One down...five more to go

Larry took out his chemo pump yesterday and is now officially done with one of six chemo treatments.  In two weeks he will start his second.  I am so grateful that he tolerated the chemo well.  Other than being a little tired, he had no side effects.  He was back to a full day of work today.

Thank you to all of your thoughts and prayers.  My family is overwhelmed by all of the support we have received over the last month and half.


Sox it to it Lar...

Today was a good day...on chemo

24 hours into his first dose of chemo and he is busy cleaning his condo and having lunch with a friend.  He slept well last night-even with the obnoxious pump attached and the large amounts of steroids in his system.  And at lunch today he had a cold pop and he tolerated it fine.  I would say today was a good day...on chemo.  

and girls too!

On another note, my brother's colonoscopy came back clean.  Well...he does have a little diverticulitis and roids but no sign of cancer.  My cousins, Phil and Jill, also had their butts probed and they are clean as well.  I wish I could report on my mom's colonoscopy but she has yet to make an appointment.  Just 18 years over due.

It was a good news day in our family.  I'll take those days every day!

Sox it to it Lar...

Ist chemo. check.

My brother had his first chemo today.  
To give you an idea on how it went, this is what he posted on Facebook:  
Round one of chemo is in the books and I'm feeling good.  Enough said.  

His 'chemo' days look like this - 
1.    4 hours at Northwestern getting chemo

Catching up on some reading...

and some internet...

And some "resting of the eyes"  a.k.a. sleeping

2.  Then he is hooked up to a pump that he wears for 48 hours that dispenses more chemo - 

His new fashion accessory - the chemo fannie pack :)

And that's all folks.  He is to expect sensitivity to cold - so he has to drink everything at room temperature, not go into the refrigerator and handle cold things.  He will also be fatigued while on the chemo.  He is finished with the pump on Friday and then doesn't go back for another round for 2 weeks.  Keep your fingers crossed that he tolerates the chemo and he doesn't experience too many side effects.

P.S. did you see the Sox swept the Yankees today?  Coincidence?  I don't think so!!


Sox it to it Lar... 

Coincidence? I don't think so.

On October 26, 2005 the Chicago White Sox won the World Series.  To date, I bet my brother would say it is the happiest day of his life.  Larry and I watched the final game against Houston at a bar in Chicago.  I'll never forget when Juan Uribe threw out Palereimo for the final out.  The bar erupted in high fives, cheers and of course Journey's song "Don't Stop believing" (the White Sox theme song) was blaring in the background. I turned to give my brother a high five and a hug and I saw tears streaming down his face.  This was the moment he had dreamed about....He had believed in this team from day one and never gave up hope even when most people wrote them off and thought they were overrated and a team that couldn't finish-just choke.  

For those of you who don't remember that year, the White Sox had a 14 game lead in the ALC at the end of July and by the middle of August they had lost 8 of 9 games and their lead crumbled to 7 games.  They of course came back  and finished the regular season strong and absolutely dominated in the play-offs...quickly silencing their critics.  

My brother deserved those tears of joy.  He stuck by this team when most abandoned them. He kept reminding my mom and I, when we would call him and ask what is going wrong, to just be patient. And he was right.  

That awesome day in 2005 was a Wednesday....my brother starts chemotherapy this Wednesday.  Coincidence?  I don't think so. The 2005 World Champions renewed his faith, created real hope, and gave him reason to believe.  All traits he will continue to need throughout his journey with cancer.  This video highlights the championship season but also looks ahead to the future with great optimism.  There were many peaks and valleys, high's and low's, throughout the White Sox championship season, but they were patient, they never gave up, and more importantly they believed in themselves.

This Wednesday will mark the day my brother takes his first at bat with cancer on the mound.  The hardest part is you never know what pitch it will throw at you - I'm sure he'll see a couple curve balls, maybe even a few change ups.  But one thing that I am certain about is that my brother will be patient in the batter's box and and he will fight off every pitch cancer throws at him.  How do I know this?  He learned from the best - thank you White Sox.  Let it begin....

Sox it to it Lar...

Butt probed

I got the all clear for my colon today.  This morning I had my first colonoscopy.  I have to tell you, it wasn't bad at all.  I started my prep drink last night at 5:00 and that was the worse part, and I have to say that wasn't too bad.  I mixed it with a packet of crystal light, left it in the refrigerator for it to get cold and then drank it with a straw.  Thanks to my Aunt Gwin for all of the pointers.  I am learning that there are many different kinds of colon prep.  I feel I lucked out with mine.  I had to drink a quart of the mixture in an hour (8 oz. every 15 minutes), then wait an hour and a half and then drink another quart.  That sure cleaned my system out let me tell ya!

