I'm Feeling Great!

I told Stacey this weekend that I have felt as good as I have felt since my diagnosis in April. I have been working a lot of overtime at work this week. Tomorrow I am going in to work at 8:30AM and staying until 9:30PM. I have been trying work as much as possible especially when I am feeling good. I have been very blessed to work as much as I have.

Thank you to those of you that have signed up for my Lymphomathon Walk!!! We have already raised $265 for Team Just Try And Ruin My Day!!! All of you are so generous. The money is going to a great cause too. It goes to research to treat the cancer that I have. From start to finish it takes 18 years before a Chemotherapy drug can be used. So the Chemotherapy that is helping me fight my cancer was thought of in 1992. It is because of that research that the doctors are confident that I can beat my cancer. Research is the key!

Also we already have 7 people signed up to walk on our team on Sunday September 19th. Thanks for every ones support. We will order some shirts and should have plenty of bracelets because Quam just ordered up 300 last week! Go Team!

I am so blessed to be feeling as good as I am right now! God is Good!

Brian Pritchard

My 8th round of Chemotherapy starts on Thursday and so does the new college football season! Who's excited? GO HAWKS!

Andrew Your My Hero Buddy!

It has definitely been an emotional weekend for Stacey and I. We get good news from Dr's 2 days in a row and then yesterday we had a send off for Andrew Smith. Andrew has been a best friend of mine since I was a baby. His entire huge and amazing family has been a very big part of my life. He is one of the best people that I have ever met and would do anything to help another person. His unselfish ways were in full view on Saturday when he got on a bus in full military gear to go to Mississippi to train for 3 weeks before he gets shipped off for a year to fight for this great country that we all love.

It was an emotional send off for both Stacey and I because we have grown so close to Andrew's entire amazing family. The love and bravery that he shows is a testament to his character and his upbringing. There whole family has helped us so much in the past year and Stacey and I will do anything for them over the next year. Just let us know what you need Smith's. Stacey and I pray everyday for his entire family.

Andrew was in officer training for several months in Kentucky, came back for a week to get married to his unbelievably amazing wife Mandi and is now in Mississippi before he goes to Afghanistan for 1 year. When I think about Andrew and what he is doing and what the next year holds for him I am truly amazed. It makes all of the "problems" that we think we have seem pretty small. It also inspires me to be a better person and to not sweat the small stuff.

Andrew Your My Hero Buddy!

Brian

Please lift Andrew and his family up in your prayers this week.

More Good News!

We met with the Stem Cell Transplant Dr yesterday and we have our treatment plan laid out now. I am going to be doing 2 more rounds of Chemo in Des Moines then going to Iowa City for a Stem Cell Transplant and finally I will follow it up with radiation treatments. It is a very good and aggressive treatment plan and Stacey and I love it. Yesterday the Dr told Stacey and I that they are confident with this treatment plan that I will be able to beat this! We are certainly not out of the woods yet and the treatments are going to be tough but it was really good to hear some really good news. We haven't had good news like that in a long time. God is Good and yesterday was definitely answered prayers!

I took Stacey out on a nice date last night to celebrate our good news. We went to Cafe Di Scala and each had a glass of wine to celebrate! (It's high in antioxidants!) We both feel as if part of a gigantic weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. There is still a very long road ahead for us but we are as positive and confident as we have been in awhile. I can't tell you all enough how much all of the prayers have helped us. We couldn't have done it with out all of you!

Also we are creating a team for the Lymphoma walk in Des Moines September 19th and are trying to recruit as many team members as we can. If you want to participate or just donate to a great cause check out our team link below. If you would like to walk with us please register on our team homepage below so that we can coordinate! We are going to wear the Team Pritchard shirts from the benifit and if you would like one please email us your name and size. Also we ordered 300 more Just Try And Ruin My Day wrist bands so if you want those just email us the sizes that you want and how many. Thanks!!

http://www.lymphomathon.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=427830&supid=301318398

On this link Click on the My Team Page link below the title. And then Click the Join My Team link. Thanks!!!!

Have a great weekend! I know we will!

God is Good!

Brian Pritchard

What a good day!

Today is a good day, no great day. Brian called me this morning, during my morning nap, to say that he got the official path report from his surgery. There was still some active lymphoma, but mostly necrotic (dead) tissue. YIPPIE. That is the first time my stomach lifted from the bottom of my abdomen back to its normal resting spot. Thank you all for your prayers and support, we owe you. Please continue to pray that it stays away, for good.

