More Treatment

Well I have now finished the radiation part of my treatment. I also have decided that when I grow up I want to be a Radiation Oncologist, that way when my radiation oncologist gets cancer then I can turn that machine up on him. It wasn't all that bad during the treatment but about a week after that the area that was treated became super sore like a really bad sunburn. I also have had another round of chemo so right now I have no immune system. Outside of that my life is going great.

Lani is doing great. The kids are good as well. Sam the youngest turned six a couple of weeks ago so he will now say somthing like "Remember when I was five and we ....." If only I could remember all of the things that I did when I was five.

I had a friend of mine who was battling leukemia pass away a couple of weeks ago. It is really sad. It was so nice to have someone to call and talk to about this cancer and have them understand everything that you are going through. It was fun to share and learn about the different treatments that we have had to battle esentially the same diesease. It was great we would give each other hope. I will miss talking to him. Its funny how just a little bit of good news will make you feel like you are winning this fight. I often wonder what life would be like if we didn't have hope.

At my Dr. visit yesterday, he was happy to see that the tumors that were bright red on my skin are dull and fading away. He thinks that only a couple of more rounds of chemo and I should be good to go again, hopefully for around 100 years. There was also some sad news at the clinic yesterday, one of my regular nurses son was hit by a car last weekend. I guess he was just riding his bike when a car accidently hit him. He was in a coma for several hours but he is expected to make a full recovery. Those nurses are like family to me now. They treat me nice and put up with me.

Well take care until next time.

KC

Radiation is...

Well I began radiation therapy last Wednesday. What a joy!! I have never had this type of radiation. It is quite interesting. The first appointment I had to get measured to make sure they were going to hit the right spot. To do this I had to strip from the waist down and lay in a CT machine. While I am doing this the nurses are marking my body up. They use Three different lasers to mark my body, one on the roof and one one each side wall. Long story short I now have Three tattoos. They told me that one was a dragon and the other one is a tiger, but they look like little dots to me. It really is not that exciting as it takes longer to park my car that to get the treatment done. Today was especially funny. I was sitting in the waiting room with the other patients, when a man walked out of the bathroom and down the hallway. He was completly unaware that his gown was wide open in the back, so he mooned everyone in the waiting room. That is great clinic humor right there!!!

The radiation machine is different from all of the other machines. When they start that sucker up the nurses all leave the room. Everytime this happens I think "Is this really safe for them to leave me here" or "Why don't they stay for the show?" Any way after the red warning light blinks about 25 times the nurses return to set me free.

One thing about this is it makes a huge difference when the nurses and those who take care of you are happy and good natured. I can say that I have been very lucky to have so many good people take care of me and my family as well.

Take care

I

Church, church and more church....

Well it has been an exciting last few weeks as I was called to serve in the Bishopric. I guess I am now making up for all of the church that I have missed over the last few years. So far it has been a good experience.

My health is doing good. I had a check-up yesterday. The doc was happy with the way that my counts have recovered and are continueing to recover. My white cells are at 1.5 and my neutrophils are at .9 which means that my immune system is comming back and soon I will not have to wear a mask. The next stage in treatment is the 12 doses of radiation, which should start soon. Dr. Sanchez is really good at keeping me informed as to the riskes involved. He also informed me that the nureses from Mountain View Hospital still ask about me. In fact when they read the blog wondered when I would be back in for more treatment. Somehow it is strangly comforting to know that the nurses are looking out for me. This is the first week in a long that I will not have to go get an infusion. The infusion center is a fun place if you are looking to catch up on some sleep. It is funny it takes an hour and a half to infuse a bag of platelets, but on the weekends it only takes 40 mins. per bag. I am still wondering what the real time should be, hopfully it is closer to the 40 min. mark.

We had a pretty good scare on Saturday afternoon. I was gone to do an errand, and Lani was at home. She heard Max crying outside, when she opened the door here was Max holding his right arm. I guess He and Sam were playing around the gates to our community and some how he got his hand stuck in arms that open the gate. He was screaming. The neighbor who lives right by the gate could hear him over his TV show. When he got out there it was all that he could do to open the gate. Any way after a quick 3 hour trip to the ER, he emerged with only a bandage on his wrist. He was lucky. I thought that he at least broke something. His hand is still sore today but it is getting better.


Casey Nish

Has it been a month already?

