There are three journals: First Symptoms until relapse Click on any of the links above to go to the other journals |
7 Mar 01 This was the first day I had any indication I was sick. I was coming home from the officers' club at 2100 when I started to feel I had a fever. When I arrived home, the thermometer confirmed I was running 102 degrees. That night I had chills, fevers and night sweats, but I woke up feeling fine the next day and went to work and flew a test sortie. 9 Mar 01 After feeling fine for two days, the whole thing repeated itself on this night--chills, fever, night sweats, woke up feeling great. 11 Mar 01 Repeat of the last few days. Felt great for two days and this night I had the chills, fever, night sweats. Only this time I woke up feeling lousy and still running a fever. 14 Mar 01 Finally dragged myself to the flight surgeon after running a fever and feeling weak for the last 4 days. I was given Amoxicilin because it appeared I might be developing a slight case of pneumonia. I was coughing and generally feeling like I had the flu. 18 Mar 01 The fever is gone and I am feeling pretty good, but I have developed a rash on my chest. I quit taking the Amoxicilin because I figure I am having an allergic reaction. Of course I don't tell my flight surgeon that I am having a rash or that I quit taking the medication. 21 Mar 01 The fever is back and I feel weak and I am coughing again with stuff in my lungs. I call my flight surgeon and he puts me on another antibiotic called Zithromax. 27 Mar 01 The Zithromax does nothing. I still have the fever and I am still coughing up a lung. I called my flight surgeon but he is out of town. I talk to another flight surgeon and he switches me to Bactrim. 3 Apr 01 The coughing has cleared up, but the fever is still there and now my gut is killing me. I have no appetite and nothing is moving in either direction. I call the flight surgeon, but now the first two are out of town so I talk to a third flight surgeon. He brings me in for a check up and I am sent to radiology for some GI test. These test reveal what looks like a small bowel obstruction. I am admitted to the Eglin AFB hospital for the first time. 5 Apr 01 I go through a procedure where they put a camera down my throat and into my stomach and intestines to see if they can see the problem. No luck, it doesn't show anything. I am scheduled for exploratory surgery of the intestines for the next day 6 Apr 01 The plan is to just make a small incision and look with a camera at my intestines. They don't like what they see so they cut me open and pull it all out. They still don't like what they see, so they take a biopsy and stuff it all back in and close me up. 8 Apr 01 While recovering from surgery, I find out I have developed a blood clot in my right leg. Very unusual for a 41 year old man in good health who was only on the table for a couple of hours. 10 Apr 01 The biopsy from the surgery comes back and shows I have a condition known as Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis (EG). This is a very rare condition where eosinophils (type of white blood cells) invade the intestines. They basically shut down the intestines while they attempt to do their work. Unfortunately there is no work for them to do because it is only an allergic reaction and there really isn't anything wrong with the intestines. Taking steroids can control this condition and I begin the treatment. 16 Apr 01 Steroids are working and I am feeling good with my gut. However, I have now developed another blood clot in my left leg. Very unusual. Also, I am still running a low-grade fever, mostly at night. This fever has never gone away since it started over a month ago. Additionally, my platelet counts have been ping ponging back and forth from 55,000 to 100,000 (200,000+ is normal) since I showed up at the hospital. I am released from the hospital today. 18 Apr 01 My blood clot in my left leg has become so bad that I can't walk. I am re-admitted into the hospital. I am still running a low-grade fever and my blood counts are still all over the place. 25 Apr 01 My blood clots are finally starting to get better. I have been taking Warfarin (a blood thinner) to keep the clots from getting worst. I am released from the hospital again. Still running low-grade fever. 7 May 01 My low-grade fever is now turning into a high-grade fever. I have been running 103 and 104 degree fevers for the past few days. I am admitted to the Eglin hospital for the third time today. 9 May 01 The Eglin AFB hospital can not figure out why I have such a high fever and I am air evacuated on a C-9 to Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Hospital in San Antonio, TX. 10 May 01 I have a bone marrow biopsy today. Still running 104 degree fevers. 11 May 01 I am diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Still running 104 degree fevers. It appears the Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis and the blood clots are all related to the AML. I will begin chemotherapy next Monday. 14 May 01 Because of the Warfarin blood thinner I am taking, they cannot install the Hickman catheter today so my chemo is delayed until tomorrow. They have given me four units of plasma to dilute the Warfarin. Now running 105 degree fevers, mostly at night. They are having me sleep on a cooling pad and putting ice packs under my leg and arm pits and under my neck. It works, but it is painful. 15 May 01 I have the Hickman catheter installed today. This thing is the greatest thing since sliced bread. While I was at the Eglin Hospital, I estimate I was stuck with a needle over 200 times. With the Hickman, you have a port that is inserted in your chest and it connects to the main vein that is heading toward your heart. There are three lines coming off the device that can be used to administer drugs and/or draw blood from. As long as the line stays infection free, it can remain in your chest for two years if needed. It is not uncomfortable and you can take a shower without worrying about it. The dressing on it needs changing every other day. I started the "induction" phase of chemotherapy today. The regiment is three days of a drug called Idarubicin. This drug is administered via the Hickman and takes about 2 hours each day for it all to empty into me. While this is going on, another drug called Cytarabine is administered via the Hickman for 7 days. It runs for 24 hours a day for the entire 7-day period. Side effects from this medicine can include loss of hair, nausea, anemia, tiredness, increased risk of infection, sore mouth, stomach and/intestinal irritation and increased risk of bleeding or bruising. The drugs are supposed to kill the fast dividing cells in your body. Cancer cells (leukemia cells in my case) are very fast dividing. Unfortunately, hair follicles, mucus membranes (your mouth, stomach, and intestines) and healthy bone marrow are all fast dividing cells, also. The drugs should kill all the leukemia cells, but they will kill most of the good bone marrow also. The eventual effect will be for your body to stop making white and red blood cells and platelets. When this happens you will become "neutrapenic", which means you will basically have no immune system to fight off infections. This usually happens within a week of finishing the chemo and it takes another week or two for the bone marrow to recover. This stuff is a miracle drug. Within one hour of starting the chemo, my fever dropped from 102 degrees to 98.6 degrees. 22 May 01 I finished my induction chemo today. So far I have had zero side effects. I never felt sick, I have been eating like a horse and I'm not tired. I have not run a fever since the first hour of taking the chemo. Of course, the effects of these drugs will start taking their toll very soon. I have another bone biopsy scheduled for 29 May 01 to see if the chemo has done its job. 29 May 01 The chemo is doing its job. My red and white cells and platelets counts are in the cellar. I have been given blood and platelets a couple of times to keep those readings high enough to keep me out of trouble. If the red cells get too low you get real light-headed and have no strength. If the platelets get too low, you can start bleeding without notice from almost anywhere. I like getting the whole blood. It boosts my energy and makes me feel good. I still have had zero side effects from the chemo other than being tired some days. I had my bone marrow biopsy today. The readings were great! There is no leukemia cells in the marrow. Of course there is hardly any cells in the marrow. The next big test will be in two weeks after the bone marrow starts to grow back. 31 May 01 The doctors have the results back from the original bone marrow biopsy on 11 May 01. I have been classified with AML M0 with normal chromosomes. Basically this means I am an intermediate risk level. They classify AML into low, intermediate and high risk. Low means that long term survival chances are very good. Intermediate means it could go either way. High means you don't have a very good chance of staying in remission if you ever get there. This is good news. Besides, God doesn't do statistics. He will either allow me to be healed or He won't. Nancy and I have put our total faith in Him. 3 Jun 01 Well, my hair has been falling out at a rapid pace. When I finished my shower today it looked like someone had shaved a poodle in there. I had one of the med-techs come and shave my head. I look like an egg now, but taking a shower will be a lot easier. This is still the only side effect I have had from the chemo other than being tired some days. 5 Jun 01 I have picked up an infection in my Hickman. I am now on an antibiotic to try and save the Hickman. If it has to come out, they will relocate it on the other side of my chest. The dressing will now be changed daily and an antibiotic ointment will be applied to the site. I really hope this thing doesn't have to come out. 6 Jun 01 Nancy and I prayed for the infection in the Hickman to go away, but we didn't expect it to happen this fast. Today the site looks infection free and the cultures are not showing anything. I will stay on the antibiotics for the entire 10 days, but praise the Lord for miracles. 8 Jun 01 My blood counts are recovering faster than we thought they would, so I am having the big bone marrow biopsy today. The results are back...less than 2% blast in the bone marrow (less than 5% is considered great). I am in remission!!!!!! Once again, I must give credit to the Lord. Nancy and I and hundreds of other people have been praying for my healing. He uses the doctors and the medicine to deliver the healing, but all credit belongs to Him. I have been released from the hospital and I'm now living in the Fisher House with my family. We will be leaving on 12 Jun 01 for Niceville, Florida (our home). I will finish up my "consolidation" chemo at Keesler AFB, MS. Keesler is only 2 ½ hours from our home. I will talk about what consolidation chemo is later. 11 Jun 01 Not so fast. We have been trying to wean me off the steroids from the Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis that I been taking since April. Normally you would ramp down at a very slow pace, but since the doctors were convinced the episode was induced by the leukemia, they wanted to try a fast ramp down. Unfortunately it didn't work and I had another flare up. Again, it looked like a small bowel obstruction on the x-ray and the surgeons wanted to operate again. I told them, "if you just put me back on the steroids again, it will go away". They didn't believe me, but since you can't operate without my consent, I asked to be put back on the steroids anyway. 12 Jun 01 Wow, I was right. The steroids are already clearing up the problem. 15 Jun 01 Well, the steroids did the trick. I am eating solid food again and I feel great. I am being discharged again today and will be heading home tomorrow. We will drive to Baton Rouge, LA on Friday and arrive home on Saturday. 16 Jun 01 We are home!!!!! It is nice to be back home again after 41 days at Wilford Hall. Don't get me wrong, the entire staff at Wilford Hall was outstanding. I would be happy to visit with them any day of the week, but I'm glad to be out of the hospital. I called Keesler yesterday and they want me to be there on this Wednesday to start the consolidation chemo. 17 Jun 01 Not so fast. The Doctor from Keesler called me on the phone today. She wants to know if can I start my consolidation chemo tomorrow instead of Wednesday. They don't like doing the chemo over a weekend and if I start on Wednesday it will carry into the weekend. I agreed and I am leaving early tomorrow to start the next round. 18 Jun 01 Well, I'm at Keesler AFB, MS. So far I am very impressed with the Oncology department here. My Doctor (Dr. Dice) was highly recommended by the Wilford Hall doctors. They all seem to be very knowledgeable and they are using the same procedures every other hospital is using to do the consolidation chemotherapy. They have put me in a nice room with wooden floors a fancy couch and cherry wood furniture. I hope some general doesn't get sick or they will probably have to move me to a closet somewhere. Consolidation chemotherapy is what is used to make sure all of the leukemia is gone. Even though my bone marrow biopsy showed no leukemia, they know from experience that very small amounts still probably lurk somewhere in there. Statistically, if you only do the induction chemo and go into remission and never do anymore chemo, 80% will relapse within four months. They would like to do four rounds of consolidation chemo if the body can handle it. The chemo is administered once a month for four months over a five-day period each time. They only use the Cytarabin for this treatment and it is given to me twice a day on the first, third and fifth day. It takes three hours for it to empty into me and then I take a 12-hour break before getting the next three-hour treatment. I then take 24 hours off and repeat the whole procedure again until I have received 6 treatments. This chemo doesn't last as long as the induction chemo, but the dosage for each treatment is 30 times as powerful as the induction. It is called HDAC, which stands for High Dose ara-C (ara-C is Cytarabin). After the five-day period, I will lose my immune system again and will have to be careful not to pick up any infections. I will have to hang around Keesler (probably at the Fisher House with my family) for about two weeks until my immune system recovers and then I should be able to come back home for about a week before then next round. 19 Jun 01 Day one of the chemo is now over. I finished the second three-hour treatment this morning at 0800. I will now get a rest until tomorrow afternoon at 1700. I am having zero side effects from the chemo so far. I have four more rounds to go for this month's treatment. I am now convinced that all hospitals have sleep sensors in every room. The moment they detect that you are asleep, an alarm rings at the nurse's desk and they come and wake you up. I thought they only had them at the Eglin hospital, but I have now confirmed them at Wilford Hall and Keesler. Thank you everyone who has sign the guest book on this web page. The messages are very uplifting and I appreciate them very much. I did not realize how fast the address of this site would spread. 