Brian has been working non stop this week. He even managed to work OT to make up for missing work tomorrow to go to our consult in IA city. He said this morning this was the best he felt since prior to being diagnosed with cancer. We even compromised and he had a HUGE glass of berry smoothie and a slice of homemade pizza (actually he snuck the pizza in prior to me getting up so he said he would wash it down with something healthy).

We have had a relaxing week otherwise. We went to Sabrocco on Tuesday night with our good friends Jordan and Chelsea for DSM restaurant week. Tonight we plan on going to Valley Junction for the farmers market and live music, and just bask in the greatness we call life. We have taken advantage of the nice weather and each other's company before I begin school next week. I'm not looking forward to returning to school, I enjoy learning, but I enjoy being with my husband much more. He is pretty amazing and makes the world a better place, it is hard to leave his side because the world is so much sweeter next to him.

We hope your day and week was just as grand.

Saturday we get to return the favor and volunteer at an epilepsy walk. Then we get to send off Brian's best friend Andrew as he goes to serve our country. We will miss him, a lot. Brian promised him that next year he and Andrew will be having an adult beverage outside of kinnick stadium cheering on their beloved HAWKEYES. I can't wait for that day. Good Luck Andrew!

God is Good!

Great Day Back At Work!

After a fantastic weekend at Andrew and Mandi's amazing wedding I followed it up with a great day at work on Monday. I even work 2 and half hours of OT today! I had the best sales day that I have had in several months. It felt good to come home to my wonderful wife after such a good day at work. Stacey made me veggie quesadilla's and I got to watch some football too! What a great day! Sometimes we get bogged down at work and we forget how good it feels to feel really really productive. One of my favorite things in all of the world is calling a friend or relative on my way home after a good day at work. It's a natural high and puts a smile on my face every time. I have come to appreciate these little moments even more throughout all of this and that is a good thing. Stacey and I count our blessings everyday.

Physically I am feeling great! This regiment of Chemo is harsher at the beginning but you recover quicker and I just feel plain old amazing. Guess what else? Tomorrow is my last shot of Neuprogen for this round of Chemo! Thank God!

Thanks for all of the kind words, thoughts and prayers that everyone had for us this weekend. We feel every prayer and it brings us peace and strength. We love you all!

Everyday is a Blessing

Brian Pritchard

Hawkeye football kicks off in 11 days! Go Hawks!

Another wonderful wedding weekend, minus a pair of shoes

Sorry no update in a while, we have been busy worker bees. My little sister came this week and helped me do some projects around the house. I was having a tough mental battle and found that all I needed was some scripture. Brian's mom and some kind people from the church mailed us note cards with scriptures on them and until now I haven't really looked to closely at them. However, as Brian stated earlier one negative thought can quickly become a deadly weed that takes over and consumes you. I sat down and read some verses and decided I needed to be surrounded by them. My sister is so talented artistically and painted some canvases for us then stuck on some wall art with all positive sayings/verses. Since then I wake up every morning and see "strength comes from faith in God,'' and walk out of the house with " We will walk through faith not but sight." Let go and let GOD...I feel way better.

This weekend Brian had the pleasure to be the Best Man in the wedding of our dear friends Andrew and Mandi. They are such an amazing couple and they deserve nothing more the pure happiness. The wedding was so beautiful and the reception was a blast. I was a pretty emotional wreck during the ceremony. It is unbelievable how words have different meanings now after going through this journey. While I listened to our friends exchange vows I realized how powerful those words are. Love is KIND and it is PATIENT and so much more. In sickness and in health has a completely different meaning to me know then it did on our wedding day. I feel horrible for taking for granted what God has given me and I hate that it took a major wake up call to realize how amazing my husband is. Really, he is a pretty great guy. Everyday he fills my heart with happiness. I lost sight on the goodness in the world but Brian gives me hope. I'm so lucky and grateful God chose me to be his wife.

Brian nailed his speech at the reception. He rarely turns down an opportunity to speak in public. He threatened the past week that whatever CRAZY things I did he would use against me in his speech, I was on best behavior. I did not complain about him putting my pots and pans in the dishwasher once. The reception was fun especially for Brian because he got to reunite with so many high school friends. Also, Brian got to get his fix of wedding dancing. This morning when we got up and got ready to go Brian realized he only had his tux shoes. Organization is not Brian's strong suit, that is were I come in, he left his tennis shoes at the church (we think). Oh well tennis shoes are easy to replace.

