Big Wave Dave

Hello Everyone! I said, a where did May go Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom and now its June! May was David's birthday month, but cancer schmancer, we celebrated! A little glow in the dark putt putt golf, topped off with an Eagles concert, some fishing with friends  and a quick family photo shoot. Vogue's been calling…possible fall issue. Good friends, good food, a few stories, a few lies! May brought the first chemo break. As we continue to wage war against cancer, we’re doing our best to keep the remaining healthy cells in David, intact. So when the caution flags started popping up on the biweekly blood work, we hit the pit for refueling and took a much needed chemo break. David was back to the oncology infusion suites in late May and early June. He continues to have chemo treatments biweekly. To gage how successful we are winning the combat a PET/CT scan was ordered for June 7, 2018. The scan would be compared to the previous one done in February.  ...

What's shaken bacon(s) - Have you missed us? Apologies for the absence. Dad's been laying low lately and we haven't had a whole ton to report on. Dad's parents, known as Nonna and Grump to the people, came down at the beginning of the month to supervise chemo sesh numero tres ( that's 3 ). I stopped in briefly to discuss my irrational life decision to get a dog and to show face. Clearly maintaining my title as favorite grandchild. 👑 Chemo sesh' numero cuatro ( that's 4 people, keep up ), was yesterday and ran smoothly. Before the infusion we had a clinic visit. Visit showed that Dad's blood is no longer recouping as quickly between cycles, which is normal. All this means is that we may need to prolong the 2 week rest time between each infusion. The dramatic weight loss has slowed a bit, which comes as no surprise to me. Mom has found a way to add half and half, sour cream, and cream cheese into any meal she prepares. Tell you what - the rest of us...

Status update everyone - I am officially a licensed Doc. Spent last Saturday removing Dads chemo pump like a freakin' champ. Nurse may or may not have helped yank the needle out at the last minute but hey - name a Doc who doesn't have a few minions. Am I right? Mom, Spen, Kitten, and I are now officially all Pump Removal Certified. For those of you questioning our abilities (you should be) we do have our good friend Brent Orn on retainer (the only one actually qualified and capable of completing the removal). Brent tagged along and has volunteered to do any/or all removals for Dad. Becky Orn and Dad recently went on a pedicure and lunch date. So between the two, they basically have all the necessities covered. It pays to know great people. Dads second round of chemo was this past Wednesday. Teresa (TJ) Johnson was first up on Chemo Pal duties. Chatting with Dad later, it sounds like TJ rolled in with a goody bag that would put Mary Poppins ...

I hear that we may be having some notification issues. Here is what I know. In order to receive notifications that something has been posted on the blog one must do the following; 1. Click the Subscribe button on the blog itself. 2. You will then be prompted to enter in your preferred email address and agree that yes, you truly do want to listen to Spen and I update you regularly about cancer. 3. We must next all prove that we are in fact, not robots. (Except for Dad. Whose new port and metal skull do put him slightly on the spectrum.) 4. Here is where I think I am losing all of you ----- Once you have successfully located all of the buses in step 3. Blogger will congratulate you! And you won't read the rest of the spiel. (I get it. I wouldn't either.) The spiel says, "I'm now going to send you an email with a link to be sure that you reeeaallllly want to do this." 5. Click that $h!t 6. If you've made it here. Congrats. We've done ...

I met Dad and Mom this morning for our first go at chemo. They had him up and rollin' by the time I arrived. We kicked Mom out and she scooted over across the street to get some work done in her office. My counter part was a wee bit sleepy this morning (I heard he may have been up since 2am) so we chatted about how sick my new Nikes are and watched a few episodes of Misfit Garage.... it was a toss up between that, or Sesame Street - basic cable should be illegal. Toying with the idea of giving Kaiser Dad's Netflix password. He'll love that. The cute pint size ginger nurse handed Dad and I packets and packets of paperwork. And the two of us diligently and sweetly pretended to mull it over before placing it neatly in Dads folder for Mom to actually read later. I mean, after we squared away our cigar smoking question, what else was there really left to ask? So I drank shitty chemo suite coffee and ate all the snacks Mom had packed for Dad. And before we knew it, Dad was b...

Dad received his chemo port this past Friday (3/2). Procedure went well, no issues and he was home within' a few hours nappin'. The port allows the Docs to administer the chemo, draw blood, provide fluids - the whole 9. The crew heads to Kaiser this Wednesday (3/7) for Dad's first round of chemotherapy. Just a reminder that FOLFOX is Dad's chemo cocktail of choice, but the rest of us might opt for a round of Bloody Marys - TBD. Once the unknown is known, and we all know what to expect from chemo - I think are anxiety as a unit will decrease a bit. Then we can start chatting chemo pal action with all of you :) XO - Mad & Spen

The whole family went to the Oncology meet and greet today, fortunately we all didn't have to sit on the butcher paper, but those rooms are so small and we were packed in there like bacon on top of each other. Cozy, as you can imagine. We all behaved though. The oncologist was a great fit for dad, they could both look each other in both eyes at the same time. They let the wandering ones, wander together and then actually use the other eyes to look at each other. Dr. Shohara broke down the cancer again for us, said they were zombies and that the zombies were right there at the esophagus and stomach. Stepping back to Monday, Dad had a quick biopsy done, that according to him was his "most" fun surgery so far, and he's serious, ask him he'll tell you as many times as you want to hear. "I was there I got carted in, put on the table, watched the midget doctor, then a cocktail of syringes with drugs, and BOOM! back in the other room. Dont remember nothing else! I w...