Happy Thanksgiving

Round 3 of Rituxan went fine yesterday. My last one is next Wednesday! (12/3).

My parents along with my brother and his girlfriend arrived yesterday for the Thanksgiving weekend with us. Bennett and I were leaving downtown after a haircut and we caught up with them on their way to the islands. Karin gave us a heads up that they were close so we were on the lookout.

We had a great thanksgiving today and a great meal and great family fun.

If you are in Savannah and can pick up a copy of The SOUTH Magazine the DEC 2008/JAN 2009 HEALTH & WELLNESS ISSUE, I am one of 5 interviewed for an article about young cancer survivors, “The Untold”.

Most of the article is available online, but the second page for each of us is not online.
Scroll down to “The Untold”.

http://www.thesouthmag.com/gallerylist.asp

Take care,

Mark

Karin’s webpage for Team in Training

www.pages.teamintraining.org/ga/cmc09/kbestyc74m

try back later if you can't get on the web page, they may be updating.

Karin and Kristen on WTOC promoting the kick-off of Team in Training

http://www.wtoctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3436885

in video window at right, use right arrow to scroll to the right and select Strength in Numbers. It’s about a 3 minute clip!

Second Week of Rituxan (of four)

My infusion went fine on Wednesday. My blood counts are still good. We got to visit with some friends in the chemo room. After Karin and I got a bite to eat, we picked Bennett up from his long Wednesday at school and lunch bunch. After returning home I went to the Chatham County Health Department and completed my 24 month immunizations (Hepatitis B, Tetanus and Diphtheria, HIB, Polio, Pneumoccal, Measles, Mumps, Rubella. My shoulders are a bit sore today.

The last of my maintenance Rituxan began today!

Today I began the last of my treatments. They are scheduled on Wednesdays for 4 weeks.

Hopefully this will be the last for a very long time if not forever.

This may seem silly, but I actually look forward to chemo days because I get to sleep in at least an hour longer than workdays. Karin and I were able to get breakfast together before going to the Lewis Center. We don’t get to do that during the week often.

It is good to see some friends and faces we know in the chemo room. It was a busy full house today. I always try to be in with the first group at 8:30. My pump was rather slow, and the nurses had to speed it up a few times. Other than that, all went well. I was finished by 12:30. Karin and I had a good lunch together downtown at Skylers.

After changing clothes, I went to have my photo taken for The South Magazine. I was interviewed last week for an article on cancer survivors. It will be in the next issue. I will let you know when it is published.

Tomorrow afternoon is my blood cancer survivors group that meets at Memorial Hospital’s Anderson Cancer Center. I look forward to that. I was just introduce through one of the social workers that used to run the group to a guy my age who has just been diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma also. He has not completed his staging tests and has not started treatment. He’s rather freaked out. I spoke with him tonight and have encouraged him to come to the group tomorrow night. I will do my best to share with him and anyone else that I can help all the details of where I have been. I owe it to them.

Karin has kicked off her Team in Training for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I will post updates for her later this week.

Take care,

Mark