Caring Bridge - December 2019

Caring Bridge Journal Entry by Darby — December 26, 2019

We had an appointment with Michael’s oncologist today. Basically just a follow up to see how the first infusion went.

How did the first infusion go? Well it made us hopeful. The infusion itself was set it up with just a few problems of finding a vein. Michael has always had shy veins. If they have issues they will do a port, but thankfully they found a vein. The infusion itself was only 30 minutes. Knowing how long some chemo treatments last, I say 30 minutes isn’t bad at all.

That evening, after the infusion, Michael had pain. It was fairly significant. As he has said, “It felt like a fight for middle-earth.” For those of you that aren’t nerds that is a Lord of the Rings reference. He has pain pills so took one and that helped some, but it was a rough night. The next day was the first time he has been able to sit for longer than an hour. It was a momentous improvement. Evening came with pain again. Along with the pain, swelling has come throughout his mid-section and legs. Fevers are still coming and going. I do think they have come down more often. He has had a consistent low grade fever and now I think he dips to normal temperature for longer periods of time.

Besides the infusions Michael is also on a chemo based pill that he takes twice a day. So far the swelling and pain have come from the infusions since he didn’t start the chemo pill until several days after the infusion.
My concerns:

• Swelling

• Smell sensitivity - a smell sets off his cough, which then turns into him throwing up

• Fevers

Really those are my 3 major concerns. Compared to what that was even a week ago, honestly I am grateful for the progress.

Improvements I have seen:

• Coughing is still here, but frequency has decreased.

• Better color

• Joking around more so better mood

• Sitting up more often now

• Moving around a bit better, but still low energy

• We went to our favorite place, Board Fox Games to maintain our yearly tradition of playing games there the last Sunday before Christmas. We weren’t able to stay long, but did get in one short game.

• Played a video game which he hasn’t been able to do for about 3 months

Overall his mood has been elevated and good. Of course the pain brings it down, but the improvements have given us hope. We are confident that with each infusion we will continue to see advancements in his healing.