Chemo Therapy...
This drug can be very powerful and it also can be very weak. I have experienced 3 types of chemos that all had different effects.
1. Doxorubicine and Cysplatin (A&P) This chemo therapy is a very strong drug. I have to be in the hospital for 4 days. It makes me seriously nauseous and yes I do throw up. When I go home I don't feel any better. They give me stomach medicine that comes in a pill called Zofran. It helps sometimes but not all the time. I heard that sleeping is the best medicine. Well with this chemo all I do is sleep. My appetite is gone so I don't eat. Mom has to force me to eat something so I can keep up my strength. I dislike this chemo a lot, but is very powerful and I hope it does its job right.
2. Methatrexate. This chemo has a way different effect then the Doxorubicine and Cysplatin. This chemo makes me extremely hungry, but I get mouth sores from it. So I can't eat anything hard. Even eating mashed potatoes and mac n cheese is hard to even eat. With this chemo it will run for about 4 hours, but then I have to wait for my methatrexate level to clear. It has to be down to a .10 before I could leave. Sometimes it takes about 4-5 days. One time it took me a week and a half before I finally cleared. It was a stressful week and a half I tell you.
3. I can't even remember the name of this last, but new chemo I have to start taking. This chemo I think is the best out of the other two chemos. Even though this chemo has to run for 5 days. The time moves up every 4 hours after I get finish with the day worth of chemo. The run the chemo which takes 1 hour then the run the other one which takes 4 hours. Then they take some medicine and run that for 3-4 hours to make sure my bladder don't bleed. This chemo has a tendency to cause the bladder to bleed so they want to stop that from happening. After the medicine is done they just hydrate me until the next day. And then they will start it 4 hours from the time they started it last time. After it all adds up I get out a day early then what I am suppose to be. I got a little nauseous when I left the hospital, but that only lasted for a day.
Thanks for reading!
Chris
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Brooks Rehab Center
I enjoyed every minute when I stayed at Brooks for 2 weeks.
Physical and Occupational therapy started at 8a.m and ended at 3p.m.
I had wonderful therapist that enjoyed also spending time with me.
I made a special friend there also. His name was Aspen. It was the Physical therapy dog. He was a beautiful golden retriever. I spent time with him every time I could. When I started therapy I made sure he was with me. The owner told me that he wouldn't really do anything without a treat and wouldn't listen to anybody but the owner and me. He told me that was something new. I use to trick him pretending that there was a treat when there wasn't. He always listen to me and followed what I said. I love this dog so much he became my friend. He wasn't the dog to play with little children. He use to pull on the wheel chair with little children so he couldn't play with little children. So I went around the floor with him walking next beside me and when he started to pull I pulled him back next beside me. After a couple runs. I let go of the leash and he stayed right next beside me. The owner was so amazed. I enjoyed spending time the Aspen.
When I left Brooks. The owner told me when she was walking aspen and when they passed my room he tried to go in it, but I wasn't there she said "No Aspen he isn't there anymore." I was so shocked how he did that. He remembered me. I went back to Brooks to watch him as they celebrated Independence day. They had a guest speaker at Brooks and the owner wanted me to spend time with Aspen and watch him. I was so honored that he offered me that. So my aunt and uncle took me back to Brooks so I can watch him. I got some items like a lunch box a little hand sanitizer that clips on your key chain. A note pad that came with a pen. I got a couple of those. And a Id bag thing that you can put your id into it and put it around your neck. It was a fun day. Ben Vareen spoke at Brooks. I didn't know who he was, but my uncle said he use to be an actor. He played small roles in movies and tv episodes.
It was a fun day and a fun 2 weeks. I am hoping to go back there when I get my prosthesis for more rehab.
Physical and Occupational therapy started at 8a.m and ended at 3p.m.
I had wonderful therapist that enjoyed also spending time with me.
I made a special friend there also. His name was Aspen. It was the Physical therapy dog. He was a beautiful golden retriever. I spent time with him every time I could. When I started therapy I made sure he was with me. The owner told me that he wouldn't really do anything without a treat and wouldn't listen to anybody but the owner and me. He told me that was something new. I use to trick him pretending that there was a treat when there wasn't. He always listen to me and followed what I said. I love this dog so much he became my friend. He wasn't the dog to play with little children. He use to pull on the wheel chair with little children so he couldn't play with little children. So I went around the floor with him walking next beside me and when he started to pull I pulled him back next beside me. After a couple runs. I let go of the leash and he stayed right next beside me. The owner was so amazed. I enjoyed spending time the Aspen.
When I left Brooks. The owner told me when she was walking aspen and when they passed my room he tried to go in it, but I wasn't there she said "No Aspen he isn't there anymore." I was so shocked how he did that. He remembered me. I went back to Brooks to watch him as they celebrated Independence day. They had a guest speaker at Brooks and the owner wanted me to spend time with Aspen and watch him. I was so honored that he offered me that. So my aunt and uncle took me back to Brooks so I can watch him. I got some items like a lunch box a little hand sanitizer that clips on your key chain. A note pad that came with a pen. I got a couple of those. And a Id bag thing that you can put your id into it and put it around your neck. It was a fun day. Ben Vareen spoke at Brooks. I didn't know who he was, but my uncle said he use to be an actor. He played small roles in movies and tv episodes.
