I think it is safe to say that the last two weeks of my husband life have SUCKED! His last round of treatment was hands down the worst. He had mouth sores, horrible arm pain, jaw pain, neck pain and an ear ache. That night when we got home from treatment he went straight to bed and that was where he stayed for the next four days; only to get out every couple of hours to take a shower to help relieve the pain. Then days 5-8 the pain in his arm was so bad he was up most nights unable to sleep. The pain got so bad at one point when he fell asleep he had a dream someone was cutting his arm. I woke up several nights to him in the shower, sitting on the couch in the dark or to him waking me up asking me to please rub his arm….it was horrible! Finally he said he couldn’t take it anymore so I took him in to the doctor and they checked him over to make sure he didn’t have a blood clot or anything else that was alarming. She concluded it was probably just the drugs in is IV that probably was causing the pain in his veins since they are so sclerosed. She gave him some pain meds and told us that if it wasn’t getting better in the next 24-48 hours or if it started to swell call her. On the way home Steve said, “I guess I’m not as tuff as I thought I was.” He really doesn’t give himself credit for what he has been through. I have tried to tell him that it isn’t like he has just been sick for a week or two this has been going on for over 6 months! Finally on Sunday Steve said that he was feeling better. Well at least it was in time for his treatment today but I just hope 2 days was enough to recuperate for another round. Well there is good news from today’s visit…his blood work was actually in the normal range. Normally Steve’s white count stays just below 2 and they really want it above two but since Steve has done fairly well they have only given him the neuprogen injection once when it dropped below 1. Today it was at 3.2 which surprised us since Steve felt so bad this time we thought it was probably really low. Bad news though he still has to have the neuprogen injection tomorrow. Why? Well we are leaving on vacation probably at the same time that his white count will be at its lowest point from this treatment and since we are flying and going to Disneyland where he will be exposed to more illnesses and diseases we could ever imagine we rather be safe than sorry. No room in our vacation agenda for a hospital visit!
Come February 15th the bell will ring! At Steve’s oncology office they have a bell mounted to the wall outside of the chemotherapy room that you get to ring to celebrate your last treatment. On November 16th Steve rang that bell in celebration for completing his 4 months of chemo. Little did we know less than a month later we would be back here for 2 additional months of treatment. So come today at the end of his additional two months Steve stated, “I am not going to ring the bell. But come February 15th when I get the results I will ring that bell off the wall!” This is not because Steve and I fear that his cancer isn’t gone but we have decided to take it day by day and proceed with faith and caution.
Here is to…
1. An EASY round for my husband
2. A GREAT, RELAXING vacation with the family
3. And most importantly a CLEAN scan on the 14th!
Much love!
The Waymans
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