it's been a while.

christopher william holt bio photo By christopher william holt

I’ve been quiet here, but in truth I usually am, so I guess that’s somewhat appropriate. Sorry I lied to you about ‘more soon’ in the last post, but I seemed to have found a quantum of solace in going quiet, and getting focused. So let’s see what I’ve been up to…

I continued my radiation everyday, finishing it up on December 17th as planned.

Took my final chemo pill at 5:55am that day:

Once that was completed I took some time off from chemotherapy. January 21st I had an appointment down at Duke to discuss my post-radiation treatment plan. 12 more chemotherapy sessions, but this time each lasts only 5 days – unlike everyday with radiation, however the dosage is much higher and taken right before I go to bed. After the 5 days, I spend 23 days letting my body recover and support it in this process as much as possible.

Eat right, Sleep right, Relax right. The idea is to attack my cancer using only Temodar and at as high a dose as possible without sacrificing significant quality of life. Then recover. Then repeat. January 27th I started the first of my 60 total days. As of the writing of this I have completed 8 sessions (40 total days). I’ve lost 45lbs since January 21st, mostly from eating better. I haven’t been drinking alcohol, and I don’t remember the last time I ate pizza, so I guess maybe that also helps.

Every two months to keep a close eye on my undying cells I’ve had a scheduled appointment with Henry and have had MRIs to go along with the visit, and things look great. I’ll have to make a nice animated GIF of the progress, but there isn’t much to see (which is a good thing).

Some random thoughts… It’s coming up on one year since the discovery of my tumor, I’ll have to plan something special for myself for that day. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated via the GiveForward site, it has helped me immensely. I continue to spend much of my waking life stressing over Picturelife, so if you want to help ease my stress go sign up for a plan and help us reach the level of success we are striving for.

I’m leaving out a lot, so if you have any questions please e-mail me cwholt at gmail dot com. Here is a picture of me from right when I wrote this (I am a bit exhausted and have been at an airport for 7 hours).

thanks for reading