BEACOPP ROUND 2 DAY 3

YES, Andy was pleasantly surprised to have visitors today and the collage was a hit. Thank you for the contributions to the collage! He is in a private room as of late last night, albiet not very large and it has the tinyest TV monitor that I have seen in a hospital room. He continues to have nausea off and on, but fortunately, didn't toss his cookies today :) Having new healthcare providers this admission makes everything redundant, as he continually has to explain what helps with what, why he doesn't tolerate the alcohol based hand sanitizer that they seem to prefer to use instead of soap and water. It has been a difficult hospital stay so far, but hopefully now improving since rooming alone. He is hopeful that he will be able to go home a little earlier this course of therapy, lab numbers will be the determining factor. Tomorrow includes 1 oral chemo drug and prednisone for the next 4 days, then another 2 chemo IV treatment on day 8 plus the oral Chemo and prednisone, then the prednisone and injectable Neupogen (caused severe bone pain) YUCK!!! Its really boring in the hospital, so keep those calls and text coming!

Saturday June 30 - a bit better

Andy's nice surprise today was in the form of two visitors. Look at the great photo collage they made! Thanks Chelle and Serena!

Friday June 29. Day 2 of cycle

First, Andy and his roomie figured out how to share the space. Neither feels good and neither want to be there. That said, today's a hard one! First the chest pressure ( which happened before and seems worse when he's getting all the extra iv fluids) burnout he barfing. More than 15 times already. We are all hoping and praying things turn around quickly. Chemo sucks but at least we know it's working!

Readmitted last night as planned

Well, sort of. The date was planned for round 2 of BEACOPP but they put Andy in a shared room which is not the correct protocol in his situation. Then they made Michael leave. Then the roomie arrived and was rude. Add all that up and the fact his white count was low so now he's being transfused! I trust he didn't sleep sine he's on the phone at 5am local time. So,we will see what happens today interns of moving him and for treatment. Today should be day one of the 8 day chemo regime with a ton of IVs and push fluids being started. This part was unpleasant last cycle with so much going through him. I'll update later today when the rest of the world wakes up!

Monday June 25

Andy's home but no longer pulling his hair out. Bad joke. The hair is gone and it's pretty hard to take. Andy was nice enough to allow this picture to be shared. Thanks for your prayers and support. It matters more than you know.

Saturday

Andy is happy to be home for a few more days and is not wasting a minute. He cannot go out in public even to the grocery store but that's ok. Unfortunately today he confirmed that he losing his hair. How he wished to avoid that side effect. Hope is grows back white-blonde and lush like when he was little.

Whoop !!!

Great news. Muscle man Andy has whipped his blood counts up overnight!!!! Everyone is elated. Michael will pick him up Thurs when he is discharged. No outpatient work needs to be done for the week he is out. Andy will be reAdmitted next Wed to do this all again. The bone pain should subside in about 24 hours. Happy day!! Andy appreciates the prayers and attributes this to the strong blood results today. Thank you!!!

Positive news today

Blood work today shows positive trend leading all to believe that Andy has hit the bottom for this round of chemo. (5 more to go). He has extreme bone pain likely from the neupogen that impacts his spine and pelvis today. If anyone has tips on how to deal with this symptom, please share. Thank you!

BEOCOPP Day 12

They were able to hold off another day for the transfusion, his numbers only went down a little more, not at the threshold for transfusion. We'll see tomorrow.

Day 11 of BEACOPP Trial

Andy's blood work started to tank yesterday, again today, probably will need a transfusion tomorrow. Dr. Andreadis reassured him that the blood bank supply they use is very safe. It is not unusual to need a transfusion with this chemotherapy, and may need blood again in the future. The medication he is given from day 8-14 causes bone pain as a expected side effect and that has held true for Andy. Unfortunately the pain medication only dulls the pain slightly. They have given him Claritin, (yes, the allergy medication) as it somehow has been shown to help this pain. It is unknown how it works but he's giving it a try. Obviously, he is majorly stir crazy, anxious to get out of the hospital, hopefully he will have a week reprieve from the hospital before his 2nd course of BEACOPP. Dr. Andreadis reminded him that he is actually half way through his chemotherapy as he is finishing the 5th course of the total regimen.

Friday June 15

Still hanging at the hospital. Blood work continues to look good. Only iv today is fluid to keep flushing the chemo and cancers out. Spirits are ok so far but really missing home. Likely another 7-14 days inpatient. Eats well and sleeps intermittent during the night partially due to hospital noise.

Thursday day 8 chemo cycle

The day started out rough with an aggressive staff member demanding Andy get out of bed! Turns out wrong room. Tough on sleepy guy. He just got the first of today's new chemo drug (B) and the second will be later today. Also started new drugs that are preventative as an anti fungal and anti biotic. Counts remain good and should tank quickly and deeply. One step in the process. Time goes slowly and that seems really hard for him. A few favorite people phone calls late yesterday really perked him up. Thanks to all for support!

