9.23.13 doctor's appointment

 Hello, we are back from my appointment with Dr. Baeker.  I got the sutures out and was released to drive and go back to work on Wednesday.

Tom said the neurological exam was "perfect". I believe we have decided on a new course of action. Duke has a relatively new study, called Re-start, for recurrent glios. You may or may not remember, when I first went down there they did a Leukapheresis cultivating my white blood cells only to be amped up with a protein called Avastin.

I will need to go to Duke 4 weeks in a row to get this started, however after that I believe it is back to once a month. The Avastin I can receive at Tom's office once every 2 weeks. It takes about an hour or less each treatment.  Sorry Sarah no pictures. 

---

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail message is intended to be received only by persons entitled to receive the confidential information it may contain. E-mail messages from Farmers National Bank may contain information that is confidential and legally privileged. Please do not read, copy, forward, or store this message unless you are an intended recipient of it. If you have received this message in error, please forward it to the sender and delete it completely from your computer system.

Happy Gray Day Everyone!

Hopefully this is the last Mirror Picture I ever take. 

Guess Who's Back?

Although I am sure everyone is waiting in anticipation for the picture I plan on posting in gray attire after my morning run tomorrow morning, I thought it might be nice to recap everything that has happened since the last time I was here....

UK was really good at basketball

Dad and I did a few more of these things

The nephews and niece just got cuter

I started dating this girl named Sarah (I know; another Sarah in the family)

And she was crazy enough to say yes...

So that's a portion of what's been happening on this crazy journey since the last time I posted here. The family and I are so thankful you all are along for the ride. 

Much Love,

Sam

Gray day!

This Tuesday, September 24th, marks two weeks since surgery.  At this time, we are hoping for Dad's sutures to be out, a tentative plan of action, final pathology report, and Dad preparing to return to work sometime soon.  I propose we have a Gray Day!  Wear your gray in support of brain cancer awareness and send some pictures of you and your gray to me (sarahpollom@gmail.com).  I am anti picturesless-blog posts (cough, cough, Dad) so I say it is high time we get some of you on here.  Wear your gray whether it be your work suit, running shorts, scarf (yay scarf season!), socks, headband, sweet "No one fights alone" bracelet, etc (Disclaimer: if your gray is your unmentionables, please keep those pictures to yourself.), snap a picture (group or the popular "selfie") and send them my way.  I'd make Gray Day tomorrow, but I think we all know that this blog receives the most traffic when you are bored at work (Just kidding Mr. Caudill...but really I'm not)

Hope everyone has a great week!  Go Gray!



My fashionable 17 month old is already having a tough time deciding what to wear.

Sunday 9.22

Went to church last night. Walked 2 miles with Marti this am. Very slowly jogged 1mile this afternoon. (Time 10:32 I could have worn a sun dial on my wrist instead of a watch). Still it felt GREAT!  My heart rate was 101 when I got home compared to a resting heart rate in the 40s last week at Duke. They had to reset the monitor at the nurses's station to keep the alarm from going off.

True Confessions

Some of you may find this hard to believe, but I can be a real jerk at times. I think I finally got on Marti's last nerve today. It is one thing to try and get better fast, but to not recognize I still have a ways to go is not fair. Patience has never been my long suit, however it is being tested now.  I am too close to being better to get stupid now. Clearly things will change.

Another week behind us

Winding down another week and another disappointing Cubs season. We had a good day today. 2 miles this morning and lunch with Marti's folks. And then we stopped by work and I got to say hello to some co-workers, including a truely amazing lady who is retiring next week after only 45 years of service.

About my co-workers, last week when I was in surgery they ALL started wearing grey wristbands (grey is the color of brain cancer, the wrist bands say "No One Fights Alone!") And while I was at Duke I received all kinds of fabulous pictures with people wearing these wrist bands. So I knew I had plenty of support at home.

Thanks again for everyone out there taking the time to read this stuff because you care. Big day Monday. Stay tuned.