Fighting Cancer - My Return

Well I made it back. It took some soul searching for me to continue writing this blog when at times it seems as if I'm talking to myself\. Let me explain where I've been the past several weeks.

As I talked about in earlier posting of my surgeries and the 7 month vacation that I took from cancer. Of those 7 months I spent 4 recovering from the liver reduction surgery. For 3 of those 7 months I even went back to work, which was very nice. It gives my mind something to do.

Then the vacation as all vacations do came to an end. In August I had my 3 month P.E.T. Scan and my cancer had returned and was growing. Not what any cancer patient wants to hear, but deep inside knows they will at some point. I had hopes of a little longer run than 7 months of no surgeries or chemo.

So, I started another round of chemotherapy, with a different more of an old school drugs that is raising hell with my body. I had one full treatment in September and had to stop due to the reactions I had. My white blood count dropped to all time lows and my red counts dump as well. I then received and second treatment of only half a dose of chemo drugs and still had to skip a week of treatments due to low white blood counts.

I've lost all my hair this time around and the side effects do not wear off after 3 or 4 days as they did with the chemo treatments I received in 2008. You see the cancer becomes resistant to the first chemo drug and they then have to go to a second line treatment. At some point there are no more "lines" of defense with chemo drugs.

I ask the question when we learned the cancer had returned and I was to start this treatment what the goal was and what would I be gaining? The doctors honest reply was we're looking to gain 2 years. I have great trust in my oncologist and believe in his skills to help me and I know a lot can take place in 2 years. You have to keep fighting for every day, with the hope that a "cure" is found for your type of cancer. Every day you get is a day closer to winning this battle. And every day you get is to be treasured and enjoyed.

In all this activity and treatments, my mother was diagnosed with Stage III ovarian cancer. In October of this year she started her chemotherapy after recovering from her own surgery, and will be at the same cancer center as I go to. She will receive 6 treatments of chemo and the outlook is good to put the cancer in remission.

She too, is loosing her hair and the side effective of the first treatment were severe. Mothers don't let on to the fact that they are not feeling good or are hurting, but if you have been down that road you know they are. I get my determination and will to fight from my mother and father and my mother has even a greater attitude than I in this battle for life against the beast called cancer.

I'm not done yet, today I have learned that my aunts breast cancer that has been dormant for 10 years has returned, which was found in her annual check-up! She has yet to learn the level of the tumor for a few more days. This is the hardest time on everyone of the not knowing.

So, if I seem angry or set back by all this and I wondered if this blog was worth the time to typing it, I decided to keep going and pray that some one will find a "cure". Of the seven remaining Perry's left on this planet 3 now have active cancer. How many more family's need to go through this terrible journey?

This month and only this month is breast cancer awareness month. I think we should do all we can do to make every month cancer awareness month. I know there are other disease out there, but none that I know which will claim nearly 600,000 American lives this year. Please support cancer research, encourage your congressmen to work towards more funding to find a cure and above all YOU get your annual check-up scheduled for your health.

Till next time, ENJOY THE DAY and YOU KEEP FIGHTING CANCER!