Day 1 of treatment

June 18, 2009 was the big day. The night before was kind of tough... neither one of us slept much with many thoughts and emotions running through our minds. But, Thursday morning we set off to see Dr. Eldaly and get started. Up until that morning, all of our appointments had been in the afternoon, and it always seemed that we were the only patients there. A couple times I thought to myself "I think we are the only ones in this town with cancer!" since we never saw any other patients. Well, that all changed when we arrived Thursday morning. The waiting room was full. We immediately noticed two lovely women whose hair was gone, another who was without a leg. We sat quietly. I tried to chit chat with Bobby... no luck. After a few minutes he turned to me and asked "Is it kind of warm in here?" It seemed like forever, but we finally got called back, Bobby had his blood drawn, and then we waited for the doctor. When he arrived he talked with us a bit, answered our questions, and then took us to the chemotherapy room. We were greeted by some wonderful nurses and were given a private room.

They started the infusion, and after a while Bobby felt like eating, so I went and got him some lunch. In our nearly 15 years of marriage, I can say that we've never had a lunch date like that before! We were ready to go home after about 5 hours, then followed up with his first radiation treatment.

That evening I sifted through the loads of anti-nausea medication and Bobby rested. Besides feeling fatigued and a little sore from his surgery, he was doing fine. Since he seemed to be doing well, I packed a bag at midnight and decided to go to my niece's wedding the next morning.

One of my favorite families in the world- The Rackhams. Welcome to the family Charles! It was great to see my family who lives on the wrong side of the country, and I look forward to seeing everyone again for the reunion this summer!


Unfortunately, while I was enjoying the wedding (rain and all), Bobby was having a reaction to one of his anti-nausea medications. Thankfully, Deb and Troy (another favorite family) stepped in and took care of the kids until I could get back Sunday night.


Each day since then has gotten a little better in some ways, and a little worse in others. He is now starting his second week of treatment, which includes radiation therapy Mon-Fri, and weekly blood tests and visits with his oncologist. The most noticeable side effect so far is his fatigue. Sometimes he says that his head feels "foggy" and that he is just wiped out with no energy. Eating has been difficult ever since the surgery, but as that has healed somewhat, the radiation has brought on other side effects that still make eating tough. This morning he was sitting at his plate of breakfast- eggs, toast with jam, juice, and just looked at it and said "I can't taste anything." Later when I asked him what he wanted for lunch he told me to make him whatever I wanted, because he wouldn't be able to taste it anyway. He is also starting to feel a bit of dry mouth, thanks again, to radiation. Deb brought him a case of gum from Costco yesterday in hopes that it might help a bit.


On a positive note, though, after one week of treatment, our oncologist examined him yesterday and said that he thinks the lymph node has reduced by about 25% already. It's working! It will be a long summer... but if it gets him well, then that's all that matters.