Monday, April 25th - evening

Two very interesting and helpful visits last week: The Dietician, and a Hypnotism Session.

Diets: We met with a great Dietician, Donna Israel. I had recorded my food and liquid intake 3 days before the visit; she analyzed this and showed me what I needed to eat more and less of.

Some things learned:
== What I eat during chemo will be different from what I eat when it’s all over
== I should not eat foods high in Vitamin C & E three days before and after the chemo injections (this fights the drugs’ ability to attack any cancer)
== I need to change my diet to eat somewhat healthier now to give me strength and energy, but I can eat some things that just help me keep my weight up

I have lots of materials she gave me to read and more to learn about my diet, but it was a very valuable visit. I would recommend that everyone try to find a way to visit a Dietician some time and have them analyze how you are eating and what changes you might make to your diet; it will be worth it.

Hypnosis: I also went and had a Hypnotism sess ion this week with Bette Epstein. Very interesting, and very helpful. I know that most of us have a skeptical view of Hypnotism. I had my pre-conceived notions, but went in willing to believe it would help me. It did.

Bette says that there is only self-hypnosis, and that no one can hypnotize someone else. She put me in a deep state of relaxation, then led me through what were basically very focused visualizations, meditations and suggestions for coping. What I needed to cope with was some recently increased stress, due in part to the intestinal challenges I had been having.

All I can say is that it worked. Since then I have been coping much better and when I do feel stress, I have some more mental tools now to effectively deal with it. Getting into that deep state of relaxation helped, and I want to learn more about how to quickly do that. Will let you know what I learn.

Coming up: This week started the second chemo treatment, which I did this afternoon. So far, so good. Feeling more of some of the weird effects of one of the drugs, which causes ice to give me an electrical shock similar to sticking your tongue on a 9-volt battery. It’s weird but interesting. Cindy smartly won’t let me do it very much; she took the ice away. ;-)

Keep Cindy and I in your thoughts and prayers, please. The road ahead has some unknowns, which is really the greatest challenge: not knowing what to expect, and being a little anxious about it. Going to work on that next… John,

Sunday, April 17th - evening

Chemo Treatment #1 Report: Well, friends, I made it through the first week of chemotherapy. It was...interesting, to say the least.

On Monday, I went in for about 3 hours; and received a couple of drugs via my Sunshine Port while there. They then hooked up my portable pump with another drug, which I wore for 2 days. On Tuesday, I came back in for a couple of hours for some more drugs in the chemo clinic. And of course, wore the pump home again. On Wednesday, I went in again for a 15 minute visit to just unhook the pump. I don't have any more drugs actively going in me again until a week from Monday, when I start the 2 week cycle over again.

Strangely, I felt little while the drugs were going in me. It wasn't until Thursday and Friday that I felt strong side effects. Thursday was intestinal pain and Friday was an overwhelming weariness. Saturday I started to recover from both of those, although today I've had intestinal challenges again (which may have simply been due to what I ate).

In the grand scheme of things, I am still so fortunate and blessed that I am not suffering what many people undergoing chemo are going through. There will be some hard times, but I know I will get through them. And I will be even healthier! Now I just need the patience to get through the next 6 months.

Apologies and Thanks To My Co-Workers: Friday when I was so tired and weary, I became cranky at work. I was frustrated about how I felt, so I let myself get in a bad mood with some of the people I work with. I realized it later, but want to say I am sorry for that. The people I work with at InSite Interactive are nothing short of wonderful. They have been tremendously supportive through all of this and have accepted and put up with me being out of the office a lot, and with my moods. I am again, fortunate, to be with such a good group of people.

John

Sunday, April 10th - morning

The Sunshine Port: Friday we had the surgery to have the port put in my chest. All went well, and today the soreness is finally going away. I have this weird protrusion in my chest, under the skin. A little freaky looking the first time, but we are getting used to it. ;-)

Cindy calls it my "sunshine port." We are going to visualize sunlight coming through it in the form of the drugs, spreading through my body, healing as it goes throughout me. It is easy to think of the chemotherapy as something bad for me and to be negative about it. It will have its challenges, for sure, but I am going to be as positive as possible about it because in the end it will make me healthier.

