Josh and Jess' Cancer Fight

Hello again! Sorry for the drought in updates lately. Lets get started back where I left off...

I was going through radiation on my last update and had chemo on hold while going through it. I finished 6.5 weeks of radiation back on April 26th. It was a nice break, although going in to treatment everyday did get old and was a daily reminder of being sick. It wasn't too bad though. I had to wait about 1 month before I could get a brain scan to avoid a false-positive result. But I actually haven't had a scan quite yet.... I'll explain.

I started back up on chemo about 3 weeks after finishing radiation (got out of the hospital last Wednesday). I was originally going to start chemo again after 2 weeks, but I picked up a bit of a cold, so my doctor had me wait an extra week. I was basically over the cold, and just had some residual phlegm and a slight runny nose so we figured I was good to go for chemo. I received chemo and everything went like normal. I was in the hospital for another 5 days, got out and had 3 days of recovery, then started feeling good again. This past Sunday and Monday though I started feeling crappy again. I was extremely fatigued, to the point which Monday I couldn't even get out of bed I was so exhausted. I didn't think too much of it, and definitely did not want to go back into the hospital, so I just rested. Around 5pm Monday I decided to take my temperature after Jessica was telling me I needed to go to the E.R. the whole day. My temperature was 103.6. My heart kind of dropped, because I remembered the chemo nurses told me a long time ago I needed to come in for anything over 100.5, so I was freaking out a bit. I texted Jess and we were off to the hospital.

I was in the E.R. for a few hours, and then they got me up to a room. They gave me a dose of some Antibiotic, and right after getting to my room I started shaking uncontrollably. It was actually pretty intense, and very uncomfortable. By this time, the alarms had sounded in the hospital and every nurse on the floor was in my room (still not quite sure why there were so many lol). But I could see worry in their eyes. I got on some oxygen, but that did not help. I was getting frustrated at this point that no one was getting me some type of drug to control this shaking (I have the best nurses and they took very good care of me just to be clear!). After a few doses of IV Benadryl and another drug I forgot the name of, I finally stopped shaking. At this point they were worried I had Sepsis (which I should not have googled). I was sent down to ICU for a day for close monitoring, and to get multiple doses of different broad spectrum antibiotics. I had a ton of blood tests, and cultures taken to be extra cautious. After 24 hours in the ICU, they decided I could be downgraded back to the regular floor, but still had to be closely monitored, because Sepsis was not out of the picture yet. It was a tense few days, and I was actually pretty scared for a few of the days. Luckily I started getting better and the last 2 days I was fever free, so I was able to go home this morning (Saturday).

It was a crazy week filled with fear, discomfort and then quite a bit of boredom. I am so glad all of that is over now. It is amazing to be back home. Jessica was by my side every night like always and I couldn't be luckier to have her in my life. She is the most amazing person in the world and I am blown away each day how lucky I am to have her in my life. I love you Jessica!!!!

So now this week I will be following up and getting more blood tests to make sure my levels don't start dropping again. I will be scheduling my scans for this week, or next depending on when they have available. Once I get the scans I will send out another update with any news we receive!

I hope this wasn't too long winded, but that is a bit of what has been going on with my treatment. I look forward to 2 weeks off to recover and enjoy time with family and friends.

Thanks to everyone for the continued love and support! Every little thing helps!! We love you all!!

-Josh and Jess

Hello Everyone!

My most recent chemo in the hospital ended last Wednesday, and it definitely took a noticeable toll on my body. I was a lot more tired this time around and found myself unable to even bring myself to pick up my cell phone some days. I am doing much better now, thankfully. My strength is slowly returning a little bit each day. It is amazing to think how much my body must have gone through so far.

Well, some good news! I do start my radiation treatment tomorrow and it is going to last for 6-7 weeks. I still haven't asked my radiologist how many weeks, since I haven't seen her since after the Mayo visits. The plan for now is to stop chemo until radiation stops. So I will be going in each day, Monday-Friday, until finished. I am looking forward to a break from chemo for sure.... It has been very rough on me.

I want to send out another thank you to everyone who has been supporting us through prayer, thoughts and financially. Without you all we would not be able to keep up this fight. We love you so much.

I hope everyone has a great Monday, and that it continues on throughout the week.

Much Love,
Josh and Jess

Hello Again!

Josh here writing with another update. So it has been a long 2 weeks. I had quite a few appointments with Mayo Clinic to try to get the proton beam radiation all set, but unfortunately in the end my insurance has rejected that treatment. So now we are back on the original plan that we had from the beginning. Regular radiation treatment, which will now start on March 13th, and will continue every weekday for 6-7 weeks. I am very excited to get this started, even though it is not the proton radiation we were hoping for.

I will be going back into the hospital again tomorrow for another 5 day chemo infusion. This is treatment 3 of 8, so still quite a ways to go. I have been feeling pretty good on the weeks I have off, but don't feel 100%. I am thankful that I don't need too much assistance at all while I am on my off weeks (minus the few days after the hospital).

There was some kind-of good news when I spoke to the Mayo radiologist. The most recent MRI I had from last week looks basically identical to the one I had a month ago, so there was no tumor growth in that time. Hoping for it to start shrinking soon!!

Thanks for your prayers, love and support!

Love,
Josh and Jessica