I arrived at Northwestern  45 minutes before my procedure.  Within 30 minutes I was checked in, dressed in my robe and had an IV in.  I walked to the operating room, laid down on the bed and within 10 minutes I was out like a light.  I woke up in recovery very thirsty, hungry and drowsy but did not feel at all like my butt was probed.  I was a little sleepy so I took a nap when I got home and woke up and went about my day.  The doctor said my colon looked good - he didn't have to remove anything - and I will now have to get a colonoscopy every three years for the rest of my life.  Piece of cake!

Next week my cousins go in for a colonoscopy (yay!  Phil and Jill) - have you scheduled yours yet??  Well, my mom has yet to schedule hers, so why don't you email her (gmatson10@gmail.com) or text her (312) 505-4511 and let her know she's WELL over due.  Maybe that will due the trick. LOVE YOU MOM :)

My brother goes in next Tuesday for his butt probe.  Everyone cannot believe that he was diagnosed with colon cancer but has never had a colonoscopy.  Maybe his procedure will be 1/2 the time since he doesn't have 2 feet of his colon.  One advantage I guess :)  Just kidding bro - you know I love ya.

Sox it to it Lar...

It's all good under his hood!!!

Today is a good day.  Larry's CT scans (upper and lower) came back clear which means he currently has no tumors. This is fantastic news!!!!  What a relief!  
He also went to work today for the first time in over a month.  Of course he is exhausted but he said it was great to get back.

I am SO grateful for the good news today.  It's a BIG sigh of relief!

Now, I am off to read the directions on the special cocktail I get to indulge on for my colonoscopy on Thursday morning.  I had enough nerve to send this text to my brother tonight, "got the drinks for my colonscopy today :("  REALLY?! A frown face?????   I'm complaining that I have to drink 2 drinks for my colonscopy?  After all my brother has been through and all the drinks he had to suck down for his CT scans????  Uhhh... I have to keep reminding myself it's all about perspective! 

Sox it to it Lar...

Later PICC-line, hello port

After spending quality time with our family this weekend, Lar was back to business.  We were at Northwestern this morning to get rid of the PICC-line and add a port.  Lar is officially done with antibiotics and all of the inconveniences that come with them.  He can finally shower on his own and go back to work tomorrow!  The port will allow easy access for his chemo regiment that starts next week.

This weekend my aunt Gwin treated us to the Kevin Nealon show on Saturday night.  He was hilarious and so were the two comedians that opened for him.  Nothing better than our family and a few laughs!

Aunt Gwin and Lar on the stage at the Laugh Factory

Sox it to it Lar...

We are Family

This weekend was full of family, friends and fun.  Our family came from all over to celebrate our newest family member - Livia.  I don't know where we would be today without our family support and love.  I thank each and everyone one of you!  Enjoy our family photos...

Our cousins - Jill, Amy, Lar, me, Kelly and Angela

  

Our very talented cousin Gayle painted this picture for them

My beautiful mom and I

Larry and Livia's mom, Stela

Livia, our grandma and Larry

My mom, me and Aunt Gwin

Lar and cousin Kelly

Livia and her mom, Stela

My mom, Livia and I

Shannon, Livia's maid of honor, and Livia

Me and cousin Angela

Cousin Amy and Grandma

Livia and our family friend, Jackie

Larry and Livia get a 'duck' from my mom.
For those of your that don't know the duck is legendary in our family

Sox it to it Lar...

Our Superhero

Some people have hercules others have superwoman, Larry and I have our mom.  Yesterday, was my mom's birthday and we celebrated her all day.  She deserved a day long celebration - celebrating her superpower strength, resiliency and compassion.  People are amazed at my brother's strength and 'pick yourself up, move ahead and fight like hell' attitude he has put on display throughout this past month.  It doesn't surprise me at all....he's learned from the best.  My mom.  She has guided us through life leading by example.  Our family has faced many challenges and we've always looked to my mom to lead us.  She has shown us how to be strong and don't give up when everything around you feels like it's falling a part, she has shown us a delicate balance between compassion and not feeling sorry for yourself, she has shown us what it means to stick by the ones you love regardless of the circumstance, and most importantly she has shown us how the power of three can never be divided only strengthened.

Everyone asks me, "How is your mom doing?"  well... here's your answer - she is continuing to do what she does best.  She's leading our family by example and showing extraordinary strength.  hmmm...isn't that the definition of a super hero???  Yep, she's our superhero.

My mom's manicure..notice the one gold nail.  Superhero'ish' don't you think??

Larry getting a pedicure...can't have one without a little champagne

The gang at my mom's birthday dinner

Sox it to it Lar...

