Might that be light at the end of the tunnel?

My lack of updates since last Wednesday doesn't mean that nothing is happening. It really means that there isn't much new to report and writing about it seemed a bit boring. I did have to wait until last Friday afternoon before that pesky fever went away. The oncologist told us that sometimes just having blood in the tissue after surgery can cause a fever. Since no one else in the house got sick, I figure that it was somehow related to the port procedure. Feeling lousy was inconvenient, but it's over and done with.

Last Friday was my long awaited appointment with the oncologist. The day was already draining, what with still being feverish and all. It had been raining hard all day, too. The appointment was set for 1:30; we didn't see the doctor until almost 3. But, we did leave the office with a treatment plan and a schedule.....sort of. The problem was that I needed to have one more procedure done. for this doctor, and I had to wait until Monday to set that up with the nurse. In the meantime, the family took a quick trip up to Ryan's for the weekend. It seemed like a great time to leave town, get away and have some family fun.

Monday dawned bright and early, and I made my call to the nurse at 9 A.M. She called me back at 1:30! After answering all the questions I had, she told me that the next step was to get my consent forms signed. Since those had to be done in person, and the doctor was to be out of the office on Tuesday (thus meaning Wednesday was the earliest I could get the last procedure scheduled), I volunteered to make the trek back to the doctor's office. We got all of the "stuff" taken care of, got my procedure scheduled and set the chemo start date for Monday, the 20th at 10:45.

I actually have a date to start chemo! Who would think that something so trivial would be so exciting? I am sure as Monday gets closer, there will be less thrilling thoughts and more nervous ones in my head, but for right now, I am just happy to be able to have a date. It has been getting very stale to have to keep telling everyone "next week" for a start time. But, I was just passing along the information I was receiving. God has been working on everyone's patience throughout this process. And this will not be a short process, to be sure, so there will be plenty of time to learn patience and other virtues. As it stands now, I will be having weekly treatments for 24 weeks, with big chemo days happening every three weeks and lesser treatments the other weeks. After those 6 months are up, I am scheduled to have surgery, followed by 6-8 weeks of radiation. There will be additional chemo after radiation, but it will be just one drug administered every 3 weeks, for the remainer of a year. Phew! Does this sound like a lot to anyone else but me? I have decided that, just like everything else, the best way to tackle this schedule will be one week at a time (reminds me of that old song, "One day at a time, sweet Jesus...").

So, it seems as though there is light at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel on the road to starting treatment. The rest of this week will be spent taking care of more details around the house....Quicken, laundry, shopping for a cranial hair prosthesis (code name for wig), maybe some income tax prep....all sorts of fun. Things that are mine to do need to get done while I am feeling well. Who knows what next week will bring?

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth"~Psalm 121: 1, 2

posted by Kim @ 6:46 AM