Derrick Update 11/13/2014
Posted by Perrin Derrick On November 14, 2014
Overall a good week. New things are coming soon to the video production side of these post.
Have a good friday
I’ve got a bomb on my back and its saving my life
Posted by Perrin Derrick On November 13, 2014
Trying to stay cool with chemo on my back
Each 21 days I start a new 5 day cycle. Each 5 days brings be a mix of chemotherapy that is trying to kill my cancer while coming close to killing me. It took me a long time to get okay with chemotherapy and allow it to run in my veins. The picc line I have runs into my arm and across into my heart. I had an extra x-ray to make sure it had reached my heart. So chemo start to the heart and then pumped to all the other organs for it to work.
There is the setup. 5 months of showers in plastic wrap.
Hats and chemo go hand in hand, well head in hat.
When the pump line fails in the night you wake up in a pool of chemotherapy. So you pack up all your goodies that were contaminated and take them to the hospital so they can burn it all. Not fun stuff.
A Body In Motion
Posted by Perrin Derrick On November 5, 2014
My first oncologist at MD Anderson was in the Orthopaedics department. Kendra looked at all the people there and then proclaimed,
“They all walk like you do”
Sure enough all the patients there had a limp just like I did. I could try like hell to not to limp and even on the days I thought I was walking good people would still ask me why I was limping. It seemed like there was no getting away from it. The original department put me on crutches and told me to stay off of it. Being that my first MRI, the one that caught the cancer, indicated I had a tear on my hip and a fracture of the bone I knew why I was walking funny. A few days of trekking around MD Anderson on my crutches helps lesson the inflammation in my hip. I also removed all refined food substances from my diet. That was the 1-2 punch to get me prepped and ready to pour chemotherapy on the fire.
After all the scans and test I was bounced from the Orthopaedics to the Lymphoma department. They we not so concerned about me being on crutches and so they went back to storage. Working out and pushing it was something okay-ed by my doctor here at MD Anderson. So I’m back on the bicycle and working out from time to time. On this break I will try harder to eat best and ride hard.
Take Care,
Derrick Perrin
Perrin Cacncer 11.03.2014 Brazos Bend SP
Posted by Perrin Derrick On November 4, 2014
I’m up here at M.D. Anderson for my last day of chemotherapy. Tonight concludes round 3 of 6. He have been lucky to have our family take care of the children for rounds 1 & 2. This time we have them in Houston with us. Things are different, but I think its better to have them here.
Today we spent time hiking Brazos Bend State Park.
We met a retired school teacher at the visitor center and we all got to pet a baby alligator. She was so sweet and asked if I could be added to her prayer list. You bet you lady. She was also nice enough to snap a family photo next to the oldest tree in the park. Prayers back to you sweet lady with the snakes and baby alligators.
We hiked for about 4+ miles and saw one alligator out in the wild. I love it that Kendra loves nature so much and wants to be in it as often as she can. Tomorrow we look to hike in the Big Thicket north of Houston. Wednesday I’m back at MD Anderson for a nulesta shot and then off to Corpus Christi.
Each brake is a bit worse than the previous. Keep in mind I’m accumulating chemotherapy each round. As my doctor put it I will be hit down to 90% the first time and then 90% of 90% the next. So each time my bounce back takes longer. This will be compounded by the upping of dose for round 4. Lets just say I’m probably not going to be taking long walks on the beach or hiking in the woods come round 6. We will see how far my will can go. Somewhere down the road I’m told I will need blood transfusions and other blood products. Yea, blood products… sounds fun right?
Well my battery is about to run out before my Cyclophosphamide does. The nurse acted like I get a bigger dose than the average Joe. Oh well, have a great night!
Derrick Perrin
That Peal Kid, Again
Posted by Perrin Derrick On November 3, 2014
So from about 3rd grade on I have had a friend I just can’t get rid of. His name is Andy and he is here to stay. Today my family had the opportunity to meet up with him and his lovely wife Jill. Yea, Jill Peal, that is her name for the rest of her life. She must really like the guy to sign up for that.
I’m going out on a limb here and want to personally thank her for each and everyone of Andy’s friends. We are so thankful you took over and you are now his keeper.
Jill, God has a special place for you upstairs. Her profession is a 4th grade school teacher so she is fully capable of handling Andy on his level. All kidding aside Andy is family and he has been part of my local Houston support crew. He has been here for me, my wife, and my parents as I sit and take chemotherapy, or get scans done.
