NOV 18 – 3 DAYS AFTER CHEMO

This is so utterly amazing – Brian has yet to have ANY side effects from his chemo treatment!  I had read that sometimes it takes until the third day to feel some effect but Brian felt perfectly fine once again when he got up this morning.  Mind you, he is taking all the “home medication” that he was given which is suppose to help with side effects so I am sure that must help.  It is quite amazing how the medical profession has this down to an art of knowing what patients should take in order to feel well.  He takes his last prednisone on the weekend but continues to take allopurinol until next Thursday.  Since prednisone is a steroid that is probably what is helping him feel well and the allopurinol is apparently to prevent gout and/or kidney stones as the chemo can cause a patient to have high uric acid which can cause those ailments.  After next Thursday, he will be completely “drug-free” until December 5th when we do it all over again.  Brian says he feels like he is a walking pharmacy! I can’t say I blame him. 

We certainly aren’t letting our guard down though; we know that he is now immunocomprised so we still have to keep him healthy and free of infection; so we are staying away from heavily populated public places and if our grandkids even get a little sniffle, Breanne is going to keep us away.  I too have to make sure I don’t pick anything up, so I am being very careful as well. 

Brian is a dream to take care of, I basically do nothing other than keep track of him taking his pills on the right schedule (although sometimes he has to remind me that it is “pill time”!),  he is drinking a ton of water, his appetite is very good and his “bathroom ablutions” as my dad would say are right on track!  Brian is even exercising.  He went out for about a 30 minute walk yesterday and said when he came home that he actually felt like running but thought he better not try it just in case but he said that next week and the following week, he is going to run as long as he feels well.  What a trooper, eh!!  This is one amazing guy I married!

I must say that both Brian and I have felt some of the stress go away too.  Now that we know the procedures and as long as Brian continues to feel this well after each treatment, we feel Blessed that things are going so well!