Entering the Next Phase

I have been delinquent posting to the blog because I have been so busy. I had chemo a week ago Friday and was not feeling very well right afterward. I had heartburn on Friday and I got sick to my stomach on Saturday night in the middle of the night.

Yoko told Scott Lunin about it when he called on Sunday to see how I was feeling. Yoko blamed it on the Indian dinner we had Friday night and the Korean bar-b-que we ate on Saturday. Not true. I was feeling queezy right after the navelbine last Friday. It had nothing to do with what I ate. For some reason, the navelbine alone seems to affect me more that the cisplatin/navelbine cocktail I get other weeks.

Last Saturday Jessie came home from college and moved back into our house. It is so nice having her home again! I can't believe she is already finished her first year of college! This whole cancer thing started right after Jessie got up to FSU last fall. The initial shock was such that I was not sure I would even be around for her first year of school or Paula's wedding next month. Luckily, I have responded very well to treatment and I am optimistic that I have more than one or two years ahead of me. Let's hope!

I am now having to have neupogen shots three times a week to build up my white blood cell count so that I can continue treatments on schedule. The shots themselves don't bother me much. They make my bones ache a little and I don't feel quite myself after getting them. This past Friday the nurse said I may need to get Procrit next as my RBC count is getting low. I have sent a note to Scott Lunin about this as I don't want to show up for treatment next Friday and be told by RBC is too low to get my scheduled infusion. I understand that the Procrit shots can be debilitating for a day or two.

I only have four treatments left -- two long ones (Cisplatin and Navelbine, which takes 5 - 6 hours) and two short ones (Navelbine only, which takes about two hours) and I will be done. My last infusion is on May 30th, the day after Project Graduation. The following week we leave for California for Paula's Wedding. I don't want the treatments to go off schedule at this point because it would bump into Paula's wedding. I could get treatment in California the day before the wedding, but who wants that! Anyway, we're going to try to stay on schedule so that I am feeling healthy June 7th!

It is funny how everything is coming together at this point in my life. Next Friday Yoko and I celebrate our 27th year of marriage. I've made reservations at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort for Friday night. The plan is to go to Orlando Friday after chemo...get up there around 6 PM; I have dinner reservations at 7:30 PM at Mikado's Japanese Steakhouse. Saturday morning at 9 AM we'll play golf at Hawk's Landing and go to lunch. We should be back home Saturday by 5 PM.

I had a "short" chemo treatment this past Friday and went to work for a few hours afterward. Friday afternoon I had an appointment to speak with the financial advisor to a potential large donor to St Vincent de Paul Community Health Care. I am hoping the discussion will lead to action and we get the money within the next month or so. We could use it!

Yesterday Jessie, Yoko and I went down to Ft Myers. Jessie and I played golf at Verandah while Yoko went shopping for stuff we need, including gift cards for Project Graduation! When we got back from golf, Jessie went out with her friends to take pictures of friends going to the high-school prom; Yoko and I went to a charity event -- this one to raise funds for housing for homeless kids. There must have been 500 people at the event, called "An Evening in Oz" orchestrated by the Leadership Charlotte Class of 2007 - 2008. Seemed like we knew at least half the people there -- friends from Rotary, the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, St Vincent de Paul, people from work, golfing friends, clients, etc. We had a good time. Afterward we went to a wine bar called "Bin 82" which is a new hang-out in Punta Gorda being run by Nick Nemic, one of Paula's friends from high school. There we ran into more friends, including Geof and Mary-Grace Lorah. Mary's 53 year old sister has lung cancer and I spoke with Mary-Grace for a while about her sister. She is not doing as well as I am and has had a hard time with the treatments. At the Oz event I spoke with Matt DePhillips, whose father has Stage III lung cancer as well. Its everywhere.

I played golf this morning with Chris and Kirby as usual; after golf Chris, Kirby and I went to lunch at a friend's "all you can eat Mexican" Sunday brunch. Tonight Yoko and I are going over to Brian and Lori Brunderman's new home for dinner; the Johnsons and Mahers are also going and everyone is bringing something.

I must say, it is satisfying to go to these affairs and see so many people and to know we have so many friends who care about us. I know many of these people will be a huge help to Yoko down the road.

I feel I am at a crossroads entering a new phase of my life and my fight with cancer. I finish chemo on May 30th with no more treatments planned; the following week Paula gets married. In July Yoko take a road trip up to Virginia to see Jane and David's lake house and then onto Washington DC to begin our lobbying effort to fund lung cancer research and early detection. I am thinking of taking Yoko up to Maine in August. In September I am planning to take Yoko to Europe. Tentatively the plan is to travel for two weeks -- first in Italy, and then onto Austria and Germany, in time for Oktoberfest.

With the real estate market in the dumps and construction down signficantly, I have the crazy notion that this would be the ideal time to build a mixed use three-story building on a quarter acre site in downtown Punta Gorda, if I can get the land I have in mind for the right price. I would put a restaurant on the first floor, office space on the second floor, and Yoko and I would live on the third floor. I want to design a modern, urban building with Japanese design that would be a Punta Gorda landmark. I have a number of people in mind as potential tenants. In fact, I am pretty confident I could get tenants and/or partners in place before I even break ground. I am looking into the possibility....I would like to put our family name on the building -- a monument to remind people that the Cappiello's were here.

I am going to do this quickly or not at all...I'll let you know where we get to! Time's a wasting...