From left to right: Derrick Perrin, Andy Peal, Jill Peal
Lunch today was great and Benjamin and Grason both received birthday gifts. They were super pumped up.
When sitting and waiting for chemotherapy one day Andy shared with us that he had been having a lot of head aches and was getting them checked out. Back in high-school Mr. Peal had some seizure issues but never had a true answer to his problem. During one scan the doctors found a tumor but were not concerned. Fast forward to 2014, after a scan or two his doctors showed him a picture into his head. Here, take a look:
So we all have proof of what we already knew, Andy does have a thick skull. But you can also see the 2 tumors. The bigger one is the cause of all the headaches. So he is setup for surgery with a world know surgeon. This would be the same that operated on Gabby Gifford.
So all poking aside Andy and his family need prayers. We will be praying for health and strength and for the skill of the doctors and nurses that will be in-charge of taking care of the tumor. So if you are inclined to put me on your prayer list pleas include my old friend Andy. Oh yea and say an extra one for Jill who is his master care taker.
Take care,
Derrick Perrin
I’m Not Superman
Posted by Perrin Derrick On November 2, 2014
So as Halloween was happening all around I was setting up for my next bag of chemotherapy. Along with getting chemo I get additional drugs that help my body handle the chemotherapy. This includes Prednisone, antibiotics, and every 8 hours one pill for anti-nausea. The hospital likes to put some Zofran in my IV. I think it takes long and I just pop my pill and save myself 30 minutes a day. Take that 30 minutes over 4 days and I have saved myself 2 hours of sitting in a hospital. This sounds good unless you miss your med by 2 hours.
After the Halloween festivities the family all met up at the book store. I was not feeling well and made a deposit in the toilet. I tried to get another med in and had the same results as the previous. At this point I should have taken my pill on time and continued to feel like superman. It wasn’t till I started breaking the dosing in half then it started working for me.
Today has been a good day. I just got hooked up with me 2nd to last bag and I’m good to go to dinner with my extra family who mad it to Houston today. It was go good to have visitors and to sit down and eat with great company.
This will be a great treat.
-Derrick
Phone time cancer fun
Posted by Perrin Derrick On October 23, 2014
As a small business owner I get a lot of calls from people offering me things. Today I got a call from a call center wanting to talk to me about my current health care provider. They were offering to beat any price Out there. Its fun to tell them “sure lets talk” and then follow up with “I’m in active treatment at MD Anderson.” They quickly back track and want to know if anyone I know might need their services. Ha Ha better luck next time sucker.
Now if I could only get the local blood bank to stop calling. I’ve told them 3 times I don’t think they want my blood but they keep calling.
So if you want to stop folks in their tracks just toss out the cancer word and that will change things quick.
Hope you have a great one -Derrick
Celebrating Benjamin’s Birthday
Posted by Perrin Derrick On October 18, 2014
Saturday we celebrate Benjamin’s birthday. Last week on his actual birthday we were in Houston getting chemotherapy. He wanted to have a Buc-ee’s Beaver birthday so Kendra made that happen. On our way back from Houston we stopped off in Wharton, Texas and picked up as much party Buc-ee gear as we could find.
We will post photos of his custom made Buc-ee’s cake after he digs into it.
Take care
dP
Camera Fun – Poland PZO AMAR lens 105mm f/4,5 on Sony NEX
Posted by Perrin Derrick On October 16, 2014
Meet my PZO AMAR 105mm lens from Poland
I have had had this little lens for a while. I think I grabbed it at a pawn shop as a feeble tossed in with another lens purchase. So after a little reading I discovered it is for developing photos. With the right rig you can use it to take photos.
PZO AMAR lens 105mm f/4,5
Here is a short video clip using the AMAR PZ0
Derrick and Diet
Posted by Perrin Derrick On October 16, 2014
Each time you eat something you might want to ask yourself is this going to help or hurt me. That is pretty much what it boils down to. The things you eat will only do those two things. So in a quest to be as health as possible I had a allergy test ran on my blood. This gave me a baseline to start my cancer diet on.
So this video is just a little update on how and what I’m doing this week. I feel really good and back to my high health diet. The chemotherapy effects have warn off and I’m headding back into the edit bay to make some clients happy.
-Derrick
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