The treatment plan

Day two of chemo. Chris is sitting next to me getting ready to head to bed. I'm surprised he has even made it to 9:30. He was really exhausted all day and even took a little nap during treatment. It might have been longer if I hadn't called him and woke him up. Oops!  I snuck out of treatment for a bit to run some errands that needed to be done.  Besides the fatigue, Chris has really sore legs and minor nausea.  Kyle and I took turns massaging his legs and that provided some minor relief.  Chris is handling the nausea just fine.  He hasn't needed to take any meds for this at home yet, and I haven't needed to break into my arsenal of ginger- ginger snaps, ginger ale, ginger tea, ginger candy, etc. I stocked up last week:)

A lot of you have asked about chemo and what it entails. So, I'm going to give you an overview of Chris's typical day. Everyone's treatment plan is individualized so this is only what Chris's looks like. Today we dropped the kids off at school at 8:00 and headed right to the hospital for Chris's 8:30 appointment. He checked in and sat in the waiting room to be called back. The waiting room is full of people waiting for a chair. It's hard for me to be in this room.  There are too many people with cancer. And too many scared and concerned loved ones sitting with them.  Chris is often the youngest and one of the healthiest looking.  I can't help but scan the room and try to figure out who the patients are and who are the loves ones. Most of the time it is easy to tell, but not always. I suspect that some people look at Chris and I and try to discern patient from loved one.  I also sit and wonder what type of cancer they have, what their treatment is like, how are they handling it, what is their prognosis. But mostly I look at the very crowded waiting room and get overwhelmed by the amount of people affected by this horrible disease...

Back to the daily schedule. When Chris's nurse comes to get him (2 nurses-Cheryl is MWF and Bree is Tue/Thur) he is weighed and his vitals are taken. He is supposed to be weighed at the end of treatment as well so they can be sure his body is able to eliminate all the fluids he is taking in during his long day of infusions. This hadn't happen yet, but he uses the little boys room all day long so I suspect they aren't too concerned.  We head back to his chemo cubicle. This looks just like a little office cubicle except there are only half walls. So, you can see everyone and they can see you.  There are open spaces between cubicles so there is definitely an opportunity to get to know your neighbors. As expected, Chris has been meeting lots of people. There is an unspoken camaraderie between patients. At least I can sense it. I haven't asked Chris if he feels it too.  It's nice to not feel alone In this battle against the big C!  The nurse preps Chris for his infusion-cleans the port access site, "numbs" it (although Chris says it doesn't help and still hurts like hell), and inserts the needle.  She flushes his port with a saline solution and then he gets hydration for about an hour. From there it's Chemo meds for about 5 hours. During this time, Chris mostly works. And goes to the rest room.  A lot!  We occasionally go for walks around the floor. We go say hi to Neda who is the sweet lady in the patient resource room. She's the one who gave me a huge hug when I started crying  after Chris's first appointment with his oncologist. We eat the lunch I packed in the little cubicle. So far Chris's appetite has been unaffected.  After the big drugs are done, he receives another hour of hydration, they flush his line with heparin and we are sent on our merry little way. Today we rushed out hoping we would make it in time to pick up the kids, but were 5 min late. Thank goodness we have awesome friends and teachers to help us out with rides and watching the kiddos.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of what Chris's day looks like. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. We have heard that some of you have tried to comment, but have been unsuccessful. I think anyone can comment, but you're comment will show up on the blog as an anonymous user unless you are a registered google plus user. If you aren't, just leave a comment but sign your name at the end so we know who you are:)

Goodnight!
Katie

The battle begins

The day we have been waiting for has arrived. It feels strange to say we were excited to start chemo, but it's true. Until 11:30 this morning, we were just passengers along for the ride. Now Chris has the chance to fight his cancer head on. (If you ask him, he will tell you he already beat cancer once.... The so-called burned out cancer cells that they found after surgery are proof positive that his body is able to put up a hell of a fight!).   We got off to a rocky start. We were told that the orders for chemo had never been written and therefore no per-authorization was obtained. The chemo nurse educator politely told us that Chris would need to wait until Wednesday to start. I was thankfully absent from this conversation or I am convinced that I would have caused a major scene, lots of tears included. Chris, also very politely, told the nurse that this is not acceptable and we need to start today. I believe he told her that if she couldn't make it happen, SHE would have to be the one to tell me!  So, Yvette worked her magic and Chris officially began his treatments at 11:30.  This first week of treatments is intense- 5 days a week x 7 hours, plus a shot on Saturday that will promote increased white blood cell production. The second two weeks of this first cycle(each cycle is 3 weeks. Chris will have 3 cycles of chemo) is just 1 quick shot of one of the meds. This shot only takes about 5 minutes.

 This first day of treatment is drawing to an end... Only about an hour left. Chris is the only patient left for the day.  It's been a long one, but Chris is so far unaffected and is feeling great. He worked all day in his "office" and made lots of new friends:)

Please bear with me as I get used to writing this blog. Chris pushed me to do this and I'm a little uncomfortable with the whole blog concept. Hopefully it allows you all to feel more connected to his journey.
Katie