CONGRATS to our BEST FRIENDS Andrew and Mandi,we love you both. Andrew stay safe we will pray for you daily while you are away on your deployment.

We go to IA city Friday to meet the transplant Dr. and have our consult.

Thanks for your prayers, I swear I can feel it every time someone says a prayer for us. The power of prayer!

Have a great Monday, put a smile on, and make someone else smile because it is contagious.

Feeling Better Than Yesterday

I am thankful that I am feeling better today. Yesterday I was pretty tired and felt pretty weak but today is a little bit better. I did a couple of jobs around the house and ran a couple of errands but have mainly slept the last two days. Since I am on a new Chemo regiment I didn't want to really push anything too much until I know how my body is going to react. So far so good. The new regiment has pretty much been like the previous ones. Maybe I had a little bit more fatigue yesterday but not anything that I can't handle. I started my Neuprogen shots on Sunday night and have to do them for 10 straight days. (Ouch! It makes my bones sore). If the worst is already over for this regiment then I am really really thankful. God is Good!

Many of you know that I am a sports fanatic and are probably wondering what the heck I am doing at home all day when I'm not sleeping. Well if you guessed watching ESPN all day then you are right! Typically I watch about 3-4 hours of Sportscenter a day on my beloved couch. I take at least two naps a day some for over 2 hours and the only other thing I do is eat. And I don't know why but Chemo makes me starving when I get out. I eat pretty much everything in site. I will even get up in the middle of the night and grab some chips or a snack. I hardly ever leave the house either for the first few days at home. The sun really takes it out of me and I also get hot easily so staying in the AC is definitely key. Everything in moderation when your blood counts are dropping.

In other news it is really awesome that Stacey is home from her rotation. She has done a great job of taking care of me all week! Also her rotation went awesome! The people at her rotation were amazing and even grabbed a brownie from her work when I visited last week!

I'm just glad I'm feeling better than yesterday!!! Life is Good!!!

Brian Pritchard

Thanks for everyone that has been posting comments on my blog!!! It gives me a boost everytime and keeps me positive and focused on beating this thing!!! Go Hawks!!!

Faith, Family and Friends

Stacey and I are so blessed with such great friends and family that support and care for us everyday. Over the past few days we have gotten to see lots of those friends and family. When we are with our friends and family we get the best medicine that anyone could ever receive. We get to laugh with people that we love. We thank all of the people that we have seen in the past week. We had a great time with all of you! You guys are amazing!

Today I am pretty much going to get lots of sleep. By day 2 or 3 after getting out of the hospital my blood counts usually start to drop and I start to get run down. The Doctor's said that with this regiment I might be more fatigued but that it would be for less day's. That sounds fine with me. The sooner I can feel back to normal the better. Today when I'm not sleeping I am going to be helping around the house and playing my new college football video game. GO HAWKS!

On an interesting note the first Chemo treatment that I received back in April I could feel tingling in my arm in middle of the night as if it was the Chemo eating away at the cancer. I hadn't felt that feeling again until this round of Chemo. I think that that is a good sign hopefully!

All we need is Faith, Family and Friends,

Brian Pritchard

19 Day's until Hawkeye Football!!!! Who's getting excited?!?!?!

There's A Little Bit of Good in Everyone

This was what my grandfather told my mom and aunt before he passed away. He said to always remember that so that they would always treat people with kindness and respect no matter what. I just had one of the most amazing moments of my life today and it just shows the goodness in people.

My short term disability has gone down to 60% of my pay when I am gone but we still have a lot of the money from benefit. We thank everyone who helped us along our long journey. You are all angel's! Today was an extra special morning wake up. Every couple of Saturday's a man that had Leukemia and went through many rough treatments ten years ago and is still cancer free brings in Sticky Buns. They are the absolute best homemade sticky buns that we have ever had. We raved about them before and were very excited today when we woke up to that delicious Cinnamon smell. The family of the man who beat Cancer showed up with their famous sticky buns. We thanked them and told them how much we loved their sticky buns. We told them that we tell everyone about them.

As we were eating our sticky buns the two wonderful ladies came back into our room and surprised us. We chatted for a bit and the she stuck out her hand to me. She handed me $200 cash. I said you don't need to do that. She said with a big smile on her face "It' yours". I thanked her as I tried to wipe away the tears of joy. It was like the hand of God had touched my heart and I suddenly thought of what my grandfather told my Mom and Aunt. I think that his saying could even be taken one step further. There's A lot of good in everyone. If there is anything that I have found through out all of this it is that people never cease to amaze me.

