Late with chemo

Chad was supposed to start chemo on Monday. But there was some glitch-mixup-snafu with the ordering process. We didn’t receive the package until today. Ah, well. Two days can’t really hurt anything, can it? I mean, really. IT has been there for nearly ten flippin’ years. I don’t think two days is going to make us or break us.

Before I go on about Chad’s latest chemo adventure, let me explain the picture to your left.
I’ve yet to capture a photograph of Chad on the radiation table. By the time I take him to his appointment, he is ready to get it over with. He doesn’t want to wait around for me to take a picture to share with the world.
A few days ago, we noticed this nice little honeycomb pattern on his noggin following his treatment. It’s not a big deal – it’s just where his mask fits so securely on his head for a few minutes. It dissipates on the way home.

Just wanted to share that little “day in the life” moment with you.
My honeycomb-headed honey.

So. Chemo.
Yeah….
We received the box today after we got home from Radiation Run.
Chad took the dose earlier in the evening, but I’m not sure when exactly.
He ended up heading to bed around 8:45. He was wiped out.
The next thing I know, he’s not feeling well. At all.

He had forgotten that he still had some Kytril (the only anti-nausea drug that works for him) from last year’s chemo fun. So, he didn’t take anything for the stomach issues.
Bless his heart.
I felt terrible for him.

I raided the linen closet in our bathroom to find a few unopened boxes of Kytril — thankfully. He took them and seems to be feeling a bit better.

We really didin’t think that Temodar would affect him so much this time. He’s only on 100mg, ans he was taking 450mg last year. We hoped it would be a non-issue.
Now we know: take the anti-nausea drugs. Take them. Take them. Take them.

We actually saw Dr. Reilly today, much to our surprise. Radiation Run doesn’t usually involve a doctor chat, but I was glad it did today.
I had to call the doctor-on-call on Friday because Chad was worrying me. He had been running a fever for a few days, having chills at night. The doctor adjusted his steroid level and told us to check in with Dr. Reilly on Monday.
Well, Chad being Chad, didn’t want to bring it to anyone’s attention at the Cancer Center. It wasn’t a big deal to him.
When the nurse checked his temp today, the fever was back — and I finally told them what had been going on.
They talked a bit about steroid withdrawl, which we had surmised was the culprit. And Dr. R talked briefly about various infections…it was nothing new.
However, Chad is now on a month-long dose of antibiotics.

Dr. Reilly stated that Temodar can cause pulmonary infections, and they like to prescribe all patients on Temodar a course of antibiotics — which we had never been told before. He certainly wasn’t on antibitocs last year with Temodar.
Also, Chad’s immune system will be severely compromised while he’s receiving his combo treatment. These drugs are just a little added level of security to keep our man from getting a common illness. Something as slight as the common cold could really knock him for a loop.

No other news to report, other than changing Radiation Run appointment times. We’ve been going at 1:30, which is proving to be quite difficult. Chad is clearly too tired to drive and/or go to work as he had previously planned, and the middle-of-the-day is not the best time for me to have the girls out and about. Lunchtime and naptime breakdowns are sure to occur.
Luckily, we’ve secured a 10:45 appointment slot starting on Monday of next week. I think that will work much better for everyone.