The first round of chemo is complete

It has been a very long week. Brian finally finished his first round of chemo yesterday with only a few complications. He has been really nauseous lately with really bad headaches, so we are trying to get that under control with oral medications before he is released from the hospital and doesn't have his IV. The central venous catheter that was in his arm caused a blot clot, so he had to have that removed Tuesday night and replaced it with 2 regular IVs so he could continue his chemo. They will probably try to insert another CVC in his chest, but will wait until his second round so we don't have to take care of it while he is out of the hospital. For now, they put him on blood thinners and are cautiously monitoring him to make sure his stomach doesn't start bleeding again. He will have to take 3 shots in the stomach everyday until the chemo is over, and I had to learn how to give these to him as well. I'll probably be a certified nurse by the time he is cured. He also had complications with the lumbar puncture procedure and had to go through that very painful process twice this week. We have been trying to get out and walk around the hospital as often as we can, but unfortunately he hasn't felt like it very much. He is also back down to his normal weight and looks almost like himself again. We are still hopeful that Brian will be discharged tomorrow and we will get to spend some time outside the hospital before the next round of chemo starts. I have taken most of the education classes the hospital offers so I will know what to expect and how to help treat and reduce some of the side effects he will have. Luckily we are staying in Houston and will only be a mile away from the hospital if we have any problems or questions. Brian will also have to have follow up appointments every 2-3 days through the first few rounds. Overall, Brian is doing as well as can be expected and he is remaining positive and optimistic. We are remembering to laugh everyday and for some reason I seem to be good at making sure he has something to laugh at.

Praises:
Round 1 of chemo is complete!!
Swelling from the chemo has reduced.
Brian hopefully will be released from the hospital tomorrow.

Prayer Requests:
The chemo will work and his cancer will be cured.
Side effects are minimal and are able to be controlled with medications.
Brian will continue to feel better and we will be able to continue a somewhat normal life in Houston.

Thank You!!!

I just wanted to take the time to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone that has called, emailed, visited, commented on the blog, etc. All of your thoughts and prayers are so powerful and it is overwhelming to see how much everyone cares and is so supportive of Brian and I during this time. I probably won't be able to respond to everyone's calls and emails, but please know that everyones words are very comforting and makes us realize how great God is to give us such a wonderful support group of family and friends.

I also wanted to send a special thank you to our church hometeam who surprised us before we left with a "hat party". It was completely unexpected and Brian and I were both overcome with emotions as everyone came in and gave Brian a hat and their favorite encouraging bible verse to remember. Only the best hometeam in the world would do something like that!! We brought all the hats with us and hope to be wearing them around Houston soon.

We miss everyone and hope to be back in Dallas soon.
THANK YOU!!!!!!

The chemo has begun...

These past few days have been hard. We received the test results back from earlier this week confirming that Brian's Lymphoma is at stage 4. He has been on chemo since Wednesday and the side effects are starting to hit and he has been completely exhausted. He is sleeping as much as he can and watching football when he is awake. His body is very swollen and he weighs close to 30 lbs more than he did when he was admitted on Monday. They are starting to cut back on his IVs so hopefully that will help reduce some of the swelling and water retention. His blood count still isn't back to normal yet, so they gave him a pint of blood yesterday and another one today. He is trying to get up and walk around the hospital when he can, but he has been in quite a bit of pain and can only walk for short distances.

From the timetable we were given today, it looks like Brian should be done with his first round of chemo and getting out of the hospital next Wed or Thurs. I have taken 2 classes at the hospital to learn how to take care of the central iv lines in his arm that will be there throughout the chemo. We have found an apartment about a mile from the hospital that has 30-day leases for hospital patients that we will be living in until we can go back home. Hopefully this will feel more like home than a hotel room so we can try to resume some normalcy outside the hospital. We know that these next few months are going to be extremely difficult, but we also know that God is watching after us and doesn't give us more than we can handle. Even if we have to endure this journey for another 6 months, that is only a fraction of time in our long life together.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!! We are so grateful for today and for all the friends and family we have supporting us through this difficult time in our lives, we couldn't make it through this without all of you.

Today has been a good day. Brian, Brian's dad, my dad, and I were all able to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner around the hospital bed. Brian had the typical Thanksgiving quesadillas, and we had some form of turkey and dressing from the hospital cafeteria. Brian also started chemo last night!! We are so thankful that we was able to get started on this so that we wouldn't have to wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday. The chemo side effects haven't hit him yet, so we were still able to get up and walk around the hospital for a little while to try to get his blood circulating through his legs. In addition to the chemo, they have been giving him some steroids that have brought back his appetite. He was able to eat the quesadillas and a piece of cake today without throwing up. This may sound minor, but when he hasn't been able to eat for a week, this is a huge accomplishment. He started to have a few minor side effects tonight affecting his smell and taste, and I'm sure they will be magnified tomorrow. Hopefully the pain meds and nausea meds will help with this so that he isn't in too much pain or discomfort. We are cherishing all the time we are getting to spend together, even when it is in this situation.

Praises:
Brian has started chemo and is on his way to recovery!!
Brian has been able to eat today without getting nauseous.
Our dads were able to be here with us for Thanksgiving and help out with everything.

Prayer requests:
Continued prayers for the chemo treatments, that Brian's body will accept them and he won't have too many harsh side effects.
Continued prayers for the doctors and nurses, that they will be given the training and knowledge to treat Brian's cancer in the best way possible.

