Jody had scans on the 12th and then we saw the oncologist. Scans looked the same as before. Pleural effusion hasn't really changed. The blood cancer markers have come down. I hope that will be indicative of this cancer going away. We won't really know that till we get another pet scan. We will take it as good news for now. However, the oncologist did say he did not think Jody's body could handle the three weeks on and one week off chemo treatments. He will be doing every other Friday instead.
We started chemo the next day on the 13th. The treatment went very smooth. No reactions and we came home from Atlanta Friday night. He seemed to be doing very well for about 3 days. He had more energy than he has had in two months and was eating constantly. That was until Monday night. He started to have a hard time breathing just going from the living room to the bedroom and much more stomach pains again. He has had a hard time with breathing for a while because of the fluid around his lungs and shortness of breath is a side effect of this chemo. So, we are just dealing with it. Honestly, since we are pretty confined to the house it will make it slightly easier for him. Now he can spend his days resting.
Mornings are always the worst to get him to eat. Once I get him to start and get his stomach working and settled then he does a little better through the day. He is still dropping weight everyday though. I think he ate the best he has in two months yesterday. We started early and that makes all the difference. He eats well in the evening but, it's not enough. He doubled his calories yesterday. I feel like maybe he will not have dropped anything when he weighs today.
His school is closed due to the virus so, he will just be home resting except for trips to the cancer center in Atlanta. We are staying at home and pretty much isolating to keep him from getting anything. Gannon and I run out if we need something and try to be extra careful. We buy what we can from our online farmers market here in Statesboro to avoid the stores as much as possible. I tried to stock up as much as I could on groceries for us before the last treatment.
We leave on Thursday again for the center. This time they have him starting acupuncture there. I hope that helps his stomach and pain.