Prep Week

So here we are in what we are calling Chemo prep week - we are done with surgerys and going through lots of appointments to get set up for next week treatments.

Surgery number 2 was last Friday - the procedure to put in Jarod's port so that he can have chemo administered without having to be stuck each time in his veins. They will also be able to drawl blood, in port contrast for CT scans all without having to stick him.

We arrived at 5:30 am and they took him straight back to prep. The nurse came in to explain that it would be 2 cuts one 2 fingers below the color bone and the second in the lower part of his neck, they insert it under the skin and then run this small tube up through the vein in the neck down toward his heart. The port is located on the right side and looks like a small bump. Everything went really well and we were released at 10:30 am. Marcy went with us as I needed to go straight to work once he was released. She took him back home and stayed with him until I got off work on Friday. Jarod slept most of the day.

The weekend was nice Sarah and Kenleigh (Jarod's sister and new niece) came into town and we had a nice dinner and visit Saturday night, Sunday they came back over and Aisha brought all of us lunch we visited until late afternoon when my Mom arrived. Janice took Jarod and I out to the Blue Ridge Grill none of us had ever been and it was a great dinner.

Monday Janice, Marcy, Jarod and I went to meet with Dr. Filip our oncologist and Dr. Scaljon the surgon. Nothing changed based on the fact that Jarod's cancer is slightly more rare than originally thought. He will have 4 treatments of chemo each 3 weeks long for a total of 12 weeks. Its sounds like they will be giving him great drugs to help with immune problems and nausea problems which means if he feels bad most likely it will be limited times and most likely at the end of the long Chemo weeks. The weeks where he has 5 days for 8 hours he will be pretty tired and somewhat sick from Thursday - Sunday but other than that they expect him to lead a pretty normal life being able to socialize with friends and family and even do some work on the lighter chemo weeks. It also sounds like the 12 week schedule will not be prolonged due to sickness. They said he is strong and feel that they will be able to stay on target for Jarod to finish up about mid June. All of felt much better after this meeting and know that even though it won't be a walk in the park it is only a bump in the road!

From 3-6 after the last chemo treatment(so around the end of July) he may still feel sluggish and tired and not 100% but by about August he should be feeling much better.

This particular type of tumor responds very well to Chemo and they fell confident that this will take care of the problems. There is also only a 5% or less chance of the cancer recurring and most likely if it doesn't come back in 2 years from the last date of chemo it won't but they say 5 is the golden number.

The surgeon said he is healing well and everything looks great! We go back in a month! Dr. Scaljon is a hoot and Jarod just laughs so hard every time he is with him - he is a dose of comic relief!

Jarod's spirits are very high this week and he is actually driving himself to doctor appointments. He has to go to Emory and the pulmonologist for testing to get lung functions and base lines for that done so even though there are no surgeries or treatments this week there are still a lot of doc apts to keep everything on track. But he is enjoying having somewhat of a normal week and even working some this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.

He really loves visitors and wants to continue to have visitors through out the process so please don't hesitate to call him, email him or visit him.

Thank you so much to everyone who has come by, sent cards, emailed and called it means a lot to him!

Thank you to all for all your love and support! I'll let you know how our first day of Chemo goes! We will get our full schedule next Monday but what we know so far is:
March 29-April 2 Chemo
April 5 Chemo
April 12 Chemo
April 19 - 23 Chemo
April 26 Chemo

Hope you all are doing well!
Love,
Lindsey & Jarod