First day of chemo...

Today we were finally able to start chemo! We met with Dr. Allen this morning and she said we could move forward with treatment.

We spent the whole day learning about how the chemo works, what to expect, side effects, etc. He had his first 2 hour treatment. We LOVED our nurse, Katie. She was very smart and fun and luckily we will have her every time we go for treatment. Everyone at MGH has been wonderful, it is comforting to be in such good hands here.

The bag was placed and he will receive the FU (I like the name of this drug meant to kill cancer) over the next 46 hours. The bag looks like a little purse, we call it his murse (man purse). He doesn't seem to mind it, no complaints yet! No side effects yet either, however, they say that will be cumulative. He did have a cold sandwhich and that shocked him. One side effect is touching/drinking/eating anything cold will feel like an electric shock. We don't know how to manage that this winter with all the snow, but will worry about it when the time comes. He is already talking about taking a couple weekend trip to FL :) I like the sounds of that.

Then I have to remove the needle and clean out the pump on Thursdays. Don't worry, the nurse trained me and Alec will not let me mess it up! (He is definitely a little weary of my "nursing skills").

So basically, every other Tuesday we go to MGH and he will spend 2 hours in a chair receiving one type of chemo, then, they will hook up him up to a new bag of the FU chemo and he will wear that for 46 hours (until Thursday). Then Friday through Monday, he will be free!

On the off weeks, we will meet with the doctor to make sure things are OK and his blood counts are good.

We are praying that his throat is OK, we did hear from the doctor who did the tonsillectomy on our way home tonight, and it was not good news. However, we have to wait for more information before we can jump to any conclusions or become upset.

Thank you for your prayers and for thinking of us on the first day of treatment. It is certainly going to be a long road, but we are maintaining a positive attitude and find ourselves laughing at lots of silly things lately...After all, laughter is the best medicine, right? :)

All our love,

Heather, Alec & Millie