Happy New Year
2010-01-18
An old pic from the top of Milk Run in Telluride, Co.
I hope everyone has had a great holiday season and New Year. Sorry it's been a while but there has been a lot going on. Driving snow cats at Beaver Creek was going really well until about the 27th of December when I noticed that I had a fever. As it turned out I had to stay in the CU Hospital until the afternoon of the 31st because of that fever. They did numerous tests and couldn't find the cause so after a day or so of normal temps they let me leave. However, on the 3rd my fever spiked to almost 104 and I was forced to go to the Vail Valley Medical Center to get fluids and treatment. Luckily Katie Schofield was able to come down to the ER to help me and that was nice to have her there. The next day I was transported by ambulance to the CU hospital again. Finally they found out that there was an infection that was growing in my original port put in September 2008. They removed that and it seemed to take care of my fever once and for all. As if that wasn't enough for two weeks time, my PET scan results came back and showed that the original spots where the disease was at were all gone. Unfortunately, it also showed a new spot slightly on the right side of my sternum. Because of this spot I was required to have another biopsy to confirm what it was and it did turn out to be Hodgkins again. Since this new development I am now going to have to start another round of chemo and then have another bone marrow transplant. The bummer is that the schedule for this one is much longer. Since I am not able to use my own bone marrow this time I will need to have a donor for this transplant. My brother is the most likely match and will be tested soon. Then once the transplant starts it will be three to four weeks in the hospital this time and then two months in Denver instead of two weeks. At the moment it looks like I will be able to start the transplant around the beginning of March or so. I am still getting a lot of info as the week goes by and I will do my best to keep everyone updated more often. Thank you again to everyone and please do a snow dance! -Nick