Preparing for round #2 and my first fundraiser

Hey all,

It’s been about 3 months since my last post and now that I’m fully recovered it’s about that time for me to go back for my left lung resection. I know what to expect this round so my anxiety levels are not as high as before but the idea of going through that very rough...and painful recovery again still sucks (but I hear its much easier the second time, we will see). I leave for Germany on November 11^th and will be back in the US mid-December…I won’t be starting work again until late December or most likely the New Year.

The last 3 months has been quite the roller-coaster ride since I had to make the tough decision to continue with surgeries rather than “trying” out these chemo drugs called TKI’s (tyrosine-kinase inhibitors). There has been limited success with these drugs and the potential for lots of really bad side effects including death. Even if the drugs are successful my body could develop a tolerance and a “rebound” effect could occur which causes the tumors to grow and metastasize at a faster rate…which would put me in a much WORSE position. My friends on the cureASPS.org forum have helped me make this decision since many of them have had long term success going the surgery route. That's not it, I've also been worrying about my dad who has been physically and mentally ill due to a number of factors and I am trying to be there for him so he can quickly recover and BE THERE FOR ME DAMMIT.

Fundraiser time!

My friends/family have been asking me for a way to help out and I’ve been telling them that I am going to throw some kind of a big fundraiser…but that is a lot of work since it’s a big event that needs to be planned and organized (which I am not opposed to doing, it just requires more time and energy than I have right now). So my boss Chris D. sent me some great links to a few kickstarter-like fundraiser websites that I could easily put together and share through facebook & email (making it as easy as possible for people to donate). I picked Giveforward due to its simplicity and intuitive UI plus it’s mainly focused around medical conditions. Connie wrote up a great bio for me and we are launching the site alongside this blog post.

So here I am, shamelessly asking anyone who has some extra cash to help me out since this cancer is eating up our funds rather quickly and this is my first step towards getting over my reluctance to ask people for assistance. If you are currently struggling with money please do not feel obligated to donate since we have financial back-up measures in place in case our situation gets insanely bad.

Here's the link:

http://www.giveforward.com/ihazcancer

Where is this money going?

-operation costs (since insurance is not a sure thing)

-travel costs for treatment (flights, hotels and food)

-co-pays (frequent UCLA visits)

-non-FDA approved chemo drugs (Tyrosine-kinase inhibitors, if and when I start)

-ingredients for juicing/blending (organic vegetables, fruits etc.)

-supplements (vitamin C,D, fish oil, calcium, mushroom pills etc.)
-any extra money will be saved an go towards future treatments and diet (since eating healthy is expensive)

So what else am I doing for my health?

I have been religiously juicing since I got back from Germany (2-3 times roughly 80-90 ounces a day)

   My current juice diet (greens and carrot heavy) roughly 90 ounces a day (3 times daily)

-beet with leaf

-kale, collard greens or rainbow chard  (or all 3!)

-spinach

-broccoli

-celery

-carrots

-lemon or orange

-1-2 small apples

-ginger (small chunk)

-organic omega-3 fish oil (barleans or carlsons)

This recipe changes every week since I am trying to remove sugars from the juice (ex. I used to put in many apples, oranges and pears, but now I am down to only a couple fruits).  My next step is to lessen the carrot content since they have sugars as well….so yes NEED MORE GREENS.

I also rarely eat meat and sugars now and I try to stick to things like salads and vegetarian Asian foods. For snacks I eat kiwis, bananas and apples and I make my own trail mix comprised of raw organic cashews, almonds, walnuts and dried cranberries.

For exercise I have been doing Yoga twice a week and an outdoor 4-5k jog once a week and I’ve developed a habit for mindfulness meditation every morning ( I can do 15 minutes now, up from 10).

Last but not least, I have been seeing a great psychologist who really got me into mindfulness and is helping me deal with this cancer better and fight against depression. 

Thanks for reading, my next post will most likely be from Germany.

-Kevin