21 Jun 01 Ok, day three is now over and 66% of the treatments done with no side effects (so far). Next treatment is Friday afternoon at 1700 and the last will be Saturday morning at 0500. My blood counts are dropping rapidly so I should be neutrapenic (no immune system) by early next week. They are planning on releasing me to the Fisher House on Saturday after my last treatment is over at 0800. I will have to come into the oncology clinic every morning to have my blood work done, get transfusions of whole blood and/or platelets (when needed). They are planning on having me take Neupogen shots (I have to give them to myself in my stomach, but I have been doing that with the blood thinner for the last 30 days, so no big deal, just two shots a day now). The Neupogen is supposed to help your bone marrow regenerate the white blood cells faster than just waiting for your body to do it. The doctor says it can cut the neutrapenic stage by up to five days. If it works that will significantly reduce the chance of infection. On the bright side, Nancy, Ron and Steven showed up yesterday from Niceville. It was great seeing them. Keeley is up in Jackson, MS visiting all our relatives. She will be meeting up with the boys at Lake Martin, AL next Tuesday for our yearly family reunion. Unfortunately, Nancy and I won't be making it this year. I Wish we could be there, but next year will be fine. 23 Jun 01 One induction chemo and one consolidation chemo are now history. Once again I have had absolutely no side effects from the chemo. I am not neutrapenic yet, so Nancy, the boys and I went to a seafood place on the beach. We had gumbo, catfish po-boys and fried crab claws. My brother Scott and his family are coming down for a visit tomorrow and they are bringing Keeley with them. We haven't seen her in almost two weeks. They are then going to take all the kids to Jackson for a day and then to Lake Martin for about a week before they rejoin us here in Biloxi. Nancy and I will stay at the Fisher House for about a week and a half and then we should be able to come back home to Niceville for about a week. Exact dates are unknown, but they want me back here at Keesler on 16 Jul 01 for round two of consolidation. I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but I must give all glory and honor to God for allowing me to go through this chemo as easy as I have gone through so far. No matter the outcome eventually of this disease (which we believe will be total healing), God has answered our every prayer. Everything from the blood clots (which are almost undetectable now) to the EG (which isn't bothering me at all) to the leukemia (which is in total remission), the good Lord has been there for us. Of course I don't know how much more my poor body can take. Yesterday a new nurse came into my room, look at the picture I keep of me and my family on the dresser and ask, "oh, are these your grandkids"? And I'm in the picture!! I guess she thought I was my son in the picture. Three more rounds of chemo and they will be asking if they are my great, great, great grandkids. 25 Jun 01 Not much to update for the last two days except that my two brothers' families came down to visit yesterday from Jackson, MS. It was great seeing all of them. My brother Pat couldn't make it because of a bass fishing rodeo commitment, but I'm sure he'll be down soon. It is only a three-hour drive from Jackson (four lane all the way). The whole crew (along with Ron, Steven and Keeley) are all leaving tomorrow for Lake Martin, AL. Nancy hasn't been without the kids very often. It will be interested to see how she handles all of them being gone at the same time. Feeling great! I'm still not neutrapenic, but probably by Wednesday. 26 Jun 01 "Happy Birthday to me". I spent my 42nd birthday with a seven-hour trip to the oncology clinic getting two units of blood. It was a nice birthday present since the blood gives me more energy. I went neutrapenic today, so hopefully I will stay infection free for about a week and come back to Niceville soon. Still feeling great with no side effects! 29 Jun 01 One week has passed since the end of the second chemo and I am doing great. No fever, no infections and no side effects (so far). I had a platelet transfusion this morning because my count was down to 10 (normal is 250+). My white blood cells are completely gone and now the waiting game is on to see when they start regenerating. Hopefully those Neupogen shots will shorten the time before recover. I feel pretty weak most of the time now (hard to have energy with only red kool-aid running through your veins). Basically it is Ground Hog Day around here. I get up, take my pills, give myself the shots, draw my blood lab work (yep, I do it myself), eat breakfast and go to the hospital. I then sit in a chair, get fluids (sodium or potassium chloride water, and sometimes blood or platelets), come home and eat lunch. Then the best part of the day starts - naptime. Naptime last from after lunch until I get up the next day. Of course, I don't have to nap the entire time - that is only an option. Hope everyone has a great weekend. We are looking forward to seeing the kids again tomorrow after their family reunion at Lake Martin. 1 Jul 01 Today was a great day!! I am doing so well with this treatment that the doctor told me to take a day off. I didn't have to do lab work or go to the hospital. This is only the third day since 9 May 01 that I didn't see the inside of a hospital. The other two were on the road from San Antonio and the one day I was able to spend in Niceville. If this is the way the treatments are going to go for the next three times, I am going to ask my doctor here if I can come to Keesler for the five days of chemo and then let the Eglin hospital do the support care in-between. It sounds like a good idea to me. I hope I can convince them. The kids are back from the family reunion all tanned and looking good. Just as my brothers and sister promised, they are missing no toes or fingers or anything. My sister Sara has already book the lake cabin for the same week next year. Nancy and I are already looking forward to it. Ground Hog Day starts back tomorrow morning... 4 Jul 01 Happy Independence Day. I had another day off today after spending nine hours in the oncology clinic yesterday getting six units of platelets and two units of blood. The good news is the Neupogen shots have kicked in and I am no longer neutrapenic. The bad news is the Neupogen shots have kicked in and they have my bones doing nothing but producing white blood cells (at the expense of producing no platelets or red blood cells). Actually this is good news because now I have quit the Nuepogen shots and my bones can concentrate on the others. My red cells and platelets climbed today for the first time on their own. We may make it back to Niceville by the weekend. I'm still hoping to make the squadron party on 6 Jul. Speaking of Neupogen. Folks who complain about military medicine should read about the leukemia patients in civilian hospitals. Lots of civilian hospitals won't give AML patients these Neupogen shots because it has not been proven to shorten the neutrapenic stage after chemo. The shots cost $195.00 each and you give yourself one everyday for two weeks ($2730.00 worth). Even if the civilian hospitals will give it to you, your insurance may not pay for them. Even more controversial is the Procrit shots I give myself once a week. It is suppose to help create red blood cells. Each Procrit shot cost $565.00. I take four of these ($2260.00 worth). Civilian hospitals usually won't give these either. By the time I finish my four consolidation chemos, the Air Force will have spent nearly $20,000.00 on just these two medicines alone. And, I am living proof that the Nuepogen shots do work. They have cut my neutrapenic stage down by over half what it normally would have been and reduced my chances of getting an infection by 50%. Since I'm not neutrapenic, we are off to see the fireworks at the beach. 8 Jul 01 Finally, we are back in Niceville!!! We get to take the next eight days away from doctors and hospitals. We arrived in town about 2000 last night. It is really hard to appreciate home until you have lived in a hospital and a community house for two months. Don't get me wrong, the Keesler AFB hospital is top-notch. I cannot express in type the gratitude I have for all the personnel in Biloxi. They worked hard to keep me healthy during this last chemo and through God's hands, it worked!!! Once again, I did not experience any side effects from the chemotherapy other than being tired sometimes. I told my doctor I think they are running a double blind experiment and I am getting the placebo. She told me not to worry, they would fix me up with a good concoction for this next one...I can't wait. Well, it is Sunday and we are heading off to church. We have a lot of thanksgiving to do. I'm looking forward to going to work tomorrow. It will be my first day back in the office since 7 May. Unfortunately, almost my entire squadron is deployed to Nellis AFB, NV. It will be quiet around the squadron, but hopefully I will be able to schedule a couple of simulator flights before I head back to Keesler next Monday. 10 Jul 01 Happy anniversary to Nancy and me!! 19 years of matrimonial bliss (at least for me anyway, don't ask Nancy). It was another great day. I went to the simulator today, flew some approaches, shot down some Migs (luckily the shields were up, or I would have been shot down a few times myself). Funny, I used to dread simulators, now it is one of the highlights of my week home. I'm Feeling great, no problems at all. Too bad most of the squadron is deployed to Nellis AFB, NV. Hopefully I will get to see the entire squadron after the next treatment. Gotta go, Nancy and I are heading out to dinner (just the two of us) for our anniversary. 14 Jul 01 Well, the party is over and it is time to get back to taking care of the business of ridding myself of leukemia. I have to be at Keesler at 0700 Monday morning for round three of chemo (round two of consolidation). These eight days at home have been fantastic! I went to work, flew a couple of simulators, even made a couple of command decisions in the squadron. I took the kids skiing and got my pool back in shape. The only problem is I don't want to go back to Keesler. I am thinking about going over the fence (whatever that means). I feel great. Really, I feel better today than I have felt in at least 10 years. Maybe a little too good. I lost 27 pounds during my first round of induction chemo. I went from 212 pounds to 185 pounds at Wilford hall. When I showed up at Keesler, I weighed 202 pounds and now I weigh 220. Oh, well, I will worry about that when this is all over. It will be interesting to see if I lose or gain weight during this next round. If you are praying for us, please pray that the Lord will bring us through this next round with the ease He has brought us through the last two. Trust me, the prayers are working. We wouldn't be where we are today without Him. 19 Jul 01 We had a little scare this week. I showed up at the Keesler AFB hospital on Monday morning ready for my next round of chemo. However, when my blood work came back from that morning, it showed that my white blood cells and my platelets were pretty low. My doctor was worried that the leukemia had come back. Needless to say, Nancy and I were concerned. I had the pleasure of having another bone marrow biopsy (I must be getting used to them because this one was not that painful) and had to wait until Wednesday morning to find out the results--no leukemia. In fact, there was 0% blast found in the marrow, which is outstanding. Our faith that God is healing me was re-confirmed. The next question was, "then why is my blood so low"? Don't know. It could just be that my marrow takes a little longer to recover. I read about an AML patient that had to wait 6-8 weeks in-between treatment for her blood to recover. My doctor told me I have "sensitive" bone marrow. I always knew I was a sensitive guy. So, I should have been released on Wednesday, but I found a hole in one of my Hickman catheter lines. They wanted to replace the entire thing in a surgical procedure, but I wasn't very happy about that and I asked if it could be repaired instead of replaced. They didn't have the repair kits here, so they had to FedEx it from another hospital. Unfortunately, it didn't come in on time and I had to stay another day in the hospital waiting on it. It should be completed today and I should go home this afternoon. I may only be home for the weekend, but that is better than nothing. Chemo will probably start again next Monday if my blood work is ok. Lastly, I was asked by my pastor last Sunday to standup in front of my congregation (both services) and tell about how our faith has pulled us through this last year. If you are interested in reading what I talked about, click here. 23 Jul 01 There is not much going on right now. I had my lab work done at the Eglin hospital and they are basically unchanged from last week. The good news is I get to stay home for at least another week. The bad news is....ok there is no bad news, I get to stay home for another week. My doctor is not sure why my platelets are staying so low, but I read on the internet where it takes a little longer for some folks blood to recover from the chemo. Hopefully I will start back up again next Monday (I say hopefully because I want to get it over with). I am not neutrapenic, but I am what they call immuodepressed and should not be hanging around crowds of people or people who are or think they may be sick. I plan to go into work for a little while this week, but only for a few hours about every other day. 25 Jul 01 Another day, another set of lab results. My platelets are still too low, however, everything is finally moving up a little. I talked to my doctor today and she wants to see another set of lab results on Sunday. I have a feeling everything will be back to normal by then and I should start my next chemo on Monday. I have been going to work this week and everything is running great. Either I left the squadron in such great shape that it is able to coast without me for a while or they don't need me. I prefer to think the former. Actually Stef (operations officer) and Cubes (senior assistant operations officer) are doing a great job leading the squadron in my absence. My hat is off to both of them. 30 Jul 01 My lab work came back today and everything is pretty close to normal except...of course...my platelets. They are, however, pretty close to the 100,000 mark we are looking for to start the next chemo. Right now they are sitting at 73,000 (which is up 20 percent from last Wednesday). They had been sitting at about 50,000 for almost three weeks. I feel certain (near certain) next Monday at the latest I will be able to resume the treatments. It is possible I will start this week if the numbers will cooperate. Don't get me wrong, staying at home, going to work and hanging around here on the weekends is great, but it is time to get this second treatment going. The kids will be starting back to school next week, so it looks like my family will be getting tapped to come down and help out with the kids while Nancy helps me out at Keesler. We have talked to Nancy's and my family and they are all ready and willing to help out. We are truly blessed with good families on both sides. 