First Chemo

Because we decided to move to Montana, and because the radiation didn't work as well as we expected or had thought after seeing the PET scan, Dr. Tucker decided to start chemo two weeks earlier than planned.  Before I go in to that, I need to clear up the confusion about the PET scan results.  Thanks to Fern for asking the right questions!!!  I did not explain the new MRI results with any discussion of the PET results that didn't show tumors.  Apparently PET scans don't always show what is really going on in the brain.  Because Wayne was having more balance issues as he tapered down on the steroid that was keeping his brain from swelling, the doctor ordered another MRI.  It showed that the tumors may have gone down just a bit, but the swelling was worse,  So he went back up to the higher dose of steroids and got going quickly on the chemo, which is now the only chance we have of shrinking both the brain and the lung tumors: because Wayne had whole brain radiation, he cannot have additional radiation to his brain because it would cause too much damage,

  

So after getting the port in on Thursday, Friday morning Wayne started chemo.  He was nervous and didn't sleep too well the night before.  I sure understand that; I didn't sleep too well either.  But the best part was that Donna and Arlen (Wayne's sister and brother-in-law) came over for it.  They sent a couple emails wondering if they should come at all and then sent another saying they had to come, both for us and for themselves, I am so glad they did.  They were there at the hospital waiting for us, and we all went back to the chemo room together.  I can't tell you how happy Wayne was to see them.  Having family around is a real blessing.

First they did his prechemo labs, and then started the nausea meds. They went in really fast, and then he had to wait half an hour to get the other two.  The newer one went first and was given "IV push" style, which only took ten minutes. Then the carboplantin, which took 45 minutes.  We were out of there in just over two hours and Wayne felt great.  They sent him home with compazene for nausea, and he didn't have to take one until late afternoon.  The chemo didn't affect his appetite.  He had a pretty good sized breakfast right afterward--all of his large breakfast and some of mine.  Then he was ready to rest.

We headed back to the motel, got Donna and Arlen a room and Donna and I went to the store to buy ingredients for galbi, pa jeon, and wasabi napa cabbage salad. (This is a Korean barbecue that everyone I have ever fed it to has loved.)  When I decided to try making this dinner in the minuscule kitchen I have here all I really considered was that I could fry it rather than barbecuing it.  However, I didn't consider the work that goes into it and the fact that I have no counter space or anything to cut veggies on.  Still, I did make it work.  Donna was helping me do various things, and we were talking about cooking in tight quarters, so I told her the story of our second Thanksgiving in Korea.

First, Korean apartments don't come with ovens.  You get a two burner gas stove and that's it.  Most westerners buy toaster ovens and we were no exception.  We had to work on Thursday of course, but that Saturday I made dinner.  Our friend, Kelly, who was working in Seoul, went to a foreign market there and got us an 11 pound turkey.  On Friday night she carried that thing all the way down to Daejeon on the bus along with all the things she needed to the weekend. We thawed it in the sink with cold running water and in the morning I made stuffing,  ( I took all my spices with me to Korea because I knew from the previous time that there were a lot I would not be able to buy there.)  Then I borrowed toaster ovens and set up a second table.  I cut that turkey into five pieces, put some stuffing with each one and wrapped them all up in tin foil.  Then I put them in the toaster ovens.  Here at home you can probably set a toaster over for up to an hour or more, but all the ones I borrowed had to be reset every fifteen minutes and mine only made it thirty minutes.  I called it the Dance of the Toaster Ovens.  At any rate, I managed to cook the whole turkey and make the entire dinner, pumpkin pie included, and then we had about ten people in our little 500 square feet apartment eating it.  It was a blast, but it taught me that we can do a lot with a little.

So making galbi in this kitchen wasn't nearly as hard as I may have thought although since our table is covered with groceries we took it all over to Donna and Arlen's room to eat.  Wayne seemed to really enjoy it as did Donna and Arlen.  I even got out the go goo jeong, that Korean red pepper paste, and Arlen really liked that.  Wayne made it through the night  without any significant nausea, and he is taking the compazene on schedule in order to stay ahead of it.  The nurse did tell us that the carboplantin has a nasty reputation for hitting hard on days two or three with nausea, but so far today he is doing okay.  He'll have one more round of this in three weeks and then another  CT and MRI to be sure this is the right chemo.  

Oh, and the financial worker at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center called while we were there, and told us that Wayne has finally been approved for Medicaid!  Yeah!  What  relief that is.  While we can get some of his meds from the VA, we have been paying for all the rest.  I think that we will be getting some money back from the pharmacy here.  He's been approved back to May first.  They are still working on mine, but I can't imagine that they wouldn't approve it.  What a relief.

Wayne still has a wonderfully positive attitude and has been joking about the things we'll be doing when we're ninety!  If anyone can get through this he can.  So keep those prayers and spiritual work coming.  We want him to win the war!

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