Round 1...

I know lots of you have been looking for an update about what yesterday was like regarding Brad's first chemo session. In a nutshell, it was a really long day. Although it was anticipated that Brad would be in the chair for about 7 1/2 hours, he was actually in it for almost 8 1/2 hours. I know, you say, what's an hour difference? LITERALLY, Brad was the second person in a chair for the day, got to see her leave as well as all others after her - yep, he closed down the joint.

I felt pretty emotionally strong going into the day, just nervous and although Brad has been telling everybody else that he wasn't nervous, I know the truth :) Unfortunately, my strength weakened as I watched Brad get prepped for his first injection. His nurse, Linda Hardin was AMAZING (that's her in the pic above)! Dr. Fintel, if you're reading along - she deserves a raise. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Although I cried like a baby watching her get things ready, trying to hold it all in just made things worse. Eventually I just had to leave to let somebody else come and visit. Linda was so sweet - she snuck over to the hallway that I was exiting from and without saying a word just hugged me in the hallway for at least a minute. I sobbed uncontrollably - mind you, this was a woman I had only met 45 minutes prior and she became an instant best friend. She reassured me that Brad was on his way to recovery.

Brad initially received steroids and benadryl for a while and then switched over to the Rituxan antibody for a while. The Rituxan seems to be a pretty cool drug - it attaches itself directly to the bad cells in Brad's body and attacks them directly while not bothering the good cells in his body. Unfortunately, the chemotherapy cannot differentiate between the good and bad cells and just wipes everything out - thus, the extreme side effects. After the Rituxan, came a plethora of other drugs and chemotherapy, including one that is more commonly referred to as the "Red Devil" because of how dangerous it can be if it makes contact with the skin. Brad had to return to the cancer center today to receive a drug that will help his white blood cell count rise.

Last night was a long night. Although extremely exhausted, Brad was unable to sleep for any quality period of time and was very nauseous throughout most of the night. He kept a bucket nearby and thankfully didn't need to use it, but came close on several occasions. We spent most of the night tossing, turning and unfortunately, awake. The steroid Brad is taking gives him lots of energy, which works against the chemo he received. He will be taking the steroid for two more days and then we expect him to crash pretty hard into exhaustion. Brad has already lost his sense of taste in all drinks (except iced tea) and most of the food he ate throughout the day today. I foresee us needing to get an iced tea maker because of Brad's inability to quench his thirst - otherwise I think I may be in the kitchen making tea ALL the time! We're hoping that the tea continues to taste ok to him because he hasn't liked anything else, even coffee, which is normally one of his favorites.

Brad practically had a whole tailgating party at his first session. His Mom and Dad, twin brother Chad, oldest brother Todd and I were all there. He could only have two people in at a time, so we rotated throughout the day. At the end of the day when all other patients but one had left, all of us were able to go to the back to visit. That's all of us in the pic after Brad's long, long day was over.

You may notice that in Brad's pic, his shirt has been cut. Once everything was getting started, Brad realized his shirt was pulling on his port and it was kinda freaking him out. He asked me to cut his shirts to be more comfortable (which I of course, HATED doing, but lovingly obliged). Todd suggested that the shirt become Brad's "chemo shirt" and that each time he goes in for more chemo he wear it to his appointment and have whomever was there for the big day, sign and date it. It was a GREAT idea and we all loved it - you may see some of the signatures on his shirt, including Dr. Fintel and Nurse Hardin.

There are lots of other health scares going on with our family right now and I ask that you pray for Brad's Dad as he has several tests performed during the next two weeks. Our strength as a family is certainly being tested, but we will be ok. I also pray that the sleeping pills Brad will start taking tonight help him get a full, restful night of sleep (if he's one short for tonight I'll say in advance that I have no clue what happened to it!). Finally, we ask for prayers of strength for Avery. Yesterday he was such a strong little man, although very worried about his Dad. We took him out for breakfast before taking him to school to ease his mind and get one more moment of family time in since he went to spend the night with his mom last night. He got to see Brad for the first time today and was so visibly excited that we were home when he got off the school bus. Although Brad is tired, he made some time for Avery and they played a little game with mini football helmets together - great times for both!

A special thanks goes out to Jen for the delicious turkey, spinach lasagna that she prepared for us last night, to Mary and David who sent a beautiful handmade basket filled with Jolly Ranchers to help Brad get the yucky, metal taste out of his mouth and to our wonderful friends Chad and Cathy Kropff who delivered the wonderful gifts - thanks to each of you!

Love to all,

Sandy