We had several messages of encouragement from friends this morning. Thank you God for friends and family.
Today is Chemo day. Finally!!!! I took the day off from work so I could be here for his first treatment. He had a rough day yesterday. The pain got a little ahead of him. He looks tired this morning. He got his hair cut…really short. David tells him he looks like he’s already started chemo.
10:30 a.m. Lindsey (chemo nurse) greeted us and let all of us go back into the chemo room with Bobby. She got him settled and explained what the schedule would be for today’s infusion. Dr. Eisenberg stopped
by to say hello. I asked if I could take a picture of him with Bobby. He said he’d never been asked that before. But he obliged me.So, they started with a couple bags of saline then a couple bags of anti-nausea drugs. When it was time to start the chemo drug – Gemzar – he asked us to pray with him. I love that we’re here and able to pray with him. The Gemzar took less than an hour. He had trouble getting comfortable in the chair because of head and neck pain. And the light tends to bother his eyes. His back and hip gave him trouble as well. All part of his particular cancer. He did sleep off and on.
The chemo room was busy at times and very quite at other times. Another chemo nurse – Herb – was nice and friendly. Apparently he bakes banana nut bread every weekend and brings it in every Monday morning.
Another chemo drug that was given today is called Cisplatin. The way that Cisplatin operates is by forming a platinum complex inside of a cell, which binds to DNA and cross-links DNA. When DNA is cross-linked in this manner, it causes the cells to undergo apoptosis, or systematic cell death. One of the methods it uses causes apoptosis through cross-linking is by damaging the DNA so that the repair mechanisms for DNA are activated, and once the repair mechanisms are activated and the cells are found to not be salvageable, the death of those cells is triggered instead (www.cisplatin.org). It took a little over two hours to administer. Lindsey hooked it up then told us to go ahead and bless it. So, David prayed before that drip began.
His first day of treatment ended at 5:30 p.m.. Not a minute too soon for Bobby. He is now scheduled for every Monday through August. Thankfully it won’t always take so long.
We’re praying the side effects will be minimal or even non-existent. The biggest concern at this point is nausea. He has a custom mixed med that he has been taking to prevent the nausea that comes with taking the morphine. He really needs to stay on top of it. A fever is the other possible side effect. If it gets to 100.5 he needs to call in right away. We’re thankful the treatment has begun. He called later in the evening to see how we were doing. He wanted to know if it was hard for us to watch. I told him it would be hard for us not to be here. He said it would be awful for him if we weren’t here. He always says what his mama wants to hear.
Now we wait to see how his body responds.
