June 1 2016:  

Eye of the Tiger

Today I awoke at 4:30 am not sure why, maybe it was the steroids from the day 1 treatment.  I got up and moved around the house a bit trying not to wake Jennifer.  Got a glass of water and laid back down.  I was able to doze off for about an hour and then the alarm went off to signal time to face day 2 in the long journey.  I know at some point it will turn into a grind but this morning I’m energized and ready for today’s treatment.  Still feeling that “Eye of the Tiger”!  Maybe also a little inspired by watching the movie Creed the night before.

We arrive at the Georgetown Cancer Center at 8:30 am and the nurses call me back to the infusion room.  Lucky for me I must have a decent personality cause they’ve kindly reserved the chair I had the previous day. That way Jennifer and I are close to each other.  Plus Jennifer gets to sit in a nicest chair available to visitors.  As we left today they teased me and said my spot will be ready for me again tomorrow!  Always good to have the nursing staff on your side.  They are a wonderful group.

Since my treatments tend to last anywhere from 5-7 hours each day, I get a chance to interact with a number of patients in the chair by me.  Today I got to meet 3 people and learn a little more of their story.  One of the patients we met the day before and he was back for his 2nd and final treatment this morning.  His name is Jerry.  Jerry is really nice man, slightly older than me who was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  It was a diagnosis that took his doctors about 6 months to make.  He’s now getting an infusion that will help to dampen the effects of MS on his body.  He has a very positive outlook on life and it’s refreshing to hear in this place.

The second person I got to interact with was actually not a patient but a friend of women who is battling breast cancer.  This lady was awesome you could just tell from her demeanor and the rather loud conversation she had with her friend.   Her friend left the room to meet with her Doctor and while she was away I got a chance to speak with this lovely spirit.  She and I talked for about 15 minutes and it brightened my day.   She was even gracious enough to add my name to her church prayer list.  A very touching gesture on her part and very much appreciated on mine.

The final patient I met today was a 72-year-old retired professor from Michigan.  He was actually born closer to Green Bay than Detroit so I found out he was a Packers fan.  Jennifer got a kick out of that since her whole family is a bunch of Packers.  Luckily for me she’s now a Cowboys fan.  Ha!  Anyway this man’s story is pretty powerful.  He’s beaten prostate cancer and colon cancer but now he’s facing his biggest challenge.  In early April he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the liver and lungs.  He was given 3-18 months to live, but you would never know it by his actions and outlook on life.  It puts into perspective the fact that my cancer has such a high cure rate.  Yes, my particular course of treatment is fairly tough and aggressive but it works!  I’m lucky! I’m starting to understand the bond that can develop amongst people in this situation.  It’s still hard for me to say I’m a cancer patient but with each day it becomes more of a reality.

Not sure how to make this transition but I need to share my Twitter story with you.  I’m not sure how many of you use or are on Twitter.  If you’re asking yourself what the hell is a Twitter than I’m pretty sure you are not.  I’ve tweeted about my blog on my Twitter page (follow me @jimwehmeyer) since I launched the blog last week.  I have roughly 1000 followers on my page not sure how many are real and how many are just fake girls trying to sell porn. (no really that’s a thing).  I use Twitter to keep up with news on the Cowboys, Rangers, certain Celebrities, and TV shows.  It’s an easy place to get quick updates and what not.  Well last Friday I had retweeted (means to tweet someone elses original tweet to your followers) a tweet from Jim Beaver, you might recognize him if you happen to watch Supernatural or watched Deadwood back in the day.  As you might know from my previous post I have become a big fan of Supernatural because of my daughter Maddie.  Jim Beaver plays the part of Bobby Singer so I had started following him on Twitter as his character is pretty cool.  He had tweeted out a message to join the fight against cancer and requesting people to purchase a shirt where all the proceeds would go to the John Wayne Cancer Foundation and Institute to fight for a cure.  I then tweeted him a link to my blog and within 30 minutes he had retweeted it out to his 800,000 followers. Whoa, my blog was on the verge of going viral.  Since his initial retweet my link was seen by over 35,000 people and a lot actually came to the blog.  That’s pretty amazing and it would be awesome if that was all of the story.  Well, this afternoon Jim Beaver once again sent this tweet to all his followers:

Here was the surprise 2nd retweet from Jim. #ShowYourGrit

Join in our fight and #ShowYourGrit and go to Jim’s page: Jim Beaver for #ShowYourGrit