#BootStompCancer Day 71...Down The Stretch We Come

Hi again, everyone! Wow, weird to think it's been 23 days since I last updated you all on my situation. I'm sure some of you have been wondering how I'm doing after the infection that occurred before round three and how I handled the actual third round of treatment. In short, I'm doing great and this has been the best I've felt in over a month. For the more lengthy report, read on.

My last update was just before the start of round three of my chemotherapy and after my doctors told me I could resume a bland diet to test my stomach after the infection. While I was glad the infection was getting better, I don't know if it was the fear of upsetting my stomach, the infection, or the chemo, but I had no desire to eat whatsoever. I refused food for the majority of my third round, having maybe half a plate of mac and cheese at one point. Let me tell you, though, this round was different than my first two and the addition of Cytarabine made me even more nauseous than ever. Not only that, but it's a 24-hour infusion and I was being given five consecutive doses. That's 121 straight hours of chemotherapy!

For the two weeks I was in the hospital, I barely ate and it showed. Towards the end of round three the weight began pouring off. Whether from the infection or the chemo or the not eating or all three, I dropped nearly 14 pounds in two weeks. Not only that, but my lab results were again showing some unfavorable numbers. My creatinine level started to rise again, but nothing beyond concern, and my hemoglobin counts were a little low. I was a little concerned that I would forced into another elongated hospital stay but, after learning from my last post, I was more than content with staying until the doctors felt I was well enough to leave.

St. Patrick's Day came, my final infusion completed overnight, and I was anxious to hear what the latest blood work showed. My doctor came in and said everything looked good except for my hemoglobin. She asked me how I felt about going home and I responded with "How do you feel about me going home?". She then said that she felt fine about it after a blood transfusion and told me to hydrate like crazy at home and start eating. So, after the blood transfusion and a nice nap, I was sent home to try and resume normalcy.

Lots of naps courtesy of special drugs (Benadryl & Tylenol)

I took the day off from work on Wednesday, just to build my strength up before going crazy, and suddenly found my appetite starting to come back. I don't know if it was the chemo drugs finally getting through my system or not, but I suddenly wanted to eat again. It started out with half a bagel here, a cup of soup there, but since has picked back up to a near normal level for me. After a half-day of work that Thursday, and a positive check-up, I went full bore on Friday.

Not only did I go to work the whole day, but I was also able to make into New York City, despite the terrible weather, and be with one of my best friends from college, Mitch Merman, and celebrate his birthday (which is actually today. Happy Birthday, bud!). It felt great to be able to do that and the only setback that occurred from it was a very tired Christian. I took the rest of the weekend off and continued to build up my strength.

Over this past week, I have been battling a recurring cough and runny nose but that has been insanely minor compared to everything else. My appetite is coming back nicely, my strength is on the rise, and I've begun feeling like me again. While my weight hasn't been going up just yet, the rapid weight loss as stopped. To be able to have two weeks like I have has made me much happier than I was back in early March. It was only made better when one of my best friends from high school, Pat Benjamin, drove up from Baltimore yesterday morning to hang out. We played N64 for hours before going out to watch Arizona-Wisconsin. That made me feel more normal than ever and I can't thank him enough for doing that.

My dude Pat and I at BWW after a day of N64

Currently, I'm sitting on my couch getting prepared to watch day two of the Elite 8 and then later on WrestleMania. I'm also mentally preparing myself for the week ahead. I'm scheduled to begin round four of treatment on Tuesday. Now, I've been saying throughout this process that round four could be the last. I've been trying to stress the fact that that is a possibility and not a guarantee, just so everyone doesn't get surprised if treatment is prolonged.

This past Thursday I went through another PET scan and tomorrow I will have a CT scan done. These were two tests imperative to staging my cancer back in January and they will help us in knowing where the cancer is at now, if it's still there. If the doctors find no sign of the disease, this will be my final round of chemotherapy. If they find some signs of residual disease, there could be a couple options: surgery to remove the cancerous lymph node (if the doctors deem it appropriate) or a few more rounds of treatment. I won't know the answers to those questions for a few days and I'm going to take a couple days after finding out, good or bad, to digest it all before I make it public knowledge so please don't hate me if you feel I'm taking too long for my next post.

