Saturday, May 31st

Yesterday was my 1st chemo treatment. It was a long day, but so far the side-effects are pretty mild. The nurse who administered the chemo was a total pro and kept a close eye on me. Anna came and sat with me during the last part and she gave me gatorade and snacks. 

So far, so good. One day at a time. Today, we're off to look at Lazy Boy recliners like they have in the chemo room so we'll be off furniture shopping this afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who has logged on and supported me during this fight. 

Big B

Thursday, May 29th

A special thank you to Valleycrest/HRP Studio for unblocking the SPAM filter at Brian's office for employees to log-on to this blog to stay updated....

Tomorrow we are gearing up for the 1st day of chemo. I just talked to the Dr's office and they said that chemo is a lot different these days that we should expect a little nausea but not much more than that. They inject the patients with a nausea medication to help alleviate any symptoms.

The office also told me that each patient has their own DVD player, lazy-boy recliner and coffee table for snacks.

So, dont worry about Big B! He'll be doing the "Al Bundy" while we're all at work!

Anna Hogan

Greetings All

What a support group I am blessed with.  

Thank you all for the E-mails, Cards, Medical connections, rides to appointments to name a few of the wonderful things all my family and friends have done for me. Your phone calls and E-mails are welcome anytime if  I don't answer I will get back to you when I'm ready otherwise that's why my wife "Super Anna Banana" created this blog so everyone could keep up with latest. 

The fight has been tough and is only going to get tougher good thing I'm a tough guy and ready to beat this cancer. Some days I feel bad other days I feel good, its a day to day thing and that's how I am approaching it.

Thank you all,

Big B

Wednesday, May 28th

Today, we all went up to The City of Hope for a 2nd opinion from a very respected melanoma oncologist. And we got a lot out of our visit. Basically they confirmed that we are in good hands at Hoag and that The City of Hope wouldnt do much differently than the path we are already on...

We then drove from Duarte to Brian's daily radiation appt and then to have some stitches taken out from a small out-patient surgery that he did 10 days ago. Basically Hoag took a small lesion on Brian's chest (that he ironically found in our hotel room in Dublin a month ago!) and removed it. That cancerous tissue will be taken to a lab to be cultivated so they can start to (hopefully) create a human vaccine that is specific to only Brian. Like stem cell....which is one of the treatments for late-stage melanoma. 

Other than that, things are well and "Team Hogan" is on-track to kick this nasty cancer %$#@ in the ass!

As always, its hard for us to contact everyone, so drop us a line!

Anna Hogan

Tuesday Update

Today, we met with Dr. Barth at Hoag and Brian will be finishing up his last week of daily radiation (yea!) and his chemo pills that are taken orally.

On Friday, Brian will have his 1st chemo session done through an IV for 4 hours....yikes! A combo of 'carboplatin and taxol' so wish him luck on that. The doctor didnt indicate any harsh side-effects but we'll see.

Overall, we feel blessed to have the best of the best of cancer treatment in Southern CA. We were able recently to get in touch with a stage IV melanoma survivor who lives in Denver, CO and he had to FLY out here for treatment but he's healthy and has a wife and two little girls....great guy. 

That's it from here. Tomorrow we meet with The City of Hope to see of they have anything up their sleeve (2nd opinion) and Thursday we meet with The Angeles Clinic for a 3rd opinion.

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend.

Anna Hogan

May 27th

Brian's Blog May 27th

Hello everyone!

Being the super-organized wife I am, I thought it would be good to have a blog for people to log onto to get updates on Brian's cancer. Its easier than numerous phone calls, emails and text messages....

So, log-on. We welcome well-wishes, prayers, doctor referrals, whatever!

Much Love,

Anna Hogan 

Tuesday, May 27th