Chemotherapy and More THANKS!

Thanks again everyone for all the well wishes that keep on coming. It's amazing how many people have seen this in the last couple days and every message I get (here and other places) has helped me keep positive and as each day passes I grow more confident that I will beat this. It's great hearing from everyone...it's really great.

I had my first dose of chemo today and to be honest it wasn't a big deal at all. I was expecting to be sick and miserable but it just never happened. That is encouraging for me and I am looking forward to my next dose and the doses after that to try to get to the next stage of this game.

The staff here at Brigham Women's Hospital have been amazing. The nurses, chemo nurses, doctors, surgeons and techs have been so accommodating to us, and so friendly and just seem like they really want to help (even though we are from NY and mostly Bills, Giants and Yankee fans). I spoke to one of the doctors on my team today and he told me that the team was "agonizing" over how to treat me for this and I was surprised to hear such an emotional word used by a doctor. It felt good to know that they were putting in so much effort behind the scenes to fix this. My primary doctor, (Dr. James Butrynski, MD) specializes in Sarcoma and he has been amazing, spending at least an hour a day with us, answering questions and just talking us through this. He told me today that he is thinking he would discharge me (back to Syracuse) on Monday or Tuesday and I could get my treatment there while under his care. I am excited about that! There is still the question of my heart, which is acting very irregular (not a surprise with an 8cm x 4cm tumor growing inside it) and I will likely need to be looked at frequently and take it easy for a little while. I also talked to him about going back to work, which I want to do very badly (to get back to normal) and he told me he would be open to discussing it with me and my doctors from Syracuse.

There are a lot of things that I have to do when I get home. Most of you know my grandmother passed away on Sunday (the same day I was admitted to the hospital) and I had to miss the calling hours and the funeral to deal with this issue. I feel as if I have no closure and this is a woman who has been a huge part of my life, so my goal when I get back is to find that closure. I feel her and my Pa (grandfather, who we also lost this year) with me every step of the way and I know they are helping me from the other side!

I am very excited about the Bills game tomorrow and anyone who knows me knows that I live and die with the Bills and tomorrow I will miss attending my first home game since 2002, which is kind of depressing. I have always joked that it would take a hospital visit for me to miss a game and now when I say that I am not joking. The good news is that the game is on TV here in Boston so I will get to watch it as the Bills beat the Chargers and move to 5-1.

Talk to everyone soon,

Will.