Chemo The Day After

Yesterday was round one of the Heavy weight title fight Chalk v. Cancer

I went to the doctors for my 10:30 chemo appointment. I walked into the community treatment room and I immediately dropped the average age which was currently in the 60's.

I took a seat at my chair and set up shop. I pulled out my three different pill containers. Two of them are anti-nausea medication called Zofran and Ativan, because chemotherapy play tricks on your stomach and digestive track. I imagine it to feel like the symptoms of a combination of swine flu and SARS (although I have never had either of these diseases so this is pure speculation). The other jar of pills is a pain medication because one of the tumors is in the lower part of my left lung which causes quite a bit of pain and it is hard to find a comfortable position to sit, lay, or stand.

So after I get my pharmacy set up I took out my blanket and sat down in the chair to get "comfortable." I spread out my blanket to cover me and the lady in the corner says (borderline yells) THAT IS A CUTE BLANKET. Now up to this point in time she had had earphones in which was hooked up to her new ipad (which I was quite jealous of). But anyways, I informed her that it was handmade by my mother and what she used my old boxer shorts for the material.

From then on she felt it was her duty to inform everyone else in the room about my mother-made blanket. For the first time I was the popular kid on the block with the coolest new toy.

I was then poked in the right arm and was administered the chemo. I kept true to my new superstition and listen to Dynamite by Taio Cruz three times (one for each time I have had cancer). From then I was either sleeping or chit chatting with the other patients which seemed to be a club meeting for either the AARP or Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. It was good to have the company to make the time pass.

After four hours of receiving treatment I was heading home to rest for the day. Since then I have basically been in bed relaxing, sleeping and watching baseball to pass the time. The fact that I can watch baseball as I am lazy and relaxing is only another reason that I know cancer knows I like baseball, because had this been just last week I would have had to wait for a week before the new baseball season started.

Well that it is it for now. I will now change the channel from baseball to general conference, although I do not know how effective it will be since I will be watching it while I am in bed.

Needle pokes: 2

Pills: 2

Thanks to everyone for the phone calls, prayers, texts, emails, and positive thoughts. I appreciate all of them. It is good to know that their are people out there who care about me and are pulling for me to get through this fight!

Cancer must know I like Baseball

For the third time in my life I am a cancer patient. I will start my third go-around of chemotherapy tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at the IHC hospital in Provo, Utah.

This time is more exciting because it came just as the school semester is winding down and I will need to balance the higher-than-life side effect feelings of chemo with finishing term papers, test, and presentations.

I do not believe in superstitions, but since baseball players are very superstitious and today being opening day for the 2011 baseball season I will be starting a few of my own during the third round of this heavy weight title fight.

1. The blanket I will be taking will be the blanket my mother made for me out of all the my old boxer shorts that I wore during my time in middle school and high school. It is not as gross as it sounds as a matter of fact it is totally awesome.

2. I will shave my head and face every night before treatment followed by a shower with the lights off with only a Jesus Candle burning. This is one of those candles that is often used by hispanic catholics.

3. The first song I listen to when I start each chemo treatment will be the song Dynamite by Taio Cruz. This will be a superstition because when my mother and I got into the car after finding out about the cancer returning to my lungs this song came on the radio. And sometimes you need to throw your hands up in the air sometimes and gotta let go. I wanna celebrate and live my life. Saying AYO, Baby Let's go.

That is about as superstitious as I am going to get.

I will also resume keeping a running total of the amount of times I am poked with a needle and how many pills I take during my treatment.

I will also try to be better at blogging about my experiences and also try not to censor my true thoughts and feelings. I will give the real view of fighting cancer for the third time.

Back to the title of this post, cancer must know I like baseball because it knows that there is three strikes before a strikeout.

I am going to rock this hospital gonna go all night gonna rock this cancer like I'm Dynamite!

No Longer Cancer Free

Had scans yesterday and it revealed cancer in my lungs again.

Hopefully I will be able to start chemo again this upcoming week!

It was good while it lasted, but alas back to cancer jokes and once again being the sick kid.

After finding out the news my family and I went out to Tony Romas to celebrate my un -special day with a rack of ribs.

So I can't complain too bad.

Happy Saturday!

Do you know what that word means?

Two weeks ago my car was side-swiped. It happened as I slept on a Wednesday night about two weeks ago.

So I called my insurance to file and claim and they said the car will be repaired without going against my record. That is neat! They also said they would provide my with a comparable rental car, but if I wanted something different I would have to pay for the difference.

So as the paperwork finally cleared and I dropped the car off at the shop this past Wednesday I was gearing myself up to the fact that I would probably be driving a Ford Taurus until my car is fixed sometime next week.

This is MY car.



This is the COMPARABLE rental car



Comparable?

Just to make sure I am not the dumb one I looked up the word in the dictionary and here are some synonyms: likeness, similar, copy.

Seems like they hit it right on the head

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich

This little sandwich shack is located at 232 E. 800 S. in Salt Lake City.

So every since I went to Philadelphia I have been craving a good Philly cheese steak sandwich.

So this place was on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives so I figured to give it a try.

This is what I ordered:

A good old fashion cheesesteak and it was better than 2 out of the 3 cheesesteaks I had in Philly!

So I high recommend Moochies.

Rating: 5 Bald Heads

Time for Meat

This past Wednesday my buddy Shane invited me to this BBQ place in Orem.

It is located at 70 N. Geneva Ave. in Orem.

I ordered their pulled pork sandwich and beef brisket with and a side of coleslaw.

I don't know where to begin. Let me just say that my current belief is that this is the Best BBQ in Utah County. It is far superior than the Smoking Apple in Lindon. I am open to suggestions of other BBQ places to try but until proven wrong I am sticking by my words.

The pork was succulent and tender. The brisket had a fabulous dry rub crust surround a juicy, pink center and the coleslaw was made to order so it was not soggy from sitting in the dressing all day.

Rating: 4.5 Bald Heads

The only reason I do not give it 5 Bald Head is because I need to go there more than once and try other items from the menu, but it definantly has the potential to live up to its name.

Pool Hall Cupcakes

My sister Emily is pretty awesome. She made these