Well, we got home yesterday to a voicemail from Dr. D’s office. Looks like we’re going with MOPP! as they want me to come in on Thursday to get one of the IV pushes. I’m going to call them on Monday to get the exact details and such. Barb was looking up symptoms and things to avoid with some of the components of MOPP! and came across this page on one of the drugs I’ll be getting, which includes the following handy little guide to eating:

• Do not eat foods that have a high tyramine content (most common in foods that are aged or fermented to increase their flavor), such as cheeses, yeast or meat extracts, fava or broad bean pods, smoked or pickled meat, poultry, or fish, fermented sausage (bologna, pepperoni, salami, and summer sausage) or other unfresh meat, or any overripe fruit.
• Do not drink alcoholic beverages or alcohol-free or reduced-alcohol beer or wine. No problem.
• Do not eat or drink large amounts of caffeine-containing food or beverages, such as chocolate, coffee, tea, or cola. Oh crap.
• Do not take any other medicine unless approved or prescribed by your doctor. This especially includes over-the-counter (OTC) or nonprescription medicine such as that for colds (including nose drops or sprays), cough, asthma, hay fever, appetite control; “keep awake” products; or products that make you sleepy.

So it looks like I’ll be limited to Skittles and warm tap water, Great. The real fun part is reading the drugs I’m not allowed to take at the same time as the procarbazine. I’ll let you read through those on the other site, as I don’t think my site’s big enough to list ‘em all.

In happier news, the Devils play in just over five hours! I watched the end of the Ottawa game and the third period and both overtimes of the Red Wings game. Playoff hockey is here, baby! I found a site yesterday that had a great playoff tree wallpaper, o98 Designs, so I had to go ahead and fill in the blank spots (warning – large, wallpaper-size graphic ahead). Once I started filling it out, I realized I know next to nothing about the Western Conference this year other than the Red Wings have been kicking butt and the Predators destroy teams at home. Hence, Red Wings v. Predators in the semis. Of course, I know everything about the Eastern conference, so that one will happen just like I predict.

Also, I have a nice arena in New Jersey I’d like to sell you…

…and anyone else who may be interested in watching the Devils stomp the Rangers. Here’s the schedule for the first round of the playoffs. Dad, you’ll be able to see a couple of them for sure (Saturdays on NBC). I think you get OLN, which means you’ll get to see them all. Be sure and print this out and tape it to the TV! (Sorry Mom, but it’s the Devils!)

…and a little bit more of the cancer dies away.

So I had a stressful night with my Devils. They were really stinking it up through the first 30 minutes or so, but Gionta woke them up by scoring his 47th goal, breaking Pat Verbeek’s record set back in ’87-’88. Then they started figuring out how to skate and pass again. Gio got another power play goal, Elias got an astounding goal and Langenbrunner got the gamewinner. The Devils win 4-3. The Rangers lost their game against Ottawa, so Ottawa moves ahead of Carolina (who lost tonight) for the #1 spot in the conference, but more importantly the Devils win their division, earning the #3 spot in the conference. They have now overcome the biggest points deficit since divisional play began in ’74, being 19 points behind the then-leading Flyers on January 7th. In Marhc, they were still 11 points back. Way to go, Devils!

The thing that makes the Devils the best team out there is just that – their teamness. Jamie Langenbrunner gets the game winning goal in the biggest win of the season and is the main reason the Devils become division champs for the sixth time in nine years. They interview him after the game and all he can talk about are the other three goals – not once does he mention his own. They interview Scott Gomez, who assisted on two of the goals and he talks about the other two goals, the fighters on the team and the coaches.

These are my Devils. Like Gomer says in one of their commercials: they’re not playing for the back of their jerseys – they’re playing for the front.

Playoffs begin Friday and we face the Rangers in the first round on Saturday. I’d better not be in the hospital for chemo!

Well, I just got back from my latest PET scan, so now I have nothing going on again until Thursday, when I find out the results and go through the whole MUGA/PFT/EKG/CXR thing like I did at the start of all of this. Hopefully that last round of chemo took care of the mediastinal mass (the one in the middle of my chest). If it did, that means we get to move along to the high dose chemo (BEAM) and get this party started. Until then, more waiting. Meh.

In the good news column, the Devils beat the Flyers yesterday, 5-1. They extended their win streak to 10 games (longest in the NHL this season), Gionta got his 46th goal to tie for the most goals by a NJ Devil and Elias got his 500th point (as well as #’s 501 and 502). This win over the Flyers sets up an interesting points scenario. The Rangers lead the Atlantic Division with 100 points. The Flyers and the Devils are tied at 99 points. All three teams have one more game to play tomorrow. If the Devils beat the Canadiens (who are in their own interesting little points battle, just farther back) and the Rangers lose, the Devils are the division champs and wind up third in the conference going into the playoffs. If the Devils win and the Rangers lose in overtime or the shootout, the Devils still win based on number of victories. Tomorrow’s going to be a very interesting and tense night. Let’s go Devils!

Well, last night I didn’t get home quite as early as I wanted. It was getting dark pretty quickly, so I grabbed a bag full of pucks and went out back to shoot some around. My wrist shots were pretty snappy and surprisingly accurate. My slap shots, however were wild to the point of dangerous. Anything within about a 270 degree arc of me was fair game. I only tried about ten slappers all told. We have new garage doors and while I was shooting with my back to them, you read how wild my slap shots were.

I got in about 40 or so wristers before I had to call it a night on account of darkness. Black pucks on black asphalt are really hard to see in the dark.

I was feeling pretty good, but this morning my back was feeling the workout. Especially after I sat at my desk for a bit and then stood up to walk anywhere. Holy crapoley. Regardless, I made a point of getting out the door right on time tonight. I made it home with enough time to get on my gear and actually do some skating. That’s what I’ve been hoping for all week. I’ve had work stuff taking up my weekend hours and I was starting to think I wasn’t going to get to skate before I went in to the hospital.

Luckily, I got to have one more skate. Who knows how long it’ll be before I get another. I’m getting admitted into the hospital on Thursday and will be there through Monday. Then I’ll probably be too tired to get out of bed for a few days. Plus, I’ll have to be getting my blood checked every couple of days. The comes the stem cell harvest. Then comes the high dose chemo. Then comes the hotel room confinement. Then comes the re-strengthening.

Then comes the hockey season.