August 19, 2008 Update

Yesterday was an emotional day.  Gus did not feel good and we felt it was emotions.  We have not looked forward to the day he wore a 24-hour 7 days a week pump since we first heard the term.  We asked for copies of all the blood work and it is incredible how low his blood count was for the 3rd chemo on August 1.  Then by yesterday, his body had recovered and the blood count looked good.   We met first with the medical oncologist's assistant who reviewed the blood work and then she faxed the chemo dosage to "At Home Solutions" which is the team of nurses who will manage the chemo.  

Next, Gus had his first radiation which lasted only for a few minutes.  The machine rotates around him as it is aims 4 different times.  Gus dealt with a little nausea afterwards, but I think his daily standard procedure should be a nausea pill before radiation followed by a trip to the Dairy Queen after radiation.  Soft ice cream cures all.  That is our motto.  We have even carried this belief to the extreme and bought a small soft ice cream machine for his evening snack.

After radiation, we drove to At Home Solutions.  They changed the dressing on the PIC line and attached the portable infusion pump to the PIC.  We no longer will flush the PIC nightly.  The only maintenance we will need to do is change the 9-volt battery on the pump each Friday.  In fact, they do not want us to touch that pump other than changing the battery.  The chemo pack is locked on the pump so we cannot accidentally get in trouble and disable the dosage.   We even have to have a chemo spill kit in case the pack ever leaks or is broken.   Gus just wears the pump on his belt with the line going inside his shirt and down his left sleeve.   He puts the pump to bed at night by placing it on the headboard by his head.  It stayed quiet all night the first night.  If Gus accidentally pinched the line by rolling on it in his sleep, an alarm would go off to alert the sleeping occupants.  It sounds like a siren, so we definitely won't sleep through the alarm. 

Gus was feeling good by the end of the day.  His sister, Mary, arrived last night and that helped his outlook.  I am naming his friends and his family "His Dream Team".   The cards, the prayers, the phone calls are what are keeping his outlook so positive and his dreams alive.   We are so blessed.

 

So each Monday, the routine will be blood work first, waiting an hour for the results and then meeting with the medical oncologist and the radiology oncologist for the weekly plan.  They review the blood work and then send new orders to the chemo nurses.  Gus then will go in for his radiation therapy.  After radiation we drive to get the new chemo pack.   On Tuesday through Friday, a member of Gus' Dream Team will drive our car to Bozeman for his 10 minute radiation treatment and then they will drive home.  He will be home by noon each day.  Just in time for his daily nap.  I will drive him each Monday and he will not be home in time for his daily nap.   He just sleeps in the car coming home.

 

Gus and I feel there is a difference in his pain which means the tumor is shrinking.  He goes longer and longer in between taking pain pills.   As our cancer walk intensifies, so do the blessings.  

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