Establishing HOPE

To quote the world’s best boss, “OH MY GOD! OKAY, IT’S HAPPENING!!”

Huge praise – no setbacks!! Dad was SET UP for his second round of chemo today!!! Earlier this week, we were a bit anxious that we might not make it since Dad was experiencing some bloating and abdominal pain, and we were concerned we would have to make another trip back to the ER. But, Dad was able to power through the discomfort, and we stayed out of the ER! (For those keeping track, this brings our streak of days without an ER visit to 5! Dad’s longest record is 25,653 days.)

The consult with Dr. K went well, and they scheduled follow-up appointments through the end of March so Dad can keep to the recommended two-week chemo regimen. We are so happy and relieved Dad is finally an established patient at HOPE!!

The outpatient chemo treatment requires a four-hour infusion at the clinic. Today’s treatment was dialed down a little since Dad has slight jaundice. There was a period when Dad felt warm so treatment was paused for a few minutes in case it was an allergic reaction. His vitals were normal, so treatment continued. Now Dad gets to take a pump full of drugs (Dad calls it “my little friend”) home for 46 hours to complete the chemo cycle.

Praises:

• Even though Dad was yet not an established patient, a nurse from HOPE still returned Mom’s call yesterday about what to do about Dad’s abdominal pain.
• Chemo chairs have a massage feature.
• The amazing snack cart SETUP was not just for the patient, and they had Skinny Pop!
• The chemo pump can’t get wet so Dad can’t shower for the next two days. This is more of a praise specific to Dad but maybe not for the rest of us…

Prayers:

• Dad is experiencing nausea, loss of appetite, and a bloated abdomen. This is a common chemo side effect and a result of cancer but please pray that the nausea is manageable so that he can tolerate food, even if it is in small amounts.
• We still have a lot of learning to do from how to use the pump to symptom management; Mom has been getting overwhelmed with the firehose of care information. Please pray that we remain patient and gracious with each other as we figure out what works and what doesn’t, and try to commit all the new instructions to memory quickly.
• Dad experienced a little neuropathy while washing his hands. It takes a while for the water to warm up, so we are trying to figure out how to provide warm water to wash his hands especially when he gets up during the night. [Art aside: our current solution is one we used for Jannae when she was 4-5 years old and couldn’t turn on the faucet – we are filling a bucket with water and leaving it in the sink.]