There's A lot of Good in Everyone

Brian Pritchard and Grandpa Bill

Here's to making other people happy!

Tomorrow I start my 6th round of Chemotherapy treatments. We think that they are going to change the regiment that I have been on but we are not sure. We trust the fantastic Dr's that we have 100%. There is always a level of anxiety that comes with starting a new treatment or new round of Chemo and this one is no different. All you have to do is tell yourself that I have done this before, I can get through this and I am strong enough to beat this.

Your best friend when you have cancer is a positive attitude. No matter what you go through, how hard it becomes or how draining it may seem you have to stay positive. You just have to tell yourself that God has a plan and that I am going through this for a reason. You have to take it ONE DAY AT A TIME. I can't emphasize that enough. You have to just focus in on things that you can control on a daily basis. I can't control how I am going to feel, sleep, eat or how much of the cancer I am going to get rid of this round but I can 100% control how I react to it. I can control how I treat others around me and I can control how I am make them feel.

If I can just make one person feel better on any given day than I have completed my daily goal and that is something to hang my hat on. Giving people hope and showing them that you care is contagious. Once you help one person that person wants to help the next person and so on. What if we all made it easier on each other instead of harder and we all just helped one person a day. There's strength in numbers! Go help someone today! I know that I will try too!

Here's to making other people happy!

Brian Pritchard

I love it when people leave me comments when I am in the hospital. It gives me a huge boost! Leave a comment and I guarantee it will get appreciated by me in my adjustable hospital bed.

Lazy Sunday

Stacey and I are just taking it easy on a Sunday afternoon. I'm still recovering from my surgery but am doing well. She has been doing homework and baking and I have been relaxing and folding laundry. Thanks to everyone for all of the thoughts and prayers for the surgery. I'm excited that it went really well. I many great Dr's working with me and my surgeon is fantastic too.

I'm about to watch my hapless Cubbies play this afternoon. At least if they start to lose I can always just take a nap. (Hahaha!) I am in really good spirits and so happy to have even more cancer removed from my body. Also I am very glad that I am not in too much pain from the surgery. My drain that is in my arm is working good and it is better than having to change bandages every few hours. It does look a little strange out in public though. :) They probably will remove that next week sometime before I start my new Chemo regiment.

It's a great day! I am so blessed! Life is good! Woo Hoo!

Brian Pritchard

Go Hawks! Only 26 days til kickoff @ Kinnick!

Sorry if my thoughts are kind of all over the place on this post. Remember I'm on pain pills! Hahahaha! :)

Surgery was a Success!

Today was the big day, surgery day! Thank you everyone for all your prayers, thoughts, cards, Lasagna, gift cards for 'LAST SUPPER', cubs magazines, scarves, and everything else. We appreciate all the support everyone has shown us during this time. Words can't explain how blessed we are and thankful that all of you out there take so much time out of your life to think of us.


Surgery was successful today. They removed the large masses in his arm that will hopefully propel him to CURING this cancer. Luckily we got squeezed into the surgery rotation earlier then expected so Brian wasn't starving by the time he got in. However, we did have his 'Last Supper' at a new restaurant Bang Bang...=YUM YUM. That held him over until 3 pm today, can you say Man V Food challenge.



This time during surgery they planned it so that no one else was in recovery. Last time we had an issue in recovery, Brian kept trying to help other patients while he was still 'coming to'. This time the nurse said they made sure no one was in there. All the nurses told me that Brian was so nice and how wonderful he was. When I went into recovery he had THREE nurses watching him. I think he may be their favorite. I have some competition! There are no funny recovery stories this time and Brian even wore boxers this go around.

We got Brian home and got him settled into his favorite couch with a Gatorade. The rest of the day was spent watching ESPN, Man V Food, and Cash Cab. Once he got the pain under control we made a quick trip to Maggie Moo's, Brian's favorite. He is now loaded up on PB ice cream for the weekend.

Since so many lymph nodes were removed Brian has a drain in his arm that I get to flush out all week. His drain looks like a grenade, for all you Jersey Shore fans, Brian is taking this 'grenade' for the team.



Below are some pictures on the days events (post surgery).


