Happy Birthday Alec!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Today is Alec's Birthday, 34 years old!

This is his 4th week of chemo/radiation...one week left! We can not believe how fast the time has gone and how well he is doing. Finally, we catch a break, and we were able to have an un-eventful Christmas. (meaning no flu, hospital trips, etc.) We had a very relaxing few days off and literally did nothing for a change. Alec's family was over for Christmas Eve, we had a nice dinner and we went to a new church which we enjoyed very much.

Christmas Day we left for Plainville around 1:00 and spent the night with my family. It was so nice and we couldn't have had a better Christmas! How I know I am getting old...my favorite present was a Dyson vacuum cleaner! I could not wait to get home and vacuum my entire house, it is marvelous! Does rugs and wood floors and is great with dog hair. I am my mothers daughter :) Alec gave me a Kindle, which is really a cool little device and I have already read one book off of it. He likes it more than me because I can read at night without turning pages and I have one hand free for back scratching!

This week we are staying in Boston to be close to the hospital. It has been great so far, we went over to Tina and Bob's last night who made us a delicious dinner and got to hang out with Julia, Jilly and Brian as well. We all played the "Newlywed Game" which was very funny. I really miss Millie though, I even cried when Alec's mom drove away with her in the car, she was just looking at me with her big brown eyes! I am so pathetic!

So with one day left tomorrow, this week is almost over! Then one more week and off to Florida!

Thank you all for your prayers and being here for us. Hope you all enjoyed Christmas and have a Happy, Healthy, 2010!

Happy New Year!!! And Happy Birthday Alec!

Love,

Heather and Alec

3 Weeks Down!

Wow, December is flying by!


Alec finished up his 3rd week of chemo/radiation and still going strong. We had a good week, he was a little tired, but the docs and nurses are very impressed. I do not think I have heard him complain yet. He has such a positive attitude and is feeling good, both physically and mentally. As we were waiting for our car Friday after radiation a women in a wheelchair told me I was very lucky to have such a sweet friend. I said, "he is my husband too" and she said "wow, you are even luckier...what a great guy." I said, "that's why I married him!"

Charlotte drove him to MGH a few days last week, as I am finishing up the end of my quarter and stayed in Boston one night and also got to see Julia, (always the highlight of my week! She is getting so big and smiley!) It is also nice to have a break from driving...especially with a backseat driver like Alec! haha, I call our drives in together "Driving Mr. Daisy".

We are both looking forward to Christmas and cant wait to have Thursday, Friday and the weekend off. Since we have a short week, radiation is open tomorrow (Sunday) and he only has to go only until Wednesday. Not a bad week! Almost all our Christmas shopping is done, wrapped and waiting to be opened. When I say "our" Christmas shopping, I mean mine. Alec seems to show up Christmas morning and, what do you know? Everyone in our family magically has presents. (It is like there really is a Santa Clause, and he still believes.) I guess that's one of the perks of being a guy!

Last weekend Alec's BF, Ralph came up for a visit, it was good to see him and I think Alec had some much needed guy time...(He is constantly surrounded by women!) I left them alone for a few hours and enjoyed some espresso martinis with his sisters and mom. I also got to see Lizzy and her boyfriend who came through KBPT Saturday, we had a nice lunch and sat on a pervy Santa's lap! Sunday, Amy, Ken, Cath and Jay came up for some Christmas cocktails and spread some Christmas Cheer. We had lots of fun and thank you for visiting! (And for my bracelet, ornament and dinner!) xo


Unfortunately we missed the Christmas party tonight in Boston and I am home sulking. The snow and parking ban in Southie kinda scared me off, not to mention Alec has to be at MGH tomorrow morning for treatment and he was not up for a party tonight. I am sorry I missed it, but I am sure it was tons of fun and hopefully we will see everyone soon :)

We are so excited...Katie and Jon offered to have us stay at their families place in Ft. Lauderdale and I booked the tickets today! We are going down for a few days after his treatment is all over and could not be more excited! I was going to surprise Alec for his Birthday with the tickets, but ended up telling him because I wanted to make sure he would feel up to it. And, I am glad I did because now he really have something to look forward to, he was so happy! Thanks so much Katie and Jon and Weston! And thanks for Omaha, we had burgers tonight...yum yum.


Thank you all for your prayers and support and Christmas cards and gifts! We really are so blessed and so thankful for all our wonderful friends and family.

