Chemotherapy

About a week prior to beginning chemotherapy, James had surgery (again) to have a port placed in his chest. This was an access in his chest, under the skin, that they attached his IV to for all of his treatments. For some reason, this was emotionally the hardest surgery for me. It was the smallest scar, it wasn't that serious of a procedure but for me it just screamed cancer. With his other surgeries no one could see the scar and no one knew he was sick. This one everyone could see though and it was just a daily, visual reminder to me that my husband had cancer.
With his treatment, he did 3 cycles of treatment that each lasted 3 weeks, for a total of 9 weeks of treatment. The first week of each cycle was the long week. He went Monday through Friday for about 6 hours every day. These were long weeks. By Wednesday the drugs would catch up with him and he was just exhausted. Luckily, his side effects usually wore off by Sunday and he was feeling much better. The next 2 weeks of each cycle, he only went in for about a half hour on Tuesdays. The drug they gave him this day made him feel the worst, but it didn't seem to last long and by Thursday he was doing better.
James started his chemo on March 25th, 2013. Of all of his days, this was really the only hard one. Not knowing what exactly was going to happen and how James would respond was our first obstacle. Throughout the day, treatment went well. It was pretty boring to sit in a lazy boy all day while they just pumped James full of one drug after the next, but it did give him the opportunity to study so he could keep up with his classes. (That's right, my husband is AMAZING! He finished his first year of medical school while going through chemo and still got above a 3.0 GPA! He is my hero.)
The end of the day was our hardest part. James was supposed to be prescribed two different anti-nausea medications to help with his side effects. The nurses said it was sent to our pharmacy and so we went right over to pick it up. It wasn't there. I called the nurses, they said they sent it, I asked if they'd send it again, they said be patient. I waited and watched James get more and more sick as the afternoon went on. I called the pharmacy, still not there. I called the nurses back, be patient they said. I waited, when I called the pharmacy again, it still wasn't there. When I tried the office again, they were closed. I had no idea what to do. James was sick and I felt like there was nothing I could do.
I went into the pharmacy and tried to find something over the counter. The best the pharmacist could do was give me Dramamine. It was useless. I went back to the pharmacy to see if there was anything else or if the prescription had come through, there was nothing. I cried. I hate crying, especially in front of other people, and even more so in front of strangers, but I cried. I just wanted to do something to help.
When I came home empty handed, I remembered that James' doctor had given him his cell number. It was late, the pharmacy was about to close, and I had no idea if his doctor would even be able to help but it was worth a shot. I called and he was able to call in the prescriptions for us, something the nurses should have just done hours ago. I called the pharmacy and he said he would stay open until I came in to pick it up. A little compassion goes a long way.
The our doctor didn't have to call in the prescription and the pharmacist didn't have to stay longer. The five minutes they spent to help us, meant more to us then they could ever know. Soon after James was able to take his medication he was already feeling much better. He was able to relax and get the rest he needed.
We were so fortunate in that James responded to treatment really well. After his first 3 weeks of treatment, his tumor markers were already normal. Theoretically that meant the cancer was already gone. With the help of his medications he had little side effects and other than an extreme lack of energy, he felt pretty well. We did have a few hiccups along the way, there were a few weeks we had to delay treatment due to low cell counts, but those were minor.
James started loosing his hair about 4 weeks into treatment. It would fall out on his pillow or if he would rub his head so finally we just pulled out as much as we could and then buzzed it. I thought that would be a hard day for me but it surprisingly wasn't, and James was a pretty sexy bald man, so that helped.
I am so thankful that his treatment went as smoothly as it did. Every time we went in to the chemo room I could see how hard it was on so many of the patients. Some of them were going on years of treatment or had every possible side effect they could have.
I am so thankful that James never complained, seriously not once, he never complained. He would tell me if we was uncomfortable, or if he needed something, or that he wasn't feeling well, but he never complained. He never said why me, he just did what he needed to do. I know that his positive attitude helped with his healing and with his treatment. Some might think that is silly but I saw it make a difference. There is so much power in a positive attitude.

See, I told you he was sexy!