Sorry for the lack of updates time has just flown by over the last little while. I finished my first round of chemo therapy. It was nice to do this on an outpatient basis, it has been a blessing as we were able to continue business as usual. My counts are low and I have absolutley no immune system, Zero white blood cells and the other day my platelets were at 1. I often wonder if healthy people wonder what their ANC, WBC counts are at. Probubly none if any would waste time to figure this out. The small tumors that were showing up on my body are slowly disappearing very slowly. In the middle of this I was called to be in the Bishopric. It will be a very interesting calling.

I was at the infusion yesterday for 6 hours. I was only supposed to get two bags of platelets. The two bags were quite full so the nurses thought it was closer to four bags of platelets, so I should be well stocked up for a couple of days (hopefully) The upside is that I met two people who have cancer as well. One had CML the other had MML. After talking to them I feel very lucky to have AML. One of the guys was sprayed with agent orange, I guess they used this chemical in Veitman. The government did not know that it would cause cancer but several years later it shows up it is a type of bone cancer, very, very painful.

I am very thankful for what health I do have and for the support. I met a lady tonight for the first time and she shared with me about her cancer. Apparently she has been reading my blog for quite a while. It was interesting to hear her side of how cancer has affected her life. We agreed that the hardest part of fighting cancer is that your body just cannot keep up with your mind. Your mind can still go super fast and want ot get lots of things done but your body just cannot keep up anymore.

What is intresting to me is when I am selling life insurance and share my story, the people dont get it. I mean here I was a perfectly healthly person one day and the next day I have cancer. Some people look at me like I am crazy, others are in denial, very few people take the time to protect the ones that they love. I don't know but it must be greed thing. If they only knew how much I wished that I would have purchased more insurance. Anyway enough about what is bothering me, life is good and is only getting better.

Later.

-kc

The PlanS

I saw my Doc. on Monday. The good news is that there are no tumors or leukemia in my spine, or brain. The bad news is that there is a trace amount of blasts in my bone marrrow, one test shows 5% blasts and the other test shows under 3%. The spots on my body are most likley tumors from the Leukemia, which will be taken care of with chemotherapy. I will have 5 days of chemotherapy and a few weeks of radiation (nothing like scheduling a sunburn), They will also put chemo into my spinal fluid which requires a spinal tap at least four or five times. I had a spinal tap last Thursday and have had severe headaches since, hopefully this will go away and never come back.

Not too much to report on this week, other than it is really, really hot here in Vegas.

Later

The latest

I went to the Doc. today and found out that things aren't as bad as I thought. They have determined that I have a tumor caused by the Leukemia (sorry that I cannot remember the exact terminology for it). It is usally associated with the Leukemia (ALL). It is very treatable and we will be doing tests all week to find out if and where it has spread. The treatment is a combination of Chemoytherapy (injeccted into my spinal fluid and my personal favorite 3 days of regular Chemo), I will be getting a hickman catheter placed in my chest. This will be the 6th time that I have had that done. I wonder if the surgen could just put some sort of a faucet in my chest. I did have my only other procedure done this morning, a Bone Marrow Biopsy. Nothing like showing up to the appointment to find out your having a B0ne Marrow Biopsy.

Our little vacation was great. We had so much fun that we did not want to come home. We did all kinds of things from walking through a maze and playing mini golf to riding horses and watching bears. We also rafted down the river a coupl.e of times. Big thank you goes out to Randy Stewart who lent out his rafts to us. Some of our group jumped off of the cliffs those who did not lose their sanity stayed on the shore. We had a family rodeo. That was the big event, mutton bustin, chicken scramble, and a good round of steer decorating. There were some extra curricular activities of which the favorite was collecting keys from all of Gary's old trucks.

Anyway I will update later on

Vacation

We have left the heat for Kalispell and Cardston. It has been a nice to get away and get refresded to take on what ever awaits us in Las Vegas. I did go to my Doc on Friday. He told me that the tumor could be Testicle cancer or a Leukemia Tumor. Here I was thinking that I knew everything about Leukemia. I guess sometimes it can create tumors, when I asked the Doc about how common this occurs he responded "...not many people make it this far and get tumors." I guess regular chemo doesn't go into the spinal fluid, brain, and testicles and it can harbor some Leukemia cells. When I get back they will know what kind of tumor was growing in my body. At that point there will be a slug of tests. These will include a CAT Scan, Spinal Tap, and two of my most favorite tests, a bone marrow biopsy, and the dreaded MRI. I will selling tickets to the MRI as that machine freaks me out. Short of those tests they will probubly throw some Chemo in there for good measure. So for now all that I can do is wait hence the vacation. I don't think that I could focus on work wondering what is going to happpen to me. It has been super nice to hang out with my family and do lots of things together.