Love and Merry Christmas,

Heather & Alec

2 Weeks Down!

3 Weeks to Go!

So far so good! Alec had a another successful week. Things are going well, no major side effects, just a little tired. We stop by MGH every day at noon for a radiation quickie. It takes no time, and the staff is so nice. Everyone already loves Alec and he makes everyone smile :)

One thing I am amazed at is how many people have cancer. And it does not discriminate. Old, young, black, white, rich, poor. It is truly eye-opening. We see the same people every day, you can tell which patients are at the very beginning of treatment and those that are at the very end. Alec's radiation doctor thinks Alec is doing very well, and is pleased that his side effects are not worse.

Alec said he wants to hike Mt. Washington before his surgery in January...he must be feeling pretty good!!! I on the other hand, not so much. Haha, I may have to fake some illness so he cant drag me along.

We were able to go out and enjoy the Christmas Prelude in KBPT last weekend. Jill, Brian, my mom and the Lombardos all came up and we enjoyed a few Christmas cocktails, a little shopping and lots of laughs. We even saw Alec's nurse, Katie out at Hurricanes! She comes up every year with her high school friends, she is so sweet and it takes such a special person to do what she does.

Lizzy came over on Sunday and brought us 6 pre-made meals from a place in Freeport and a TJ's card from all the Salve Girls, her parents, Mrs. Dez and her cousin Ned. Thank you ALL! What a great gift, I am seriously going to forget how to cook! I cant wait to try some of them...cashew chicken, glazed pork!? Sounds delish?

And today we received a box of goodies from the Feehan Girls...with the most magnificent muffins ever! Alec had one tonight when we got home from work, smelled like a bakery in here! Thank you all...we are so spoiled!

The funny thing is, most people lose weight when they start chemo/radiation. When Alec started, he was 8 lbs less than what he was today! The doctor asked Alec if he had lost any weight, we both smirked at each other and I told him not to worry, we were keeping him fat and happy. Thanks to my friends and family, we DO NOT have to worry about becoming too skinny! (Not to mention he ate a 2 lb burrito yesterday!)

Fridays can not come fast enough for Alec. Tomorrow he will have his chemo pump removed, and one more radiation, then he is FREE for the weekend! Woohoo!

Thank you for all the prayers and support, we are so, so blessed.

Love to you all!

Heather & Alec

2 days down, 5 weeks to GO!

Phew, we finally can start killing this thing!

We went to MGH yesterday for Alec's first day of chemo/radiation. All went well! We spent a few hours with our nurse, Katie, and Alec has the chemo "bag" again. He will be hooked up every Monday to the bag, wear it for 5 days, then be disconnected on Fridays. He will have to go to MGH every day for radiation, however that only takes minutes and they will even valet our car. Woohoo!

He is feeling good, very tired, not very hungry, (good thing I fattened him up over Thanksgiving!). He had a very weird craving for Lucky Charms(?)But still able to work and drive and play xbox.

The next few weeks will be very telling as to whether or not his body is reacting to the chemo. Please pray that it does!

Lizzy sent us the Lance Armstrong book and I absolutely love it. We can totally relate to everything he has gone through and has quite an incredible story. I keep reading Alec paragraphs, exclaiming..."Wow! That's exactly like us!" (minus the whole "bike" thing!)

Our friends and family are absolutely amazing. We have received more cards, meals, gifts, games, books, etc. than I can even imagine. I can not thank you all enough. We are so blessed. Every day we receive some type of goodie in the mail, it means so much and we are truly so grateful for all of you and your thoughtfulness. I can not imagine going through this without this type of support and love. We know we are not alone, ever.

Please pray for Julie and her family. Her uncle lost his battle to cancer last weekend. We are very heart broken for them. I hope they find comfort in the memories they shared with him and know that he is with God and we will be thinking and praying for them during this difficult time.

This weekend is the Christmas Prelude in KBPT. We are looking forward to seeing Santa come in on his lobster boat and singing Christmas Carols!

Let the healing BEGIN!

Love to ALL!

Heather, Alec and Millie

Thanksgiving...Quarantined Style

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As some of you know, Alec came down with Swine Flu Tuesday. (Although my parents are convinced he has in-law-i-tis.) Every time they plan on coming up, he comes down with something...bloody throat, swine flu, anything to keep us from getting together! Haha, I really don't think he has in-law-i-tis. Just really, really, bad timing! Since we were "quarantined", only Charlotte was able to join us since she had the vaccine.

Luckily, all those years of drinking tons of orange juice has paid off, no swine flu for me! (OK, I know that cant be what keeps me healthy, but something had to have given me a super human immune system right?)

