In Chad-related News

My fabulous neighbor kept the girls for me because we had another appointment after radiation this morning. It was raining buckets, and I am so glad I didn’t have to lug those cuties along with us this morning. Thank you, Carla!

Radiation went well. We absolutely love his new appointment time of 10:45. We get there right on time and are taken straight back – they are literally waiting on us when we walk into the sub-waiting area. He’s in and out in less than 10 minutes. And that’s very helpful when I have the girls with us.

After Chad’s radiation treatment today, we headed out for a quick bite at Panera.
At Panera, Chad ordered the Smokehouse Turkey sandwich – bacon, cheddar, turkey and sun dried tomato mustard.
I ordered my beloved Pick Two; Greek salad and Artichoke Turkey. Yum.
I know you care deeply about our lunch menu, but I tell you for a purpose.

Chad took one bite and deemed his sandwich his unfavorite.
He tried mine, but again wasn’t impressed.
His tastes have really changed since surgery/radiation/chemo. His favorite, stand-by, old reliable foods just don’t appeal to him anymore.
It’s funny — all the little things that change during treatment that no one prepares you for.
Is it minor in comparison to other things that we could be dealing with? Yes.
But, still, when you are hungry and not feeling well, and you really crave something, you want it to taste good. You want it to taste the way you remembered it tasting.
And it just doesn’t.
We hope his taste buds will return to normal after he’s completed radiation and chemo.
There are other little things that have changed along with Chad’s tastes. More on that in a later post.

After lunch, we headed back to the Cancer Center for a follow-up appointment with is medical oncologist, Dr. Campbell.
All of Chad’s labs look good. His white blood count is in range, as well as all other pertinent counts. Internally, his body is doing a great job handling the treatments.
Dr. C mentioned that she will probably increase his Temodar dose from 100mg to 150mg, but she wants to wait and reevaluate Chad next week before making the change. She wants to make sure his nausea is at bay before any dose modifications.
Chad’s nausea is not bad when he takes the anti-nausea drug Kytril. He takes it a few hours before Temodar, and then takes Temodar at bedtime so he feels the effects less.

Dr. C also mentioned that she may have Chad continue Temodar at a higher dose after his combo radiation dose is complete in a few weeks. Chad’s been through the high dose before. And he doesn’t want to continue it. I completely understand, and will back him 100% if he decides not to pursue the more rigorous dosing schedule. Of course, he could change his mind once he starts to feel better from his current treatment course. I doubt he will change his mind on this issue, unless Dr. Tatter (neurosurgeon) strongly recommends continuing chemo based on an updated MRI (which will probably take place in August).

As I mentioned before, taking Temodar this time around is much different than when he took it last year. Now, he knows how it can make him feel, and the act of having to take it is worse than actually taking it (if that makes sense). It’s a psychological thing; he knows what it did to him last year. He knows that it made him miserable, even though it did its job in the long run. And he also knows that we only have one shot at radiation — and taking Temodar in conjunction with it makes the radiation more effective.
So he takes it. He doesn’t want to. He dreads it. But he takes it.

I picked up his laptop from work this afternoon so he could do a few things from home when he feels like it. He is so tired, but he also needs to put in some hours at work when he’s able.

As always, thank you for all of your words of encouragement. And an enormous, heartfelt THANK YOU to Chad’s coworkers for donating their time to help us focus more on Chad and less on getting him back to work before he’s completely ready.