I have been reading the book 1776 over the last few days, it has been a fantastic book. It has been interesting to learn about the Revolutionary War.

Since getting here in Kalispell I have: Donated $20.00 to the Anaconda Court system (my GPS said I was going 85 but the officer begs to differ.), went to see the movie "Journey to the Middle of the Earth" great movie, Golfing, and laying around the pool.

Well that is all that is happening in our life.

Take care,


Casey

Fun and Games in Las Vegas

Well there have been huge developments in my life over the last 48 hours. I found a lump on one of my Testicles and now have testing done to rule out Testicular cancer. It happens to be one of the most curable types of cancer. They did remove one of the Testicles, apparently we can put a man on the moon but cannot find a better way to test for this type of cancer. Oh well they were burned out from all of the radiation that I had to have for the bone marrow transplant. I guess the man upstairs thought that Leukemia wasn't enough but now lets dabble a little bit in Testicular cancer. I will approach this the same way I did with Leukemia, maybe now I will be able to get an honorary doctorate degree in Oncology.

Outside of that we have been having a great summer. The kids are up in Alberta, Sam has been riding calves, horses, and his personal favorite is baling hay with his Grandpas. Max and Aubree have been doing alot of playing. What better way to spend the summer than on Grandpa's farms,no rules, no fences, and no extreme heat.

Update on Lani and I. Lani had girls camp this past week. Unfortunately Lani had to come home a couple of days early due to my surgey. I really thought that I could do it without her, man am I glad that she was home to take care of me.

I have been fixing our cars as the brakes on the Suburban went out, not that bad as I don't drive it. The worst was when the Air Conditioning on my fantastic Mustang went out. I was lucky this time and was able to fix them both myself, ok I lied Al had to hekp me with the A/C as I couldn't see good enough to put the bolts back in the hole.

I won't have any other news with the Testicular Cancer until I return from the mother land, until then please pray for me, I could use the extra help.

love

Casey

Lots to think about

I know that it has been a little while since I have written but I have a great excuse. When I think of it I will share it, suggestions at this point would help.

I go to the Doctor this week for a check up, it should be very routine but you never know. I have had an interesting few weeks. We went to Salt Lake City to bless Jason and Candace's baby girl. It was great to catch up with those who I have not seen in a while. I didn't realize how many people read this blog. It was so fun to take a trip and not have to go to a hospital. I had another hard reminder of how blessed and extremly lucky I am to be alive. Our close friends' mother was not feeling well went to the hospital and found out she has Liver and Pancreatic cancer. The Doctors say that they can't treat it. Lani and I were talking the other day about how many people we personally know who have cancer or had it. The list was quite long. I don't know if it is because of our history or what. All that I know for sure is that I HATE CANCER. It doesn't matter what type it is all bad. After all that we have been through I still find it hard to find the right words to tell people who have just gotten it. Then I only have my experiance to go from and that is hard because I was not supposed to live, then I feel guilty for being so lucky. I guess I will get better with this over what time I have left.

The kids are doing great and enjoying their summer vacation. Today I got a truck load of sand for my back yard, I didn't realize how much 22 tons of sand really is. It's alot in case you're wondering. The kids have been playing on the pile all after noon. We also have a new addition to our family. The Johnsons left a rabbit in a box on our front porch, so now we have a rabbit. It lives under a shade structure (Lani calls it an old truck) and is pretty tricky to catch. I am now looking for something to give the Johnsons as a thank-you. Ideas will be accepted in this area as well.

Work is going ok. I still need to be busier but it will come with some more time. It has been very rewarding to help people plan for the future. Lani is working in real estate and will be closing her first deal on July 7th, we are very excited to get this done. She is also overseeing girls camp again this year.

Anyway this was kindof long, have a great week.

Casey

Docotr visit

Last Thursday I went for a check up with my oncologist. He figures I have one heck of a gaurdian angel looking over me, and once agian he told me that I was lucky to be alive. The visit ended up being uneventful, I think that Sam got more attention than I did from the nurses. It has been a busy weekend for us. Three baseball games and two end of season parties. Max recieved the most improved player award, it was good as he worked hard all year. Sam got the "Most Enthusiastic Batter" award from his team. Sam would swing the bat with all of his might several times before the pitch, I guess he wanted to make sure that he was ready. Lani also had all of the young womenfrom the ward sleep over for some activity, the boys and I stayed at Al\s place. To top off the weekend I woke up this morning with the flu.