31 Jul 01 Let the games begin!! My blood work is moving back to normal and I am heading back to Keesler early Thursday morning for the next round of consolidation chemo. I should be in the hospital Thursday through Monday and be released to the Fisher house on Tuesday morning (if all goes well). Nancy will be joining me Monday night and Nancy's Mom will be watching the kids starting Monday. It is good to have family to turn to for help! For those praying for us, please ask God to allow me to go through this next round as easily as I went through the first two rounds. He listens, I know. 1 Aug 01 I have had a lot of people ask me, "how did you get leukemia"? The simple answer is, "no one knows". However, research does show that long term (however long that is) exposure to benzene can cause it. The only place I know that I have been exposed to benzene is at the gas station. Every time you fill up the tank, those fumes contain benzene. Also, I have over 2500 hours sitting behind the world's most powerful airborne radar (the APG-63/70). Research does show that radiation exposure can cause leukemia. It would be interesting to see how many F-15 pilots have developed leukemia in the last 25 years. Lastly, there is evidence that flying at high altitude can cause the disease. The reason is the atmosphere is a lot thinner at altitude and therefore gives the human body less protection from the radiation of the sun. Click here to read an articles about the research done on airline pilots. They fly at altitude for much longer periods than your standard fighter pilot, however, I have read that if you are flying at high altitude during a large solar flare episode, you can receive more radiation than from an atomic bomb blast. Scary, huh? They say it takes 5-7 years from exposure to symptoms. When I look back at where we were 5-7 years ago, we were living in Las Vegas, NV. That's it!!....exposure to all those neon lights is what caused me to get AML :-)) 3 Aug 01 Day one of my second round of consolidation chemo is over. Two bags down, four to go. I am having no problems so far. I will get the next two bags at 0900 and 2100 on Saturday and the last two bags on Monday and then out of the hospital and over to the Fisher house on Tuesday morning. Nancy's mom is showing up today with Warren (her brother). He is going to go back to Jackson, MS tomorrow, while Mrs. Bailey stays until we get back home. My brother, Pat, and my Sister, Sara, are planning on visiting me here in Biloxi on Sunday. I pray tropical storm Barry doesn't mess up all these plans. Some folks have told me they are not seeing the updates I post. Sometimes you have to hit your refresh button several times after the page comes up to see the latest update. I don't know why, it is just a fact. 7 Aug 01 Chemo #3 is over! Once again the Lord has answered our prayers and I haven't had any side effects from the stuff. Now the waiting game is on for me to go neutrapenic and recover. That will take about two weeks. They didn't have a room at the Fisher House for Nancy and me to stay, so we are in a TLF (temporary living facility) on base. As it turns out, this is better than the Fisher House. It is a one bedroom apartment with its own washer/dryer, kitchen, bath and all the essentials (TV, computer hookup, you know...the important stuff). While I'm not neutrapenic, Nancy and I took advantage of it and found a seafood gumbo place with po-boys for lunch. My sister, Sara, just showed up from Gulf Shores. My brother, Pat, and she didn't make it here because of tropical storm Barry this weekend, so she is visiting today. Speaking of tropical storm Barry, it went right over top of our house in Niceville. Fortunately, it did no damage and only dumped about three inches of rain. Click here if you want to see the time lapsed radar picture of it hitting our house. 11 Aug 01 As of yesterday, I am neutrapenic, so the hermit game is on and so is the ground hog day game. However, since I have been doing so well I have been given a little more freedom from my doctor. For instance, I don't have to go into the hospital today or tomorrow for anything unless I start feeling bad. So far, I feel great! I'm just a little tired from my red cells starting to drop. I had to get an infusion of platelets yesterday, but that is normal. Last time I needed two whole blood and two platelet transfusions. It will probably be the same this time, also. I am back on the Neupogen shots to try and shorten the time I am neutrapenic. Last time they shorten it by almost half. I am hoping to be back in Niceville around 24 Aug. My sister, Sara, came for a visit on Tuesday. She tried to come down on Sunday, but TS Barry prevented it. Since I wasn't neutrapenic, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. It was great seeing her. She has been one of our biggest supporters since this thing started. She drove with Nancy to San Antonio when I was diagnosed with AML and she was there taking care of the kids while we were at Wilford Hall. She brought us a scrapbook she put together of our stay in San Antonio. It was really nice. It was full of pictures and memorabilia from the 39 days there. 15 Aug 01 Today my blood counts are near rock bottom. My ANC (absolute neutrafil count) is zero, zilch, nada. Hopefully they will start coming back in the next couple of days. They have been in the cellar for six days now. I have already received two platelet transfusions and one whole blood transfusion. Tomorrow I will be getting another platelet and whole blood infusion before the long weekend (Keesler takes off every other Friday). Unfortunately, I will still be neutrapenic, so I will need to hang around all weekend. I might be able to go home some time next week. I did have a little trouble this week. They found the Strep bacteria in my Hickman catheter. Luckily they found it early before I started running a fever. Fevers are really bad when you are neutrapenic. They usually land you back in the hospital for a few days. Right now we are treating the bacteria with an antibiotic that is infused through the Hickman. They run it in me in the morning at the clinic and then I run it myself in the evening in my room. If we can kill this thing off early, I won't have to have my Hickman removed. If it gets worst, out it comes. We have been praying for the former. I have really grown attached to my Hickman. It's like the little brother I never had (not really). 19 Aug 01 It is Sunday and I am still neutrapenic, however, my monocyte (another type of white blood cell) count did jump into the normal range yesterday. Monocytes usually precede the neutrafils (the ones that count, no pun intended). Hopefully tomorrow's count will show some neutrafils. Right now they are at zero. Ever wonder how much medicine it takes to keep a leukemia patient going? I have put together a list of all the medicines I take on a daily basis here. It is very difficult for a guy who rarely ever took a pain medication, like aspirin or Tylenol, to take all of these medications. It just doesn't seem right, but each one is there for a reason. Of course I always wonder what all these pills think about each other as they gather together in my stomach. I have always heard you shouldn't mix medications, but I guess that doesn't apply here. I didn't get the long weekend like I thought I was going to get. I had to go to the clinic on Friday (they were closed, but came in just for me--try that at a civilian hospital) to get my blood tested to make sure the antibiotic I am taking for my Hickman is working right. It is called a "peak and trough". They measure the antibiotic in my blood 12 hours after my last dose and then measure it again one hour after the next dose. It should show little of the drug in the trough and a theraputic level in the peak. That way you know it is not building up in the body to become toxic yet is strong enough to kill the bacteria. Then I had to go to the hospital on Saturday and get another transfusion of platelets. They had gone down to 18000 (normal is 200,000+). Today is a day off though. No clinic, no hospital, no lab work. Nice! 23 Aug 01 We didn't get to leave today like we had hoped. My white and red blood cells are all doing great, but once again my platelets are lagging the fight. I did talk to another AML patient via the internet about the drug Procrit. That is the drug that cost over $500.00 a shot and you take it once a week. While I was taking the shots after the last round of chemo, my platelets and white blood cells would not recover until after I stopped taking the drug. This other AML patient had the exact same problem with Procrit. None of the medical research has shown this to be a problem, but I'm not taking Procrit this round and we shall see if my platelets behave better. The good news is I am not neutrapenic! Nancy and I are heading out to our favorite seafood restaurant to have some gumbo and po-boys. Hopefully, we will be home Saturday. Once again the Lord has answered all of our (and your) prayers. My Hickman infection is gone and I have had zero side effects to this last round of chemo. I didn't even lose my hair. It quit growing while I was under the chemo's influence, but now it is growing again. In fact, the chemo has caused my whiskers to grow like they have never grown before. I am growing a mustache (albeit a cheesy one) for the first time in my life. I have tried in the past, but I give up after about 6 months when people ask me if I have dirt on my face. I will probably shave it off after this is all over. Nancy wants me to ask everyone to please continue praying for us. Even though things have been going great, we know it is through God that things have worked out this way. 25 Aug 01 We have escaped! Nancy and I drove home last night and arrived in Niceville around 2200. Unfortunately, my Hickman did not survive the day. My doctor found that the infection was still hiding in the tunnel where the catheter enters the body and I was sent over to surgery to have it removed. It is funny, but sometimes the things you fear the most (like having to have my catheter removed) turns out to be nothing. I wasn't fearful of the procedure, I just didn't like the idea of needing it to be removed. However, now that it is gone, I'm glad. The procedure was nothing. A little local anesthesia and within about 5 minutes it is gone and all sewed up. Now I am free from flushing it every morning and packing it with Heparin (blood thinner). I don't have to change the bandage everyday and I can sleep on my stomach for the first time in four months. Showers are now a non-event and I don't have this "lump" poking out of my shirt all the time. But the good times will only last until the next treatment when I will have another one put in the other side of my chest. Again, it isn't a big deal. Another local anesthesia and a painless procedure that lasts about an hour (or at least that is what it took last time). I have to go give blood tomorrow at the Eglin hospital. When I left Keesler AFB, my platelets were still acting up. If my platelets are low tomorrow, I will have to drive back over to Keesler for a platelet infusion. If my platelets are good, I should be able to hang around here until next Thursday or whenever my platelets go above 100,000 and my ANC (absolute neutrafil count) goes above 1500 without the help of Neupogen shots. Time to go spend some time with the kids. This is the first time I have seen them in three and a half weeks. 1 Sep 01 We received some potentially great news yesterday. Dr. Dice told me the protocol for treating AML has now changed and the prevailing view calls for only three consolidation treatments instead of four. That would mean I only have one more treatment and I am finished. She said she would talk to me about it when I show back up for the next (hopefully last) treatment next week. As you may have guessed, I am still at home. My bone marrow has still not recovered from the last treatment (just like last time). I blamed it on the Procrit before, but now it looks like my body just doesn't like that Ara-C they are pumping into me. I needed two units of red blood cells on Thursday and a six-pack of platelets on Friday. The good news is I didn't have to go to Keesler for the infusions. The Eglin AFB oncology clinic was able to get the blood products I needed in a very timely fashion. They put an IV in my right arm, put the products in and removed the IV. Everything went without a hitch. I was very impressed. I am going to give another blood sample on Monday at the Eglin hospital to see if I'm on the road to recovery for the next (and hopefully last) treatment. Without my Hickman catheter, I'm starting to look like a pincushion again. However, I have found two outstanding lab technicians that are able to draw the blood first stick every time. It is college football season again and time for me to waste a bunch of time watching it. There are advantages to being sick....no one complains that I am relaxing and watching football like they used to when I was well. 5 Sep 01 Another day, another blood sample. Hopefully today will show some improvements to my lab work. On Monday my platelets were sitting at 52,000. Not bad considering that I received my last infusion on Friday. Normally when my bone marrow is hiding from the chemo, an infusion only last two or three days. Lately, they have been lasting about a week. The same thing with my red blood cells, too. That means something is brewing inside those bones, they just aren't ready for full rate production, yet. I received emails from two of my fellow Air Force comrades this week, Duke Krishnan and Nicole Felini. Both of them are raising money by running a mini-marathon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and are making me their honorary teammate. Of course I am very honored to be their teammate for this worthy cause. Nancy and I have been praying for God to guide us in the decision process of whether to do three or four consolidation chemotherapies. I would like to ask all of you to do the same for us. We know that the Lord heals people miraculously, but we also know that He often uses the doctors and the chemo to do His work. Either way, He is in control, we only want to be pointed in the right direction and make the decision that He wants, not the one that we want out of convenience. 