The first few days at MD Anderson

We made it to Houston for Brian's appt at MD Anderson. His first appt was on Monday morning at 9 am, and for how large the hospital is, the process was actually really smooth. We had to register, and meet with several different people before we were taken back to the doctor, but once we met with him, he was able to outline what the treatment would be for Brian. He told us that he will be going through 2 different types of chemo, chemo A and chemo B. Chemo A will be given first and could most likely be given as an outpatient session, but they will keep him as an inpatient for at least the first treatment to see how his body reacts. It lasts for 5 days and then he will have a 2 week break where he will be released from the hospital, but will have to stay close to the hospital so he can come in every 2-3 days for blood work and tests. 21 days after the first round of chemo A started, Brian will be admitted to the hospital for a round of chemo B that will last for 3 days. He will always have to be put in the hospital for this round and it is supposed to be tougher on his body. He will alternate back and forth from chemo A and B for 6-8 months until hopefully he is clear of the lymphoma. He will continue to undergo tests along the way to see how he is progressing, but because he has such an aggressive form of cancer, the chemo is supposed to attack it and get rid of it quickly. Because the doctor wants to keep a close watch on Brian to see how he is progressing, we will be staying in Houston for at least 4-6 weeks until he has had time to do at least one round of each chemo type. Once they determine how he is progressing, there is a chance that we can return to Dallas to do the remainder of the chemo close to home.

The doctor went ahead and admitted Brian into the hospital on Monday so he could hopefully start chemo before the Thanksgiving break. Monday was an extremely long day between all the appointments, finding our way around the massive hospital, and trying to figure out what was to be expected for the next few days. Brian had already done most of the tests that were needed for a diagnosis in Dallas and had them shipped down here, but for some reason they couldn't be found and the hospital insisted that they be done again. Even though we were able to print out the tracking info and who signed for them, they were apparently lost somewhere in the hospital. Needless to say we weren't very happy about that. Because everything had to be done again, the chemo was going to be delayed for a few days. By this point, Brian had been on a straight liquid diet for a week because he hadn't been able to eat anything without getting extremely nauseous and throwing up. He was hoping that the chemo would help his stomach so that he would be able to eat again.

Tuesday and Wednesday Brian underwent 2 MRIs, a CT scan, a bone marrow biopsy, another PET scan, another endoscopy, and had a central line inserted in his arm so he wouldn't have to always be stuck with an IV. Of course after he had everything done, the hospital found his first test results that were sent from Dallas and said that the PET scan and endoscopy wasn't necessary after all!!! Needless to say, we weren't happy about this again, but at least the good news was that the endoscopy was able to determine that his stomach wasn't still bleeding. The nurses have told us that the first week is typically the hardest for the patients since the doctors are still trying to determine what the treatment will be and review all the test results. Hopefully the next few months will be smoother once we know what to expect and finish the majority of tests. We have been so lucky to have both my dad and Brian's dad down here with us to help out with everything so that we haven't had to worry about anything except taking care of ourselves. They have been a tremendous blessing to us and this past week would have been so much more difficult without them here.

Recap of the past week

As most of you know by now, my husband, Brian, was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma on Nov 12th. These last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind of emotions, dr appts, tests, traveling, and everything else you can imagine. I will try to recap everything quickly so everyone is up to date so far and then I will try to add to this blog everyday or whenever I have time.

Friday, Nov 9: Brian had been complaining of stomach pain for the past 3 weeks at this point, he had gone to a CareNow facility one weekend and was prescribed some medication, but it had not helped. After he returned home from a business trip, he went to a specialist who thought he probably had ulcers. They scheduled a endoscopy on Friday (Nov 9) to make sure that it was only ulcers and not anything more serious. Seemed like a simple procedure, so neither of us were really concerned. When he awoke out of surgery they brought me in and told us that they found 8-10 very large polyps in his stomach that had lacerated and he had lost half of his blood. They went ahead and admitted him into the hospital so they could get his blood count back up, they ended up giving him 2 pints of blood on Friday and another 2 on Saturday. The drs also took some tissue from the polyps to do a biopsy, but still didn't think it was anything to be concerned about. We stayed in the hospital through the weekend while Brian underwent some more tests to try to determine if there were any other polyps. On Monday night, a dr came in to give us the biopsy results, the cells had tested positive as Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He had cancer... The dr continued to say that this was the most treatable cancer and is even curable, but it still doesn't get the word cancer out of your head. Our world had been turned upside down, we tried to stay strong, but still broke down and cried. Plus, after the dr told us, he released us to go home!! I don't know how we got home safely with the tears that were rolling down my face, it seemed like every song that came on the radio made me cry even more. We were given some booklets on lymphoma that we tried to read and educate ourselves on how our life would change.

Week of Nov 12: The following week Brian had doctor's appointments and more tests everyday. We began telling our family and friends although it still hadn't sunk in yet for us. We were numb and too busy with everything else to really think about it. We prayed about Brian's treatment and felt like it would be best to try to get accepted into MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. We knew the cancer Brian has is a very aggressive, fast acting cancer, and was already at the advanced stages. After a lot of prayer, phone calls, and paperwork, we finally recieved the news on Friday that Brian had been accepted into MD Anderson and had his first appt on Monday morning. We were so relieved that Brian would be in the hands of some of the best drs in the country that specialize in his specific cancer.