What A Crazy Week!

Well, we apologize that it has been so long since we have updated the blog, but there really hasn't been much happening other than waiting, until this week that is. On Monday, Brad had his first appointment with Dr. Fintel since our visit to Duke. The pathologists at Duke confirmed Brad's diagnosis of Follicular Lymphoma, which is good (a second opinion is always a good thing).

Brad's oldest brother Todd came home this past Sunday from Hawaii where he and his family live. Since he's home, Todd went with us to see Dr. Fintel and actually had his blood drawn while we were there to see whether he is a marrow match for Brad. Todd also really liked how down-to-earth Dr. Fintel is so it's good to see that even those who haven't met him before can easily see the connection Dr. Fintel makes with his patients.

While we were with Dr. Fintel, treatment plans were discussed and as mentioned in the last blog, Brad let him know that he wanted to move forward with the R-CHOP regimen. Dr. Fintel believes Brad will need 6-8 cycles of therapy, which will take place every 21 days beginning this coming Monday, February 22nd. Each 21 days when Brad goes to Blue Ridge Cancer Care, he will sit in the chemo chair for 7-7 1/2 hours and it is anticipated that he will feel pretty crummy the first several days of each cycle and then probably pretty exhausted after that.

In order to receive his chemo, Brad had two options - he could get it through an IV or through a chest port. Each option comes with some risks of either droplets of the chemo dripping onto the skin while trying to find a vein, which would burn and remove chunks of skin or through the port, the risk of it becoming infected. Brad chose the port option.

If you are unfamiliar with a chemo port, this is something that is inserted into the body while the patient is actively receiving treatment. Brad's is in his chest, which is one of the most common placements. Instead of the nursing staff having the need to search for veins during each appointment or procedure, injections, etc... are facilitated through the port. The pictures you see is what the actual port that was placed into Brad's chest looks like. The white spot on the top of the port is where injections are placed as a larger "target" for the staff to find. The port is connected through the white tube you see to the main artery leading to Brad's heart and is completely buried under the skin. Although it was kinda strange to ask for an unusable port to bring home, we thought this may be really helpful for Avery in understanding everything happening with Brad - it was so great the staff had one to give us!

Yesterday (Tuesday) Brad's port was installed. It was supposed to be a 3 hour procedure and we were told to arrive at 9am, although the instructions said to arrive 1/2 hour early. We didn't know that the 1/2 hour buffer was already built into the appointment time - oh well, at least we weren't late! The first few steps of getting checked in and looked over went quickly, until Brad was brought up to the room where he would get his IV and get prepped for surgery. We got into the room around 10am, where we were told Brad would be taken down shortly. Unfortunately, due to an emergency with another patient, Brad ended up having to wait for several hours (you can see from his pic that he was really happy about it). It was nearly 1:30 before Brad went into surgery and it broke my heart to see him being taken away. Although I know in my head these are the necessary steps to wellness, it doesn't always make everything feel better. Luckily, Todd and Brad's Mom were along for comic relief and then Dad came over while Brad was in surgery. I needed to stay with Brad for 24 hours due to the anesthesia that he received. We finally made it home around 4:45 last night.

Brad was in pretty rough shape after surgery, is extremely sore right now and really having a tough time. He has to sleep in a recliner because it's too painful for him to lay flat. He did remove his bandages tonight - yep, that's the pic at the top of the blog. Funny story, ok, not so funny story was that the staff performing his port placement thought he had received enough anesthesia when they made the first cut into his chest. That was until Brad said out of the blue, "ummm, I felt that." He said that the lights came on so quickly and he heard somebody say he needed more anesthesia. The next thing he heard them say was that he did really well during the surgery.

Brad was supposed to receive a MUGA scan today which tests his heart to make sure that it can handle the chemotherapy he will begin receiving next Monday (after all this, we sure hope it can!). When we got over to the hospital, we had unfortunately been misinformed about his appointment time and it's actually on Thursday, which means another trip to the hospital tomorrow. Oh well, we are getting used to it and it will only continue to become more a part of our regular routine.

I expect that now that things are really rolling, we will have many things to blog about, most of which I'm sure will focus on how Brad, Avery and I are doing, feeling, etc... Thanks for the continued messages of support and especially to both East Coast Metal Distributors and YMCA at Virginia Tech staff who continue to be such a source of comfort. Brad and I both are so fortunate to have such amazing employers, that even in a difficult economy, are finding ways to ease our mental struggles. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Much love,
Sandy