Chemo....Treatment 2

We are at our second chemo treatment as we speak!!!  Dad is more tired than he has been, unfortunately!  But that could also be because of the benydryl they gave him!  He has been getting more sleep since the doctor prescribed a little stronger cough medicine! We also found out today that he has 23 more radiation treatments left and then we are done with that mess!!  We are also very impressed with how well everyone helps out and how informative everyone is here at the cancer center!  My dad actually  knows one of the volunteers and he comes and visits us when we are here!  So it makes for a nice day to see a friendly face!  The nurses here have started calling me 'the boss.'  They give me all of the paper work and know if my dad forgets something I either have it or know it!  :-)  I try to stay up on everything so if they need to know something, I know the answer or I can find the answer within a decent amount of time!  We are amazed at how much we all are learning through this whole process!!  Its school all over again!

We have noticed that dad has been having more good days than bad days lately!  On Sunday him and my mom went out for breakfast with some friends, and went for a drive later on!  It was great to see him up when they stopped by my work!!  All of us girls included have been dealing with it better and talking amongst ourselves to share feelings!  It really has helped us all!  I'm sure we all have our moments, but for the most part we are all doing great!

I would like to send out a bunch of thanks!  First off to TDM-Dads work!!!  We all greatly appreciate everything!!  And to Garrett Graham-thank you so much for help on dads truck!!!

I don't have a cute quote or poem for you today... I will have two for you all next time!!!  Thank you again for everyone praying and thinking of us in this time!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

What we have been waiting for...finally!!!

As I'm updating everyone dad is actually receiving his first round of chemo!!  He is sitting right next to me all hooked up to everything!  The nurses are really nice here and very informative!!  Dad had 3 different premeds, and we are still working on his first chemo.. he will get a second one today as well, but because of the different types we can only do one at a time!  Chrissy (the baby) is on her way up here to visit!

Dad has been doing ok... finally getting his appetite back a little!  He has had a really bad cough the past 2 weeks, but with all the research we have read, we believe its a side effect of the radiation... We have tried different meds and are working on finding a comfortable solution to this problem!

It is still very unreal to me to see his name on a chemo order!  It just doesn't feel real!  I'm still waiting to wake up...but I also realize that this isn't just something you wake up from!  And I have realized I can't expect everyone to understand..or even begin to understand where we are coming from and what we are feeling!  I have strengthened a lot of my beliefs and my goals because of all of this! 

I'm very proud of my dad with how far he has already come with everything! It is great seeing him with an appetite and wanting something to eat!  We are home now and done with the treatments today..his next chemo will be next wednesday. 

Again I want to thank everyone for everything! 

Here is a poem I'm leaving everyone with!  I see it in a lot of places in the cancer center and I have heard it before when I had a friend going through cancer as well.

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.

-unknown

The Starting line!!!

Ok, I have a lot to update about!!!  Yesterday was a busy day for my dad and I..starting at 5am (anyone who knows me knows I'm not the best morning person)...and we finally got home at 4pm!!!  First we started out in Ann Arbor and dad received his port!  He did great with that, and when they brought me back to recovery he was already eating!!  Once we were able to leave we came back to Brighton and went to the Woodland Center..which is where dad will be receiving his chemo and radiation-very close to home!  The treatment will be very intense...He will be doing 30 days of radiation (starting today) and that will be Monday-Friday.  He starts chemo next week and will receive it once a week during radiation.  After radiation is completed he will be doing more chemo treatments!  He is taking a combination of two different chemos, they are small doses now and when he is done with radiation they will bump it up!

Well I started this blog yesterday and because of work and dads treatment, I couldn't get back to it. So here I am!  My dads first round of radiation went well yesterday!  Last night he developed a horrible cough again!  It has gotten pretty bad in the last couple of hours, unfortunately.  Other than that he is doing pretty good!

We are all trying to stay healthy around the house, and get ready for our uncles to come up tomorrow!  We are so excited and like I said before-believe it will be really good for dad!  Chrissy just got over a cold and is doing better!!! We are also very thankful for our family friend Anita!! She made us an amazing lasanga the other night, and that is the most I have seen my dad eat in one sitting (and even a whole day) in about 3 weeks!  So thank you very much Anita-it was delicious!!!  My grandmother also made us a pineapple upside down cake last week, which is dads favorite!  We all loved it!!! Thank you grandma!!!!!

Again I would like to thank all of the support we are getting from everyone!!!  A question I am asked a lot is if my dad is up to seeing people, or getting visits..or people don't call because they don't know how he feels.  It doesn't matter!!  If you feel like calling him, call him.. he won't answer if he isn't feeling up to it!  I know he loves talking to people, so please don't hesitate to call my dad!  Like I said if he is sleeping or under the weather, he won't answer and will call you back when he is feeling up to it!

As for the rest of us, we are all doing pretty good!!  Just staying busy and getting a lot of things done around the house!  I hope everyone takes care and I will update this weekend!!!

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."

-Annon

 

1 Day at a Time!!!

Since my last post we have found out how much radiation dad will be getting!! Dad will be going through 30 days of radiation.  They will be attacking the lung tumor, and the spots they found on his liver!  On Tuesday we are going in to get his port put in (which is a device they will implant just under his skin on his chest so they won't have to keep poking him with needles in the arm. This will put the chemo straight into his bloodstream- many people are given this when going through chemo to make it easier and more convenient.).  Tuesday is also his first day of radiation, and they day we will find out how much chemo he will be getting too!  We will find out a lot of information on Tuesday and I will definatly keep everyone posted!!!

Dad has had a hard time sleeping lately.  He still has the cough every once in a while, but not as bad as it was!   We are still in the process of trying to find a hobby for him to do to keep him moving and occupied during this time! 

We are very excited for next weekend as well!  Although we will have a busy week before hand, we are so excited that my dads uncles (my great uncles) will be coming up to visit us for the weekend from Missouri!  We are excited and it should be really good for dad!!  And we are also hoping for a visit from an old neighbor sometime in the near future as well!  We are excited and extremely blessed to have all these people in our lives!!  I know Pat Carol (our old neighbor) is following this-we would love to see you!!!  And to Uncle Paul (I know your following too) we are very excited to see you and Uncle Charles next weekend!  Can you bring some crappie (fish) with you?!?!  I'm just kidding!!!!!

I have decided to end every blog with a quote, or prayer of some sort!  So to everyone take care and stay in touch!!!!

"Be strong now, because things will get better.  It night be stormy now, but it can't rain forever!"

-unknown