Barium is the mountain dew

Larry downing the barium - wishing it was a mountain dew

These days it seems Larry's drink of choice is barium.  Today was Lar's third CT scan of the month.  He has to drink 2 full containers of it spread out over 2 hours before the test is administered.  He does pretty well with it, it's the last few sips that make him gag.
We don't have the CT results back yet.  He got an upper and a lower this time. The lower was to make sure the antibiotics are doing their job and dissolving the remaining abscess and the upper is to scan his chest to make sure there are no tumors hiding out.
After his CT scans today, we had a little family bonding with our Aunt Gwin who is in from California.  This weekend is sure to be filled with lots of family and fun-  My aunt, cousin and I are throwing Livia a bridal shower on Saturday and my other cousins and grandma are also joining us.  Good family memories in the making!   
Tomorrow is my mom's birthday.  I cannot wait to celebrate her-the strongest woman I know....more on that to come.


Sox it to it Lar...

The Cancer Game Plan

We met with Dr. Stein, Lar's oncologist, yesterday to hear and understand her plan for his treatment.  We feel so fortunate that Dr. Stein is joining our team, she is patient, thorough and extremely knowledgeable - a great combo to have in an oncologist.
So, here's Larry's cancer game plan - 

1. Larry will start chemo on August 22.  He will receive 6 cycles - one every two weeks. The chemo takes approximately 4 hours to administer in the clinic.  He then will go home with a chemo pump for another 48 hours.
2. After the first round of chemo is complete, we will wait 3 weeks and then Dr. Stein will check him again-tumors, counts, etc.  
3. Dr. Salti, the surgical oncologist, will be up to bat next.  He will perform the 'chemo bath' of his abdominal area.  This surgery is no picnic so Lar will need quite a long time to recover.  He is used to the 'after surgery in the hospital' stuff (5-7 days) - he already has had major surgery. This surgery will need more recovery time after he is out of the hospital. 
4. We then will wait for him to recover, and the doctors will re-evaluate Larry and come up with a plan from there.

I can't express enough how fortunate we feel with the team of doctors Larry has chosen.  I am continually amazed at their compassion with Larry and our family.  Here's an example, Dr. Stein let us know in the meeting that she is available via text from 9AM-10PM every day for any non-emergency questions/comments.  She even took our cell phone numbers.  I thought that was very cool and she even text messsaged us yesterday a couple hours after the meeting to tell us how great it was to meet us.  We can't ask for more than that!

Lar's antibiotics should be done by Sunday, his PICC-line will be converted into a port on Monday and then it's back to work for him.  He cannot wait!!!

Sox it to it Lar...

Top of the Second

OPTIMISM. HOPE. Two ideas I have been clinging to lately.  I find myself glued to the Olympics this year.  Whether the athlete is an American or not the reactions of the winner when their flag is raised and their anthem is sung is indescribable (literally - I left this blank until I finished the entry and I still couldn't find a word).  Being able to witness someone's life-long dream come true exudes hope to anyone that watches. 

I don't know about you all but with the recent tragedies going on around us I find myself craving anything good in our world.  The Olympics satisfies the craving of hope, and last night I watched Curiosity fall from the sky and successfully land on mars.  To watch the cheers, hugs, high fives and tears from the NASA team, who waited in anticipation for a successful landing, was an incredible moment for our country.  The Curiosity was originally suppose to cost $1.6 billion and was suppose to launch in the fall of 2009, but technical hurdles forced this mission to wait 2 years until Mars and Earth lined up in proper position.  Leaving many to doubt the competency of our space program. At 10:32 PM on August 5, Alex Chen, an engineer in the control room, silenced the doubters when he said, "Touchdown confirmed".  I fell asleep last night with renewed optimism.

In the following weeks, we enter the 'unknown' phase of my brother's diagnosis.  We meet with his oncologist for the first time to learn of his 'treatment plan', he gets a PET scan to see if the cancer is anywhere else, and he is still recovering from a major surgery with the possibilities of more complications.  The unknown phase is certainly uncomfortable but I'm grateful for the Olympians for showing me hope and the Curiosity for showing me optimism.  


I was reading the New York Times this morning and this quote about the Curiosity landing stuck out to me...

"We have ended one phase of the mission much to our enjoyment," mission manager Mike Watkins said. "But another part has just begun."

It perfectly describes where we are with Larry's cancer journey.  We are grateful that his emergency surgery was successful - tumors are out, and connection has held.  But we're at the top of the second..no outs. no one on. and Larry Matson, the All-Star, steps up to the plate.

Sox it to it Lar...

