I’m disappointed in my medical care. I’m prescribed a protocol of chemotherapy that is engineered to kick my cancer to the curb. It is called EPOCH-R and is comprised of a drug for each letter of the acronym.

Friday – On my first 24 hour setup it dawned on me I was not given the P med. That is Prednisone for the pharmacy folks. I had to call in and get it. I take it each day. It is a steroid and assist helping the chemo kick ass. Without the P this would be useless.

Monday – I’m back at the center to hand in my back pack and have my last round of anti nausea meds ran with my one  hour of Cyclophosphamide. That is the mustard gas derivative that makes me sterile.

So today the nurse didn’t know that I was set to receive a bag of fun cycloprmo-jo-jo-pharmacide.

This marks the 2nd time during this chemotherapy run that I had to give a  reminder in order for me to stick to the protocol.  I expect better from the number 1. And for the price I should get the world.

So enough with me covering my own ass over here. Kendra and I had one heck of a day.

We went to the Herman Park and ended up in the zoo. Sure Kendra was there last week but this time I was her only responsibility. I know I had a great time and Kendra is happy she made friends with a giraffe and he came over to be pet. I will post up zoo photos later.

Today we played around taking photos with the “new to me” lens we bought this week. It was well worth the 40 bucks. It is a super zoom lens when attached to my NEX7 Sony camera.

Well enough nerd talk right now. Zoo photos will be up on Facebook later tonight. We will have some clinic time on Tuesday and then off to Corpus Christi.

Take care of yourself
Derrick

Daily update from MDA. 10.11.14: http://youtu.be/wErPuQkzAmk

Click the link above for the latest video update by derrick. .

So this is day 3 of my 2nd round of chemotherapy. This is different from my first round of chemo. Since I was such a good patient on the first round I’m able to take my chemo out of the hospital. I have a backpack that gets refilled once a day. Take a look.

Each night we drop my MD Anderson and pickup my next 24 hours of chemotherapy. They check me out and send me on my way. So I’m locked into wearing this backpack that sounds like a automatic soap dispenser. I’m still not use to having it connected to my piccl line so I often stand up and start to walk away from it and it follows me.

I get rid of the pack late Monday night. I looks like It will run till 11:30 and then I have another bag of chemo that last an hour.  By the time I get use to totting this bag around it will be gone. This is how my following rounds will be administered.

Love – Derrick

Today I get hooked up for 4 hours and then I’m given a bag to take with me. Looks like nap time for me.

Derrick, out.

During this cancer process there have been a few things that have made it more real. There is a lot of denial that takes place. I have tried to be real about everything that is going on but sometimes you sit there and hope the doctors have it all wrong. You hope that the scan comes back negative and your life will jump back to normal. After my first MRI scan I could not get through another scan without shedding a tear. Each and every test or scan brought me closer and closer to putting the denial away and accepting the fact I do have cancer and this is my new life.

After all my scans and biopsy work, my next hurdle was walking into my hospital room. Up to that point I had been diagnosed but not treated for cancer. Now that I was there at the door threshold I was still thinking, “If they don’t hook me up to that machine, if they don’t start pushing chemo, I don’t have cancer.

My first run of chemotherapy came and went and I’m starting to realize I might have cancer. While in my stay at M.D. Anderson everyone kept asking if I still had all my hair. Knowing they were pushing hard chemo on me I knew it was going to come out somewhere down the line. I told Kendra one day in the hospital about my fear of my hair coming out. I didn’t have a fear of walking around with a bald head, but the fact I can still deny cancer up till that day.

That day is here!

So I was brushing my teeth and I decided to wet my hair and style it. I quickly noticed a few extra hairs in the sink. Oh crap, I’m loosing my hair. I know I have no choice of how my body reacts to chemotherapy but I was hoping to be one of the chosen ones who keeps their hair. I know this was just wishful thinking and that if I loose my hair its not the end of the world because I still have life. Check me out in this little video clip.

So there you have it, I’m back to being bald. This was my choice hair cut my senior year in high-school. Due to loss of weight and loss of hair I’m back to the same style and weight I was when I started my senior year.

So there you have it, the answer is YES I will loose my hair. Yes, I have cancer and yes I’m fighting everyday.

Thanks for the prayers

Derrick Perrin, the bald guy.