Hair today Gone tomorrow.

Today is Friday, just under a week until my 4th chemo treatment.  For the last couple treatments Tuesday seems to be my turn around day.  I manage to maintain a relatively normal life from Tuesday through Wednesday (chemo eve).  Unfortunately chemo changes things for not only me but my family as well.  For the last several years we went on vacation camping at CranHill Ranch.  The first year we went we happened to land on the triathalon week.  We kept going the same week each and every year since.  We planned to go again this year which would be this coming week, however having a chemo treatment in the middle of that week is not an option.  So we regretfully cancelled our vacation this summer.  

There are a host of things my particular flavor of chemo changes.  One of the side effects of the chemo is hair thinning.  I noticed this durinig my treatments 10 years ago and have notice more progression in the last couple of treatments.  Leah and I have had a few discussions about my hair past, present and future.  I feel my hat collection may come in handy in the future.

Overall I have been feeling and doing pretty well in my personal and work life.  The mode of life is to live as normal as possible from now through Wednesday.  That day shifts to mentally and physically preparing for Chemo and the days that follow.

~Kent

40 hours.

Today is Friday, the day after my chemo infusion.  Yesterday went as well as could and I recieved a lot of the aswers I asked in the NP appointment. First off since my colonoscopy is a recheck I was requested to bump this out aways.  If there is something in the Colon we are attcking it with chemo anyway and we'll see what we can see in the CT scan in which  there was nothing shown in the first CT  scan.  Since I've had 2 treatments and 2 UTI's the NP decidced it was best to put me on a low dose of the antibiotic that I had last been on to take the duratuion of my treatment schedule.  We'll take it through the next week and if no UTI's  show up we'll get refills of that med.  If however a UTI still shows up they will have me see a urologist to see if there are other meds which are "Safe" to take while on chemo meds.  

Another question I brought up with the NP is that I'm scheduled for 12 weeks of treatment.  I often have treatment along with my off week being a meeting with my Doc or with his NP.  They said this is normal and that a scan might happen in the middle but will be after a Doctor appointment.  They said the can move or cancel treatments as needed but this is my schedule.  As you all  are thinking of Holloween , however you do, I'll be reciving my "last" chemo treatment.  

While I'm feeling daunting about an additional 6 weeks in the Blue Pod.  I also get a pump to take home which delivers 5FU  (another chemo) from Thursday  to Saturday after all my other pre meds and chemo meds are complete.  Every med runs for a specific time. When in the pod another appropriate question for the med they have given me  to take home was ,"How long does this run?"  I asked my Chemo nurse, as  they were beginning to hook up my pump. The answer that she returned was "40 hours"!  The first thing that zipped through my head is that is a work week.  40 hours to me was again daunting.  

This meeting brought a lot of expected answers and some not so expected.  I'm anxious about the number of treatments and the amount of time on the pump.  Prayers are appreciated for my anxiety, also quicker energy bounceback, also that the Chemo is effective in shrinking the mass.

~Kent

6 of one, a Half dozen of the other

Tonight is Tuesday July 18.  The last post was last week Tuesday and the last week has overall been a really good week.  Saturday we celebrated Lydia's 19th birthday!  We had lunch with her after her cabin dismissal and meetings at Camp Geneva.  What followed was a great dinner, dessert, and presents for her.  Sunday we went to church and had lunch together with family and spent the early afternoon with Lydia before she needed to head back to camp.  We brought her back around 5:00 p.m. at which point I was tired.  By now you are asking how someone can be tired at 5 p.m.  This past week there was one occasion in particular I was reminded how chemo steals your energy.  In preparing for the party on Friday I made a couple trips down and up the stairs.  It was the second trip up I could not make it to the top without "resting".  This really worried Leah and I can understand why.  My body basically shut down, partly due to how much I had done earlier that day but also thinking I had "normal" energy.  

Tuesday and Wednesday begin the laborious process of mentally going through all the details of what Thursday looks like.  Even down to appointment times and who we see and what question we need answered before, during, or after my chemo treatment.  Wednesday evening we get the house set as someone cleans on Thursday.  Another activity that happens Wednesday is packing.  Most people pack for a vacation but every other week we pack for a day in the chemo pod.  Our packing is very calculated which icnlude blankets, food and drink, as well as phones and the computer and headphones for all the devices.  Then it's planning my clothes for 3 reason.  First its feels like 40 degrees in the rooms where the chemo pods are and secondly, I need to dress so the chemo tubing can go through a button up shirt  and lastly,  I dress in such a manner I can shed things to bring the scale down to a relatively normal weight.  That fact is mainly because chemo is normally based on your weight and since my belt, shoes, watch and the like don't get any chemo....

