It's All a Blur

*WARNING* - This will be a long one!

A lot happened yesterday...a whole lot. We had our appointment at the Cancer Center to meet with the medical oncologist (chemo doctor). He shared with us a "change of plans" - well, not really a change of plans but addition to the plan. First, he wants Tony to have a Mediport placed. For those who aren't familiar, this is a surgical procedure to implant a port in his chest, a little under the collarbone. It's kind of a "ready made" IV, meaning they won't have to poke all over his arms and God-knows-where-else every time he goes for chemo, lab work, or fluids. They can just access the port. The picture on the left is one of the better ones I could find. The top image shows the little "button" that will be under the skin; the center is kind of cork-like in consistency. That's what they'll be accessing whenever they need to draw blood or give medications/fluids/etc. My poor guy has already had more surgeries in the last month than I have in my life, but this should be nicer in the long run than having to get stuck a billion times.

Also, the doctor says he wants to do what's called "induction chemotherapy" with Tony. Basically, this is "extra" chemo before the main treatment of radiation and low-dose chemo. It's kind of like throwing everything at the cancer at once. There are three cycles of this, and each cycle is one week on and two weeks off. The cycle starts on a Monday, and it's an all-day affair. We go in the morning, and start off with a bag (one liter!) of saline for hydration. Then there are a bunch of "pre-medications" (stuff to lessen the side effects of chemo): Zantac (to help nausea), Benadryl (to prevent allergic side effects), Decadron (for nausea), and assorted other steroids. Then he'll get three, that's right - THREE - different kinds of chemo: Taxotere (docetaxel), Cisplatin/Cis-platinum, and 5-FU/fluorouracil. (Lovely cocktail, right? I think the "FU" part of "5-FU" is an appropriate name for a cancer drug.) The 5-FU will actually be placed in a pre-programmed pump, which will go home with him and continue infusing Mon-Fri. Then on Friday we go back to have it all disconnected. So that's the week of chemo, then he'll get two weeks of no chemo, and that is one cycle. We do this three times, then radiation starts. When that begins, he will still have chemo, but it will only be once a week, and it will only be one drug (low-dose 5-FU).

So this week will be a very busy one. We have an appointment on Monday to meet with the doctor that will be doing the Mediport surgery. Then the surgery will be scheduled sometime this week (not sure when until the consultation). Then next week, the chemo starts. Can't say I'm looking forward to that, but it's got to be done!

Here are some more random notes:

• One of the churches near the Cancer Center makes neck support pillows for the chemo patients because they have to sit in those chairs so much during their treatments. Tony got to pick one out for free - he chose a very manly print. ;) I thought that was so very thoughtful of this church: it may seem like a small thing, but to know someone was thinking of these patients was very comforting to me. "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" - Matthew 25:40

• We love, love, love the people at the Cancer Center. I really couldn't ask for better folks to sit there and answer our questions, and even answer those we didn't think to ask.

• I'll be getting my hair chopped off in the near future. Ironically enough, I had been growing it out to donate it to Locks of Love. I did this once before, and figured it was an easy enough way for me to help. I've finally got enough length, and it seems the timing is appropriate since Tony will be starting his chemo soon. I offered (very sincerely) to shave my head completely to show my support, but my loving husband said, "Ummm....you can find some other way to support me, dear." I got the point! :P

• Feel free to become a follower of our blog and make us feel loved! Also, I changed the setup so that anyone can post comments on any of the blogs now - you don't have to do all that "set up an account" stuff anymore. So comment away! :)