Olga picture

Here is a picture of me sailing with the Olga crew in Traverse city probably last summer. I have been sailing with them for five years. They are great people!

Wedding Pictures

Our wedding photographer keeps updating her photo page and adding new pictures to it.

http://www.heathermariephoto.com/Katie

There are a ton of wedding pictures on there now and the 'proof' has been removed.

Thanks Heather!

Back Home...

So, I survived the week of crises and I am deeply appreciative of that. I returned from the hospital on Thursday night. I spent Friday in Reed City, MI working out the details of my radiation plan.

I have been feeling alright. I'm eating really healthy raw organic veggis as the main portion of every meal again. I don't eat refined flour, wheat, sugar, or dairy. I've been eating like this for a few months now and I do have more energy and feel healthier.

I am also trying to decide on what alternative treatments and supplement to begin.

I am back at school pursuing my degree this morning and I think I can handle my responsibilities well without overburdening myself. I'm going to take it one day at a time. Staying active in school will help keep my mind on other things than just fighting cancer. I think I would go insane if I was to take a medical withdraw from school.

The hardest part of my recovery so far is by far the major doses of steroids I am on. They make me feel agitated most of the time and keep me from sleeping a restful night. It reduces swelling so it beats having a permanent shunt installed in my brain with a tube draining it into my stomach.

Thanks so much for the kind words and thoughts that have been pouring my way!

Isn't Brian's attitude awesome?

This is Katie, Brian's wife, writing today. We received good news this morning. :)

Brian had an MRI last night, and it appears that a shunt is not needed--the hydrocephalus shrunk to a safe level (whew!). The doctors have assured us that radiation is attacking cancer cells and also protecting Brian from hydrocephalus (as a result of the cancer disturbing normal flow) for the time being. It is also positive news that the docs here are trying to set up radiation in Reed City (rather than in Detroit) for the remaining 15-20 sessions of his treatment plan. So far he's had 5 days of radiation (none on Sunday).

We've been at Karmanos for a week now, and going home, sleeping in our own bed, and waking up to a flowing river out of window sounds really great.

Thanks so much to everyone for your prayers, love, and phone calls! It is a support just to hear your voices. Also thanks to Geoff May, Josh and Shane (and Daniel and Lillian), Aunt Linda, Jessie, Trevor, and Tina, Aunt Cathy, and Laurie (mom) for the company!

Another update

I was scheduled to have surgery today at 2pm, but I changed my mind this morning with the help of a doctor I really trust. We are going to wait for the radiation to work a little bit before deciding if a shunt is truly necessary. I really don't want another hole drilled in my head if it isn't necessary.

I really don't know how vulnerable to be on this website because anyone can read it, but things have been scary lately. I was hoping to come to Karmanos on Friday and receive another round of chemo and then go home to normal life. That didn't happen and now Katie, the doctors, and I are wrestling with questions like what is the best route to simply lengthen my life... quality of life questions and what is the liklihood of a cure?

More information will hopefully come our way tomorrow.

Medical Update

The swelling in my brain due to the blockage of spinal fluid is not due to any one tumor mass in my brain. The neurology people think that the lymphoma is keeping the fluid from flowing regularly. They have decided that the best thing to do is to have a drain and valve (shunt) put into my brain to drain the fluid into my gut when the pressure rises.

I was hoping that the radiation would alleviate the problems associated with the swelling, but it is looking like surgery is most practical option for relieving the swelling problems that are life threatening.

So, tomorrow, surgery. Hopefully I will be able to go home on tuesday or wednesday. I can hopefully continue the radiation regimen in Reed City. The question remains as to weather there is lymphoma in the spinal fluid. I am conerned that there is a risk of it spreading into my stomach once the shunt is installed.

More Pictures Added to Wedding Picture Blog

I added about twenty pictures to the wedding blog today. I'll keep adding more pictures to share as they come our way.

www.brianandkatiewedding.blogspot.com

Wedding Pictures!

Our photographer has given us access to a group of photos that she took before the wedding. Here is the website she is using for now. Sorry for the 'proof' watermark on each picture. At the moment I don't know how to access them without the watermark.

http://www.heathermariephoto.com/Katie/

Katie and I have received pictures from so many attendees. Thank you very much!
I will be adding more and more pictures to the following page. Right now there are only a few, but I will be trying add clumps of ten or more on a single day, so check back for updates and pictures you don't already have.

Check here for the pictures from friends and relatives:

http://brianandkatiewedding.blogspot.com/

I want to congradulate Nick Edwards and Amber Hendrickson on their recent engagement. May the wedding season continue and may they have a wonderful marrige!

Radiation

Thankfully, radiation is painless. The people in the radiation department had a great personality. It really makes life easier when people are friendly.

Radiation Started

So they stuck me in a giant microwave for ten minutes and now my brain is medium-rare.

Chemo Scrapped and Radiation now in effect

I was hoping that the chemotherapy would put me into another remission; however, that is not the case. On tuesday I noticed some backpain and a headache. It got progressively worse the next few days and so I called the docs in Detroit to schedule an MRI to check-out what was going on. So far, I have a perfect record for knowing when things are not peachy neurologically. Unfortunately, I was right again...

Apparently, there has been some blockage of my ventricles of cancer. To make a long story short the doctors concluded that now is the time to do radiation to prevent further hydrocephalus(pressure + h20 on the brain).

This is very disappointing to me because radiation is saved for when the chemo stops working. I was hoping that would be further in the future.