16 Sep 01 A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks since my last update. Watching the attack on the WTC, the Pentagon (where I used to work) and the crash in Pennsylvania makes a lot of my problems seem a lot smaller than they were previously. You can have leukemia and be with your family while you fight the disease or you can be sitting in an office building (or an airplane) minding your own business and wham!! It's all over here on earth. I thank the Lord that my battle has an enemy who can be seen and does not attack cowardly like the misguided criminals who attacked America. Ok, now that I have that off my chest, I will be going to Keesler tomorrow. My platelets are 148,000 (highest they have been since I started this whole ordeal). God willing, this will be my last treatment and I will sail through it as easily as I did the last three times. I ask for your prayers for Nancy, the kids, Nancy's Mom and me while we are separated one more time. 18 Sep 01 I am at the Keesler AFB Air Force Base Medical Center now. I showed up here yesterday at 0700. The surgeon came to my room and put a new three-line catheter in the other side of my chest. This one is different than the Hickman I had for the last four months. This one is only designed to stay in for about a month and didn't require "surgery" to put it in. It was basically just pushed into the big vein going to the heart and then stitched down to my chest. They then sent some folks in with a portable x-ray machine and looked to make sure it was in the right place. It is where it is supposed to be and is working great so far. I have finished two of the six bags of chemo for this (the last) treatment. I took the first bag from 1300-1600 yesterday and the second from 0100-0400 this morning. This will repeat Wednesday and again on Friday then Nancy will show up on Friday and I will head to the TLF (temporary living facility) for a couple of weeks. After that, I go back to Niceville for good and begin trying to become a normal human being again (although after this, I don't think anything will ever be normal again). I found out yesterday that I have 12 perfect matches from the National Bone Marrow Register. Although I do not believe God's plan is for me to have a bone marrow transplant, my doctor says it is money in the bank if it ever came to that. Normally your brothers and sisters are your best bet for a match, but they didn't even come close in the 6 categories (called HLA) the doctors are looking to match. I have accused them all of being adopted. Of course they are looking at me with the same thought. I received my 15 minutes of fame on Sunday when our local paper did a story on me. If you would like to see it, click here. If you don't want to read it, click here. (both take you to the story because you are reading it whether you like it or not!!). 24 Sep 01 Hallelujah! On Saturday morning, at 0403, my last drop of chemotherapy fell out of the bag. Thank you, Lord, for being with us through this entire trip. May I never see another bag of chemotherapy again! Yes, they finally found that bag of chemotherapy I asked for in May....the last one. I don't know why it took them five months to find it, but I'm sure glad they did! Once again, I have taken the high dose of the Ara-C without any side effects. Now the waiting game is on, one more time, for my bone marrow to go into hiding and then re-emerge with the healthy stuff. We should be here at Keesler AFB, MS for about two weeks then back to Eglin AFB for good. Grandmamma (Nancy's mom) is with the kids and they are all doing well in Florida. I would like to ask everyone to pray for the Tatum family, again, that we may make it through this last round and be rejoined in October with everyone healthy and happy. As I told my sister today, I could have done without this experience, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I believe I am emerging a better man, father, husband, officer and most importantly, disciple for the Lord. May God bless all of you for your support! 6 Oct 01 A lot has happened since my last update. My charmed life of not having any real problems during the chemotherapy fell of the cliff last Sunday when my new catheter decided to get infected with something rather nasty. I started running a fever of about 102.5 on Sunday night, so they admitted me to the hospital and here I still sit after 6 days. The infection could not have happened at a worst time because I was at my very lowest on my immune system (white count zero) and I wasn't due to recover for a least another week. My body had no way to even attempt to fight this bug. So, They started me on Vancomycin (an antibiotic) Sunday, but it wasn't working fast enough so they slowly added three more antibiotics over the next 3 days. The other three were Maxaquin, Gentamicin and Amphotericin B. The last two are the really big guns used to kill drug-resistant forms of bacterial and fungal infections. On Tuesday, my doctor pulled the line out of my chest. It had become so badly infected that I could hardly move my left arm. The upper left side of my back, the upper left side of my chest, my left shoulder and my left bicep all felt like I had pulled every muscle up there. Good thing they make strong painkillers and sleeping aids, because I was happy to take them for about 3 days. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. Although my doctor didn't think the infection was fungal, she didn't want to take any chances because a fungal infection is about the worst thing a neutrapenic (no immune system) patient can have. All of the cultures they took showed I had multiple types of bacteria growing. The Lord was merciful and as He has done all through this ordeal, He answered Nancy and my prayers and I have now recovered. I am only taking the Vancomycin now and I will continue with that for another week. My immune system recovered out of the danger zone today and I am feeling great! I cannot thank God enough for giving me Dr. Dice. She has been blessed with more medical talent than anyone I know. One of the nurses told me she called up here every two hours all through the night last Tuesday when the infection was at its worst to check on my condition. I believe the Lord has even bigger plans for her in the future. It looks like I will now be released from the hospital tomorrow. They want to make sure I don't start spiking a fever again now that they have taken me off all but one of the antibiotics. I have no problem with being cautious after the scare I had last week. Nancy and I should be leaving Keesler AFB on Tuesday and back home again for good. Since this was my last treatment, all I have left now is to recover my blood to normal and get back to the gym and get back in shape. 12 Oct 01 This is the update I have been waiting to write! I am back home, back to work and feeling great! I went to work today for the first time since May without the prospects of another chemotherapy round hanging over my cranium. I talked to the flight surgeons and my commander and the ball is starting to roll to get me back in the cockpit. It will not be an easy battle, but BGen Catton has been very proactive and wants be back in the air by Christmas. It will take a lot of paperwork, a lot of medical test and a lot of praying, but I believe it will happen. Nancy and I have done a lot of praying about our future and we believe it is God's will for us to stay in the Air Force. BTW, I had a couple of wives of F-15 pilots tell me they didn't like reading my post about leukemia, radiation and the F-15 radar. I have done a lot of research and have found out that the F-15 radar (the APG 63/70) does not emit ionizing radiation. Basically there are two types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing. Ionizing radiation is like the kind that comes from the sun and from x-rays. Non-ionizing radiation comes from microwave ovens and airborne radars. The first causes cells to mutate and can cause cancer. The second can damage cells, but does not cause them to mutate and therefore should not cause cancer. I have a flight surgeon coming from Brooks AFB who is going to ride in the back of an F-15 on five sorties to measure the radiation in the F-15 cockpit. That should go a long way to help calm any fears of the radar causing cancer. I am happy to say that my updates will now be slow to come. I will plan on updating the site only when something worth reporting happens. If you would like to know when the site has been updated, you can enter your name in the container on the main page (if you haven't already) and I will send you an email whenever something new has been posted. Thank you, everyone, for all the prayers and support you have given to my family and me. I can tell you for a fact that we could not have made it through this ordeal without you. May God bless you all, always. 15 Nov 01 Wow, it is hard to believe it has only been a month since I came back to work. I flew today for the first time in eight months and 7 days. Although it was in the backseat of an F-16 Viper, I hope to be back in the front seat of an F-15 Eagle real soon. The paperwork is coming together and should be sent off to Air Combat Command (ACC) before Thanksgiving. The sortie today was great. Ripple Booth and I were number three in a three-ship simulating the enemy for two more F-16s. It was nice putting some "g's" back on my body. We found out last week that we will be leaving Florida next summer. We are going to Senior Service School at the Naval War College in Newport, RI. We are really looking forward to moving up there. Nancy and I have never lived that far north before. I hope they are ready in Rhode Island for a couple of Mississippi hicks! I had my blood drawn this week to see if I was ready to fly again or not. Obviously, since I flew, it was good. My white blood cells and my platelets are in the normal range and my red blood cells are only a fraction below the "normal" range, but above the minimum to fly in fighters. I will be going back to Keesler AFB, MS next Tuesday for my first check-up since I finished chemo. I will be getting a bone marrow biopsy (ouch). This should be the last of those with only blood checks every three months for the first year after this one. Everything is going great. God continues to watch over my family and me in ways I never thought possible. I look forward to every day to see where He is going to lead me next! 29 Nov 01 I went to see my oncologist on 20 Nov and had my first bone marrow biopsy since I finished chemo in September. I got the report back this week and it showed I am still disease free. All I can say is praise the Lord! I am now in Las Vegas, Nevada at Nellis AFB. We brought out our F-15Cs to fly with the Weapons School during their large force graduation exercise. This is my first temporary duty since I fell ill last March. I should get my first F-15C backseat ride tomorrow during the exercise. So far I have only flown in F-16s, but since the F-15 is my jet, I am really looking forward to it. I think Nancy was a little worried about me coming out here at first, but the results from the BMB came back the day before I was leaving and I think that settled her fears. I don't have to see the inside of a hospital for another three months. That's ok with me! The plan is still for me to be flying (by myself) by Christmas. I'm not too worried though; if it is God's will, I will fly again. CHRISTMAS DAY 2001 Merry Christmas! All is well in the Tatum family. Today we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. He has been the true savior for Nancy and me and we are enjoying the day with the kids and Nancy's mom and brother. Everything went well on my temporary duty to Las Vegas. I flew in the backseat of the F-15C five times while I was out there. It was great! I can't wait to get back in the front seat again. Speaking of flying again, I finally was able to put my entire waiver package together and it was sent out via Fedex last Friday to the commander of Air Combat Command. My old boss, BGen Catton (now working at the Pentagon) called and told me he was still working to get me back in the air ASAP. Even though he is not my boss anymore, he is still working hard to finish what he started here at Eglin. He is a great example of a great leader in my book. I am feeling great. No problems whatsoever. We are heading up to Jackson, Mississippi for New Year's Day to watch a little football and visit with my mother, brothers and sister. Sorry I don't have much to update, but from my viewpoint.....that's a great update!! God bless you all. 15 Feb 02 Hello Everybody. It has been a while since I last updated this page. Everything is going great. Duke and Nicole finished the Team in Training "Mini" marathon in January and raised a nice sum of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You can click here for the full story. I had a chance meeting (if you believe in chance, personally, I don't) with General Hornburg (ACC Commander) last Thursday night at Nellis AFB, NV. Major General L.D. Johnston introduced me to the General and I told him I was ready to get back in the air in the front cockpit. He asked me what my doctors thought and I told him that my doctors think I should be flying again, but that his doctors (who have never even examined me) don't think I should be flying. This ticked him off a little (a lot actually) and he told me he would have me flying before the week was out. True to his word, he signed my exception to policy letter as soon as he arrived back at Langley AFB, VA and I now have a 4 March 2002 training class to get re-qualified in the F-15C. Of course the Chief of Staff (General Jumper) still has to sign the paperwork, but his office is telling me that Gen Jumper will most likely take Gen Hornburg's recommendation. I have to go back to Keesler next Tuesday for my three-month checkup. Since I am feeling great, it should consist of a blood test and a short physical exam and then I will be free for another three months. God has been very good to the Tatum family. As Jesus said, "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Well, we have been asking, seeking and knocking and sure enough we have been finding and receiving. God is good!! Hopefully my next update will be from Tyndall AFB, FL during my re-qual back in the Eagle!!! 3 Mar 02 Well, I was hoping to make this entry from Tyndall AFB, but the wheels of staff work grind slowly. Gen Hornburg did not sign my paperwork when I was told that he did, but only because he met some very stiff resistance from the medical staff in ACC. I don't blame anyone. I really believe I will get me back in the air, but it may be some sort of compromise plan (like I will need another pilot in my backseat). Most of the folks who have never examined me are dead set against me flying before I leave this summer. I can't really blame them. They are looking at the statistics and not the patient. I think this would be a very hard decision to make. Hey, but I will be happy to fly in the front seat even if I have to drag another pilot around in my pit. Of course, I don't know how much they are going to like it. I passed my three month checkup with no problems. My platelets were on the low side of normal, but that has to be expected when you chemo that bone marrow four times in 5 months. I have plenty, but my doctor says it could be years (if ever) for them to be in the mid-range of normal. Nancy, the kids and I went up to Mississippi State University last weekend and watched a Men's baseball game, Men's basketball game and a ladies basketball game. We had to watch the Men Basketball game against our arch rival (Ole Miss) on TV in the hotel room because it was sold out. In fact it was the largest crowd to ever see a college basketball game in the state (10,250 fans). Regardless of when and if I ever get back in the air, we are still thanking God in the Tatum family for all of our blessings. He has a plan. We might not know what that plan is, but we trust Him explicitly. 17 Mar 02 Hello everyone, Well, there is no really easy way to say it, but I have relapsed. I'm not feeling very well at all so this will be real short. Nancy and I are heading to Keesler AFB, MS tomorrow morning where I will begin a new round of chemotherapy meant to get me back in remission so that I can proceed to a bone marrow transplant (BMT). I have no idea how long I will be at Keesler or where the BMT will take place. As I said in my last message, I know the Lord has a plan for all of us. This sure isn't where I was expected to be heading, but it is where we are heading nevertheless. Please keep your prayers going for Nancy and the kids and me. It is going to be another bumpy summer. Until I start feeling better, don't expect a lot of updates. Hopefully that won't last too long. |
