Jason TNT

Jason TNT

Thursday, September 6, 2012

A Couple of Updates

It has been a week since I last posted, and although there are no monumental events to share, I thought I would give everyone a recap of some things that have happened over the last 7 days.

On the medical front, on Tuesday, I started another cycle of chemo.  This means that I'll visit the docotor's office four times over 14 days for infusions of several different drugs.  I'll then go for 7 days with no treatment and that will conclude the 21-day cycle of treatment.  The next 21-day cycle will start at the end of my 7-day rest period.  My blood counts are still pretty low, so I got a blood transfusion yesterday (2 bags of whole blood and 1 bag of platelets) to boost those levels back up (don't forget to donate blood and platelets if you can...people actually use them!).  This pattern of chemo followed by transfusion might continue for awhile until the chemo takes hold and knocks back the myeloma far enough to allow my counts to rise.  The photo below shows me at the end of a bag of blood...you can see that the bag on the rack  looks pink instead of red as it gets to the end.

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, here are some other things that happened this past week:

My smart, beautiful and all-around awesome wife celebrated a birthday.  You'll have to ask her how old she is...I'm not dumb enough to spill that information.

The Gators (once again) looked shaky in their season opener against Bowling Green.  This Saturday they travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M.  They'll have to play a lot better to win this week.

I shaved off my beard.  It seems like a shame since it took 3 weeks to grow it out, but the novelty had worn off.  No way was I going to take the time and effort to keep it trimmed.  Plus, it was getting harder and harder to get any kisses from Jen and Shannon.  For the record, Aaron was the only who noticed that I had shaved.

That's it for now.  As always, thanks to everyone for your prayers, your visits, your gifts, your food and all of your support (thanks Uncle Jim for helping out during the transfusion).  I can't tell you how much easier it is to deal with all of this with such a great group of family and friends.  I feel extremely blessed to be so lucky.

6 comments:

  1. Jason -

    Good to hear that you are on the road to recovery. I wanted to pass along that a great opportunity to donate blood is this Saturday at the Daytona International Speedway from 8AM-8PM. I helped start this 9/11 commemorative blood drive 6-7 years ago and it's grown to where they hope to collect over 1,000 units on Saturday. It's the one time a year I donate and get a mini-physical as part of the donating process! There's free food, race tickets, pictures in the winner's circle, etc. Online reservations will limit your wait time to donate. A shameless plug, yes, but I'll be thinking of you!

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  2. Hi Jason,
    I don't know if you remember me, but we went to UF together...it's been a long time...Ted sent me this blog, I hope you don't mind. I am so sorry for all that you have been going through. I will keep you and your beautiful family in my prayers. It is funny that Ted sent this to me now, as I was in my car the other day, and the song "Oh Mickey you're so fine" came on, and I swear I thought of you and started laughing out loud, picturing your rendition many years ago at the FL/GA game! My kids thought I was nuts! I will be thinking of you and your family and praying for remission. Stay strong.
    Regards,
    Stacey Larrick Paulus

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  3. Thanks for the update! I'm sure the chemo is no fun, but know you're being thought of. Hug Jen & the kids from me.

    -Shannon

    PS- and all this time I thought your blood ran orange & blue . . . who knew it was actually pink?!

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  4. Was Shannon impressed you have pretty pink princess blood? Please don't give Chris any ideas about shaving his goatee. When he shaves it he looks way younger than me, and I just won't have that. ;)
    If you even know, can you let us know if there are extra qualifications you must have to donate platelets? I went on the website and really couldn't find much info on platelet donation.
    Of course you and your family are constantly in our prayers. You are amazing.
    Go Gators!!
    Laura

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  5. Happy Birthday Jen!! Jason, so happy to see you smiling!! You are a brave soul and your inner strength will get you through...stay positive! Xoxoxox Melissa

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  6. J, little late to the party here, but great to see everything progressing well. Sent you an e-mail to your work address. Please give Jen and the kids my best (and a belated happy b-day). Consider the Teeters (and the Teeter Tots) the Beaird cheering section in the PacNW!

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