We have lucked out this year and have had a long spring, only a few days over 100 degrees. It seems like things are going well, that makes me nervouse as that is when things happen to us.

take car

Good times ahead

I went to the Kidney Doc. today. At 4:30 I was starting to wonder if my 3 o'clock appointment was going to happen. It did and the results were great. He said that my kidneys are working fine and have no problems exept for a creatinine of 1.8 normal is under 1. I will get there eventually. I don't have to see him again for four months. This is a good thing.

I have been working alot and triing to get my business going again. Lani is so patient with me while I get this going again. She is super busy with real estate, the kids and young womens. It is a lot of work with both of us working and triing to get ahead but we are managing.

Brianne you are not the only one checking my blog, I have four other people whe check it as well. I went to Vernal, Utah to hunt some turkeys. It was a lot of fun to go do that again. We didn't get any but we did control the bat population a timy bit. We had a great time. It was something that I didn't think I would be able to do again due to my health. I shoot left handed but the problem is that I am partly blind in my left eye. I now have to learn how to shoot on my right side.

Later

KC

I found my computer!!

Sorry it has been a long time since I have posted a blog. I have had a lot going on during the last month or so. I have been backto work and have been enjoing it. I was just at the doctor's office last Friday, he is still amazed that I am alive. He has had some people actually asking about me. I have spoken to a few people about leukemia and what to expect when going through a transplant, it is really rewarding to do that. I spoke to a guy whose 4 year old nephew has leukemia, it made me feel guilty as I complained about getting it at age 31. I am still really skinny.

If you can remember my old car was T-boned in August. I did finally get a newer car in March. If any of you have seen the movie "The Bucket List", you will understand why I purchased a red convertable Mustang GT. Lani hates it and I love it!!!

Life is good and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Casey

Time for an update

It has been nice to return to Vegas. I have been seeing my Doctor here every week. With still no sign of Graft Vs. Host Disease but hopfully will show up soon. The Dr. is still suprised that I have lived through all of this. One of his nurses told me that I was some sort of a celebrity around the office.

I am still on huge dose of Anti-Fungal medication, but my kidneys are still improving. I am waiting for some information from Seattle to advise me on how long I need to stay on this medication. I hope that I can get off of it soon as it is now making my eyes blurry. I have been going to physical therapy 3x a week, it has been good. I now weigh a whopping 157 lbs. so don't mess with me I am buff.

I still avoid large groups like the plague, but was tricked to go on a field trip with Aubree and her class. Lani couldn't so with out thinking I said I could do it. Maybe, I won't catch anything.

I will try and keep this up to date.

Casey

Going home

We made it back to Las Vegas on Saturday. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed. Before I could leave they transfused some platelets and red blood into me. When we got to the airport we were about 2 hours early. By the time that I walked to the gate had a hamburger, it was time to board the airplane. It was a pretty fast trip to Vegas we got in about 15 mins ahead schedule, only to find an airplane in our gate so we had to wait for it.

I feel great, and I still sleep alot. My legs have gotten very weak and I have a hard time walking around. This should fix itself in a couple of weeks. I still have the fungus in my lungs but they say it will take a few months for this to go away. I still have no graft vs. host diesease, I hope that I get a little bit but not to much it can be very nasty.

I will try and keep this blog up to date, I see my doctor here in Vegas this Wednesday, look for an update then.


Take care

INFUSION DAY

Today was the big day and am I glad it is over. Ty went in at 9:00 am and donated his t3 cells. Thanks Ty. I went in at 2:00 pm to get the infusion. Good job Casey. It was alot like my Bone Marrow Transplant, only shorter. It took only 3o mins. to do the infusion, and it took a hour and a half for the benadryl to wear off. There were no complications and as my Doctor put it "I look better in person than on paper". They are looking for some sort of Graft Vs. Host reaction, this will take 4-6 weeks to happen. Then they treat me with some sort of drugs that will contain the Graft Vs. Host. Looks like we will be going back to Las Vegas this Saturday.

We will see what takes place over the next few weeks.

Casey

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Quick update. On Monday I will get an infusion of Ty's blood cells. Apparently the harvest Ty's cells in the morning and put them into me that afternoon. It should be pretty straight forward. They say that we will be able to go home by Saturday, one that I do know is that can change pretty fast. I really hope it is Friday but we will have to wait and see what happens.