7 Mar 01 This was the first day I had any indication I was sick. I was coming home from the officers' club at 2100 when I started to feel I had a fever. When I arrived home, the thermometer confirmed I was running 102 degrees. That night I had chills, fevers and night sweats, but I woke up feeling fine the next day and went to work and flew a test sortie. 9 Mar 01 After feeling fine for two days, the whole thing repeated itself on this night--chills, fever, night sweats, woke up feeling great. 11 Mar 01 Repeat of the last few days. Felt great for two days and this night I had the chills, fever, night sweats. Only this time I woke up feeling lousy and still running a fever. 14 Mar 01 Finally dragged myself to the flight surgeon after running a fever and feeling weak for the last 4 days. I was given Amoxicilin because it appeared I might be developing a slight case of pneumonia. I was coughing and generally feeling like I had the flu. 18 Mar 01 The fever is gone and I am feeling pretty good, but I have developed a rash on my chest. I quit taking the Amoxicilin because I figure I am having an allergic reaction. Of course I don't tell my flight surgeon that I am having a rash or that I quit taking the medication. 21 Mar 01 The fever is back and I feel weak and I am coughing again with stuff in my lungs. I call my flight surgeon and he puts me on another antibiotic called Zithromax. 27 Mar 01 The Zithromax does nothing. I still have the fever and I am still coughing up a lung. I called my flight surgeon but he is out of town. I talk to another flight surgeon and he switches me to Bactrim. 3 Apr 01 The coughing has cleared up, but the fever is still there and now my gut is killing me. I have no appetite and nothing is moving in either direction. I call the flight surgeon, but now the first two are out of town so I talk to a third flight surgeon. He brings me in for a check up and I am sent to radiology for some GI test. These test reveal what looks like a small bowel obstruction. I am admitted to the Eglin AFB hospital for the first time. 5 Apr 01 I go through a procedure where they put a camera down my throat and into my stomach and intestines to see if they can see the problem. No luck, it doesn't show anything. I am scheduled for exploratory surgery of the intestines for the next day 6 Apr 01 The plan is to just make a small incision and look with a camera at my intestines. They don't like what they see so they cut me open and pull it all out. They still don't like what they see, so they take a biopsy and stuff it all back in and close me up. 8 Apr 01 While recovering from surgery, I find out I have developed a blood clot in my right leg. Very unusual for a 41 year old man in good health who was only on the table for a couple of hours. 10 Apr 01 The biopsy from the surgery comes back and shows I have a condition known as Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis (EG). This is a very rare condition where eosinophils (type of white blood cells) invade the intestines. They basically shut down the intestines while they attempt to do their work. Unfortunately there is no work for them to do because it is only an allergic reaction and there really isn't anything wrong with the intestines. Taking steroids can control this condition and I begin the treatment. 16 Apr 01 Steroids are working and I am feeling good with my gut. However, I have now developed another blood clot in my left leg. Very unusual. Also, I am still running a low-grade fever, mostly at night. This fever has never gone away since it started over a month ago. Additionally, my platelet counts have been ping ponging back and forth from 55,000 to 100,000 (200,000+ is normal) since I showed up at the hospital. I am released from the hospital today. 18 Apr 01 My blood clot in my left leg has become so bad that I can't walk. I am re-admitted into the hospital. I am still running a low-grade fever and my blood counts are still all over the place. 25 Apr 01 My blood clots are finally starting to get better. I have been taking Warfarin (a blood thinner) to keep the clots from getting worst. I am released from the hospital again. Still running low-grade fever. 7 May 01 My low-grade fever is now turning into a high-grade fever. I have been running 103 and 104 degree fevers for the past few days. I am admitted to the Eglin hospital for the third time today. 9 May 01 The Eglin AFB hospital can not figure out why I have such a high fever and I am air evacuated on a C-9 to Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Hospital in San Antonio, TX. 10 May 01 I have a bone marrow biopsy today. Still running 104 degree fevers. 11 May 01 I am diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Still running 104 degree fevers. It appears the Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis and the blood clots are all related to the AML. I will begin chemotherapy next Monday. 14 May 01 Because of the Warfarin blood thinner I am taking, they cannot install the Hickman catheter today so my chemo is delayed until tomorrow. They have given me four units of plasma to dilute the Warfarin. Now running 105 degree fevers, mostly at night. They are having me sleep on a cooling pad and putting ice packs under my leg and arm pits and under my neck. It works, but it is painful. 15 May 01 I have the Hickman catheter installed today. This thing is the greatest thing since sliced bread. While I was at the Eglin Hospital, I estimate I was stuck with a needle over 200 times. With the Hickman, you have a port that is inserted in your chest and it connects to the main vein that is heading toward your heart. There are three lines coming off the device that can be used to administer drugs and/or draw blood from. As long as the line stays infection free, it can remain in your chest for two years if needed. It is not uncomfortable and you can take a shower without worrying about it. The dressing on it needs changing every other day. I started the "induction" phase of chemotherapy today. The regiment is three days of a drug called Idarubicin. This drug is administered via the Hickman and takes about 2 hours each day for it all to empty into me. While this is going on, another drug called Cytarabine is administered via the Hickman for 7 days. It runs for 24 hours a day for the entire 7-day period. Side effects from this medicine can include loss of hair, nausea, anemia, tiredness, increased risk of infection, sore mouth, stomach and/intestinal irritation and increased risk of bleeding or bruising. The drugs are supposed to kill the fast dividing cells in your body. Cancer cells (leukemia cells in my case) are very fast dividing. Unfortunately, hair follicles, mucus membranes (your mouth, stomach, and intestines) and healthy bone marrow are all fast dividing cells, also. The drugs should kill all the leukemia cells, but they will kill most of the good bone marrow also. The eventual effect will be for your body to stop making white and red blood cells and platelets. When this happens you will become "neutrapenic", which means you will basically have no immune system to fight off infections. This usually happens within a week of finishing the chemo and it takes another week or two for the bone marrow to recover. This stuff is a miracle drug. Within one hour of starting the chemo, my fever dropped from 102 degrees to 98.6 degrees. 22 May 01 I finished my induction chemo today. So far I have had zero side effects. I never felt sick, I have been eating like a horse and I'm not tired. I have not run a fever since the first hour of taking the chemo. Of course, the effects of these drugs will start taking their toll very soon. I have another bone biopsy scheduled for 29 May 01 to see if the chemo has done its job. 29 May 01 The chemo is doing its job. My red and white cells and platelets counts are in the cellar. I have been given blood and platelets a couple of times to keep those readings high enough to keep me out of trouble. If the red cells get too low you get real light-headed and have no strength. If the platelets get too low, you can start bleeding without notice from almost anywhere. I like getting the whole blood. It boosts my energy and makes me feel good. I still have had zero side effects from the chemo other than being tired some days. I had my bone marrow biopsy today. The readings were great! There is no leukemia cells in the marrow. Of course there is hardly any cells in the marrow. The next big test will be in two weeks after the bone marrow starts to grow back. 31 May 01 The doctors have the results back from the original bone marrow biopsy on 11 May 01. I have been classified with AML M0 with normal chromosomes. Basically this means I am an intermediate risk level. They classify AML into low, intermediate and high risk. Low means that long term survival chances are very good. Intermediate means it could go either way. High means you don't have a very good chance of staying in remission if you ever get there. This is good news. Besides, God doesn't do statistics. He will either allow me to be healed or He won't. Nancy and I have put our total faith in Him. 3 Jun 01 Well, my hair has been falling out at a rapid pace. When I finished my shower today it looked like someone had shaved a poodle in there. I had one of the med-techs come and shave my head. I look like an egg now, but taking a shower will be a lot easier. This is still the only side effect I have had from the chemo other than being tired some days. 5 Jun 01 I have picked up an infection in my Hickman. I am now on an antibiotic to try and save the Hickman. If it has to come out, they will relocate it on the other side of my chest. The dressing will now be changed daily and an antibiotic ointment will be applied to the site. I really hope this thing doesn't have to come out. 6 Jun 01 Nancy and I prayed for the infection in the Hickman to go away, but we didn't expect it to happen this fast. Today the site looks infection free and the cultures are not showing anything. I will stay on the antibiotics for the entire 10 days, but praise the Lord for miracles. 8 Jun 01 My blood counts are recovering faster than we thought they would, so I am having the big bone marrow biopsy today. The results are back...less than 2% blast in the bone marrow (less than 5% is considered great). I am in remission!!!!!! Once again, I must give credit to the Lord. Nancy and I and hundreds of other people have been praying for my healing. He uses the doctors and the medicine to deliver the healing, but all credit belongs to Him. I have been released from the hospital and I'm now living in the Fisher House with my family. We will be leaving on 12 Jun 01 for Niceville, Florida (our home). I will finish up my "consolidation" chemo at Keesler AFB, MS. Keesler is only 2 ½ hours from our home. I will talk about what consolidation chemo is later. 11 Jun 01 Not so fast. We have been trying to wean me off the steroids from the Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis that I been taking since April. Normally you would ramp down at a very slow pace, but since the doctors were convinced the episode was induced by the leukemia, they wanted to try a fast ramp down. Unfortunately it didn't work and I had another flare up. Again, it looked like a small bowel obstruction on the x-ray and the surgeons wanted to operate again. I told them, "if you just put me back on the steroids again, it will go away". They didn't believe me, but since you can't operate without my consent, I asked to be put back on the steroids anyway. 12 Jun 01 Wow, I was right. The steroids are already clearing up the problem. 15 Jun 01 Well, the steroids did the trick. I am eating solid food again and I feel great. I am being discharged again today and will be heading home tomorrow. We will drive to Baton Rouge, LA on Friday and arrive home on Saturday. 16 Jun 01 We are home!!!!! It is nice to be back home again after 41 days at Wilford Hall. Don't get me wrong, the entire staff at Wilford Hall was outstanding. I would be happy to visit with them any day of the week, but I'm glad to be out of the hospital. I called Keesler yesterday and they want me to be there on this Wednesday to start the consolidation chemo. 17 Jun 01 Not so fast. The Doctor from Keesler called me on the phone today. She wants to know if can I start my consolidation chemo tomorrow instead of Wednesday. They don't like doing the chemo over a weekend and if I start on Wednesday it will carry into the weekend. I agreed and I am leaving early tomorrow to start the next round. 18 Jun 01 Well, I'm at Keesler AFB, MS. So far I am very impressed with the Oncology department here. My Doctor (Dr. Dice) was highly recommended by the Wilford Hall doctors. They all seem to be very knowledgeable and they are using the same procedures every other hospital is using to do the consolidation chemotherapy. They have put me in a nice room with wooden floors a fancy couch and cherry wood furniture. I hope some general doesn't get sick or they will probably have to move me to a closet somewhere. Consolidation chemotherapy is what is used to make sure all of the leukemia is gone. Even though my bone marrow biopsy showed no leukemia, they know from experience that very small amounts still probably lurk somewhere in there. Statistically, if you only do the induction chemo and go into remission and never do anymore chemo, 80% will relapse within four months. They would like to do four rounds of consolidation chemo if the body can handle it. The chemo is administered once a month for four months over a five-day period each time. They only use the Cytarabin for this treatment and it is given to me twice a day on the first, third and fifth day. It takes three hours for it to empty into me and then I take a 12-hour break before getting the next three-hour treatment. I then take 24 hours off and repeat the whole procedure again until I have received 6 treatments. This chemo doesn't last as long as the induction chemo, but the dosage for each treatment is 30 times as powerful as the induction. It is called HDAC, which stands for High Dose ara-C (ara-C is Cytarabin). After the five-day period, I will lose my immune system again and will have to be careful not to pick up any infections. I will have to hang around Keesler (probably at the Fisher House with my family) for about two weeks until my immune system recovers and then I should be able to come back home for about a week before then next round. 19 Jun 01 Day one of the chemo is now over. I finished the second three-hour treatment this morning at 0800. I will now get a rest until tomorrow afternoon at 1700. I am having zero side effects from the chemo so far. I have four more rounds to go for this month's treatment. I am now convinced that all hospitals have sleep sensors in every room. The moment they detect that you are asleep, an alarm rings at the nurse's desk and they come and wake you up. I thought they only had them at the Eglin hospital, but I have now confirmed them at Wilford Hall and Keesler. Thank you everyone who has sign the guest book on this web page. The messages are very uplifting and I appreciate them very much. I did not realize how fast the address of this site would spread. 