We certainly made the best of our Thanksgiving Day. Even though I debated just ordering Chinese food, I decided Wednesday while I was in the grocery store to just go for it and I bought a 10 lb turkey and all the fixins'. Everything came out delicious! All those years of watching my mom, grandmas, and aunts prepare has paid off! Although I made squash pie instead of pumpkin by accident, then the pumpkin pie burned, and I did not even attempt Auntie K's cranberry bread, everything else was delish! Luckily my mom sent me her pumpkin pie, and Auntie K sent her cranberry bread so we were able to enjoy with leftovers. (Thank you!) By Thursday, Alec was feeling much better, and was able to eat too much and overdose on Turkey like the rest of us!

Sunday we got our tree and decorated the house. No 17 foot tree this year, and I am not going to lie, I did not miss hauling that monster in! (Last year I literally almost lost my life!) Clark Griswold took the year off from competing with the white house. (Thankfully!)

Tomorrow we go in early for a full day of appointments, and the first day of chemo/radiation.

Hopefully all will go smoothly and the next 5 weeks will go by fast!

Happy Monday and will update soon!

Love,

Heather, Alec and Millie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and spending time with family and just being home.

ALec starts chemo/radiation next week, we will surly enjoy these last few days of freedom!

Thank you all for your Love, Support and Prayers. We have so much to be grateful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love and God Bless,

Heather & Alec
and Millie

Good News...Finally!

Let me just start with a HUGE SIGH...(of relief)

We are back on track. This afternoon we met with Dr. Allen, who gave us some very good news and we are feeling very optimistic again :)

First, Alec had a PET scan earlier this week and everything came back clear. Yay! This is great, we were very worried that the lymphoma had spread but it appears as though the mass on his tonsil was "isolated" and as of now, there is no other lymph node infected in his body. However, the lymphoma still needs to be treated with chemo/radiation and is still a concern.

More good stuff...Alec's bone marrow came back negative. Yippee! This means the lymphoma is not advanced and considered "stage one". 90-95% curable and we can hold off with treatment until after the colorectal surgery. With that said, all chemo plans have changed and are subject to change depending on how things go over the next few months.

New plan: Dr. Allen said Alec has been the topic of conversation for a few days now. After 2 meetings, a conference, and case study, the team of docs at MGH have come up with a new plan to tackle both the colorectal cancer as well as the lymphoma. The treatment is as follows:

1. Radiation/Chemo for 5 weeks, 5 days a week to target the colorectal tumor.
2. Up to 4 weeks off.
3. Surgery to remove the colorectal tumor.
4. 4 weeks off
5. Chemo/Radiation for the lymphoma

We are really hopeful that this plan will prove successful and have total confidence in our team of docs.

Sunday we had a great day, John and Jamie (Alec's BF's from high school) took a break from their 5 month old twins and 4 year old son and came down to visit. It was great to see them and I hope we get to babysit for them soon!

Amy, Kendalle and Keith also came over Sunday and made us a delicious linner (lunch/dinner). Baked ziti, salad, garlic bread (from the famous www.garlicguy.com Amy's dad) Best garlic ever! We also were able to enjoy the sun that finally came out Sunday and went for a walk on the beach. Thank you!

Kendalle gave Alec a necklace with Saint Peregrine, who is the cancer Saint. I wore the pendant on my charm bracelet today and prayed that he look after us and he did! Thank you Ken! I have never prayed so hard in my life these past few days. I find a lot of comfort in my charm bracelet, my cross and my prayer shawls. I am such a fidgety person and having something to hold helps. It is also comforting to know that everyone was praying for us and I think it worked! Thank You All!

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving next week and even the doctors told us today that we have a lot to be thankful for. Amen to that!

(I am also looking forward to my mom's cornbread stuffing.)

Thank you all for your prayers and support, we are so blessed.

All our love,

Heather, Alec and Millie

I know God will not give me anything I cant handle. I just wish he didnt trust me so much. - Mother Teresa

It appears Alec has truly baffled the medical team at MGH with his latest diagnosis. We met with Dr. T this week who will be Alec's hematology oncologist and he gave us the low down on his B-Cell Lymphoma. He said B-Cell Lymphoma is a "good" type of cancer to have and although it is aggressive, it is very curable. In Alec's case however, figuring out a treatment will be a little more difficult. Since he has already started chemo for the colorectal cancer, the doctors must now re-group and figure out which cancer to tackle first.

He can not receive both treatments at the same time, since that would weaken his immune system too much and put him at risk for infection.

He will go in for a PET scan next week, and this will determine if the B-Cell Lymphoma has spread elsewhere in his body. He also had to have a bone marrow sample taken from his back (ouch!) and they will run tests on the marrow to make sure it has not spread into the bone.

We will know exactly what the next step will be in 2 weeks. The team of doctors are meeting up on Monday to re-evaluate his treatment and determine which treatment regimen would work best in this scenario. They have seen patients before with 2 types of cancer, just not this particular pair of cancer (colorectal and lymphoma).