LOL

I thought at least the one thing I could get out of this whole my brother has colon cancer thing is I could always say, 
"My brother's colon is bigger than your brother's colon" but no...someone else has us beat -

Here's a picture of Anthony Bourdain's favorite part of the
Mutter Museum- the Mega Colon

I was caught up researching colon cancer one night this week and all of sudden in one of my google searches this picture pops up.  I literally laughed out loud and could not stop.  WHO or WHAT has a colon this big??!! 

As you all can tell, if I'm including this Mega Colon in the blog, there's not much to update you on - which is a good thing!  Lar is still feeling good just getting antsy to return to work.  With the PICC-line in, he is unable to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds.  In the tire business you need to be able to move tires- tires are heavier than 10 pounds- so he will have to wait until the line comes out to return to work. The antibiotics will be done next Sunday so we are hoping he'll return in a week.

At least he has a lot going on this week and has some things to look forward to.  We meet with the oncologist for the first time on Tuesday.  We were suppose to meet with her last week but he was busy fighting off abscesses, so we had to reschedule.  Then our family is coming into town for Livia's bridal shower that is on Saturday.  Lar is going to be one busy boy!!

Sox it to it Lar...

A normal Day....

We've definitely returned to 'normal' here in the Matson world.  Other than IV dosages every 6 hours you wouldn't know anything is different.


First, we've all established a healthy lifestyle.  I have done plenty of research on diet and cancer- and Lar is on board and embraced the lifestyle.  Today, I went to the farmer's market, like I always do on Saturday, but this time it was with a purpose- to keep my brother healthy. 

Farmer's market gold for Lar!

Tonight one of my mom's dearest friend, Dennis, came to talk about wedding flowers.  He will be the florist in charge of Liv and Larry's wedding on September 15th.  Dennis is not only a genius florist but also a dear friend of the family.  Gosh, he has been doing flowers for our family for the last 25 years!!!  I cannot wait to see what he has in store for this wedding- it will definitely be special. 

Dennis and my mom catching up....just like old time.

Lar is feeling good, his appetite is back and he's pooping regularly (I know you all were wondering).  Today was a happy day!




Sox it to it Lar...

Home Sweet Home Part Deux

At 10:30 last night Lar was discharged from the hospital for the second time in a month.  He slept very well in his own bed.  This morning a nurse came to show Livia and I how to administer his antibiotics/heprin through his PICC-line.  He needs to have it every 6 hours for the next 9 days.

We went for a long walk....

And sat and watched TV, played on the computer/ipad and took naps :)

Larry and Lucy 

Sox it to it Lar...

Waiting....

Lar will go home tonight.  The doctors want him to get two more dosages of his antibiotic before he can leave the hospital.  He is getting one right now and then he'll get the last one at 9:00.  Until then...we wait.  He's watching the olympics, reading the paper and texting.  A loooong day of waiting around.
Tomorrow morning the home health care nurse will make a visit to administer his next dosage of antibiotics and show him how to do it on his own.  Lar will be on these antibiotics for the next 10 days, every 6 hours.
It will be good to have him back home again.




Sox it to it Lar....

I love antibiotics!!!

They worked!  The antibiotics are doing their job and draining the abscess so Lar will not have to have any additional procedures done.  YAY!!  He can start eating again, he won't have an IV that makes him pee every hour, AND he will go home tomorrow.  Exactly, the news we were waiting for.  Ahhhh...I am SO happy.


I have to tell you the roller coaster ride my brother was on this week.  Anytime he has to have a procedure done he cannot eat or drink ANYTHING (not even water or ice chips)!!! The abbreviation for this 'diet' is NPO (nil per os meaning nothing by mouth).  
I think a chart will best describe this roller coaster -


Sunday afternoon/night - CAT scan = NPO (all day); procedure scheduled for
                                   Monday afternoon=NPO (all night)
Monday - procedure not until 2:00 = NPO all morning until 2:00; 
                     came back from procedure could eat/drink until midnight
Tuesday -   midnight until noon = NPO on the chance he MAY need another
               procedure; 
              finally hear back from the doctors at noon that he will not need it
              today=NPO for nothing!  Can eat until midnight
Today - midnight until 2:00=NPO on the chance he MAY need another 
          procedure 
           At 2:00 found out he won't need another procedure = PRICELESS 


As I type this he is scarfing down a turkey sandwich, soup, juice and yogurt.  
He has been so patient with this roller coaster ride, he even doesn't mind if we eat/drink in front of him.  He would get a little grouchy but who wouldn't!  I know I've said it before but my brother is an All-Star!

The sign on his door letting the world know he can't eat/drink

The sign is officially off his door for good!  

         

Sox it to it Lar...