All Y'all,
First of all, I want to thank everyone for your continued support, well wishes, and prayers. They mean so much to me and I cherish each email and comment on FB. Please understand that I may not be able to respond to each one, but I read them all and tuck them safely away in that special corner of my heart (and email folder) where I can take them out and read them over and over again.
I just got back from Houston and my first chemo treatment. It went fine and I feel fine! I'm a little tired from the whirlwind of the last 2 days and not sleeping well last night (more on that in a minute). But I give that glory to God! He is soooooooooooo BIG! Anyway, if you don't want to read the boring details, skip the next couple of paragraphs.
We got there yesterday about 30 minutes prior to my appointment so we grabbed some lunch in the cafeteria. After I waited about 15 minutes in the waiting room, they told me I had to go get lab work done. So I did that. Then I waited another hour before they called me back. I am in the Bed Therapy unit. It's pretty nice! I get my own room with a hospital bed that is as comfortable as you can find. There is a recliner for whoever is with me that keeps them comfortable! And it has a TV and I get room service for lunch and dinner! I guess I get a bed instead of just a chair because my treatment lasts so long.
The regime is that I get a 2 hour bag of hydration (saline and electrolytes) along with 30 minutes of anti nausea drugs, and then the first chemo drug, Docetaxel (the generic for Taxotere). They do those at the same time. Then I get a 2 hour drug of Cisplatin which is very hard on my kidneys. After that, I have 2 more hours of hydration. Needless to say I had a hole run in the floor between my room and the bathroom. I had a waiter come to my room and brought me a menu for dinner. Mostly sandwiches, salads and some entrees. It was good food though. Anyway, we got out of there about 8:30 and got to the hotel room around 9:00. I didn't sleep very good, as I said, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the frequent bathroom trips! But I also would wake up and think "Am I sick? Do I feel bad?" And I'd wait a second to see how I felt. Then "Nope! Not sick, feel fine. Thank you Lord!" and I'd go back to sleep. I'm such a dork sometimes.
Today was another day of appointments. The speech pathologist says that the radiation could (and probably will) cause scaring in my throat, making it difficult to swallow, so I will have to do swallowing exercises every day through out my radiation and for 6 months thereafter. She said the swallowing would increase blood flow to the area and cause the scaring to be minimized. She said I could develop swallowing problems even 5 or 10 years from now so the swallowing exercises will be with me for the rest of my life probably. BUT, I think God can handle that so I will do the exercises like she tells me, but I'm believing that God will make sure I have no scaring. She also said I would have hearing damage from the chemo and the radiation so I have to have a baseline hearing test the next time I go for chemo. Again, I'm trusting God to put his mighty hands over my ears and protect me. He can do that. :-) She was amazed at how well I was doing and feeling, and my upbeat attitude. I told her that was God. I also told the little dental hygienist I saw that I knew I had a bad kind of cancer and the radiation effects could be bad, but I also know I have an even bigger God! She agreed.
All in all, the trip was fine. I feel fine tonight, just tired. As soon as I send this, I'm headed to bed. Thank you again for your prayers. THEY'RE WORKING!!! God is apparently hearing every single one and answering them!
I see a lot of sickness when I go to MD Anderson. Everyone there either has cancer, has had cancer, or is directly related in some way to someone with cancer. Their struggles humble me. I see hope on some faces, and anger on others. I pray for them both. I understand the anger of those that don't know God, and I understand that even people that know the Lord can get angry, but I hope I am never one of those people. I am so blessed that He has always shown me love and mercy.
I met a young father in one of the waiting rooms I was in. He was sitting with his 4 month old daughter on his lap, playing with her and loving on her, but obviously worried. Mrs. Daughetee (Vivian's mom went with me this time, God love her!) started talking to him and found out that they were there for their 3 1/2 year old son who has brain cancer behind one eye. They've done 2 brains surgeries to remove the tumor, but it keeps coming back. I am guessing the wife was with the son in the treatment room. He said they had a 5 year old that stayed back home with his grandparents (they live north of Dallas). As I watched this young father, it just hit me again, how much worse this could be! I am so blessed!!! I can't imagine having a child with cancer. Please pray for this young family and this small child if you can. Every time I go to MDA I hear stories. Sometimes it's stories of hope and praise, other trips it's stories like this one. Both kinds of stories humble me more than you can imagine. I am so blessed.
I am participating in a 5 year radiation study that will study the effects of radiation, what therapies made it easier, and how it effected me emotionally. They gave me a big long questionnaire to complete on how I was feeling now, before the radiation started. Kinda of a baseline. I will get the same one over the course of 5 years to assess how the radiation effected me, what worked and what didn't, and what was it that either kept my attitude good or bad. It will be interesting to see how I feel 6 months from now or a year from now. It was a longggg questionnaire and had only multiple choice questions, which did not set well with me, as you can imagine. I like to write!!! One of the questions asked how many people I had in my life that I could count on to listen to me, support me, or be there at the drop of a hat for me if I needed them. I thought about that for about 2 seconds and wrote "greater than 100." And then I put a note in the margin that said "I am so blessed to have so many people in my life that love and support me that I can't even count them all." You, all of you, are the "greater than 100." I thank God for you each and every day and ask Him to bless you with His love, and to protect you.
Thank you for the honor of being someone special to you and someone you care enough about to want to be on a long, rambling, email alias. ;-)
I love you all!
Vaughn
