76 days and counting

The first week of chemo is finally behind us! Thursday after Jarod got sick he went in and the doctors gave him a new anti-nausea drug called Emend. It kicked in right away and kept him feeling better through out the evening and early morning Friday. He took another one on Friday and Saturday which held the nausea off and the vomiting which was a huge relief.

Bo and Kristin came into town late Thursday night and spent Good Friday with him at chemo. I had the day off from work so it allowed me to run some errands that I needed to do and then we all meet back at the house around 4. I have been enjoying the weather and power walking a lot so Kristin and I went on a 2.5 mile walk before I started cooking dinner. We ate home and watched a movie. Jarod really enjoyed his time with Bo and surprisingly felt well enough to.

Saturday and Sunday he felt pretty bad - it really is a day by day situation. He has been having the hardest time sleeping since this all began and coming down off the medication made him feel like he had been hit by a mac truck. Although he never threw up over the weekend - he felt similar to being car sick, dizzy, very weak, tired, confused and achy. Saturday we were able to enjoy the sun on our back porch for a few hours before hitting the hay at 8:30!

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day! Although Jarod was too weak and tired to make it to Church (which they expected based on his levels) we still had a nice day. Marcy and Cleo came up for lunch we enjoyed a wonderful ham Tim had given us and I made scalloped potatoes, green beans and rolls and Marcy brought Apple Pie & ice cream. Jarod was able to eat with us and then needed to lie down, he got a nap in which was good and then finally got in the bed at 6 just feeling bad. He didn't fall asleep until around midnight but just felt sick all evening.

Marcy and Cleo brought us the most beautiful red flowering vine for our trellis that they gave us last year. The trellis is outside on the back porch and will make a living wall between us and the neighbors it's going to be beautiful! Marcy had one like it last year in white and they said it grows so fast so in just a few months it should be to the very top of this 8 foot trellis we have! Cleo planted it for me and moved another plant around to the edge of the deck and both look great!

Yesterday was day 8 of chemo and our 2nd doctor appointment they drew Jarod's blood which we got back today and his HCL level is down to 50 and his AFP level is down to 300. That is good and hopefully they will continue. These are the tumor indicators they watch as he goes through the treatment to make sure they are declining, they both have come down from being in the 400's.

He only had 1 chemo drug yesterday Bleomycin and the treatment was about 1 hour - they pushed it a little fast and it made him really dizzy so next time we are going to ask them to slow it down more. Our friend Burke stayed the night with us on his way back to New Orleans from Asheville and it was nice to catch up!

After all of last week and then another round yesterday Jarod is really tired and he says he feels strange so he's at home resting today which is good but he hoping to do some work later in the week.

Both of us have good spirits over all. It's nice that we have a break with 2 short weeks before another long week. The doctors said he is doing really well and most people are far worse than he is so we hope it keeps up like this. I think it's beginning it sink in for us - this weekend it will be 1 month since we were diagnosed.

We're on Day 9 with 76 days to go to the end... not much else we can do but wake up, get up and show up and pray that it'll work and at the end of these spring weeks our lives will begin to go back to normal.

Thanks again to everyone for all the prayers, love, support, visits, calls, cards, and messages it really does help.

Lindsey & Jarod