It’s so surreal to think that I am about to spend 30 days in a hospital. I’ve never in my life spent that much time consecutively at a hospital, a matter of fact I never spent any time in a hospital until this cancer diagnosis.

This last round of chemo was a bit harder than the first ICE round. I felt more exhaustion this time but I also ran into another side effect that could’ve landed me back in the hospital. After I left the hospital on the end of the third day I was exhausted and found myself ready to lay in bed and rest, which I did… for nearly 13 hours. It sounds geat but the problem with that is that I forgot to hydrate and one of the chemicals used to help destroy my cancer needs to leave my system or it will cause problems to my bladder and that is exactly what happened. I wake up the next day and find myself in so much pain from just urinating. The good thing is there was no blood which would have meant that I needed to go to the emergency room. This drug actually damages the lining of my bladder if it sits in there… I think that’s crazy. But the good thing is, all I needed to do was drink several Gatorades for the next 24 to 48 hours and flush my system, that sounds easy enough unless you want to go to the bathroom every 45 minutes.

My Last ICE Chemo Treatment

The good news is this may be my last ICE chemo treatment. The hope is that my PET Scan comes back looking good and they will skip the 3rd ICE treatment, that doesn’t mean I won’t have any more chemo just means I won’t have another 3 days stay at that Chemo Marriot. Those scans will come back looking good and once it does Emory in Atlanta will be my next stop.

There I will be receiving a stem cell transplant from my own stem cells. I won’t be needing a donor. The recovery is much better when it’s your own stem cells, we’re talking only about 10 to 15 days of recovery versus 100 days if it came from another donor. Isn’t that amazing?

The Stem Cell Transplant

One of the first things they will do is collect my stem cell and prepare me for that final round of chemo, from my understanding, it will wipe out my system, essentially try to eliminate any trace of this cancer from my body and prepare my body to receive it’s  stem cells back. This will help improve my chances of not having another cancer recurrence. This all should begin by March 17th or so. I’m estimating that I will be done with this major part of my treatment and recovery by May 1st.

Sadly, it doesn’t mean I will be done with treatment at that point, but what it does mean for me is that I can fight harder to enjoy life and get healthy. I have a wonderful partner that I need to build a life with, a grand daughter that I need to love and protect, family and friends that I need to have good times with and continue to live life.

I invite you to keep following my journey and know that it’s not all about cancer. It’s about finding ways to give back and help others, it’s about creating and building programs and businesses that can end up helping future generations; create an impact in our young adults, entrepreneurs, and yes, cancer warriors too.
Thank you for all your support.

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