Chemo 12 -- A Milestone

I left bootcamp one cycle earlier so we could make it to G'town on time. We arrived at G'town 2 hours late. We were off to such a great start too. School was on an one hour delay, so we dropped HB off at Annette's to take the bus to school. Nate had woken up earlier than normal and was dressed and in a great mood. We hit the road with plenty of time. Stopped and got Scott an ice tea no ice and proceeded on our way to drop Nate off at AOL. We hit traffic and it took us almost an hour to get out of Ashburn. It is like 3-4 friggin miles! Unbelievable. By then, HOV was over, so we ran into traffic on 66E so it was not smooth sailing...

We arrived and didn't have to wait very long to see Dr M. We saw a fellow medical student first who evaluated Scott for this go around. Scott has been having headaches and Dr M thinks its from the Avastin. He gained a few lbs but all in all he looks pretty good. His neuropathy, while better, is not great yet and the fellow had said that could take years to return if it does. Great! Dr M went and checked his trial rules and decided to not give Scott Avastin this go-round to see if that is indeed what is causing the headaches. They also gave him a script for Percocet since Tylenol and Ibuprofen do not seem to help dissipate the pain. Scott's bp was 131/90 I believe. He also is very tired but as you have read, that is nothing new with his treatment.

Dr M mentioned that the first results of the Avastin trial administered to stage 3 colon cancer patients should be out in the June timeframe and depending on those, they may continue on their course or decided to discontinue Avastin.

Scott has a script to go get a CTscan and he is done with the Folfox after Thursday's return of the 46 hour chemo pack.

We got to Floor 7 later than normal and had to wait approx 2.5 hours for our chemo to start. On the bright side, Mercedes gave us a really nice room. Room 18 and it had a nice view of the National Cathedral. I went and got Scott some lunch and we both worked on our computers. Scott's friend John Divney was in town from Jersey, and he stopped by to hang with us until chemo was over. I know Scott was very happy to spend time with him. We had a lot of laughs. We didn't get home until after 7 and had to stop at Target to fill his scripts. I dropped Scott at home and then went to get the kids at Ellen's house. Ellen has been so kind to me. She is on call on chemo days to get the kids if we need her to. It's been such a huge help and relief to me.

So...the standard treatment for colon cancer --- FOLFOX -An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used to treat colorectal cancer that is advanced or has come back. It includes the drugs leucovorin calcium (folinic acid), fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin. --- is done! Moving forward, Scott will be going for chemo on Fridays and he will be getting only Avastin. He will not have to go home with a pump. It's a few hours at G'town once every 2 weeks until September at the latest!

Wheww!!

The kids are doing well. We are all so used to chemo week that it's 2nd nature now.I have noticed though that Nate has been getting upset when he asks Scott to play with him and Scott can't.It is what it is..but it still is hard to hear. I did go out last weekend and play soccer and football with Nate. We had fun but clearly I was out of my element and Nate had no problem letting me know that I wasn't playing right. Personally, I think he makes up new rules for the games to suit him. I took Nate sledding on Monday as well. Hannah didn't feel like going, so Nate and I bundled up and walked over to this hill in our neighborhood and took a few slides down. It was so fun but man, it was c o l d!!

Speaking of snow, I shoveled most of the snow but Scott for some reason, got a hankering to get out there and shovel a bit. I left him a part of the driveway to finish which he did but you could tell he was worn out the rest of the day. I am sure it's frustrating for him to not be able to do the things he used to do all the time.

One thing that I have been thinking about lately is how I am so proud of Scotty. This has been so tough on all of us but I stop and think about how this is for him. He is the one with cancer, the one with the chemicals being put into his body, the one that has to live with this thought that it could come back, the one that wants to do all of this stuff, but physically right now he can't. But with all that, he still keeps a positive, happy outlook. He gets down about it, but it really doesn't define him. He is still Scotty. He's just Scotty who happens to be dealing with this really shitty situation. He gets up and goes to work without a question on the non-chemo days. We have just worked this into our lives. It's not like we have a choice, but you do have a choice in how you deal with it. You can be all doom and gloom by this or you can just realize it is happening, it sucks beyond words, but life goes on. That's how Scotty is and I am so proud of him.