Chemo Grad

Stephen is an official Chemo Grad. He successfully completed his last round of chemo yesterday and we celebrated BIG. Well as big as one can celebrate during Covid-19 social distancing.  In fact, he may have stood closer than 6 feet from his kids in honor of the big day.

before celebration dinner : Steve, Annie, & Stephanie

Since I wasn't allowed to go in the CARTI building with him, I greeted him with a surprise when he walked out of the building after his infusion. I even presented him with a chemo diploma :-)

We expect him to be exhausted this weekend but are thrilled to be past this milestone.

His surgery will be May 13 so keep him in your prayers. 

And happy Good Friday....Sunday is coming 

April 9 = Last Chemo Day!

Chemo Grad

• By the end of today Stephen will be a chemo grad!
• Surgery is scheduled for May 13, 2020

Covid-19

April 2, 2020

Stephen is at CARTI alone today. In order to better protect their patients, they are allowing patients only at this time.  He has not wanted me to sit with him during his infusions (they are long& boring, and he wanted me to be at our office). However, I have always gone in with him. Each time, I met his nurse for the day and stayed with him until he got settled in for the infusion. So it felt strange to just drop him off today. A little like dropping your child off at the front door of school after being able to walk him/her into the classroom and say "hi" to the teacher. It got me thinking about all the parents who are having to leave their children alone at hospitals around the country. THAT has got to be tough! At least Steve and I have been able to text several times already today.

We went into treatment a couple months ago with a bit of anxiety about the cancer and chemo. In recent weeks, our concern has shifted to Covid-19. Not only does the chemo have Stephen's immune system weakened, but he also has asthma which he treats daily with preventative medication. He has been very concerned that if he gets exposed to the virus, he will be one of "those patients" that doctors push lower on the waiting list for treatment because "why treat a weakened patient when you have a better chance of saving a person without underlying health complications".

That being said, he had a similar conversation with his oncologist, Dr. Patel, today before going in for the chemo infusion. Below is Steve's reply when I texted to see how that conversation went with Dr. Patel:

So....when today is done, Steve will be 5/6 of the way through chemo; next Thursday is scheduled to be his last infusion. I have already warned him that I will be taking celebratory photos on that day. 

Please keep him in your prayers!

😘

Marking Our Calendar

March 24, 2020

Stephen had an appointment with his surgeon, Dr. Heulitt, this morning before work. Last month Dr. Heulitt performed a cystoscopy where he looked at the inside of Steve's bladder and took some biopsies. They discussed those biopsies today.

GOOD NEWS!

When they met this morning Dr. Heulitt said none of the biopsies showed any cancer cells....further supporting visual observations and CT scans which suggested the cancer had not spread beyond the original tumor. While no test offers a 100% guaranteed, this is certainly GOOD NEWS!

The Surgery

Most likely the robot-assisted surgery will be scheduled for mid April. It is inpatient surgery which will require at least a one day stay in the hospital after surgery. Frankly, I am glad he will have to stay.  His first "procedure" (not technically "surgery" because they went through the urethra) where the urologist (not Dr. Heulitt) removed most of the tumor was out patient --- let me tell you, that was a tough couple of days! I kept saying "they should never send someone straight home right after this!" The surgery will be performed at Baptist Hospital in North Little Rock.

This week is Steve's "Off Week", no chemo and no booster shot. The Off Week gives his body time to recoup between chemo sessions. We are praying he is strong enough to stay on the chemo as scheduled. If he does, Round #3 will start next week. Also, please pray that he stays healthy while his immune system is compromised.  <3

Social Distancing & Catching Some Zzzzz's

Round #2

Today marks the start of Steve's "Off Week" for Round #2. Last Thursday he received chemo treatment #4 (of 6) and Friday he got his "Booster Shot". He has been extremely fatigued since Saturday afternoon.

Saturday, late morning, we took a couple hour drive around central Arkansas. He felt like getting out but obviously didn't want to go any where that could expose him to germs. Sunday afternoon he TOOK A NAP.  In the 7 years we have been hanging out, I have never known him to take a nap...literally not once. In fact he tells me he has tried to nap before but couldn't. Obviously, this is a true case of "Opposites Attract" because I can sleep anywhere, anytime! After his nap we watched several episodes of Law & Order SVU so I was basically in heaven.

We are both at work today. Our office is very low key; actually our entire building is. We share our floor with another small law firm and the owner of that firm is OCD about keeping things very clean and germ-free. He was that way even before Covid-19...now he's like that on steroids. Because of the Corona Virus, neither firm on the floor is seeing clients face-to-face. Only 4 of us are showing up to work regularly and we pretty much bath in Germ-X as we get off the elevator.

The bright side of all of this, at least for our family, is that Steve's hardest weeks of chemo (Rounds 2 & 3) are hitting right as social distancing in Arkansas is hitting its stride. For Stephen, the timing couldn't be better.

Please keep him in your prayers.

Flashback Friday

Threading the needle.  Over and over and over again....

Chemo Day 1

Steve's first chemo infusion was Thursday, February 20, 2020. When we arrived at the chemo infusion room, we were greeted by Steve's super cute nurse, who was even more pregnant than she was cute.  Literally late in her 3rd trimester she was called in to fill in for a nurse who couldn't be there that day. Poor girl could hardly move herself and her baby around let alone successfully accomplish some of her more taxing nurse duties.  She tried 3 times to insert Steve's IV before handing him over to the "chemo floor IV expert". That sweet girl had no luck either. So after 5 tries, they sent him down to the radiation room where the girl in the above photo did it on her first try.

Below is the photo I took of Stephen on our way home from Chemo Day One.

Chemo Day 1 - leaving CARTI

Round One, Chemo #1 was successful - very few side effects

Steve & Me

2020 so far ...

INTRO...

When I first told my sister-in-law, Dorothy, that Stephen had been diagnosed with bladder cancer she asked if she could offer a few pieces of advice. She battled and beat breast cancer a few years ago and, since we were newbies, I quickly accepted. These are the two things she said that stick with me today (in my own words) :

1. People will offer unsolicited advice. Just roll with it...take what you want and forget the rest
2. Find your best way to let the people you want to know, know what you want them to know (phone calls, text groups, FB, etc)

With #2 in mind, here we are.

I'm really not a blogger so I plan to keep each post short and sweet.


Steve will have 3 rounds of chemo.  His rounds are scheduled like this :

Round 2 Week 2 is scheduled for 11:00 tomorrow at CARTI.
His chemo infusion sessions usually take about 4 to 5 hours.
What we are calling a "Booster Shot" is an injection that promotes the growth of bone marrow. This is intended to boost his immune system by putting more white blood cells in his body.

My observations so far:

1. The CARTI campus in Little Rock is A-MAZ-ING. The building is beautiful and welcoming
2. Every single person who works there must have gotten customer service training at Chik-fil-A 
3. Steve feels well but tires easily
4. If we have to endure a world-wide pandemic, now is the time.....chemo already has our home stocked like an infirmary and we had already started social distancing. Now we don't feel so left out :-)