This Thursday will be my third chemo treatment.  Normally the process goes like a scan then 6 treatments then repeat the scan and decide if you can involve surgeons.  So this typically would be half way through my first round of treatments.  However when I looked online at the schedule, my chemo treatments continue all the way through the end of October.  That was a bit daunting to think about with no break other than every other week.  So get ready NP.  I've got questions and somebody has answers.  I have 20 - 30 minutes to lay out all my questions and get a set of satisfactory responses.

For the rest of this week and weekend I'd request prayer for the following.  Please pray for me as I get quite anxious as we get close to and into Thursday.  For another treatment with minimal side effects.  For answers on how to avoid another UTI.  Also for answers on all the other questions I have for the NP.  I imagine another post will be written toward the end of the week or early in the weekend.

~Kent

3 letters that came back.

Today is Tuesday, July 11, 2023,  4 days post Chemo.  Kent's strong nausea med that is given through IV has now worn off.  It has been a delicate balence between all of the medications he now takes orally to navigate the nausea.  He often wonders... is the nausea feeling, stomach pain, chemo unsettling my stomach, do I need food or nausea medication.  This is harder for him to navigate than you think.  Kent is a real trooper.  I try to help him understand what he needs but its not my stomach.

Today, he woke up and took his medication at roughly 6:30 am.  He had a little food and then fell back asleep until he needed to shower before his 8:30 meeting.  Now he has always worked at home so this is all doeable.  I bring him all his next set on medications roughly at 9 ish.  He walked back out to me today roughly at 10:30 am and said, "Today something doesn't feel right."  I said, "Can you explain it to me?"  He told me, "I'm warm, and I feel like I have another UTI!" I went to grab  the thermometer.  We took Kent's temp and it was 100.0.  Now the magic number to call his Doctor office is 100.4 however we made the decsion after consulting my mom to tell her what was going on, to go ahead and make the call.  Kent called, and about half hour later we hear back from them that we should come in.  My Mom was in Holland and she drove back to Hudsonville and then us to Lemmen Holton.  A true life saver, for a daughter who is scared to drive and a son in law who can't drive. He needed to get a blood test and Urine test once again.  Later we expected a call from a nurse.  The call came back at roughly 12:30 pm and did in fact confirm an UTI.   So now our minds question why did this 3 letter word come back? What is happening with his chemo regimine that we are 2 chemo cycles both ending with an UTI?  We are not sure of what is the cause.  He once again is on an antibiotic.  This time 3 times a day.  Why not one more medication to add to my memory to give to him! We are hoping that he will regain strength after being on the Antibiotic.

On July 20, which will be his next Chemo day,  we will also be meeting with Kent's NP that works alongside his main doctor.  He will first get labs that day, meet with the NP and then if the labs reflect good white blood counts he will again recieve his number 3 chemo treatment.  When we meet with the NP, we will have a ton of questions.  Both of us are very familar with this NP as it was Kents old Doctor's NP for a while and my NP for Hematology.  We truly trust her and will lean on her for answers to help us understand. 

So in the mean time what do you ask..... We ask for prayers for Kent's strength to come back.  For him to have normal days, for him to be able to just do daily tasks without being so tired.  

I just want to add a bit of a note on the bottom of this blog.  We could not do this without our Mom's.  They run to get scripts, they grab us food, they stop by with little gifts and they pray non stop! 

Another little note to add...We are so thankful to our daughter! She has been at Camp Geneva all summer.  She works endlessly to lead young girls to have a relationship with Jesus and have a blast at Geneva.  There are fun days and nights filled with games, skits and smores but most importantly I love hearing about each hug she gets at the end of the week.  She comes home on weekends and we love our hugs!  I will never complain about doing her laundry at the end of each week! She has been a true inspiration of strength for her Dad and I love that!  

This week Saturday is her
19th Birthday and we can not wait to celebrate her.  Happy Birthday dear, "Blue Eyes!"  (Papa Breen's nickname for her)  We Love You! 

-Leah

Less is More!

 Hello to all!

 It has not been that long since Kent last posted on the blog, but somehow one day and evening can bring a lot to pass along.