21 Jun 01 Ok, day three is now over and 66% of the treatments done with no side effects (so far). Next treatment is Friday afternoon at 1700 and the last will be Saturday morning at 0500. My blood counts are dropping rapidly so I should be neutrapenic (no immune system) by early next week. They are planning on releasing me to the Fisher House on Saturday after my last treatment is over at 0800. I will have to come into the oncology clinic every morning to have my blood work done, get transfusions of whole blood and/or platelets (when needed). They are planning on having me take Neupogen shots (I have to give them to myself in my stomach, but I have been doing that with the blood thinner for the last 30 days, so no big deal, just two shots a day now). The Neupogen is supposed to help your bone marrow regenerate the white blood cells faster than just waiting for your body to do it. The doctor says it can cut the neutrapenic stage by up to five days. If it works that will significantly reduce the chance of infection. On the bright side, Nancy, Ron and Steven showed up yesterday from Niceville. It was great seeing them. Keeley is up in Jackson, MS visiting all our relatives. She will be meeting up with the boys at Lake Martin, AL next Tuesday for our yearly family reunion. Unfortunately, Nancy and I won't be making it this year. I Wish we could be there, but next year will be fine. 23 Jun 01 One induction chemo and one consolidation chemo are now history. Once again I have had absolutely no side effects from the chemo. I am not neutrapenic yet, so Nancy, the boys and I went to a seafood place on the beach. We had gumbo, catfish po-boys and fried crab claws. My brother Scott and his family are coming down for a visit tomorrow and they are bringing Keeley with them. We haven't seen her in almost two weeks. They are then going to take all the kids to Jackson for a day and then to Lake Martin for about a week before they rejoin us here in Biloxi. Nancy and I will stay at the Fisher House for about a week and a half and then we should be able to come back home to Niceville for about a week. Exact dates are unknown, but they want me back here at Keesler on 16 Jul 01 for round two of consolidation. I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but I must give all glory and honor to God for allowing me to go through this chemo as easy as I have gone through so far. No matter the outcome eventually of this disease (which we believe will be total healing), God has answered our every prayer. Everything from the blood clots (which are almost undetectable now) to the EG (which isn't bothering me at all) to the leukemia (which is in total remission), the good Lord has been there for us. Of course I don't know how much more my poor body can take. Yesterday a new nurse came into my room, look at the picture I keep of me and my family on the dresser and ask, "oh, are these your grandkids"? And I'm in the picture!! I guess she thought I was my son in the picture. Three more rounds of chemo and they will be asking if they are my great, great, great grandkids. 25 Jun 01 Not much to update for the last two days except that my two brothers' families came down to visit yesterday from Jackson, MS. It was great seeing all of them. My brother Pat couldn't make it because of a bass fishing rodeo commitment, but I'm sure he'll be down soon. It is only a three-hour drive from Jackson (four lane all the way). The whole crew (along with Ron, Steven and Keeley) are all leaving tomorrow for Lake Martin, AL. Nancy hasn't been without the kids very often. It will be interested to see how she handles all of them being gone at the same time. Feeling great! I'm still not neutrapenic, but probably by Wednesday. 26 Jun 01 "Happy Birthday to me". I spent my 42nd birthday with a seven-hour trip to the oncology clinic getting two units of blood. It was a nice birthday present since the blood gives me more energy. I went neutrapenic today, so hopefully I will stay infection free for about a week and come back to Niceville soon. Still feeling great with no side effects! 29 Jun 01 One week has passed since the end of the second chemo and I am doing great. No fever, no infections and no side effects (so far). I had a platelet transfusion this morning because my count was down to 10 (normal is 250+). My white blood cells are completely gone and now the waiting game is on to see when they start regenerating. Hopefully those Neupogen shots will shorten the time before recover. I feel pretty weak most of the time now (hard to have energy with only red kool-aid running through your veins). Basically it is Ground Hog Day around here. I get up, take my pills, give myself the shots, draw my blood lab work (yep, I do it myself), eat breakfast and go to the hospital. I then sit in a chair, get fluids (sodium or potassium chloride water, and sometimes blood or platelets), come home and eat lunch. Then the best part of the day starts - naptime. Naptime last from after lunch until I get up the next day. Of course, I don't have to nap the entire time - that is only an option. Hope everyone has a great weekend. We are looking forward to seeing the kids again tomorrow after their family reunion at Lake Martin. 1 Jul 01 Today was a great day!! I am doing so well with this treatment that the doctor told me to take a day off. I didn't have to do lab work or go to the hospital. This is only the third day since 9 May 01 that I didn't see the inside of a hospital. The other two were on the road from San Antonio and the one day I was able to spend in Niceville. If this is the way the treatments are going to go for the next three times, I am going to ask my doctor here if I can come to Keesler for the five days of chemo and then let the Eglin hospital do the support care in-between. It sounds like a good idea to me. I hope I can convince them. The kids are back from the family reunion all tanned and looking good. Just as my brothers and sister promised, they are missing no toes or fingers or anything. My sister Sara has already book the lake cabin for the same week next year. Nancy and I are already looking forward to it. Ground Hog Day starts back tomorrow morning... 4 Jul 01 Happy Independence Day. I had another day off today after spending nine hours in the oncology clinic yesterday getting six units of platelets and two units of blood. The good news is the Neupogen shots have kicked in and I am no longer neutrapenic. The bad news is the Neupogen shots have kicked in and they have my bones doing nothing but producing white blood cells (at the expense of producing no platelets or red blood cells). Actually this is good news because now I have quit the Nuepogen shots and my bones can concentrate on the others. My red cells and platelets climbed today for the first time on their own. We may make it back to Niceville by the weekend. I'm still hoping to make the squadron party on 6 Jul. Speaking of Neupogen. Folks who complain about military medicine should read about the leukemia patients in civilian hospitals. Lots of civilian hospitals won't give AML patients these Neupogen shots because it has not been proven to shorten the neutrapenic stage after chemo. The shots cost $195.00 each and you give yourself one everyday for two weeks ($2730.00 worth). Even if the civilian hospitals will give it to you, your insurance may not pay for them. Even more controversial is the Procrit shots I give myself once a week. It is suppose to help create red blood cells. Each Procrit shot cost $565.00. I take four of these ($2260.00 worth). Civilian hospitals usually won't give these either. By the time I finish my four consolidation chemos, the Air Force will have spent nearly $20,000.00 on just these two medicines alone. And, I am living proof that the Nuepogen shots do work. They have cut my neutrapenic stage down by over half what it normally would have been and reduced my chances of getting an infection by 50%. Since I'm not neutrapenic, we are off to see the fireworks at the beach. 8 Jul 01 Finally, we are back in Niceville!!! We get to take the next eight days away from doctors and hospitals. We arrived in town about 2000 last night. It is really hard to appreciate home until you have lived in a hospital and a community house for two months. Don't get me wrong, the Keesler AFB hospital is top-notch. I cannot express in type the gratitude I have for all the personnel in Biloxi. They worked hard to keep me healthy during this last chemo and through God's hands, it worked!!! Once again, I did not experience any side effects from the chemotherapy other than being tired sometimes. I told my doctor I think they are running a double blind experiment and I am getting the placebo. She told me not to worry, they would fix me up with a good concoction for this next one...I can't wait. Well, it is Sunday and we are heading off to church. We have a lot of thanksgiving to do. I'm looking forward to going to work tomorrow. It will be my first day back in the office since 7 May. Unfortunately, almost my entire squadron is deployed to Nellis AFB, NV. It will be quiet around the squadron, but hopefully I will be able to schedule a couple of simulator flights before I head back to Keesler next Monday. 10 Jul 01 Happy anniversary to Nancy and me!! 19 years of matrimonial bliss (at least for me anyway, don't ask Nancy). It was another great day. I went to the simulator today, flew some approaches, shot down some Migs (luckily the shields were up, or I would have been shot down a few times myself). Funny, I used to dread simulators, now it is one of the highlights of my week home. I'm Feeling great, no problems at all. Too bad most of the squadron is deployed to Nellis AFB, NV. Hopefully I will get to see the entire squadron after the next treatment. Gotta go, Nancy and I are heading out to dinner (just the two of us) for our anniversary. 14 Jul 01 Well, the party is over and it is time to get back to taking care of the business of ridding myself of leukemia. I have to be at Keesler at 0700 Monday morning for round three of chemo (round two of consolidation). These eight days at home have been fantastic! I went to work, flew a couple of simulators, even made a couple of command decisions in the squadron. I took the kids skiing and got my pool back in shape. The only problem is I don't want to go back to Keesler. I am thinking about going over the fence (whatever that means). I feel great. Really, I feel better today than I have felt in at least 10 years. Maybe a little too good. I lost 27 pounds during my first round of induction chemo. I went from 212 pounds to 185 pounds at Wilford hall. When I showed up at Keesler, I weighed 202 pounds and now I weigh 220. Oh, well, I will worry about that when this is all over. It will be interesting to see if I lose or gain weight during this next round. If you are praying for us, please pray that the Lord will bring us through this next round with the ease He has brought us through the last two. Trust me, the prayers are working. We wouldn't be where we are today without Him. 19 Jul 01 We had a little scare this week. I showed up at the Keesler AFB hospital on Monday morning ready for my next round of chemo. However, when my blood work came back from that morning, it showed that my white blood cells and my platelets were pretty low. My doctor was worried that the leukemia had come back. Needless to say, Nancy and I were concerned. I had the pleasure of having another bone marrow biopsy (I must be getting used to them because this one was not that painful) and had to wait until Wednesday morning to find out the results--no leukemia. In fact, there was 0% blast found in the marrow, which is outstanding. Our faith that God is healing me was re-confirmed. The next question was, "then why is my blood so low"? Don't know. It could just be that my marrow takes a little longer to recover. I read about an AML patient that had to wait 6-8 weeks in-between treatment for her blood to recover. My doctor told me I have "sensitive" bone marrow. I always knew I was a sensitive guy. So, I should have been released on Wednesday, but I found a hole in one of my Hickman catheter lines. They wanted to replace the entire thing in a surgical procedure, but I wasn't very happy about that and I asked if it could be repaired instead of replaced. They didn't have the repair kits here, so they had to FedEx it from another hospital. Unfortunately, it didn't come in on time and I had to stay another day in the hospital waiting on it. It should be completed today and I should go home this afternoon. I may only be home for the weekend, but that is better than nothing. Chemo will probably start again next Monday if my blood work is ok. Lastly, I was asked by my pastor last Sunday to standup in front of my congregation (both services) and tell about how our faith has pulled us through this last year. If you are interested in reading what I talked about, click here. 23 Jul 01 There is not much going on right now. I had my lab work done at the Eglin hospital and they are basically unchanged from last week. The good news is I get to stay home for at least another week. The bad news is....ok there is no bad news, I get to stay home for another week. My doctor is not sure why my platelets are staying so low, but I read on the internet where it takes a little longer for some folks blood to recover from the chemo. Hopefully I will start back up again next Monday (I say hopefully because I want to get it over with). I am not neutrapenic, but I am what they call immuodepressed and should not be hanging around crowds of people or people who are or think they may be sick. I plan to go into work for a little while this week, but only for a few hours about every other day. 25 Jul 01 Another day, another set of lab results. My platelets are still too low, however, everything is finally moving up a little. I talked to my doctor today and she wants to see another set of lab results on Sunday. I have a feeling everything will be back to normal by then and I should start my next chemo on Monday. I have been going to work this week and everything is running great. Either I left the squadron in such great shape that it is able to coast without me for a while or they don't need me. I prefer to think the former. Actually Stef (operations officer) and Cubes (senior assistant operations officer) are doing a great job leading the squadron in my absence. My hat is off to both of them. 30 Jul 01 My lab work came back today and everything is pretty close to normal except...of course...my platelets. They are, however, pretty close to the 100,000 mark we are looking for to start the next chemo. Right now they are sitting at 73,000 (which is up 20 percent from last Wednesday). They had been sitting at about 50,000 for almost three weeks. I feel certain (near certain) next Monday at the latest I will be able to resume the treatments. It is possible I will start this week if the numbers will cooperate. Don't get me wrong, staying at home, going to work and hanging around here on the weekends is great, but it is time to get this second treatment going. The kids will be starting back to school next week, so it looks like my family will be getting tapped to come down and help out with the kids while Nancy helps me out at Keesler. We have talked to Nancy's and my family and they are all ready and willing to help out. We are truly blessed with good families on both sides. 