This weekend has been pretty good for a chemo weekend.
Of course the bar has been set pretty low after the first two treatments, but it seems as though the newest medicine has kept the worst of the chemo after-effects away. There have been waves of nausea, but he's been able to sleep nights, feels good enough to get dressed and has nibbled on the usual suspects (eggs, milk, that sort of thing).
The biggest change has been that John has the ability to drink fluids. Finally!
(Not that he's feeling up to much other than lying quietly and waiting for time to pass.)
If one has to suffer through the nasties, it helps if they get one closer to the long-range goal. And the R-B combination is knocking the lymphoma silly. His CT showed a reduction from 6.5 to 3.5 cm. Very good news indeed and real progress.
Remission was a long-shot possibility after two rounds of R-B. Four rounds are the norm, with some folks needing six. At least we're on the way with three behind us now.
He's also thankful that Nurse Tara was able to get the I.V.'s each day started with just one try. His veins are showing the side effects of chemo (probably the RCVP) and becoming hard to get into. Now we know why so many cancer patients have a semi-permanent access point! Of course many folks are on a regimen spaced closer than John's three or four week schedule.
Other good news is that the shot to spur the bone marrow into producing more white blood cells is not only working, but also he doesn't get any side effects from it.
A business trip is still on the schedule as long as his white count is normal. Feeling needed and grabbing a bit of Real Life is apparently important. He might pay for it since he'll be mixing chemo and jet lag next time, but I figure he can just pretend he's still in another time zone while he's waiting out the after-effects.
Of course the bar has been set pretty low after the first two treatments, but it seems as though the newest medicine has kept the worst of the chemo after-effects away. There have been waves of nausea, but he's been able to sleep nights, feels good enough to get dressed and has nibbled on the usual suspects (eggs, milk, that sort of thing).
The biggest change has been that John has the ability to drink fluids. Finally!
(Not that he's feeling up to much other than lying quietly and waiting for time to pass.)
If one has to suffer through the nasties, it helps if they get one closer to the long-range goal. And the R-B combination is knocking the lymphoma silly. His CT showed a reduction from 6.5 to 3.5 cm. Very good news indeed and real progress.
Remission was a long-shot possibility after two rounds of R-B. Four rounds are the norm, with some folks needing six. At least we're on the way with three behind us now.
He's also thankful that Nurse Tara was able to get the I.V.'s each day started with just one try. His veins are showing the side effects of chemo (probably the RCVP) and becoming hard to get into. Now we know why so many cancer patients have a semi-permanent access point! Of course many folks are on a regimen spaced closer than John's three or four week schedule.
Other good news is that the shot to spur the bone marrow into producing more white blood cells is not only working, but also he doesn't get any side effects from it.
A business trip is still on the schedule as long as his white count is normal. Feeling needed and grabbing a bit of Real Life is apparently important. He might pay for it since he'll be mixing chemo and jet lag next time, but I figure he can just pretend he's still in another time zone while he's waiting out the after-effects.
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