Weekly Update

It was a good week away from chemo.  My counts held up pretty well and I didn't need any transfusions of whole blood.  I only had to get 1 bag of platelets (down from 2 bags last week).  All in all, I can't complain.  Chemo starts up again this wek with infusions on Tuesday and Friday.

In non-medical news, there were a few highlights:

-  Our dog search has ended successfully.  See photo below of Kona, our two-and-a-half-month old golden retriever mix that we adopted from a local rescue organization.  She is a sweetie and we're not sure what else besides golden she has in her to make her a "mix".  I guess time will tell.  We'll be glad when she's housebroken.

-  Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes for my stepmother, Kathy.  She is now back home after her knee surgery and doing well.

-  The Gators are 4-0 with a bye week before taking on LSU at The Swamp.  We'll see what the Gators are made of on Oct 6.  Meanwhile, FSU looks like they might be the real deal this year.

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.  A special thanks to everyone who brought us food.  There are some amazing cooks in our circle of friends and we really enjoyed all the variety of great meals.

I'll have more to report next week including a recap of our visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Pottter at Universal Studios.

Weekly Update

Another week and another week outside of the hospital...yippee!!  I finished up my chemo cyle yesterday and am looking forward to an upcoming rest week with no chemo.  I had to get a couple of bags of platelets during the week, but didn't need to get any blood transfused.  My counts are still pretty low, so I may need to get some more blood during the off week...we'll see how things progress.  All in all...good news on the medical front.

In this week's other headlines:

-  A big shout out to my relatives in Massachussetts who participated in the Race for Research in support of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.  See the photo of the members of the Fortney, Tambascio, Duplessis, Walker and Burns clans who braved rainy weather and raised over $1,600 for Myeloma reseach.  Thanks to you all!!

-  My Dad's household is attempting to set a knee surgery world record.  My Dad had both his knees replaced this summer and his wife, Kathy, went under the knife on Thursday.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Kathy as she begins recovery and rehab.

-  Speaking of world records, I'm writing this at halftime of the Florida vs Tennessee football game as the Gators attempt to set a new record for pass interference penalties.

-  The Beairds are officially in the market for a dog.  We've spent a lot of time searching Orlando-area rescue organizations, SPCA, etc for a nice lab mix or retriever mix (or something similar), but have come up empty so far.  If you know of a nice dog looking for a good home...let us know.

Thanks again to everyone for all your support and prayers.  Enjoy your time with family and friends.

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.

Best Time of the Year!

I don't have anything new to report on the medical front (no news is good news!).  Next week should be more active as my chemotheray will resume on Tuesday.

So, let's talk about college football instead.  I love the start of college football season.  I love it even more when I get to watch opening night from my own couch instead of a hospital bed.  It will be fun to watch my Gators kick off the season on Saturday against the mighty Falcons of Bowling Green State University.  The last few years haven't been kind to the UF football program, but, despite what many experts are saying, I think we're in for a good season in 2012. 

Win or lose, it will be fun to watch.  Plus, it's now a lot easier for me to remember that football is just a game and not a matter of national security.  I'm pretty sure that the world will continue to spin on its axis whether or not the Gators win or lose each week.

Out of Hospital!

Most people like to end their summers with a stay at a nice beach resort.  This year, I broke tradition and opted for a stay at a luxurious hospital instead.  As much fun as it was to be constantly poked, prodded and awakened at all hours of the night, I'm happy to report that my hospital vacation ended last night after a 3-week visit.

As nice as it is to be home with my family and sleeping in my own bed, I still have a lot of medical "fun" ahead of me.  I'll continue to spend a lot of time at the hospital getting my blood tested, getting chemotherapy and continuing to beat back the cancer.

I'll continue to use the blog to keep folks up to speed on my progress. Thanks again to all those who stopped by the hospital, phoned, texted, sent cards, said prayers, delivered meals and otherwise helped me and my family.  While in the hospital, I had a lot of contemplation time and one thing that became clear is that it's much easier to attack a problem when you know there is a great support system behind you and your family.  We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends.

I'm Back!!!

When I last left you, I was finishing up my recovery from a stem cell transplant that I went through to treat the multiple myeloma that I was diagnosed with in May 2007.  The good news is that I got about a year of remission out of the transplant.

The bad news is that the remission is now over and I'm fighting the myeloma again.  As part of the fight, we're concentrating on two things: (1) we're using chemotherapy to treat the multiple myeloma (2) the effects of the chemotherapy are very damaging to my kidney (I was born with only one kidney), so we're closely monitoring the impact of the chemo on my kidney.

I'll use this blog to keep you posted on the progress of the two-pronged fight.  Currently, the fight is being launched from Florida Hospital in Orlando (near Princenton Street and I-4).  I expect to be in the hopsital for a few more weeks, but will keep you posted as things develop.  I've already been in 5 different rooms in the two weeks that I've been in the hospital, so I should have plenty of interesting things to report.

Until then, please make sure you enjoy your  family and friends...there is no better way to spend your time.  Thanks very much to the representatives of the Beairds, Terios, Hayes, Shavemakers, Riches, Duxburys, Wilkes, Coopers, Chans, Myers, Kruckemyers, Thomsons, Knights, Josephs, Williams, Flaskeys, Alfanos, Baratis (3 generations), Morriss-Websters, Tyndalls, Bramuchis, Morrisseys, and Desforges who have already been by to visit.  I'm sure I'm missing some folks...so my aplogies for doing so.

The Final Blog Entry

I’ve got good news and better news.  The good news is that I’m permanently going home to Orlando!  Yesterday, we received word from Dr. Alsina that all my counts are looking great and it’s time for me to continue my recovery at home.  Nobody thought that we’d be going home to Orlando so soon, so it’s nice to hear that my body has bounced back quicker than expected.  Here’s a photo of Dr. Alsina pushing me out the door on behalf of all the staff at Moffitt who we suspect were getting tired of me hanging around.

The better news is that this is my last blog entry and you will no longer be subject to my ramblings.  Now is the right time to end the blog for a number of reasons:

·         There will be no hospital visits anymore and there’s not much exciting about my life when there’s not a medical sideshow going on

·         Nobody wants to hear me talk about myself…especially me (show me someone who likes to talk about themselves and I’ll show you someone I’ll avoid in every social situation)

·         School’s almost over and it’s time to focus on summer vacations, not medical stuff

Thanks to all of you who have followed along since my first post on May 1.  Thanks also to those who posted comments (I read every single one), sent emails and phoned along the way.  Thanks to those who sent prayers, good vibes and positive thoughts.  Thanks to those who delivered food, both in Orlando and Tampa.  Thanks to those who helped the kids, helped the grandparents and cut the lawn.  Throughout all of this, Jen and I felt very blessed to have such a strong network of family and friends standing behind us and our family.  All of your support made the process of recovery a lot easier and probably a lot faster than we could have reasonably expected.

For those in Orlando, I hope to see you soon although it will take me awhile to get back to my normal self.  It will be a few weeks before I go back to work and I still need to be careful to avoid crowds.  For those in other parts of country, I hope to talk to you soon and/or see you when you’re in Orlando or I can start traveling again.

Thanks again to everyone for your help and support along the way.  Have a great Summer!