31 Jul 01 Let the games begin!! My blood work is moving back to normal and I am heading back to Keesler early Thursday morning for the next round of consolidation chemo. I should be in the hospital Thursday through Monday and be released to the Fisher house on Tuesday morning (if all goes well). Nancy will be joining me Monday night and Nancy's Mom will be watching the kids starting Monday. It is good to have family to turn to for help! For those praying for us, please ask God to allow me to go through this next round as easily as I went through the first two rounds. He listens, I know. 1 Aug 01 I have had a lot of people ask me, "how did you get leukemia"? The simple answer is, "no one knows". However, research does show that long term (however long that is) exposure to benzene can cause it. The only place I know that I have been exposed to benzene is at the gas station. Every time you fill up the tank, those fumes contain benzene. Also, I have over 2500 hours sitting behind the world's most powerful airborne radar (the APG-63/70). Research does show that radiation exposure can cause leukemia. It would be interesting to see how many F-15 pilots have developed leukemia in the last 25 years. Lastly, there is evidence that flying at high altitude can cause the disease. The reason is the atmosphere is a lot thinner at altitude and therefore gives the human body less protection from the radiation of the sun. Click here to read an articles about the research done on airline pilots. They fly at altitude for much longer periods than your standard fighter pilot, however, I have read that if you are flying at high altitude during a large solar flare episode, you can receive more radiation than from an atomic bomb blast. Scary, huh? They say it takes 5-7 years from exposure to symptoms. When I look back at where we were 5-7 years ago, we were living in Las Vegas, NV. That's it!!....exposure to all those neon lights is what caused me to get AML :-)) 3 Aug 01 Day one of my second round of consolidation chemo is over. Two bags down, four to go. I am having no problems so far. I will get the next two bags at 0900 and 2100 on Saturday and the last two bags on Monday and then out of the hospital and over to the Fisher house on Tuesday morning. Nancy's mom is showing up today with Warren (her brother). He is going to go back to Jackson, MS tomorrow, while Mrs. Bailey stays until we get back home. My brother, Pat, and my Sister, Sara, are planning on visiting me here in Biloxi on Sunday. I pray tropical storm Barry doesn't mess up all these plans. Some folks have told me they are not seeing the updates I post. Sometimes you have to hit your refresh button several times after the page comes up to see the latest update. I don't know why, it is just a fact. 7 Aug 01 Chemo #3 is over! Once again the Lord has answered our prayers and I haven't had any side effects from the stuff. Now the waiting game is on for me to go neutrapenic and recover. That will take about two weeks. They didn't have a room at the Fisher House for Nancy and me to stay, so we are in a TLF (temporary living facility) on base. As it turns out, this is better than the Fisher House. It is a one bedroom apartment with its own washer/dryer, kitchen, bath and all the essentials (TV, computer hookup, you know...the important stuff). While I'm not neutrapenic, Nancy and I took advantage of it and found a seafood gumbo place with po-boys for lunch. My sister, Sara, just showed up from Gulf Shores. My brother, Pat, and she didn't make it here because of tropical storm Barry this weekend, so she is visiting today. Speaking of tropical storm Barry, it went right over top of our house in Niceville. Fortunately, it did no damage and only dumped about three inches of rain. Click here if you want to see the time lapsed radar picture of it hitting our house. 11 Aug 01 As of yesterday, I am neutrapenic, so the hermit game is on and so is the ground hog day game. However, since I have been doing so well I have been given a little more freedom from my doctor. For instance, I don't have to go into the hospital today or tomorrow for anything unless I start feeling bad. So far, I feel great! I'm just a little tired from my red cells starting to drop. I had to get an infusion of platelets yesterday, but that is normal. Last time I needed two whole blood and two platelet transfusions. It will probably be the same this time, also. I am back on the Neupogen shots to try and shorten the time I am neutrapenic. Last time they shorten it by almost half. I am hoping to be back in Niceville around 24 Aug. My sister, Sara, came for a visit on Tuesday. She tried to come down on Sunday, but TS Barry prevented it. Since I wasn't neutrapenic, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. It was great seeing her. She has been one of our biggest supporters since this thing started. She drove with Nancy to San Antonio when I was diagnosed with AML and she was there taking care of the kids while we were at Wilford Hall. She brought us a scrapbook she put together of our stay in San Antonio. It was really nice. It was full of pictures and memorabilia from the 39 days there. 15 Aug 01 Today my blood counts are near rock bottom. My ANC (absolute neutrafil count) is zero, zilch, nada. Hopefully they will start coming back in the next couple of days. They have been in the cellar for six days now. I have already received two platelet transfusions and one whole blood transfusion. Tomorrow I will be getting another platelet and whole blood infusion before the long weekend (Keesler takes off every other Friday). Unfortunately, I will still be neutrapenic, so I will need to hang around all weekend. I might be able to go home some time next week. I did have a little trouble this week. They found the Strep bacteria in my Hickman catheter. Luckily they found it early before I started running a fever. Fevers are really bad when you are neutrapenic. They usually land you back in the hospital for a few days. Right now we are treating the bacteria with an antibiotic that is infused through the Hickman. They run it in me in the morning at the clinic and then I run it myself in the evening in my room. If we can kill this thing off early, I won't have to have my Hickman removed. If it gets worst, out it comes. We have been praying for the former. I have really grown attached to my Hickman. It's like the little brother I never had (not really). 19 Aug 01 It is Sunday and I am still neutrapenic, however, my monocyte (another type of white blood cell) count did jump into the normal range yesterday. Monocytes usually precede the neutrafils (the ones that count, no pun intended). Hopefully tomorrow's count will show some neutrafils. Right now they are at zero. Ever wonder how much medicine it takes to keep a leukemia patient going? I have put together a list of all the medicines I take on a daily basis here. It is very difficult for a guy who rarely ever took a pain medication, like aspirin or Tylenol, to take all of these medications. It just doesn't seem right, but each one is there for a reason. Of course I always wonder what all these pills think about each other as they gather together in my stomach. I have always heard you shouldn't mix medications, but I guess that doesn't apply here. I didn't get the long weekend like I thought I was going to get. I had to go to the clinic on Friday (they were closed, but came in just for me--try that at a civilian hospital) to get my blood tested to make sure the antibiotic I am taking for my Hickman is working right. It is called a "peak and trough". They measure the antibiotic in my blood 12 hours after my last dose and then measure it again one hour after the next dose. It should show little of the drug in the trough and a theraputic level in the peak. That way you know it is not building up in the body to become toxic yet is strong enough to kill the bacteria. Then I had to go to the hospital on Saturday and get another transfusion of platelets. They had gone down to 18000 (normal is 200,000+). Today is a day off though. No clinic, no hospital, no lab work. Nice! 23 Aug 01 We didn't get to leave today like we had hoped. My white and red blood cells are all doing great, but once again my platelets are lagging the fight. I did talk to another AML patient via the internet about the drug Procrit. That is the drug that cost over $500.00 a shot and you take it once a week. While I was taking the shots after the last round of chemo, my platelets and white blood cells would not recover until after I stopped taking the drug. This other AML patient had the exact same problem with Procrit. None of the medical research has shown this to be a problem, but I'm not taking Procrit this round and we shall see if my platelets behave better. The good news is I am not neutrapenic! Nancy and I are heading out to our favorite seafood restaurant to have some gumbo and po-boys. Hopefully, we will be home Saturday. Once again the Lord has answered all of our (and your) prayers. My Hickman infection is gone and I have had zero side effects to this last round of chemo. I didn't even lose my hair. It quit growing while I was under the chemo's influence, but now it is growing again. In fact, the chemo has caused my whiskers to grow like they have never grown before. I am growing a mustache (albeit a cheesy one) for the first time in my life. I have tried in the past, but I give up after about 6 months when people ask me if I have dirt on my face. I will probably shave it off after this is all over. Nancy wants me to ask everyone to please continue praying for us. Even though things have been going great, we know it is through God that things have worked out this way. 25 Aug 01 We have escaped! Nancy and I drove home last night and arrived in Niceville around 2200. Unfortunately, my Hickman did not survive the day. My doctor found that the infection was still hiding in the tunnel where the catheter enters the body and I was sent over to surgery to have it removed. It is funny, but sometimes the things you fear the most (like having to have my catheter removed) turns out to be nothing. I wasn't fearful of the procedure, I just didn't like the idea of needing it to be removed. However, now that it is gone, I'm glad. The procedure was nothing. A little local anesthesia and within about 5 minutes it is gone and all sewed up. Now I am free from flushing it every morning and packing it with Heparin (blood thinner). I don't have to change the bandage everyday and I can sleep on my stomach for the first time in four months. Showers are now a non-event and I don't have this "lump" poking out of my shirt all the time. But the good times will only last until the next treatment when I will have another one put in the other side of my chest. Again, it isn't a big deal. Another local anesthesia and a painless procedure that lasts about an hour (or at least that is what it took last time). I have to go give blood tomorrow at the Eglin hospital. When I left Keesler AFB, my platelets were still acting up. If my platelets are low tomorrow, I will have to drive back over to Keesler for a platelet infusion. If my platelets are good, I should be able to hang around here until next Thursday or whenever my platelets go above 100,000 and my ANC (absolute neutrafil count) goes above 1500 without the help of Neupogen shots. Time to go spend some time with the kids. This is the first time I have seen them in three and a half weeks. 1 Sep 01 We received some potentially great news yesterday. Dr. Dice told me the protocol for treating AML has now changed and the prevailing view calls for only three consolidation treatments instead of four. That would mean I only have one more treatment and I am finished. She said she would talk to me about it when I show back up for the next (hopefully last) treatment next week. As you may have guessed, I am still at home. My bone marrow has still not recovered from the last treatment (just like last time). I blamed it on the Procrit before, but now it looks like my body just doesn't like that Ara-C they are pumping into me. I needed two units of red blood cells on Thursday and a six-pack of platelets on Friday. The good news is I didn't have to go to Keesler for the infusions. The Eglin AFB oncology clinic was able to get the blood products I needed in a very timely fashion. They put an IV in my right arm, put the products in and removed the IV. Everything went without a hitch. I was very impressed. I am going to give another blood sample on Monday at the Eglin hospital to see if I'm on the road to recovery for the next (and hopefully last) treatment. Without my Hickman catheter, I'm starting to look like a pincushion again. However, I have found two outstanding lab technicians that are able to draw the blood first stick every time. It is college football season again and time for me to waste a bunch of time watching it. There are advantages to being sick....no one complains that I am relaxing and watching football like they used to when I was well. 5 Sep 01 Another day, another blood sample. Hopefully today will show some improvements to my lab work. On Monday my platelets were sitting at 52,000. Not bad considering that I received my last infusion on Friday. Normally when my bone marrow is hiding from the chemo, an infusion only last two or three days. Lately, they have been lasting about a week. The same thing with my red blood cells, too. That means something is brewing inside those bones, they just aren't ready for full rate production, yet. I received emails from two of my fellow Air Force comrades this week, Duke Krishnan and Nicole Felini. Both of them are raising money by running a mini-marathon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and are making me their honorary teammate. Of course I am very honored to be their teammate for this worthy cause. Nancy and I have been praying for God to guide us in the decision process of whether to do three or four consolidation chemotherapies. I would like to ask all of you to do the same for us. We know that the Lord heals people miraculously, but we also know that He often uses the doctors and the chemo to do His work. Either way, He is in control, we only want to be pointed in the right direction and make the decision that He wants, not the one that we want out of convenience. 16 Sep 01 A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks since my last update. Watching the attack on the WTC, the Pentagon (where I used to work) and the crash in Pennsylvania makes a lot of my problems seem a lot smaller than they were previously. You can have leukemia and be with your family while you fight the disease or you can be sitting in an office building (or an airplane) minding your own business and wham!! It's all over here on earth. I thank the Lord that my battle has an enemy who can be seen and does not attack cowardly like the misguided criminals who attacked America. Ok, now that I have that off my chest, I will be going to Keesler tomorrow. My platelets are 148,000 (highest they have been since I started this whole ordeal). God willing, this will be my last treatment and I will sail through it as easily as I did the last three times. I ask for your prayers for Nancy, the kids, Nancy's Mom and me while we are separated one more time. 18 Sep 01 I am at the Keesler AFB Air Force Base Medical Center now. I showed up here yesterday at 0700. The surgeon came to my room and put a new three-line catheter in the other side of my chest. This one is different than the Hickman I had for the last four months. This one is only designed to stay in for about a month and didn't require "surgery" to put it in. It was basically just pushed into the big vein going to the heart and then stitched down to my chest. They then sent some folks in with a portable x-ray machine and looked to make sure it was in the right place. It is where it is supposed to be and is working great so far. I have finished two of the six bags of chemo for this (the last) treatment. I took the first bag from 1300-1600 yesterday and the second from 0100-0400 this morning. This will repeat Wednesday and again on Friday then Nancy will show up on Friday and I will head to the TLF (temporary living facility) for a couple of weeks. After that, I go back to Niceville for good and begin trying to become a normal human being again (although after this, I don't think anything will ever be normal again). I found out yesterday that I have 12 perfect matches from the National Bone Marrow Register. Although I do not believe God's plan is for me to have a bone marrow transplant, my doctor says it is money in the bank if it ever came to that. Normally your brothers and sisters are your best bet for a match, but they didn't even come close in the 6 categories (called HLA) the doctors are looking to match. I have accused them all of being adopted. Of course they are looking at me with the same thought. I received my 15 minutes of fame on Sunday when our local paper did a story on me. If you would like to see it, click here. If you don't want to read it, click here. (both take you to the story because you are reading it whether you like it or not!!). 