Last Week of Chemo

When we first started this thing  and decided on treatment, we were slightly disappointed because Dad didn't get into the new course of treatment for the study he is in that we had hoped he would.  (The new course of treatment would have meant 6 weeks chemo, 6 weeks off, 6 weeks chemo/rad, 6 weeks off and then surgery.  The traditional method, which is what he ended up taking is the same except for that first 6 weeks of chemo alone.)  Like I said we were a little disappointed because they'd said that the odds were slightly better with this new treatment.  However, NOW we (especially Dad!) couldn't be happier that we went ahead with the traditional course!

 

Here is dad receiving his last in-hospital dose of chemo this past Monday (the day he also receives the happy drugs I mentioned before).   I don't know if this picture was set up or not... I mean, maybe he actually does read while he is there, but all I know is that I get a text every Monday from my parents saying "Don't call, we are taking our chemo nap now and don't want you calling us".  I see how it is.

Chemotherapy is a tough thing to go through.  It wears you down.  You are basically pumping poison through your body in hopes that it will kill the cancer.  It makes you tired and sick.  This coupled along with Dad's particular type of cancer where he has troubles keeping food down certainly has left him eager to finish up with this chemo stuff, pronto!  He's had some good days and some not so fun ones as well, this was all expected, but he certainly doesn't think he would have handled a second course of chemo as gracefully as he did this one!

Turns out, the nurse recently mentioned, that the results from the newer treatment course weren't showing much of a difference.  I tell ya, sometimes you don't understand why things turn out one way, but eventually you come to realize that it was for the best after all.  Thinking that maybe the big guy upstairs might know what he's doing.

One of the parts of chemo that was pretty inconvenient was carrying around the chemo pack... aka the fanny pack.  He has to wear it all the time... sleeping, in the shower... it is annoying.  My mom has to wrap it up while he showers and then he has to hang it on the bedside when he sleeps.  Not to mention the discomfort of the port that he has in his arm.  He's had an allergic reaction to the tape or gel they used and so I think the area is kind of sensitive. 

I gotta say, not every man could rock the fanny like this.  Lookin' good pops.  Lookin good.  I think he might even be bringing it back, in fact, in some places around the world the fanny is quite popular.  You know, like the airport and the 80's.