For now, I'd like to take a moment and share something special. As you all know, I've become a very close partner with the HEADstrong Foundation, helping them launch #ProjectGameday. I am very happy and proud to say that since it was launched in mid-January, #ProjectGamedy has raised more than $20,000 for cancer patients and their families! Of that, my supporters, you guys, have helped to raise nearly $5,000 of that and I can't thank you enough for it! As always, please continue to give whatever you can in terms of positive thoughts, hospital visits, or donations. A smiling face or a joke can make any cancer patient feel like a normal person. I love you all, I thank you all, and I'll update you when there's more information.

#BootStompCancer Day 48...Patience Is A Virtue

I know it's been a very long time since I've updated you all, and to be honest, that is because the last couple weeks have been very physically and mentally trying on me. Truthfully, the last two weeks have been the hardest for me to accept because of some of the setbacks. For as long as I can remember, I've been notorious for telling people "patience is a virtue". I've done it to friends, family members, girlfriends, and even bosses. Unfortunately, if I had just listened to my own nagging self, these last two weeks may not have happened. So, here's the latest update with some optimism.

Like I posted 11 days ago when I got admitted into the hospital for the second round of chemotherapy, I was planning to get out on Tuesday, February 24. Everything went well during treatment, but I did lose my hair and my beard, and despite being a little nauseous during the treatment like I anticipated, I was going to head home on that day. Then the first setback happened.

The hair went first, then the beard :(

My doctor came in and told me that creatinine level had tripled overnight. It spiked from 0.7 (normal level) to a 2.15 (almost double normal). The doctors decided that they were going to up the amount of IV fluids I was going to get until my levels came back down to normal. The worst part about it all was that I felt great. Even more frustrating, they couldn't pinpoint what it was that caused this insane spike. Without these lab results, I would be going home and heading back to my life. Most annoying, the Manhattan-Iona game was coming up on Friday and I did not want to miss that opportunity.

Each day they would draw blood two, sometimes three times, checking to see if the creatinine went down at all. The first night it went up, to 2.28. Then it started falling, but way too slowly. First to 2.16, then 2.07, then all of a sudden to 1.85! Suddenly, I got optimistic that the levels would begin dropping as rapidly as they rose. In reality, that's not the case. Acute Kidney Injuries (AKI) can take anywhere from one to three weeks to fully recover.

However, we had reached a deal. If my level reached a 1.5 by Friday, I would be sent home with the promise that I administer IV fluids to myself and get more blood drawn on Monday to find out. When I woke up Friday I was just anxious to get the results, expecting them to be bad. As the day dragged on, the results didn't come. They usually come three hours after being draw and my last blood work was done at 6 a.m. It got to be about 2 p.m. and my mom needed to do some laundry so I told her to go back to my apartment, do some laundry and come back and we'll prepare for a weekend in the hospital.

No less than 30 seconds after she walked out, she came rushing back in. Apparently one of the doctors saw her ready to leave and told her they were sending me home. I immediately starting packing up and got ready to return to the microphone that night in New Rochelle. When all was finalized, I was sent home with IV fluids, a promise to take it easy, and a massive smile on my face. We went to my apartment, I put on a suit and arrived just shortly after tip-off to resume my job as the "Voice of the Jaspers". Despite Manhattan again coming up short, I was happier than I could have imagined because I was able to do what I loved. I went home to begin keeping my end of the bargain and took the day off Saturday to hopefully ensure no setbacks. Little did I know, the damage was probably already done.

Sunday morning, I woke up not feeling great. It started with some stomach pains, enough to put me back on the couch to lie down for a few hours. Once again, Manhattan had another contest; Senior Day. These players were freshman when I began my tenure in Riverdale and I've always felt a little bit of a special connection with them so of course I wanted to be there. After lying down a little longer than I normally would, I felt good enough to go. My mother and I got down there and almost immediately upon arriving, I could feel it was a bad idea. I struggled through the entire broadcast, feeling a little drowsy and nauseous. On the way home, I laid down in the back seat of my mothers Jeep because my stomach hurt so much. I could barely eat, I could barely move.

