Craig chemo update

This comes from Mary:

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to let you know that Craig was hospitalized last night due to an adverse reaction to his chemotherapy and/or anti-nausea medicine.

Craig got sick around nine last night and began experiencing painful shortness of breath, labored breathing, and chest pain. This is a side effect caused in 10% of patients getting treated with a chemotherapy drug called Bleomycin. It is an antibiotic that is poisonous to cancerous cells and has the potential to inhibit normal respiratory function.

This may have also been a reaction to his anti-nausea medicine, which can initiate restlessness and panic attacks in some patients.

Whatever the reason, this reaction was serious enough to take him to the emergency room. At the hospital he was given oxygen and 1000 mls normal saline, while his blood was drawn and an EKG and other various tests were performed.

He was given a new anti-nausea medicine which has been working well so far! However, he must keep getting the bleomycin each week in coordination with two other drugs because they are highly effective (95% cure rate) against one of the aggressive forms of cancer found. Although these drugs are very difficult on the body, they are a great blessing to people with this disease!

After he stopped getting sick in the hospital, he perked up quite a bit! He made friends with the male nurse Phil (who was awesome!) and even had the time to pose for the camera: What a guy!

Shirts for Craig

"What do the popular kids like to wear?" I wondered. "Shirts," came the still small voice inside that tells me necessary truths, such as when I have to go to the bathroom, "shirts of the T variety." "What looks good on a shirt?" I asked. "Huge faces, as huge as possible," answered the still small voice.

The front reads: I will put my tornado in you! The back reads: BUSCHLE: A MAN MADE OF WEATHER.

The purpose of these shirts is twofold: to show your support for Craig when you're out and about in the Nati OR THE WORLD, and to raise a little money for his fund. The markup on each item will go to Craig -- five dollars per shirt. Many colors and styles are available. Click here to buy one!

T'anks,
Tricia

5K today

Today I did 5K over the Roosevelt Bridge and back across the old drawbridge by Stuart Harbor. That puts me at 21.5 miles so far this week. Basketball tomorrow, then I hope to do 10K Sunday to round out my first full week of running at 27.7, which would be 7 miles ahead of my goal, on pace for about 250 in 9 weeks, assuming my ankle doesn't break.



Thanks to Econn and veachbum for joining our race over at Nike+. Those 21 runners have logged more than 138 miles in support of Craig already this week!

2.6 miles today

Thursdays usually are one of my shorter, faster run days, so I stuck to that this week. Nice morning to do it -- foggy and mid 60s.



The Nike+ support team is now 19 strong. Thanks to everyone who's running along with me. Welcome newcomers danitoons and mariahayhow, both from Cincinnati, bodie402 and Lbriede!

And thanks to everyone who has donated or inquired about donating so far!

Donations by mail

We've received an unexpected number of inquiries about donating by check via traditional mail. Folks interested in doing so should make checks payable to Craig Buschle and send to:

Craig Buschle Cancer Fund
c/o The Rev. Gregory Lockwood
St. Mary and Joseph Chapel
6304 Minnesota Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63111

Thanks to everyone for your generosity and support!

Chemo update

Mary posted this as a comment but I wanted to throw it up here in case anyone misses it:

**

To anyone who is curious, Craig has just finished his first day of chemo. To let people know what chemo is like here goes: basically he sits in a small room for seven hours while an IV is hooked up to his chest. The IV goes into Craigs port-a-caf and directly into his blood stream. When the bag is empty, another bag is put in its place until all the medicine for the day is gone. He went in early around 8:00 a.m. and arrived home around 3:30. He had five bags hooked up to his IV today. That is a ton of medicine to put into a body in one day! There were also a couple other people in the room with him getting chemo, but he was by FAR the youngest person. He chatted with the other people and brought his new lap top to help pass the time. Although he couldn't get a wireless connection today, he is hoping to get a spot in the other room tomorrow so he can check out the website and talk to his friends!

For now he is sleeping. He has complained of a pain in his legs, but other than that he seems okay so far. Thanks for all the support and remember he can always use more! KEEP RUNNING AND COMMENTING :)

Christy's Crew

Over at Nike+, Christy is gearing up to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Washington, D.C., in May. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and is fighting through surgery and chemo. Nike+ users can join her run here.

