Hot off the London newslines (good news) :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081114/hl_ ... ncer_drugs

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Looks good to me Mike, more power to them. I hope they find a cure, I really do.

MIKE OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU!!!! MY WIFE OF 30 GREAT YEARS WAS JUST DIAGNOSED WITH THYROID CANCER AND JUST HAD IT REMOVED AND IS RECOVERING!!!! sHE STARTS HER TREATMENTS NEXT TUES.TRY AND KEEP THE FAITH AND LET THE MAN ABOVE HEAR YOUR CRIES AND HE WILL COMFORT YOU!!!!!

GUS

Thanks Gus (and all) and best wishes to your wife. I ventured out into the rain today and jammed with some friends on a couple of tunes. The older I get the better I was.

At any rate, it was fun, and I had a great time playing some old favorites ( as well as some newer tunes) that I hadn't played in quite a while.

Some of those songs by Levon, Robbie and The Band seem to be timeless and always fun to play and sing !

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

This is my "off week" and I'm feeling pretty good with only 3 cycles to go. I've invited some Fender friends here to visit and register too.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

"the bulk of the vital work has been done by this stage. What you're into in these last cycles is, so to speak, final fret polishing. Absolutely vital, and a question of turning a good job into a great one - but you have already achieved the lion's share of the work, which is a fabulous accomplishment."

Ceri knows what he's talking about! Also, his warm tone of encouragement is nothing that I can match. Just want to reinforce that if your treatment protocol is like mine was, with only three treatments to go, you've done it already and now this stuff is for insurance. It's important insurance, but that's how close you are now. Congratulations because you're about to come out the other side!

Mike, I know exactly what this point of chemotherapy treatment is like. When you get the treatment, it knocks you down pretty deep now and you really feel low for several days, and then you come back up. Even though I had ABVD instead of the ones you're getting, I think the experience is similar. Don't worry about the chemofog. If you're impacted by it, the problem is short-term memory and attention deficit. You can compensate with lists and calendars, reorganizing your employment as necessary. The world on the other side of chemo - and I have chemofog galore as is typical with lymphoma survivors who had a lot of adriemycin (even the lab rats are tweaked after that stuff!) - is still good. It's more than good. It's a big, bright, beautiful world full of infinite possibilities with life thriving within and without. Suffering brought me a measure of wisdom - more than I had not more than anyone else has - and a familiarity with Ecclesiastes and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, not to mention a deeper understanding of Jesus' point. When practiced (not always easy) keeping the lessons in mind opened avenues to better fortune in my personal and financial life. The world with its many possibilities is going to be there for you when the chemo is in your rearview mirror.

"Now, bring me that horizon."
-Capt. Jack Sparrow

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"Now, bring me that horizon."
-Capt. Jack Sparrow

Great stuff Mike, keep the positive vibes going.

Thanks again to all for your positive support.

It really hasn't been a great year. A bassist and close friend was killed in an auto accident last Spring, then my cancer diagnosis in May and now my father has been told that he may have a heart attack at any time, and possibly fatal.

He's been having heart problems and on blood thinners, and kidney problems have been getting worse. My mother (both in their very late 70s) was in tears when she called this morning. My sister and my wife and I are going to try and visit as often as we can, so I may be offline for longer periods as things develop.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Mike,

I will continue to keep you in my prayers, and will pray for your father as well! Hang in there buddy! We are all pulling for you!

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Bill

"Show me a crowd where the band is loud and my drunken ballet is in fashion!" Jerry Riopelle

Mike, I know the way it is. When it rains it pours. I was in an 18 month relationship that was ending (a blessing) when I entered into staging and chemo. Dude, thinking positive is good, but never be in denial. Feel your own pain. Let the storm rage and pass. Then let the sun come out.

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"Now, bring me that horizon."
-Capt. Jack Sparrow

It's times like these that make us realize what's important in life, there is nothing more important than family. You're going to have to dig deep Mike, but I know you have the inner strength to cope. I know talk is cheap, but I mean every word. Everyone in here is pulling for you and your family, I just hope it makes a positive difference. I will keep you and yours in my prayers and thoughts, all the best Mike.

