Yesterday, we had an appointment at GRCC to have blood work done and then to see Dr. McCarron a couple of hours later. Dr. McCarron likes to have the blood work done so that she has the results before she sees you; so we took advantage of the time difference to do a bit of Christmas shopping at the Conestoga Mall and actually did get some shopping done! We saw Dr. McCarron and she told us how pleased she was with Brian’s response to treatment. His white count yesterday was right in the normal range at 5.9 and the electrolytes, liver function and kidney function tests were completely within normal range and she is making no changes to the treatment since Brian is responding so well. We were very pleased with the news of course!
Today, we arrive at the chemo suite shortly after 8:00 this morning and the nurse told us that the second round will be infused slowly at the start and as long as Brian doesn’t have any reaction, they will speed the timing of the Rituximab so that meant he would probably be there for at least 6 hours. Brian was feeling bad that I would have to sit around for so long so after some discussion back and forth, we decided that I would come home and he would call when he got his last bag of Saline that they use to flush through him and I would head over to pick him up at the front door, hence save on parking! We both get frustrated with the amount you have to pay for parking each time we go; so now we have decided that I just drop him off each time and then come back and get him when he is done!
Brian called me about 1:30 to say he was almost done and he is feeling great; in fact, he came home once again full of energy and is now getting all the garbage together for garbage day tomorrow. I told him to stop but he said “yeh, like you really want to do it”; not that I do really but everyone close to us knows that Brian is the “garbage nazi” as David and Breanne would call him as it has to be done right or he is not happy. In Guelph we have to sort our garbage into three different colored bags and Brian has it down to a science where the rest of us don’t and we tend to put the wrong things in the wrong bag and if the garbage-man sees you have something wrong in the bag, he doesn’t take it and leaves it on the curb! So, I’m not giving Brian too much argument about getting it done although I will offer to put it at the curb in the morning but if I haven’t done that by at least 6:30 a.m., I KNOW that Brian will be up getting it out there and giving me a hard time about it.
One thing I did forget to mention was that the nurse told Brian today that he is what they like to refer to as the “classic patient” meaning that he is reacting to the drug exactly as it is intended to and having such an excellent response to it. I still say that Brian being so healthy otherwise and having such a good mental attitude about this whole cancer diagnosis; is going a very long way in getting him into hopefully a LONG remission! I also know that everyone praying for Brian and sending him good wishes is also playing a role in his recovery.
This time we only have to go for blood work next Thursday and then Brian will be “normal” again until December 28th when we once again go for blood work and to see Dr. McCarron and chemo round #3 starting on December 29th. This has all worked out beautifully so that Brian can be completely well through Christmas!
I will update our blog on the weekend to let you know how Brian has reacted to this round of chemo and we are hoping it will be no different than the last one!
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