Throughout the night, the pain in my stomach increased; as did other side effects. I won't get into the graphic details, but food poisoning has nothing on what was happening to my body. Around 3 a.m. I had the worst of it and feared I would have to rushed to the hospital. I moved from my bedroom to the couch near the daybed where my mother sleeps at my apartment. That seemed to help the stomach pain and I was able to get some sleep before my scheduled appointment back at the hospital to check my creatinine levels.

Once again I laid down in the back of the Jeep because the bumps on the road only made the stomach pain worse. When I got to the hospital, it was obvious to everyone around me that something wasn't right. I got very cold, spiked a fever, and the pain got worse. They set me up in a different room, hooked me up to fluids and tried to help. After a couple of hours, the doctor made the decision that I knew was best, but prayed I wouldn't hear: I was being admitted to the hospital again.

After an X-Ray and CT Scan, the doctors determined that my colon had become inflamed, causing the stomach pains, and infected, causing the other issues. There were a trio of reasons as to why but that would take another day or two until they figured it out. For now, I was back in the hospital receiving constant IV fluids, antibiotics, and told no food or drink until I was fixed.

That was on Monday. On Tuesday we found out that I contracted what is called "c-diff". I won't get into the details but this is not fun to have. I was fortunately allowed to have a clear liquid diet and began to have some very small sips of water, ginger ale, and ice chips. However, Wednesday was another setback. My hemoglobin count was very low and I needed a blood transfusion. Not to mention, I began spiking features overnight and was profusely sweating with the antibiotics they gave me, making me very uncomfortable.

Each day I felt a little better and today, I feel great. My lab results have consistently improved to a point where my doctors are happy this weekend I can resume eating bland foods just to test my stomach. After these setbacks my concern became a delay in my treatment. When this all started, I mapped out a treatment plan that had be out of the hospital from my final round of chemo Easter weekend which was perfect.

My cousin, Nicole, is getting married the following weekend and she's asked me to be a reader. She is the closest thing in life I have to a blood-sister and my biggest fear is letting down the people I love. These setbacks made me think I would laid up in a hospital room instead of celebrating the biggest day of her life with her. Fortunately, my doctors and nurses are so great that they are getting me ready to begin my third round of treatment on time, meaning my fourth, and potentially final, round will also be on time.

I'm sure while reading this all of you have said, at least once, "Christian, you need to take better care of yourself!" and I know I do. But, these are some of the more severe side effects that can occur when you go through chemotherapy. Your white blood counts get knocked down so low that the tiniest infection can take hold. My white counts were down to 200 on Monday, a very low normal is 4500. Did what I do have some effect? Probably, but until one of my doctors tells me that's the exact cause of my setbacks, I'm chalking this one up to the chemotherapy working too well.

Also, and I know this sounds selfish of me, but I needed to broadcast those games. Like I've said multiple times, this is what I love to do and after feeling fine for four days but being told I have to stay in the hospital, I would have done anything to feel normal. Calling a college basketball game feels normal to me. To be able to feel like a normal person, and not a cancer patient, is monumental.

So where do we go from here? Like I said, we're scheduled to start round three on Tuesday and I will remain in the hospital until then. Most likely, I'll get out on March 16 (Happy 21st, Mikey!), and start a bit of a different diet my doctor and I talked about to help prevent the stomach issues from coming back. Again, what I did was not the cause of those issues, but anything I can do to help myself is going to be done.

Until then, please continue to pray, send positive thoughts, donate your time/money, tweet/text/call and whatever, not just for me but for others with me battling. When I got in on Monday I heard a lot more cries than I had before and it truly upset me more. Those thoughts and prayers are needed. For now, I love you all, I thank you all, and I'll update you again when we know more.