Tuesday went well. He slept the day after getting the new bag. Wednesday was a whole different story. We checked out of the hotel at 11 and headed to the center. I waited in the car with his dog because it was hot out and he was just getting disconnected from the pump and a patch put on his arm that will boost his white blood cell count. I dropped him and ran down to get us lunch thinking he should be about done by the time I got back. At 1230 I talked to him and they were trying to get his b/p under control. Apparently it was 200 over something. I am not exactly sure because I was not in there. At 1 they called the urgent care dr. from the cancer center who came over and put something in his port. I don't know what because Jody is not good at this when I am not there for the details. The dr. did say this was normal on the 5 day chemo. His b/p came down and they let him go about 145. We were about an hour down the road when his phone rang and it was a nurse at the infusion center. She wanted to know if he was on his way in to get his next bag hooked up. At this point I am very confused because we thought we were done. After I hung up with her I called his oncologist nurse. I told her "we have turned around but, he is not going back in there until we figure out what is going on. I can't be in there because we have already checked out and somebody had to sit with the dogs Our reservations that the cancer center made were only until Wednesday so we assumed we were done and now I am in the car with the dogs. He won't go back in there until we have this straight". She went and talked with the dr. and called me back. The orders were written correctly and he was suppose to have another bag hung and we were suppose to stay another night. Now it was getting so late in the day that his dr. said to have him come in and get his patch on for the wbc but, this time we won't do the other bag. Hotel accommodations messed up. That was not a huge deal because they could call and get another room rebooked. It just means more money for a hotel room. Not really a big deal either. The issue is the nurse that disconnected him did not read the orders. Not only was the patch not put on he was to receive after chemo she never hooked the last bag up. So, he did get his patch and we did come home Wednesday night. We now know that on future visits we will be there 7 nights.
His oncologist nurse and I have already spoken and next time we go over it will be on a Wednesday evening, appointments early on Thursday, and then chemo hook up. He will unhook from chemo the following Tuesday evening. We are planning an extra few hours into the evening for any problems such as b/p. They will have us stay Tuesday night as it will be late (probably after 9) when all is done and we will come home on Wednesday.
Anyhow, Wednesday he started feeling a little nauseous and by the time we were half way home I had to pull over because he was getting sick. He dry heaved all night Wednesday into Thursday evening. I think it started to ease up and the medication finally was able to work that they called in for him. He slept well Thursday night. Today he has felt a little nauseous off and on. He did finally eat for the first time since Tuesday night.
I hope he is turning the corner and will start to feel better for the next few weeks before we go back again. The dr. did tell me that this would be a rough chemo but, should not affect him like the first one that he was allergic to. In one respect we are lucky to be on this one. His first chemo he was on was a first line defense chemo, Second chemo was the second line defense chemo, the third one should be a third line defense chemo. This is the third one but, it is a first line defense. I think we did not try this one after the first one we did because his body was to weak from what the first one did. I feel like the second one that did not work maybe kept it from getting even worse than it did and let his body build up a little so that he could handle this. We do know if by chance this one does not work his fourth line will be what would have been his third line. I believe that would be Keytruda. As much as the last week has been an up and down roller coaster ride, mainly down, I do feel very good about this chemo. I am very positive it will work. I honestly don't know how I feel this way after the last two. I probably should be more skeptical but, I think it is going to work.
Jody has somewhat good spirits. I think after this last week it really has taken a toll on him and he is much more skeptical. I would say he is still probably in much better spirits than most people would be in his situation given the last few months. So, I am going to ask everyone that reads this if you talk to Jody please keep it positive when it comes to his cancer. There will be no "if's". Keep the sad looks in your eyes away. If talking about it makes you look sad or sympathetic don't let him see. We can very much tell when people have the pity look in their eyes. We have seen it for almost eight months. He can not see that right now. This is a harder fight than either one of us imagined it would be and this chemo will be bad. It has definitely taken it's toll on us. We need only POSITIVE!
Thank you for praying for us. We need all of them we can get!