24 Sep 01 Hallelujah! On Saturday morning, at 0403, my last drop of chemotherapy fell out of the bag. Thank you, Lord, for being with us through this entire trip. May I never see another bag of chemotherapy again! Yes, they finally found that bag of chemotherapy I asked for in May....the last one. I don't know why it took them five months to find it, but I'm sure glad they did! Once again, I have taken the high dose of the Ara-C without any side effects. Now the waiting game is on, one more time, for my bone marrow to go into hiding and then re-emerge with the healthy stuff. We should be here at Keesler AFB, MS for about two weeks then back to Eglin AFB for good. Grandmamma (Nancy's mom) is with the kids and they are all doing well in Florida. I would like to ask everyone to pray for the Tatum family, again, that we may make it through this last round and be rejoined in October with everyone healthy and happy. As I told my sister today, I could have done without this experience, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I believe I am emerging a better man, father, husband, officer and most importantly, disciple for the Lord. May God bless all of you for your support! 6 Oct 01 A lot has happened since my last update. My charmed life of not having any real problems during the chemotherapy fell of the cliff last Sunday when my new catheter decided to get infected with something rather nasty. I started running a fever of about 102.5 on Sunday night, so they admitted me to the hospital and here I still sit after 6 days. The infection could not have happened at a worst time because I was at my very lowest on my immune system (white count zero) and I wasn't due to recover for a least another week. My body had no way to even attempt to fight this bug. So, They started me on Vancomycin (an antibiotic) Sunday, but it wasn't working fast enough so they slowly added three more antibiotics over the next 3 days. The other three were Maxaquin, Gentamicin and Amphotericin B. The last two are the really big guns used to kill drug-resistant forms of bacterial and fungal infections. On Tuesday, my doctor pulled the line out of my chest. It had become so badly infected that I could hardly move my left arm. The upper left side of my back, the upper left side of my chest, my left shoulder and my left bicep all felt like I had pulled every muscle up there. Good thing they make strong painkillers and sleeping aids, because I was happy to take them for about 3 days. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. Although my doctor didn't think the infection was fungal, she didn't want to take any chances because a fungal infection is about the worst thing a neutrapenic (no immune system) patient can have. All of the cultures they took showed I had multiple types of bacteria growing. The Lord was merciful and as He has done all through this ordeal, He answered Nancy and my prayers and I have now recovered. I am only taking the Vancomycin now and I will continue with that for another week. My immune system recovered out of the danger zone today and I am feeling great! I cannot thank God enough for giving me Dr. Dice. She has been blessed with more medical talent than anyone I know. One of the nurses told me she called up here every two hours all through the night last Tuesday when the infection was at its worst to check on my condition. I believe the Lord has even bigger plans for her in the future. It looks like I will now be released from the hospital tomorrow. They want to make sure I don't start spiking a fever again now that they have taken me off all but one of the antibiotics. I have no problem with being cautious after the scare I had last week. Nancy and I should be leaving Keesler AFB on Tuesday and back home again for good. Since this was my last treatment, all I have left now is to recover my blood to normal and get back to the gym and get back in shape. 12 Oct 01 This is the update I have been waiting to write! I am back home, back to work and feeling great! I went to work today for the first time since May without the prospects of another chemotherapy round hanging over my cranium. I talked to the flight surgeons and my commander and the ball is starting to roll to get me back in the cockpit. It will not be an easy battle, but BGen Catton has been very proactive and wants be back in the air by Christmas. It will take a lot of paperwork, a lot of medical test and a lot of praying, but I believe it will happen. Nancy and I have done a lot of praying about our future and we believe it is God's will for us to stay in the Air Force. BTW, I had a couple of wives of F-15 pilots tell me they didn't like reading my post about leukemia, radiation and the F-15 radar. I have done a lot of research and have found out that the F-15 radar (the APG 63/70) does not emit ionizing radiation. Basically there are two types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing. Ionizing radiation is like the kind that comes from the sun and from x-rays. Non-ionizing radiation comes from microwave ovens and airborne radars. The first causes cells to mutate and can cause cancer. The second can damage cells, but does not cause them to mutate and therefore should not cause cancer. I have a flight surgeon coming from Brooks AFB who is going to ride in the back of an F-15 on five sorties to measure the radiation in the F-15 cockpit. That should go a long way to help calm any fears of the radar causing cancer. I am happy to say that my updates will now be slow to come. I will plan on updating the site only when something worth reporting happens. If you would like to know when the site has been updated, you can enter your name in the container on the main page (if you haven't already) and I will send you an email whenever something new has been posted. Thank you, everyone, for all the prayers and support you have given to my family and me. I can tell you for a fact that we could not have made it through this ordeal without you. May God bless you all, always. 15 Nov 01 Wow, it is hard to believe it has only been a month since I came back to work. I flew today for the first time in eight months and 7 days. Although it was in the backseat of an F-16 Viper, I hope to be back in the front seat of an F-15 Eagle real soon. The paperwork is coming together and should be sent off to Air Combat Command (ACC) before Thanksgiving. The sortie today was great. Ripple Booth and I were number three in a three-ship simulating the enemy for two more F-16s. It was nice putting some "g's" back on my body. We found out last week that we will be leaving Florida next summer. We are going to Senior Service School at the Naval War College in Newport, RI. We are really looking forward to moving up there. Nancy and I have never lived that far north before. I hope they are ready in Rhode Island for a couple of Mississippi hicks! I had my blood drawn this week to see if I was ready to fly again or not. Obviously, since I flew, it was good. My white blood cells and my platelets are in the normal range and my red blood cells are only a fraction below the "normal" range, but above the minimum to fly in fighters. I will be going back to Keesler AFB, MS next Tuesday for my first check-up since I finished chemo. I will be getting a bone marrow biopsy (ouch). This should be the last of those with only blood checks every three months for the first year after this one. Everything is going great. God continues to watch over my family and me in ways I never thought possible. I look forward to every day to see where He is going to lead me next! 29 Nov 01 I went to see my oncologist on 20 Nov and had my first bone marrow biopsy since I finished chemo in September. I got the report back this week and it showed I am still disease free. All I can say is praise the Lord! I am now in Las Vegas, Nevada at Nellis AFB. We brought out our F-15Cs to fly with the Weapons School during their large force graduation exercise. This is my first temporary duty since I fell ill last March. I should get my first F-15C backseat ride tomorrow during the exercise. So far I have only flown in F-16s, but since the F-15 is my jet, I am really looking forward to it. I think Nancy was a little worried about me coming out here at first, but the results from the BMB came back the day before I was leaving and I think that settled her fears. I don't have to see the inside of a hospital for another three months. That's ok with me! The plan is still for me to be flying (by myself) by Christmas. I'm not too worried though; if it is God's will, I will fly again. CHRISTMAS DAY 2001 Merry Christmas! All is well in the Tatum family. Today we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. He has been the true savior for Nancy and me and we are enjoying the day with the kids and Nancy's mom and brother. Everything went well on my temporary duty to Las Vegas. I flew in the backseat of the F-15C five times while I was out there. It was great! I can't wait to get back in the front seat again. Speaking of flying again, I finally was able to put my entire waiver package together and it was sent out via Fedex last Friday to the commander of Air Combat Command. My old boss, BGen Catton (now working at the Pentagon) called and told me he was still working to get me back in the air ASAP. Even though he is not my boss anymore, he is still working hard to finish what he started here at Eglin. He is a great example of a great leader in my book. I am feeling great. No problems whatsoever. We are heading up to Jackson, Mississippi for New Year's Day to watch a little football and visit with my mother, brothers and sister. Sorry I don't have much to update, but from my viewpoint.....that's a great update!! God bless you all. 15 Feb 02 Hello Everybody. It has been a while since I last updated this page. Everything is going great. Duke and Nicole finished the Team in Training "Mini" marathon in January and raised a nice sum of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You can click here for the full story. I had a chance meeting (if you believe in chance, personally, I don't) with General Hornburg (ACC Commander) last Thursday night at Nellis AFB, NV. Major General L.D. Johnston introduced me to the General and I told him I was ready to get back in the air in the front cockpit. He asked me what my doctors thought and I told him that my doctors think I should be flying again, but that his doctors (who have never even examined me) don't think I should be flying. This ticked him off a little (a lot actually) and he told me he would have me flying before the week was out. True to his word, he signed my exception to policy letter as soon as he arrived back at Langley AFB, VA and I now have a 4 March 2002 training class to get re-qualified in the F-15C. Of course the Chief of Staff (General Jumper) still has to sign the paperwork, but his office is telling me that Gen Jumper will most likely take Gen Hornburg's recommendation. I have to go back to Keesler next Tuesday for my three-month checkup. Since I am feeling great, it should consist of a blood test and a short physical exam and then I will be free for another three months. God has been very good to the Tatum family. As Jesus said, "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Well, we have been asking, seeking and knocking and sure enough we have been finding and receiving. God is good!! Hopefully my next update will be from Tyndall AFB, FL during my re-qual back in the Eagle!!! 3 Mar 02 Well, I was hoping to make this entry from Tyndall AFB, but the wheels of staff work grind slowly. Gen Hornburg did not sign my paperwork when I was told that he did, but only because he met some very stiff resistance from the medical staff in ACC. I don't blame anyone. I really believe I will get me back in the air, but it may be some sort of compromise plan (like I will need another pilot in my backseat). Most of the folks who have never examined me are dead set against me flying before I leave this summer. I can't really blame them. They are looking at the statistics and not the patient. I think this would be a very hard decision to make. Hey, but I will be happy to fly in the front seat even if I have to drag another pilot around in my pit. Of course, I don't know how much they are going to like it. I passed my three month checkup with no problems. My platelets were on the low side of normal, but that has to be expected when you chemo that bone marrow four times in 5 months. I have plenty, but my doctor says it could be years (if ever) for them to be in the mid-range of normal. Nancy, the kids and I went up to Mississippi State University last weekend and watched a Men's baseball game, Men's basketball game and a ladies basketball game. We had to watch the Men Basketball game against our arch rival (Ole Miss) on TV in the hotel room because it was sold out. In fact it was the largest crowd to ever see a college basketball game in the state (10,250 fans). Regardless of when and if I ever get back in the air, we are still thanking God in the Tatum family for all of our blessings. He has a plan. We might not know what that plan is, but we trust Him explicitly. 17 Mar 02 Hello everyone, Well, there is no really easy way to say it, but I have relapsed. I'm not feeling very well at all so this will be real short. Nancy and I are heading to Keesler AFB, MS tomorrow morning where I will begin a new round of chemotherapy meant to get me back in remission so that I can proceed to a bone marrow transplant (BMT). I have no idea how long I will be at Keesler or where the BMT will take place. As I said in my last message, I know the Lord has a plan for all of us. This sure isn't where I was expected to be heading, but it is where we are heading nevertheless. Please keep your prayers going for Nancy and the kids and me. It is going to be another bumpy summer. Until I start feeling better, don't expect a lot of updates. Hopefully that won't last too long. |
There are three journals: First Symptoms until relapse Click on any of the links above to go to the other journals |
Mach's "First Symptoms until Relapse" Journal |
