the NPO that I am attempting to start. I have also been spending hours trying to get my PC laptop all refreshed and back to where I want it before I have to go back in for chemo this wednesday, but it isn’t working as well as I would like...damn attention span.

Anyways, I think this is all for the night. I am getting pretty tired, which is the Ambien’s fault haha.

So Goodnight, I shall post more tomorrow night!

-The Tech

Home Again

So I haven’t posted in a few days! Sorry everyone!

So basically I have been home for a day, and feeling much better than I was in the hospital. So I have learned that blood clots just...are not that fun. Luckily whenever I have to go to the hospital I have the same set of nurses when I go, so it is nice to see familiar and friendly faces!

So being in the hospital so much has really started to seem like it a second home. I have been there more than I have actually been home since Nov 2nd when I started my treatment. It has been 38 days since my first day of chemo, and I have spent 26 days in that time. So yea...I think most people would get really sick of the hospital, but I guess it is the best place for me in the time that I go through chemo because my white count is generally down. I mean so...really the best place to be for me so they can get anything that may happen under control. My mom and I joke that they should just keep me there until this is all over, but sometimes I think they should, only because I am sick of being off my treatment for two weeks and while on those two weeks I end up getting sick and back in the hospital.

Anyways, no more complaining! One of my best friends Jenn texted me the other night when I was in the hospital, and she told me that she wanted to hold some sort of benefit for the cause that I am trying to start to support and she wanted to help me. She and I are in the process of planning an event to be held somewhere in or around Syracuse, NY. I love Jenn haha when she sent me that message the other night it actually made me cry because holy shit, to have friends like that, that is priceless. After telling some other friends about this idea they are completely behind it to, I just can believe the support that I have from friends and family. So anyways, we are not sure when this is going to be happening, probably sometime after Jan 10th when I am all done with my chemo, but I will keep everyone posted. I will probably have a website up and running for it once we have a few more details figured out.

Right now though I guess the best way to get the most frequent update on what I am doing is to follow me on twitter. My name on there is @toldbyatech which may change, but I will also keep you updated on that.

Anyways for now it is time for me to go take some meds, get some food (thank you Marinol <-----lifesaver) and probably watch some TV with the little sister!

Goodnight everyone!

-The Tech

Blood Clot?

Woo, I am always just loving coming back to the hospital when I am not in treatment. I am still here from the first day with my Blood Clot, but I should head home tomorrow!

So I slept most of the day yesterday, it was actually pretty nice, and I also slept most of the day today! I really needed the rest, and I feel that I still need more.

Today was pretty funny, well not until later today, I took my Percocet then right after my Marinol and now I think I am going to ask for my Ativan and then soon after my Ambien. The Percocet and the Marinol though are quiet the cocktail. I ate a lot...still not done really, but so far its been Pasta and Beef, Pulled Pork Sandwich, Corn, Ice Cream, and next is cake and brownies and cupcakes.

Ugh and now all of the sudden I am feeling sick. I think I am going to end this for now, but I will write when I am home tomorrow. I wanted to say that keep your eyes open for a event that will be coming up. My friend Jenn is putting together a concert for benefit for me and my cause to fight cancer. I will keep you posted!

Have a good night everyone,

-The Tech

Wait...In the hospital again...Not for chemo?

So it has been a few days since I updated my blog, and in those few days there has been a major event. Hence the reason I am in the hospital again, not for chemo this time.

As you can see I am kind of smiling in the picture above, this is not because I am really happy to be in the hospital, but more because they have me drugged up so I can’t feel much of anything right now.

So when I came home from the hospital on the 30th of November I had a pretty bad pain in my bicep of my right arm (where my PICC line was). Also I could feel the vein like it was hard, and my arm was a bit warm and swollen. The Interventional Radiology team that put my PICC line in while doing the procedure told me that it may hurt a little. Well I wasn’t thinking he didn’t mean afterwords. So anyways after 2 days or so of it hurting, me putting heat on it, the pain spread to my chest, neck, ear, and head. This was bad news bears! So I talked to my mom, and then yesterday without hesitation we were on our way to Crouse Hospital ER. Well, we always have a lovely experience in the ER, NOT! We got there at about 10 am, and waited to be seen for about 45 minutes. We were supposed to go right in because I am a chemo patient and a cardiac patient and my doctors had called ahead. So really I could have been sitting there dying, or catching sometime because I am a chemo patient and I was in a room filled with sick people.

Anyways, once I finally got into the Triage room they did blood test and blah blah blah, the normal ER bullshit...they should just know me by now....no Joke...everyone else does....thats not a joke either. I mean come on today is day 23 since November 2nd when I started my chemo treatments that I have been in the hospital for one thing or another. The nurses are all getting to know me, and its nice because they are all so wonderful and great at what they do. They talk to me at night when I can’t sleep about anything, joking around, things that are bothering me, my ex girlfriend, I mean anything. They keep me sane while I am here because they are all right around my age and relate to me well!

Anyways, back to the story! So they did a bunch of test (this is the shortened version) and ultrasound of my arm, a CT of my chest, and of course more blood work, and found that I have a MASSIVE Blood-Clot in my right arm where all the pain was going on. Heres my reaction, “WTF if its not one thing its the other”. I am happy it wasn’t an infection, but at the same time it sucks cause it hurts so damn bad.

So now they have me on pain killers, blood thinners, and Heprin drip trying to get things under control. Seems to be working for now, I am pretty damn tired though. I will write more later though, I need to get some rest.

Hope you all have a great day!

-The Tech

Day started good...ended...eh

So I started the say off feeling decent, went out of the house with my sister and her boyfriend, got some lunch, went to a couple stores, came home....felt like shit. I actually ate though...it is rare that I have actually felt like eating though.

So when I got home I took a nap, then once again waking up feeling like crap, took some meds, and went back to sleep.

(I am sorry I am flying through this post because I am going to fall asleep)

Then I woke back up, went downstairs while mom made dinner, mmmm scalloped potatoes and ham, one of my favorites and somehow when she was done I was able to eat. I didn’t feel like I had an appetite but I ate more than I have in a week, I think I ate more than I did on thanksgiving.

Anyways, now I am regretting it...again. I have taken my meds to go to sleep though, and I will update this tomorrow with some more info, probably later on like I would usually do from the hospital so I can get the basics of my day in there.

I hope you all sleep well, and I hope you all have good days tomorrow!

-The Tech