Mike,

As everyone here has been saying and repeating... we are, and have, always been here pulling for you. You are almost there, which is great news.

I am sorry to hear the news about your father. Not good news to have to take on along with the past several months you have had. Life events are not always timed correctly, as you know. It seems to be all or nothing.

Be well, my friend.

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BP

Hats Off To You Blessed Musicians

• '07 Fender Standard Strat HSS (Midnight Wine)
• '03 Epiphone LP Special (White)
• '86 Charvel Model 2 (Black)

www.myspace.com/brattscovil
www.starvingpencil.com

Thanks for the positive support!

My father is doing better, but not out of the woods yet, he's got to get some numbers down lower (long story - not for here).

I'll be starting my 10th round of chemo tomorrow at 7:45am. I remember thinking about how good it would be to make it to the final 3 rounds, well, I'm there tomorrow, followed by 2 cycles in December.

The comments and mojo has really helped me get this far and I thank everyone in this fine Fender.com community for playing a HUGE part in helping me get through this most traumatic period in my life.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I had an early appointment this morning and decided to update this thread before laying down for awhile. I went in for bloodwork, then had my exam and then got the 'poke' in the chestport (for some reason it really hurt today, and a new oncology nurse, maybe a technique issue?), anyway, I'll try to avoid her for the rest of my visits if possible.

After the needle was in and the dressing applied, they started me on the usuals, aloxi and compazine and when that was done, the dreaded Eloxatin (brand name) of oxaliplatin along with leucovorin. After that was finished, they flushed the port and hooked me up to the portable pump of 5-FU (fluorouracil) and sent me on my way.

It really knocked me down with today's treatment, more so than I can remember, but I know that the end is near and that helps a lot. Now it's siesta time.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

It hits harder at the end I can feel it too even now in my bones. So that's totally normal. What's great is you get to be a like a horse heading back home to the barn for oats now. You're like 1/2 through the 3d to last treatment. Next one is second-to-last! Even though the last couple knocked me right on my can, knowing it was the end really let me just shake it off like water off a duck. Then it's over!

Now, once it's over, then you're going to start to feel better and stronger pretty quickly. There's also some recovery from the chemobrain if you've been having that impact. For about 1/3 of us, like me, we'll live with a high level of fatigue, aching pain that is just like when you feel sooooo tired and some add and short-term memory loss - nothing like chemo though. Many people do not even have the long-term stuff, either, and those of us that do have it carry on. Let me tell you how I did after it was over. First, I was in assignments that accomodated the treatment. Afterwards, I didn't hide that I was not the same and to this day I'm in productive work areas that accomodate the changes that came about from the cancer and the chemo. Within about a month after I finished treatment, I met my wife at Disneyland. I wrote down her phone number and called and left a message and didn't hear back. So, then I went through a bunch of follow-up evals and then a scare that the treatment didn't work that resolved favorably when a recurrence was not confirmed. Still no recurrence 7 years later, either. So, I called my wife again - who's originally from an island near Japan in Asia - but got a message machine. I was going to hang up instead of leaving multiple messages and looking like a stalker, but she'd changed her machine from my first call to say "speak slowly and very clearly leave your phone number since if you talk very fast I cannot get the number." Since I'm known to talk fast, I figured that was for me, and it was. Eventually got together and have two little kids together now. So, the day I met her, I was actually very, very tired. I was with my older kid from my first marriage and we were getting something to eat. Nobody can see how tired you are - she couldn't. A lot of the time, even if you're just crushingly bone weary like me right now and much of the time - nobody can see it. So, I just pace myself, work everyday, take care of my family, take notes and use calendars, and let my wife also keep track of stuff like where we're driving if I forget. All-in-all, life's good, I'm still me, I'm still as smart as ever, but just with the memory loss and attention deficit that I can and do work around. It's a great big beautiful world waiting for you once you're off treatment - so soon.

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"Now, bring me that horizon."
-Capt. Jack Sparrow