A very long day for Mark. We left Laguna and headed to Anaheim at 7 am for his daily radiation treatment, and once done, moved from the "radiation bunker" to the hospital for his second big Chemo day. Very similar process as before, but it took a bit longer this time. Meghan
and I took turns keeping him company during treatment, trading out each hour since only one person can be with him during the procedure. Today, our nurse's name was.....wait for it......Dimple. I couldn't have made that up if I tried. She was just what we needed; her personality matched her name, and helped the hours fly by. The giant IV bags continued to flow, and we finally got to bag 5 out of 6, which is the intense chemo one. That one takes 2 hours, and is the one that really takes its toll on Mark. Luckily, he slept a lot during the day, and had a good appetite for lunch. (Thankfully, he is still eating orally !! This is huge, as most similar patients by now are starting to get all or the most of their daily nourishment thru the feeding tube.) Also, this was the first week that he didn't lose any more weight; so there is a lot to be thankful for today. We finally got back home at 6:30 tonight.
Right now he has some dizziness, and is pretty wiped out. But no nausea yet (we have drugs for that when it hits), and hopefully the side effects will be manageable in the coming days. They have warned us again that Days 3-4 after Chemo are usually the worst. Tomorrow we will be on the road again at 7 am for his daily radiation. Thursday he will have another hearing test after radiation, to make sure no significant hearing loss is occurring. (An unfortunate possible side effect.) His next chemo day is December 27th.
Last night when I brought the mail in, he got the most cards and letters from Team Mark of any day yet. Thank you so much for continuing to come through for him !! Your love, kindness and support will never be forgotten. I thought I would include one of my favorite photos of Mark, which was taken on our trip to Turtle Bay on the North Shore in October. (Seems like a year ago...) We had taken a long hike around the bay, and as you can tell, pretty much had the coast to ourselves. Mark wanted to take a break, and while he was deep in thought, I snapped this pic. It was the perfect trip for us to clear our heads for what was ahead; and for him to gather his strength for the battle he is now waging....and I know he will win.
Love, Perry