Dr. T was very optimistic and said the good news is he has 2 types of curable cancer!
The bad news, he has 2 types of cancer and will have double the chemo and double the fight.

We are staying positive and looking forward to a relaxing weekend. We bought a new front loader washing machine and we are both very excited to do our first load. Funny how its the little things that now excite us! (Funny or pathetic?)
We also now have CABLE! Woohoo! 200 channels and Showtime. Alec is watching the fishing channel, no surprise there! And, Lyss and Steve sent us all their xbox games! Steph and Steve sent him an xbox card so he can play with other people, he is never going to leave the couch. Thank you!

We also got a great book from Steph and Steve, "Stronger than Cancer" By Connie Payton whose husband, Walter Payton, fought liver cancer. I have been reading it all night and there are some great stories, very inspirational. I liked the quote by Mother Teresa (I used for the title) It is how we are feeling right now :)

And this one,

"When it hurts to look back, and you're too afraid to look ahead, look beside you- your best friend will be there" - Vicky Gundlach

So true...thank you Steph!

I had a much needed girls night out last week, even baby Julia was able to join. I was tempted to put my new red lipstick on her when Tina wasn't looking, but refrained. (My lovely friend Lisa sent me some lipstick by Poppy, love it, thank you!!) And, thanks to my girls for a great night out. We saw Ben Affleck, who was filming a movie next to Bobinas place. We also met a man on the street after leaving the bar who had this giant clock that he picked from the trash and was bringing home to mom. He had 7 kids and was celebrating his 1 year sobriety, only I think he was drunk. Only in Southie!

I will update as we learn more. Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for the prayers. We need them!

All our love,

Heather, Alec and Millie

Good with the bad

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

We finally have an update regarding Alec's throat. Both good and bad news. It is confusing, so I am going to try to explain best I can.

First, the bad news: the pathology came back as "B-Cell Lymphoma". Good news: it is very curable, and it appears to be isolated in his throat only.

We find it quite unbelievable that Alec has 2 types of cancer and the second one was diagnosed only a couple weeks after the colorectal cancer. However, when I asked the throat doctor if this was possible he said "you may just be that unlucky." Gee, thanks doc.

Back to the good news...Alec had another CT scan on Wednesday and everything came back negative. :) Yay! This means that the cancer has not spread to other parts of his body. We are meeting with the hematology oncologist Tuesday afternoon to discuss the B-Cell Lymphoma. I ran into Dr. Allen in the hallway (Alec's oncologist) and she said she was not too worried about the throat and felt reassured with the negative scans.

Next step...Since even the doctors are perplexed by Alec's condition, there will be more tests done this week to see if the lymph nodes from his throat are related to the lypmh nodes that are infected near his colon. It is highly unlikely, however they just want to make sure. He will have another colonoscopy on Wednesday so they can biopsy the lymph nodes and compare to the throat tissue. Has anyone seen the show "House"? We feel like we are living through an episode.

B-Cell Lymphoma would require a different chemo regimen, so we are really hoping this was isolated in the throat and they got it out completely and he can continue with this chemo plan.

I saw Julie P at MGH and she said her Uncle (who also has colon cancer) just started a clinical trial and is fighting really hard. Please pray for him and his family!

Alec is feeling good, a few side effects from chemo, but nothing major. Just a little tired, headaches and a little nausea.

He got off raking again this weekend! My mom came up and made us my favorite meal and helped me with the yard. Thanks Mom! I secretly love yard work, but I do not want Alec to know, only because he feels kinda bad and tells me how wonderful I am for doing it all and how great the yard looks. :) Now I know what it is like to have one of those lazy husbands who plays video games and lays on the couch...only I can not be the nagging wife who complains. (he is fighting for his life after all.)

The Lombardos were in Maine too, I got to meet the newest addition to the family...Teddy, a brown lab. He went to the beach for the first time...too cute! Then we went to our favorite store...Mardens...bought a ton of stuff we don't need!

I got to see my favorite niece last week, she is so adorable and makes me so happy, all she does is smile! Except for the camera, we are gonna have to teach her the famous "DeMarco Girl Pose". Bobs mother gave us a beautiful prayer shawl made by her church. It is so warm and comforting and now we each have one. Thank You! And Tina's mom made us some delicious sauce, yummmy! I am going to forget how to cook it has been so long! Thank you!

I guess that is all for now. Not that the above isn't much! We are feeling even more optimistic with the news that the stupid throat thing is curable and has not spread.

Thank you for your prayers and support! We disagree with the doctor who said we are "unlucky". Who could have the friends and family we have and be "unlucky?"