Visualization: Obviously from the writing above, I am using visualization to move through this experience. Although I have understood the power behind visualization, I have never used it more in my life than now. I am still learning how to use it, but already I am awed by its power and reality.

I ask for your healing energy and prayers to be along those lines: that on this new road that I take starting tomorrow, we all are able to view the treatments as good medicine and that I will draw healthy energy from them. - JP

Surgery Tomorrow: Friday, April 8th I have surgery at about 9am Central time. This is to have a port put in my chest where the drugs for chemotherapy can be administered. This is day surgery, and I should be out and back home by mid-afternoon.

One Step For ward...: I wish I didn't have to do this surgery or the chemo. I have just now been feeling more "normal" every day, and now I have to have surgery again and the unknown effects of chemo. It feels like one step forward, two steps back. But...I know it is the right thing to do, and that going through it will make me healthier in the end. I just wish I didn't have to do it.

On a more positive note, I've been reading a good book on Visualization recently. I'll share some thoughts about that some time soon. In the meantime, take care of yourself. - John

Tuesday, April 5– morning

A Great Commercial: Cindy was the one who kept bugging me last fall and early this year to get a colonoscopy, which allowed us to detect my tumor early. She was on my back about it. Thank God for that! Here's a very humorous commercial she found about about that:

http://mfile.akamai.com/8771/wmv/acs.download.akamai.com/8771/Piggyback.wmv

Doctor's Report : We saw Doc Read, my surgeon, for a followup visit yesterday. Basically, he said that what I am experiencing now is normal, and that I am doing very well in my recovery from the surgery.

What I am experiencing is occasional fatigue and discomfort/pain in my colon. For the fatigue, I just take a short nap, and for the pain I am down to one pain pill a day. I sometimes get frustrated with those symptoms because the rest of the time, I feel fine, but it is helpful to at least know that these are not unusual and that I may continue to have them for up to 6 months or a year.

Coming Up : This Friday, I have surgery to have a port put in my chest. This allows them to administer the chemotherapy drugs easily and without having to use veins in my arms each time. While is it is considered minor surgery, it has its risks, so I ask for your prayers and positive thoughts for that to go well. ... John

The Cancer Speech: You may have seen this coming: a time when I would give my Speech here about what you can do to avoid cancer in your life. This is that day.

Let's first start with an article that I saw today on CNN.com. It's about how we could dramatically reduce cancer-related deaths by changing our lifestyles and taking advantage of early detection methods. Take a quick look at this article, then come back here.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/03/31/cancer.prevention.reut/index.html

The numbers are both scary and amazing. Scary that so many people will get cancer, and amazing that changing damaging habits and getting screening exams can reduce those numbers by more than half.

I will admit some things to you that are not easy for me. Before I learned I had colon cancer, I had some of those habits: I did not exercise much, I ate too much unhealthy food, I let stress get to me, and I drank more than I should. But I was not a physical or social wreck by any means; I just didn't try very hard to be physically and emotionally healthier. That all changed on February 1st. I have many things to still improve upon, of course, but I am much more aware of the effects those habits have on me now.

So, here's my Speech: If you have any of the habits mentioned in the article to an extreme extent, please consider reducing or stopping them. And, take advantage of screening - early - for any cancer that might affect you: colon, breast, prostate, ovarian, etc. Ask if your insurance will cover it and if not, get it done anyway. Not having cancer is worth ANY money!

I have a friend whom after hearing about my experience finally got a colonoscopy that he had been putting off for a good while. They found a polyp, which fortunately turned out to benign, and removed it. My tumor started from a polyp. If my friend had kept putting the colonoscopy off, there is a chance he would have been another one of those 1.3 million Americans this year who will be diagnosed with cancer.

I say all this out of concern for you, who are people that I care about. You don't necessarily have to do anything today, but please at least consider what I've said and take steps soon to be healthy physically, mentally and emotionally.

Thanks for listening to "the Speech" :-) ... John