Groundhogs Day!!!

Much to my surprise, Andrew did great yesterday and last night. He only needed to take his regular dose of Emend and a pill of Pheregan (for nausea) every 6 hours. They left him hooked up to a Saline drip all night just in case he got sick or dehydrated, but luckily it was only a precaution that was unnecessary in the end. Better safe than sorry!! So it has allowed him to be awake and alert through the entire process. He even took a shower this morning, ate all of his breakfast (bagel, cream cheese, hot tea and a chocolate chip cookie), and has been doing work on his computer all morning.
So compared to the last hospital visit and treatment, there really is no comparison. He is handling this treatment with more of an open mind and understanding of his own body. As I write this blog, Zhlia, his amazing nurse at Reston Hospital, is starting his chemo treatment for the day. Each day is the same, Lexapro, Zophran for Nausea, Etoposide and then Ifosfamide and Mesna (for the kidney's) together. The entire process takes about 4 hours to complete. It reminds me of the famous Chevy Chase movie, Groundhogs Day. Every day is the same. The only difference from the movie is the outcome of Andrew's result. All we can hope is that he continues to stay positive and his nausea remains under control.
Keep Andrew in your positive thoughts today ....

TA,TA ......

Round 2 ... Ding Ding Ding

Today started out like every Maniac Monday.....up at 5:30, shower, breakfast, walk the dog, feed the dog, love the dog, clean up the kitchen, and out the door by 7 am. Most of you who know us as a couple, know that up at 5:30 and out by 7 am is not normal. This Maniac Monday is 21 days into Andrew's chemo treatment and the first 5-day treatment.
Andrew (Steve and I) checked into Reston Hospital at 7:30 am for his second round of chemo. This treatment is completely different from his first round of treatment. First off, the treatment is 5 days and only about 3-4 hours a day. Normally this treatment is an outpatient procedure but after Andrew's terrible experience with the first treatment, Dr. Felice and Dr. Thornton thought it would be better if he were under constant hospital care for Round 2... Ding Ding Ding. He will be receiving the chemo through the port in his chest instead of the pill form that would be given to him if he were able to do this as an outpatient. Andrew will be receiving Ifosfamide and Etoposide as his two chemo drugs and Mesna as his kidney/bladder rescue drug. He also started a new nausea medicine today, Emmend, which he will take once a day for 3 days. It is a time releasing medicine that will hopefully (please cross your fingers) help him to grin-and-bare this treatment with less nausea.
As a whole we are doing pretty well. Learning every day what Andrew can handle and what he can't. With his leg pain under control, we have been going on hour long walks every day to get him out of the house and active again. It's a nice time for us to just talk as well.
We also have house guests and help this week. Steve (Andrew's dad) arrived yesterday and Gwen (his mom) will arrive tomorrow evening. They will both be here until Friday helping out while Andrew is in the hospital and then my parents will come for the remainder of the weekend.
As the bell rings three times and he step into the ring again for the hard hitting blows that chemo tends to deal out, we want to thank everyone who reads this blog and thinks about Andrew every day. Our champ is working very hard to stay positive and healthy and is learning to take every experience and every day as it comes his way. The boxing gloves are on .......

TTLY........

Thank you Phil and Amy

At the moment, this may seem like a long shot of a Thank you... but Thank you Phil and Amy Mickelson for the autographed photo of Phil. As many of you who love golf, like Andrew, know the Michelson's have also been going through a personal battle with cancer themselves. Amy Mickelson was diagnosed with breast cancer in May and from what I read on ESPN.com, is currently undergoing her own treatment and surgery to beat this disease.
With a very sweet and heartfelt letter from Andrew's best friend, Phil and Amy were kind enough to lift Andrew's spirits with this very personal gift.

To Phil and Amy .... I'm sure the both of you have been asking yourselves the same thing Andrew and I have been asking ourselves, Why us? Why Andrew?.... I guess, why not. We, as I'm sure you are, are lucky enough to have a great deal of support and love from the people around you. It's this support that helps us to get through each day and look forward to the ones to come. Though we are not celebrities or in the public eye, I hope to one day bring more publicity to Ewing's Sarcoma and the young children that are effected by this disease. I hope that with Phil's celebrity influence, you and your family will be able to bring more awareness to cancer research so that one day in the near future families like ours don't have to go through the pain of this terrible disease.
Andrew and I promise to keep Amy in our thoughts ... please remember to keep Andrew is yours.

Thank you again......

Lost but surely not forgotten...

The ultimate realization that you are a cancer patient is when you begin to lose your hair. In an effort to preserve his beautiful head of curly black locks, Andrew's dad and I cut his hair back to a manageable length over 2 weeks ago. But today while he sat at work, trying to keep his mind busy, his hair paid the ultimate price for the strength of the chemo and has begun to fall out. I think you can only prepare yourself so much for what the treatment will do to you physically and mentally. Luckily, I remind Andrew everyday that though he may be and now look more like a cancer patient, it's your overall attitude that will determine how he fairs during this process.
Andrew's attitude has had its ups and downs over the past few weeks but with the love and support of our family and friends (and the extra Lexapro that crush up and put in his cereal every morning -- just kidding, or am I) I know he's going to get through this too.