Not us :)

All our Love,

Heather & Alec
and Millie too.

First day of chemo...

Today we were finally able to start chemo! We met with Dr. Allen this morning and she said we could move forward with treatment.

We spent the whole day learning about how the chemo works, what to expect, side effects, etc. He had his first 2 hour treatment. We LOVED our nurse, Katie. She was very smart and fun and luckily we will have her every time we go for treatment. Everyone at MGH has been wonderful, it is comforting to be in such good hands here.

The bag was placed and he will receive the FU (I like the name of this drug meant to kill cancer) over the next 46 hours. The bag looks like a little purse, we call it his murse (man purse). He doesn't seem to mind it, no complaints yet! No side effects yet either, however, they say that will be cumulative. He did have a cold sandwhich and that shocked him. One side effect is touching/drinking/eating anything cold will feel like an electric shock. We don't know how to manage that this winter with all the snow, but will worry about it when the time comes. He is already talking about taking a couple weekend trip to FL :) I like the sounds of that.

Then I have to remove the needle and clean out the pump on Thursdays. Don't worry, the nurse trained me and Alec will not let me mess it up! (He is definitely a little weary of my "nursing skills").

So basically, every other Tuesday we go to MGH and he will spend 2 hours in a chair receiving one type of chemo, then, they will hook up him up to a new bag of the FU chemo and he will wear that for 46 hours (until Thursday). Then Friday through Monday, he will be free!

On the off weeks, we will meet with the doctor to make sure things are OK and his blood counts are good.

We are praying that his throat is OK, we did hear from the doctor who did the tonsillectomy on our way home tonight, and it was not good news. However, we have to wait for more information before we can jump to any conclusions or become upset.

Thank you for your prayers and for thinking of us on the first day of treatment. It is certainly going to be a long road, but we are maintaining a positive attitude and find ourselves laughing at lots of silly things lately...After all, laughter is the best medicine, right? :)

All our love,

Heather, Alec & Millie

Halloween Weekend

Had a good weekend!

Alec had to take it easy this weekend and got to sit inside and play with his new xbox, while the girls did all the yard work. Thanks Cha for buying him the xbox and helping me rake. I think we have more leaves than the whole state of RI :)

Alec and I were laughing so hard Saturday night that his mom had to yell through the bedroom door to tell us to stop or his port may pop out of his chest or his throat may start to bleed again. Don't worry, neither happened! Jilly made eggplant parm for us this weekend and it was delish, thanks Jilly.

We have a big day tomorrow...have to leave here at 6 to be at MGH for an 8 appt, we will meet with Dr. Allen, (the oncologist) and then a social worker. Hopefully, we will hear about his throat too.

Dez and Charlie sent us a beautiful pray shawl from her church that was blessed by her priest. I love it so much, it is warm, cozy, and comforting (and a bonus...it matches my family room perfectly.) Thank you so much! xoxo

PS. I wanted to dress Millie up for Halloween, Alec thought it was weird, so instead I balanced pumkins on her head :)

Port is in!

Finally, today the chemo port was placed! Alec and I picked up Charlotte early this morning and headed down to Boston. We had a 9:30 appointment at MGH and although there were some minor bumps...it was a success!

No news on his throat. We saw his doctor who did the surgery this morning before his chemo appointment but no results yet.

Who knew that having your tonsils out would be so bad...after being shipped down to Boston Sunday morning via ambulance because of bleeding and spending the night at Mass Eye and Ear, he woke up again last night with more bleeding. Luckily we were able to get it under control and they were still able to place the port today.

Besides the above, all went well and the nurses were great and Alec remains positive and his humor has yet to waiver.

We start chemo on Tuesday and will hopefully get a good 6 months of chemo in before the surgery.

Caryn (Alec's mom) is here this weekend and watched Millie for us today. Thanks Grandma! It is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow and we are looking forward to spending some time outside!

Thank you for praying and we will keep you posted!

All our love,

Heather

Our Journey Begins...

October 6th was the day our lives turned upside down. Alec had gone in for a colonoscopy, we were expecting the doctor to tell us he had IBS or crohns disease...anything but cancer.

Although this was devasting news, we have yet to feel sorry for ourselves or let it dampen our spirit. We have the support and love of unbelievable family and friends and feel so blessed. We both know that God will carry us through this difficult time. The doctors have given us hope and that is all we can ask for.

While we have a very long road ahead, we believe that this journey will make us stronger and wiser and appreciate every breath we take and every day we have that much more. With faith, hope and love, anything is possible.

I have decided to keep this blog so we can keep you all informed and updated with our progress.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.