9.6 miles today

Big storm's moving in tonight, so I decided to take the long way around the river today while I could. 75 and breezy. Saw a new "peacock crossing" sign in Rio, whatever that means.



The Nike+ support crew, in its first day, logged more than 44 miles total for Craig. Thanks so much to everyone who's running with us! And welcome newcomers buzylizy from the U.K., Marky5505 from Germany, sfba from San Fran, nikefreedom from Cali, krisruns from Ky. and bauerrf!

10K today

Kicked off the 9 weeks with a 10K before lunch. Nike+ snapshot is posted below. You can see where I hit the causeway with a strong headwind in the middle of the run before a nice speedy descent.

And thanks to all the Nike+ users who already have joined up to run alongside us: Swazzlehoff from Cali, rubie651 from Pa., cavie84 from N.J., fishjunior from Hong Kong, kryger3 from Nebraska, Draig Goch from the UK, Daydream and Gabe83!

Nike+ Race for Craig

I posted a challenge over at Nike+ for runners to join and show their support.

Whoever logs the most miles over 9 weeks wins the challenge -- but it's about showing support for Craig, not who goes the farthest. These folks are donating their time and energy, and we appreciate it!

Hopefully we'll get a bunch of people to join in. If you have a Nike+ account, join the run.

Here's everyone's progress so far:

Run for Craig

Craig could use some help paying his medical bills. Most of the treatment expenses (several thousand dollars) will be coming out of his own pocket, and he can't work while toughing out the chemo.

To raise a little cash for Craig, I'm pledging $1 for every mile I run during the 9 weeks of Craig's treatment, starting Jan. 21. It's not a lot, but I hope to run at least 180 miles during that time, which would amount to $20 a week.

We'll be keeping track of the whole thing with Nike+, a cool iPod Nano add-on. There's a widget in the blog sidebar and at the bottom of this post for you to follow along. I started with 15.2 miles before Jan. 21 (just got it for Christmas), so we'll deduct those miles from the final number.

If you'd like to help Craig out, here are a couple options:

1. Match My Donation: By pledging $1 for every mile I run, you can help us raise a lot more cash for Craig. If 10 people do it and we hit our minimum goal, that's $1800 instead of $180. Big difference. If you want to take this route, pledge your support of $1 a mile in a comment anywhere on this site. We'll take it on good faith but won't hold you to anything. Then, keep an eye on our progress and let Craig know you're thinking of him. When 9 weeks are up, we'll post a link for you to donate online using Paypal and an address where you can mail personal checks.

2. Just Donate: If you just want to donate to Craig, any amount, you can do that too. Click on the donate button at the top of the page, and it will direct you to Paypal, where you can enter an amount and use a credit card. If you want to donate by personal check, click here.

3. Run or walk for Craig: If you'd rather not send Craig a monetary donation, you can show him your support by running or walking. It's a great way for you to stay active and motivated while sending Craig some good vibes! When you get done with your workout, stop by and leave Craig a note telling him how far you've gone, how fast, and what you saw along the way.

Jason

About Craig

For those of you who know Craig Buschle, this will come as no surprise: He's one amazing dude.

He was before he ever was diagnosed with cancer, a couple weeks prior to Christmas 2007. He was when he toughed out a bad surgery to remove the first masses doctors found. And, depending on what time of day you're reading this, as he sits through hours of chemotherapy -- that's pretty amazing, too.

But I digress ...

For those of you who don't know, Craig attends the University of Cincinnati, where he's studying Geographic Information Systems. It's a fancy name for computer programming for geography and meteorology. He has to take a semester off for the treatment.

He graduated from Elder High School in Cincinnati and lives with his ginormous Catholic fam in Cheviot.

Until his chemo started, he worked at Mercy Franciscan West Park Retirement Home. He has only meager health insurance and pays most of those bills himself, so stopping work is a particular thorn in the crotch.

He started BMXing a while back and rocks it hard, but no back flips as of yet. He likes to watch cool movies, "Superbad" for example, and chill in his basement or hang with his girlfriend, sweet Mary Lockwood (who is my sister-in-law).

And there's lots of other crap I could type about Craig here, like his infatuation with Jones Soda, but since most of you know him, I'll leave it at that.

Drop the boy a comment to let him know what's up!

Jason