Julie has some welcome visitors

Sat. Nov 15th
Teresa and Tori came down for the weekend to play with Katie and Julie. It was very nice to have them here for the weekend and I think it really helped them get “rejuvenated”. I was not feeling too bad, but not real good either so I rested most of the day while they went to the deaf branch activity at the Museum and then went swimming. Nicole didn’t go swimming so she spent most of the afternoon with me here in my room and I watched football while she watched a movie. We went for a walk up the street too and she and I had a good talk.

Waiting for the bad times of chemo.....

Wed Nov 12th
I am waiting for the chemo after-effects to kick in but for the most part it has been a very good day.

Thur Nov 13th
Same thing today. No direct results from the chemo. A little tired but no nausea or other symptons.

Fri. Nov 14th
Well it finally hit a little bit last night. In fact it hit really hard. No throwing up or diarrhea but the nausea was a little bit off and on.

Chemo .....round 2

Tues Nov 11th
Woke up this morning around 4:30 and couldn’t sleep as I am quite anxious about the upcoming treatment. We have decided that this one won’t be as bad (everyone says they get better) but also I am not in the middle of radiation as well and I also am going into this one in much better condition and health. So all in all I am hoping for a little better experience, but I am still apprehensive. At least I know that if I need them I have angels on the other side waiting for me to request their assistance if needed.
Later: Went to the IV therapy in the afternoon. They had us originally scheduled for morning but for some reason changed us. Everything went smoothly once we finally got going but it was so late that we knew we wouldn’t get out of there till after 7:00 and we didn’t. They had to have a couple of people stay late with us so I think they will probably not do that again next time. It was a whole different experience this time because I was not nearly as sick, just finishing surgeries, in the middle of radiation etc. I was able to control the nausea and diarrhea the whole time so I only got up to stretch my legs and empty the foley bag once. They did tell us a little more this time about how we should be handling the bathroom stuff during the recovery period and to be honest we were a little bit surprised that 1) no one talked to us about it after the first one and 2) somehow Julie managed to do all the things she did for me without getting sick or affected by the care she gave me. It is even to the point where I am the only one that should be doing anything in the bathroom and really they recommend that if possible I have a bathroom all to myself. The reason is the chemo is still toxic when it comes out in the urine and stools. It can affect other people that come in any contact at all. Scary.

Clinical results looking good

Mon Nov 10th
We went to the doctor’s today and everything is looking very good and I am cleared to begin round 2 tomorrow. I had several people in the IV therapy and in Dr. Te’s office tell me I was looking much better than I had since I had come in. Very encouraging. They have a scale they use to determine how much the body is sending to fight the “tumors” (not sure what it all means) and they said that when they first checked it before round 1 it was 600 and something and today it was in the mid 300s. All of these things were very encouraging and have me very hopeful. I know that the Lord is blessing me and answering our prayers in my behalf. What a great day.

Thinking of Chemo round 2

Sun Nov 9th
Today was a little bit of a rougher day but I think it was just because of the concern I have for going back into a chemo week. The thought of the nausea and other symptoms when you are going through the recovery was very trying on my mind and may have affected my physical being as well. Even when Josh and Kirby came over for dinner, I was only able to go out and sit with them for a few minutes and had to come back in my room and rest. I couldn’t eat very much all day. I did start to feel better through the night however.