I am losing my hair.  I am spilling a small amount of hair onto this keyboard as I type.  I  hope it will remain comboverable (is that a word?).  If you remember back to 2015-16, I was also irradiated.  Back then, I had a bald spot that grew, but then shrank enough so I could do a combover.  I am trying that now.  It basically kills quickly reproducing cells.  I was on a shortened course of irradiation for 10 days until 2/20/19.  That is because my brain can only take so much radiation and still have any Craig cells left. 

I received a “Certificate of Radiation” on my first irradiation.  I enjoyed it so much, I left it on my bed stand.  This time I received a “Congratulations.”  The first quote was kind of creepy for a note about cancer: “Out of every beginning comes a new ending, and out of every end springs a new beginning.”  On my “Congratulations,” I received some wacko “If you can dream it, you can do it.”  I do not know what to say.  Thank you? 

Figure:  On the left two, my somewhat creepy congratulations.  Middle right, getting my mask fitted.  On the far right, my traditional photo with my parents.

I am also taking Temodar (again).  This is chemotherapy light since it probably does not work with me, but I technically did not ‘fail’ it.  That’s a tough drug not to ‘fail.’  I was barfing from 2AM to 5AM the first night I took it.  That’ll get your attention.  Otherwise, my primary oncologist gave some tips on how to take it (Ativan, Prochlopazime, and Zofran) with a Temodar chaser.  So delicious.

I am also taking Pembro (again).  This is an interesting chemotherapy since it is not really chemotherapy, it is immunotherapy.  Basically, it revs up the immune system (I hope) and puts cancer in a bad defensive position.  It works very well in melanoma, small cell lung cancer and something else that I’m forgetting.  I do a lot of this these days.  What were we talking about?

New to the regimen is Avastin.  I know this works because my brain was scrambled before I took it, and this cleared it up afterward.  This showed immediate results;  This was a definite winner.  

Enough about side effects of my new treatment.  Here are some pictures of my kids.

 

 

Figure: Staci said I did not take enough pictures of her.  Case closed.

Figure:  You can figure it out.  Actually, All Ella All the Time.  Ella trying on her tech suit.  Ella driving to districts.  Ella swimming a beautiful freestyle.

 

 

Figure:  Left side, Connor playing futsal.  We like to say Connor plays the game, and Mia plays parallel to a game.  She just runs up and down the court without touching the ball more than necessary.  Lower left, Connor with his two grandfathers.  Middle right, Allison with her two closest in age cousins.  Lower right, our kids and their grandmother GG.