Update into June.

Monday, May 24th, 2010 Carl had outpatient chemotherapy at Froedtert's Cancer Center.

Carl felt well after the chemo, and he went to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Dr. indicated that for many patients the full impact of the chemo doesn't occur until about 48 to 72 hours after the treatment. Well, this chemo had a "Thursday" impact. Carl came home from work on Thursday, May 27, 2010, laid down and fell asleep in his work clothes. He fell asleep from about 5:30 PM until later on Friday morning. I tried to encourage him to drink water at around 10:00 PM Thursday, or even change into PJ's, but he wasn't interested.

Friday, May 28, 2010, Carl felt good enough that he wanted to go to work, (he was at least well rested!), so he did. The children had a half day of school, so he probably wouldn't have had a restful afternoon, anyway. The weekend came, children went here and there (Tom to baseball, the other 3 to a Nerf game at the church, etc.)

On Saturday May 29, 2010, WE ALL SLEPT IN! (Yeah!) A quiet Saturday Morning! Carl was feeling well and he made a pancakes for brunch around noon. Saturday afternoon, Carl and Nathan, Miranda and I went to the Family Kite Festival held at the Milwaukee Lakefront Veterans Park. I rounded up some kites we've had for years, and we went and flew them. We ended Saturday with a dinner at Beni Hana's restaurant to celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary. (Tom and Anthony wanted to stay home, so we let them.)

Sunday May 30, 2010, we had a rare second day of sleeping in. The kite festival was so fun Saturday that we decided to go again on Sunday, this time with all of the children. The weather was windy and warm, perfect for kite flying. We had great weather this weekend! All of the children enjoyed the kite festival and milk shakes and a picnic at the lakefront. Sunday night two children went to sleepovers, and one child had a friend sleep over in a tent, etc. The mad desire of the children to start summer now before school is out was probably not the smartest thing we could have agreed to, but things fared well and the children had a good time. (I didn't get much sleep, though. A storm on Monday early in the AM woke me up worried about the kids in tents scattered across Mequon.)

Monday May 31, 2010, we had a Memorial Day cookout with relatives, and Tuesday rolled around.

Carl's chemotherapy sessions this round consist of Chemotherapy on Day 1, (May 24) and then chemotherapy on Day 8 (a week later). Because of the holiday, Carl went in for chemo on Day 9 June 1. So, on Tuesday June 1, 2010 we got the children off to school and headed to the Cancer center day hospital.

Carl had blood work done first, at the Cancer Center Lab, 2nd floor, somewhere before 9:00 AM. (We had them access Carl's port there, so that there wouldn't be a hour delay up in the day hospital). The blood work results are needed before you start chemotherapy, and the tests take a minimum of one hour. Once you check in at the Day Hospital reception desk, they wait for the blood results, wait for approval from the Docs of the blood results, and then begin the process of "pulling" your medicines from the pharmacy. This means that there is another wait, especially since some of the medicines have to be defrosted. You wait until the medicines are available, a nurse is available, and the room is available. Once you get the room and drugs, the chemo takes about 3 hours and we were out before 3:00 PM Tuesday afternoon.

Then we came home, and gathered the children and ran them around to all the places they needed to go. Piano, picnics, after school activities. It sounds busy but it sure beat Carl doing a week of inpatient chemo starting May 24, 2010.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010, Carl felt well and went to work. Then I took him to the Day hospital for a shot of Neulasta. Weekday Neulasta shots are different then weekend ones. On weekdays, you have to do the waiting routine for the pharmacy. The injection itself, (into the muscle) is really quick - the nurses don't even have to find a vein. Carl wants to do the shot himself next time, to save time. If only.

Thursday, June 3, 2010, Carl went in to work. He was getting quite tired Thursday night, so he agreed (reluctantly) to let me drive him to work on Friday.

Friday, June 4, 2010, I drove Carl to work, and later we had a nice lunch together. The chemotherapy drugs were affecting Carl's taste buds, but he ate with a good appetite (to shore up energy, he said.) He finished up his day at work, but when I picked him up Friday after work Carl was really beginning to flag. THANK GOODNESS the weekend is here. Carl went straight to bed, but within an hour he agreed to take a pain pill, and later he took some Motrin. One of the side effect of Neulasta is that is can make your bones ache. Carl said his bones ache, his fingers and toes and jaw aches. As far as I know, this is the first time the Neulasta shot had this kind of impact, but then again, it could also be the new chemo drugs he got on Tuesday. Oh well, every day is an adventure....

On another note, remember when we were joking that we weren't sure if the radiation machine was turned on for Carl's leg radiation? Well, the radiation continues to be active for weeks after radiation is over, and Carl now has quite the nasty looking rash, a side effect of radiation, along the path that the radiation beam took. It hurts him were his knee bends, so that is now something else to wonder about.

We are trying to say some "healing prayers" that various friends gave us. I think maybe I'll share some of them soon.