It was a fun day and a fun 2 weeks. I am hoping to go back there when I get my prosthesis for more rehab.
My story...
The day of May 19, 2009 (Tuesday) was a day of pain and shock.
I was at school and was experiencing pain in my right leg. This pain was going on for quite sometime. I figured about 2 months. I text my mother telling her that I was in a lot of pain. After school she took me to the emergency room. A lot of x-rays were done. Like on my chest and on the spot that was giving me pain which was the right fibula bone. As I was waiting in one of the emergency rooms my mother and I were joking around and I said well it might be cancer knock on wood. The emergency room doctor came back and told me it was cancer. Shocked and devastated I started to cry of course. My mother comfort me and the first question I asked and everybody would ask this question "Am I going to die." Her immediate answer was "No" she started to even cry due to this horrible news. I was transferred to a children hospital. I stayed there from Tuesday night to Saturday morning. I was questioned by my oncologist about many things that went on that might of caused this pain. Confused I didn't know what might of caused this. They did a biopsy on my right fibula were it look like it was a grape fruit looking since it looks so swollen. They confirm it was Osteosarcoma.
Osteosarcoma occurs most frequently in the long bones. Symptoms usually include pain, with or without an associated swelling. The affected area may have an increased temperature. Often, the child will be limping, since about 80 percent of these tumors are located near the knee. The range of motion ofjoints may be decreased.
I went through months of chemo therapy from the beginning of June all the way until now. I had a surgery on August 28, 2009 where my surgeon Dr. Mary O'Conner of the Mayo Clinic removed my fibula bone and the tumor. After they sent it off to pathology there was a waiting time of a week. We were wanting the tumor to be killed 90 percent. When pathology came back the tumor was killed 20 percent. That means there was still viable cancer cells in my leg. They went into the outer margin meaning she didn't get all of the cancer cells that she could see.
Amputation isn't something that no one wants to go through. Due to the cancer cells still being in my leg she told me that it was a 70 percent chance of it coming back but not necessarily in my leg. Osteosarcoma has a tendency to move to the lungs. So it was either my life or my leg. So I told her to go ahead and take it. On October 27, 2009 at 3:00p.m. I had the amputation surgery. I stayed at Mayo for 3 day's. Then I went straight to a rehab center. Brooks Rehab Center. I enjoyed it very much that I got to stay there. Thank the Lord that my insurance paid for it because its $1200 to stay a night. And I stayed there for 2 weeks. Rehab started at 8am and ended at 3pm. I had wonderful therapist that made things fun for me. They did a great job of teaching me how to be independent with only one leg (there's more to talk about Brooks so I will blog it in another field).
I came home to enjoy my time before I had to start chemo therapy again.
That's the story so far. I will blog more about things that went on when I got home from chemo therapy. Thanks for reading
--
Christopher
I was at school and was experiencing pain in my right leg. This pain was going on for quite sometime. I figured about 2 months. I text my mother telling her that I was in a lot of pain. After school she took me to the emergency room. A lot of x-rays were done. Like on my chest and on the spot that was giving me pain which was the right fibula bone. As I was waiting in one of the emergency rooms my mother and I were joking around and I said well it might be cancer knock on wood. The emergency room doctor came back and told me it was cancer. Shocked and devastated I started to cry of course. My mother comfort me and the first question I asked and everybody would ask this question "Am I going to die." Her immediate answer was "No" she started to even cry due to this horrible news. I was transferred to a children hospital. I stayed there from Tuesday night to Saturday morning. I was questioned by my oncologist about many things that went on that might of caused this pain. Confused I didn't know what might of caused this. They did a biopsy on my right fibula were it look like it was a grape fruit looking since it looks so swollen. They confirm it was Osteosarcoma.
Osteosarcoma occurs most frequently in the long bones. Symptoms usually include pain, with or without an associated swelling. The affected area may have an increased temperature. Often, the child will be limping, since about 80 percent of these tumors are located near the knee. The range of motion ofjoints may be decreased.
I went through months of chemo therapy from the beginning of June all the way until now. I had a surgery on August 28, 2009 where my surgeon Dr. Mary O'Conner of the Mayo Clinic removed my fibula bone and the tumor. After they sent it off to pathology there was a waiting time of a week. We were wanting the tumor to be killed 90 percent. When pathology came back the tumor was killed 20 percent. That means there was still viable cancer cells in my leg. They went into the outer margin meaning she didn't get all of the cancer cells that she could see.
Amputation isn't something that no one wants to go through. Due to the cancer cells still being in my leg she told me that it was a 70 percent chance of it coming back but not necessarily in my leg. Osteosarcoma has a tendency to move to the lungs. So it was either my life or my leg. So I told her to go ahead and take it. On October 27, 2009 at 3:00p.m. I had the amputation surgery. I stayed at Mayo for 3 day's. Then I went straight to a rehab center. Brooks Rehab Center. I enjoyed it very much that I got to stay there. Thank the Lord that my insurance paid for it because its $1200 to stay a night. And I stayed there for 2 weeks. Rehab started at 8am and ended at 3pm. I had wonderful therapist that made things fun for me. They did a great job of teaching me how to be independent with only one leg (there's more to talk about Brooks so I will blog it in another field).
I came home to enjoy my time before I had to start chemo therapy again.
That's the story so far. I will blog more about things that went on when I got home from chemo therapy. Thanks for reading
--
Christopher
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