Wednesday June 13

Day 7 of the 8 day chemo routine. Today is just the two P's with tomorrow being the B&O. Andy has had B before and the side effects from O are usually just bathroom related. Andy's blood work today is really good. Doc says he will start neupogen tomorrow night in advance of the counts tanking and will continue in patient for a week to monitor. Overall Andy has tolerated the rigor well. Last nights 11pm cocktail of Ambien and Ativan helped with the best sleep possible(given 4 hr vitals and iv beeping and medicine at 6am) He likes me to get hot chocolate about 9pm from the downstairs kiosk but today will be the last time for that. No outside food once he's on neupogen.

Tuesday June 12

Long night with little sleep, but else do you expect in the hospital? Today's blood work is better than expected and that's good. He's a bit more tired and bored. Looking to do this routine for a total of 6 times has him a little bummed out. He's still enjoying room service food. Today's chemo is another day of the two P's.

Monday Monday

If you asked Andy his biggest complaint is having his sleep interrupted during the night. He's pretty antsy as you can imagine and thinking about doing this regimen 5 more times is kind of big. He feels tired and unwell but all the drugs are managing symptoms well. Thanks to all who are checking in and texting him. He likes it!

BEACOPP DAY 4

Andy's labs are as expected. He's very fatigued today, feels icky and nauseated off and on. :(

Saturday morning

Andy has just ordered breakfast and visited with the doctor. His lungs are clear even though he sounds wheezy and feels constrained. It could be a result of all the fluids and so much laying down time. Today we will take more walks and visit the solarium and get more sunshine. One type of chemo later today. He's doing well overall and management of the systems is working ok. I like to visualize the tumors being broken up and every trip to the bathroom as removing more of the cancer waste.

BEACOPP Day 2

A few shorter delay's and a midday power outage in the entire UCSF hospital, which was barely noticed due to the back up generators.  We only noticed because the WiFi was down (obviously)  He's doing very well, albiet feeling weird and waves of nausea, no vomiting since starting the BEACOPP meds. He looks better than he feels. Fortunately his appetite is great!  With the encouragement of his nurses, doctors and family he has started walking 'laps' to help with his recovery, today-accompanied by Mommy dearest.  (Thank you Jeanne)  Here's his schedule:

DRUG/ROUTE	Day
*Bleomycin IV	8
Etoposide IV	1-3
*Adriamycin IV	1
Cyclophosphamide IV	1
Oncovin (vincristine) IV	8
Procarbazine HCl PO (oral)	1-7
Prednisone PO (oral)	1-14
Filgrastim SQ (as needed)	8-14

Friday - partway through the first round of BEACOPP

Andy was getting chemo up until about midnight and it continues today. He took a mild sleeping aid and had a decent night. While he feels odd and a bit shaky, he's doing ok. He continues to eat well. He's now challenging the tv game shows to see how much he can "win".

Plan for BEACOPP administration

The doctor came in and confirmed that the ABVD did have a good impact on the tumors but not good enough to avoid cranking up to the 7 element chemo. Andy starts tonight with most of the drugs then gets 2 of the drugs over the next week and then on day 8 we repeat today's 5 drugs. He's on the accelerated version of each meaning heavy duty. Side effects are expected to be severe. The next 7 days will be to monitor and treat the white and red blood counts and try to avoid any infections. We will see how it goes. Looking forward Andy will have 5 more sessions about 3 weeks apart each time spending at least 8 days in the hospital. How well he tolerates this weeks treatment should be a good indicator of how he will do overall.

BEACOPP ROUND ONE STARTS TODAY!

We got great news from Andy's Oncologist! He showed Andy and I the images of the PET scan before and after the ABVD chemotherapy and it is amazing! All the areas that lit up below the diaphragm are gone, and the only one remaining in the chest is the chest mass which appears to have dimished significantly, in the xray and the PET images show it about 1/3 or 1/4 of the former size. We almost cried, that is the best news we've heard in a long time! Andy has had nausea and vomiting this morning even before starting any of the meds, the Oncologist thinks it's mostly pre-treatment anxiety causing the nausea, acid reflux and vomiting. So, here we go!!!

To be admitted tonight

Andy will be admitted tonight. Chelle will try to meet up with him ASAP. Mom will arrive Thursday

Waiting for a bed to be available

Yesterday we got word that insurance is approved and now we wait for the hospital bed to be available. Chele is going to try to meet Andy at the hospital and get the medical details first hand to allow Andy to relax and take it one step at a time. She can then update this blog so everyone gets the info. Waiting Israel no fun. Let's get moving to get closer to being done with chemo and being well. Andy's Mom will stay in SFO with him for awhile and to help during this initial BEACOPP. So many people, some who don't know Andy directly, continue to send prayers and good wishes and this is so appreciated!

Friday June 1

We are waiting for insurance approval and then a bed at the hospital and this could happen today or even early next week. Once the call comes that they are ready for Andy to start BIACOFF he will leave immediately. He will be in the hospital for 2-3 weeks for the initial treatment. The info on the study that Andy is part of, and info on BOOCOFF are easily understood at a couple of web sites one is cancerhelp.com and or http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search/view?cdrid=630501&version=HealthProfessional&protocolsearchid=10484996. Will keep you posted as we know more.