THIS IS A FORMAL WARNING....you may want to close your EYES at the following pictures. They are not pretty, HaHa.





Brian is 'High as a Kite' on his pain pills...he thinks he is Usain Bolt, slight resemblance.
You can see his drain above. He has to have it for a week, I feel sorry for whoever he shares a cube with at work.




OR he thinks he is the CAPTAIN, not sure, lets just say he is feeling 'HAPPY'






He is really happy here, Maggie Moo's PB ice cream!








Too much Ice Cream, pizza, Gatorade, and pain medication.

You can see what I've been up to, reading research articles.




Brian found his way to his favorite spot on the couch. He has a lovely butt groove right there which I think made him feel better.

No night is complete without watching the 2004 Iowa Hawkeye highlight DVD. If you will notice Roth just destroyed some State player.

After watching his beloved Hawkeyes and taking some medication Brian was able to settle in for the night. Hopefully, we can keep his pain levels down, that is all he is complaining of now.

Thanks for all the prayers for a good day. I can't say it enough, but we appreciate it. You are all amazing.

Stacey

Let's Cut This Thing Out!

Tomorrow I have surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible before I start a new regiment of Chemo the following week. I am a little nervous about it but I also know that I have great surgeon's, oncologists and nurses taking care of me too. Plus over the weekend I will get to eat lots of Ice Cream, pudding and Jell-O! Woo Hoo!

Stacey and I have really been having a great time with friend's and family recently. We have seen our parents last week and spent time with a lot of our great friends over the weekend. On Sunday Stacey and I talked about how much we have learned through all of this and what the meaning of life is. (I know pretty deep for a Sunday!) We both agree that the reason that we were put here is to make other's happy. It sounds so simple but with every one's stress from work, co-workers, family, friend's, children and spouses sometimes the meaning is lost in a sea of busy. We talked about the fact that we are learning so much at such a young age and what a gift that is. God has a plan for us all and it is to be happy and to make others happy. If I have one challenge for anyone this weekend it is to go out and do something for someone else to put a smile on there face. You will feel God fill your heart and make you whole!

Stacey and I have had the gift of so many great friends that have helped us along the way and we are very humbled by every one's caring and generosity. It has meant so much to us to have so much support while we go through this horrible thing called Cancer. The prayers that are said for us give us peace and lots of hope.

Let's Cut This Cancer Out!

Brian Pritchard

Thank you in advance for all of your prayers! Also I love it when people comment on my blog too. I love to hear from all of my friends and family so feel free to leave a comment! Thanks!

Don't Worry Be Happy

I have had kind of a rough week because of all of the uncertainty with my treatments. We went to Iowa City on Wednesday and they told Stacey and I that they are going to be switching up my treatment. Approximately 90% of my cancer is gone and instead of the cancer being in 6 or 7 places in my body it is just in one area under my armpit. We are going to see some Doctor's tomorrow about other treatment options and things should be more definitive by tomorrow night. I am very lucky that I have a cancer where there are many treatment options. I am very blessed. The ultimate goal and aim is still the same. Be cancer free and stay cancer free. But I have definitely had some anxiety about everything. On top of that because of the Chemo I had not been feeling very well so it was easier for me to get down about things. I found myself worrying about random things constantly. I would go several hours and not think about things but then some thought would pop into my head and I would start worrying again. Worrying and doubt and fear are like seeds that get planted into your head. Once you go down that route the seed grows like a weed and begins to fester in your mind. It can be consuming.

By Friday I felt better physically and that gave me a boost mentally too. I can be hard to be uplifting and positive all of the time when your not feeling the best and so when you are feeling good you really need to take advantage of it. It was like I had a switch go off in my head over the weekend. I need to stop worrying about things that I have no control over. All I can do is just stay positive, pray and take it one day at a time. Sure there are going to be times when I am anxious or fearful but it does no good for me to worry. I literally am going no where by worrying. Worrying can pretty much hinder your ability to do everything if you let it. I prayed for strength and talked with family, friends and my wonderful wife and came to the conclusion that I just need to let go of all my worries because it was not letting me do the one thing that I have been trying to do this whole time and that it keep the faith. I needed to focus on one thing at a time, live for today and just be happy. If I did those three things then no matter what I will have a positive mindset.

My mom always says that we need to "Let Go and Let God". What that means is that we need to give our cares and worries up to God. Worry about nothing and instead pray about everything.

Don't worry be happy!

Brian Pritchard