John's First Day of Chemotherapy

John was up early this morning and off to work.  Had a few things he needed to check on and then he was back to pick me up.  The appointment with Dr. Lee went well.  The PET scan results were in and showed a few other lymph nodes around the lungs that "lit up".  We were not surprised by that because cells had already been found in the lymph node that was removed last week.  I guess the best discovery was that no internal organs, other than the left lung, were involved.

John has developed a strong cough the past few days and had been having a fever off and on.  We were very concerned that his lung cancer was already causing the distress and discussed it with Dr. Lee.  After listening to his chest and examining a few other things, seems John has bronchitis, possibly caused by the tubes used last week during his lymph node surgery.  I know it is hard to be glad you have bronchitis, but we were extremely relieved that it was something that can be fixed.  Dr. Lee immediately wrote a prescription for an antibiotic to be taken at home and added an IV antibiotic to the medications he would receive today.

After meeting with Dr. Lee, he headed back to the chemotherapy room.  Thankfully, it was a quiet day with relatively few patients, so John received lots of attention from the nurses.  With me already being a patient there, I had explained the process to him so it went well.  We did ask if we could get a reduced rate since there are two of us....you know, "Buy one ~ Get one for half price."  Apparently, that is not available at this time.  We tried!

Once he was hooked up and had everything going, I ran and got his antibiotic prescription filled and picked up lunch and brought it to him.  Once you are in the chair and tethered to the IV pole, your only travel is local...to the restroom.

All in all, the day went well.  Glad the cough will quiet down once the antibiotics start working, and thrilled there are only a few small places showing additional cancer growth.  Of course, that is still not good, but given locations that could have been affected, the brain, liver, etc., we must be thankful.  Now we wait.  Wait and pray that the drugs administered today will work.  Luckily, the drugs given have very few side effects.  He may tire easily due to blood counts possibly being lowered, but that will be monitored closely.  Dr. Lee wants to see him next week for a quick blood test just for that reason.

It was a long day for him but I could tell he was very relieved that the cough will be better soon.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and thoughtful contacts as we walk this difficult road.  One of my friends recently told me, she loved helping us, it is my Emmaus ministry.  "I am God's hands and feet," she said.

Enough said.

PCQ