Overall he had a pretty good weekend and even made it to a BBQ at Rob and Courtney's house yesterday. Though he was tired and we cut our visit short, it was nice to be around people who were talking about other things than cancer. Thanks to everyone who was there who kept him laughing and entertained (as you always do). It was a wonderful distraction for both of us and I hope we can do it again soon.

We also received a welcome and unusual surprise this weekend with which we are not sure who to thank. In the mail on Saturday, Andrew received an autographed photo of Phil Mickelson. The strange part was that there was no note attached and no return address on the envelope. We would love to thank the party responsible for this kind gift, but no one has yet to come forward to claim their Thanks!! So if this person/party is reading the blog, Thank you and please come forward for personal recognition!!!

For now, it seems as though the rest of our week will just be filled with work and a doctors appointment on Thursday for Andrew. Andrew will be checking back into the hospital next Monday to begin another treatment cycle. This one will be a 5-day inpatient regiment. The doctors hopes to keep his nausea under control so that his 5-day treatments can then become outpatient in the future.

So as Andrew begins to lose his hair, I ask that all of you remember that his hair may be an outward reminder that he has cancer but it does not change anything on the inside. When I first met Andrew, his hair was long, curly and down to his shoulders. He reminded me of Pauly Shore in the movie, In the Army Now. He used to say that his hair was his power and strength and that he couldn't cut it for fear the two would go away. I now think the opposite. I think his power and strength is in losing the hair and still having the strength to fight. The hair loss is cancers way of telling you that it has allowed the chemo to start killing healthy cells off too but if we never let it kill Andrew's spirit, his hair is all we will allow it to take. So to the cancer and the chemo that is trying to rule our lives I say, "You may have the hair for now and it may be lost ... but to Andrew .. the power and strength will never be forgotten!!!"

Ciao .........

Just the 'three' of us .....

Life as we know it has gone back to 'normal' today. Andrew's parents went back home to New Jersey to see their own dogs and take care of Jeremy for a while. Gwen thinks Jer feels left out -- but I think he's enjoying their big house, pool and hot tub while they are gone ... just me.
Andrew had a restless night and a sleepy morning but after a big home cooked breakfast (thanks Gwen) and a little nap, he felt like going in to work around noon today. I'm glad that he's at work and keeping his mind busy. He has a doctors appointment on Wednesday morning to have blood drawn to track his counts and an MRI on Thursday morning.
But life in the Waxman house is going back to 'normal' tonight... Dinner, followed by an X-box game in the basement for Andrew and a little cleaning for me, coupled by exactly 10 minutes of play with the dog... before he is tired of us and goes to dig up his dog bed and comforter and nessle in for long summer evening nap before retiring to bed.
For now ... or the next 2 weeks at least, we are looking forward to.... it's just the 'three' of us.

Au Revoir, for now ..........

Hair today ... Gone tomorrow

It is hard to look at Andrew and ever believe that he has had such a bad week leading up to today. Last night he woke up and for the first time asked for food .... I only gave him Saltine crackers but it was the first sign that the real Andrew was finally coming back to life. He woke up this morning and asked for food.... real food, something with real taste. Then he asked for eggs ... we compromised and he had dry toast, Cherrios and hot tea.
Andrew also spent some time at the hospital today getting a 2 hour Saline infusion to help flush his kidneys of the chemo and get him back on his feet faster. I also gave him a shot of Neulasta last night which will help to increase his white blood cell counts and keep him healthier in the weeks to come.
Andrew continued his eating streak at the hospital and ate a container of soup and then came home and had 2 turkey sandwiches and another container of soup. And for dinner he ate a piece of baked chicken and pasta and he finished his dinner off with a bowl of sherbert. That may not seem like much, but to us its a huge breakthrough. This is the first day that Andrew has kept anything of substance in his tummy since Monday at dinner...... and by the way its Friday. What he really wants to eat right now is a quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald's but he will have to settle with a homemade burger for now ... no fried or fatty food.
He also decided to cut his hair tonight and beat the chemo to it. As you can see from the pictures he looks absolutely adorable with short hair.
Life as we know it is starting to come back to a new normal and I'm very thankful for that. Remember to keep Andrew in your thoughts.

Farewell........

Out like a light

Tuesday was a very uneventful day for Andrew. Due to the Ativan that he was given for his nausea, he actually never really woke up yesterday, except for to use the restroom a few times. So as you can imagine, his nausea was kept under control but he was completely "out like a light" all day long.
Dr. Felice said that Andrew may need to be injected with Ativan when he comes in for treatment and that we will just have to deal with the fact that he will sleep through the 3 day treatment. The only real downside is that he hasn't eaten anything since Monday at dinner. He has only had a few glasses of water when he was awake.
On the upside, it does make him a very easy patient to take care of. Today is Wednesday and hopefully we will be going home today as long as his counts are fine. He has an MRI this afternoon and its parent-swap day as well. Gwen and Steve will be here this afternoon and after a group dinner together at our house, my parnets will leave and Andrew's parents will stay the weekend to help out.

Lights out .......