  Kent went in to Lemmon Holton on Wednesday, July 5 and had labs and we met with a nurse and nurse practitioner, due to the small infection that he found prior to getting chemo on Thursday.  The port is access to chemo. If you present chemo into something that all ready was fighting an infection it would  have been another set back for sure.  All that to say Wednesday we already knew that with great labs we were a go for chemo on Thursday!  Kent and I waited quite a while in the waiting room to be called back for chemo.  Wednesday, I could see he was struggling with sitting in a very crowded and loud waiting room with several conversations about cancer and chemo patients of all abilities. On Thursday we choose a spot more secluded near the schedulers and it seemed better for Kent.  Less is more.  

Thursday as we walked back with the nurse that always takes us back Kent was already getting ready to shed as much extras as he could so that when he got on the scale he would weigh less,  I got handed a belt, wallet, watch, sweatshirt, his shoes because less weight means less chemo and more quality of life when Kent gets home.  Less is more! 

Kent and I were placed in our blue chemo pod space.  He sat himself in his chair and got situated. I sat in my chair next to him and then grabbed his med he needed on board before chemo started.  Shortly after we were settled into our spot for the day our awesome nurse came by and said she needed to talk the doc and present what had happed in the last 3 weeks as he was just returning to the US after a couple of weeks.  They reviewed Kent's case and what the NP and Chemo nurse had decided in the absence of  him.  The Doctor decided with how rough things were for Kent that a reduction of 2 of his Chemo drugs would be good for Kent.  He also agreed Less is More.  Let's fight this cancer but give Kent more quality in between treatments,  Less is definitely more.  

I will give a little knowledge on  how this process works as I have had a few questions on what Kent goes though each Thursday he gets chemo.  Kent gets greeted each chemo day by the nurse.  They review what the plan is for that day. It may be less review if he has met with a Doc or NP prior.  They first give him saline and a pre meds which includes roughly 3 medications. Emend, Aloxi, and Dex. These are all some sort of Anti nausea and steroid.  Then they start Avastin which helps block cell growth.  The next step is the Irinotecan, this med is the 1st chemo med that Kent receives. Then Kent is gifted with a pump he wears home with another chemo called 5 FU.  This chemo is administered from Thursday until Saturday Morning when they remove the pump and he then receives a shot at removal time to help boost his Neutrophil count.  Kent and I are always glad our care team knows so much because for us, their care for us and knowing us more is less worry for us.  

Today is Friday..... Last night and today so far has been a huge difference from the last chemo round.  Kent made it home Thursday and he had a great evening which included a small nap, food, and even made the trip into bed vs. sleeping on the couch.  Today he woke up and has had a wonderful morning. He got himself ready with some assistance due to low energy.  His appetite has been good and he is doing very well with a nap and a little Tv and he may even try to watch a training for work.  All things we are so thankful for as 2 weeks ago would not have been possible.  We are thankful for less side effects which has granted Kent More! We could not be more thrilled! 

In my final thoughts I want to reverse my thoughts from my title...... More is less.  We can not say thank you enough.  The more you keep praying the less we worry for a Miracle we keep praying for!  We are so thankful for more prayer warriors. The more you keep praying, I pray the less cancer we find! 

So thank you for the over abundant prayers! We love you all and are thankful for you and our God of Miracles! 

~Leah 

"Prepare for the worst"

There is very little on the physical side to report at this point since last week.  For the most part I've had a very good week with a great appetite and able to continue / finish some of my projects.  Last night I noticed a little spot of infection at the incision site of my port.  I got junk out of that spot and put neosporin on it overnight.  Today it looked much better, yet Leah called the oncology office to report what had happened.  We earned a visit out of it since they wanted to see it and apperently had no way of receiving a photo.  I went in for 2 reasons. First a blood draw to look for a possible infection and second to see a nurse and NP to look at the port incision where the infection had been.  My labs came back a little less shiny than you see your reflection in a mirrior but still shiny enough to say my numbers were all in the normal range.  It's  like saying if your gas tank is at 1/4 full that you're in normal range.  So tomorrow we take our bags like we're staying overnight because we're camping out in the chemo pod for the majority of the day.   

While talking with the NP she said,"Plan for the worst", therefore I was instructed to get one of my anti nausea meds on board prior to treatment tomorrow.  They will pre hydrate tomorrow and will give me emend which is the 48 - 72 hour anti nausea med.  I will stay on one of the two anti nause meds I have at home through Sunday at which that point I can take both of them I have at home.  If this works as expected I will stay ahead of nausea and I will try to stay hydrated. The only thing left for me is the mental part that goes with treatment.  I am currently scheduled for hydration on Monday.  If I get to Sunday/Monday and I feel good enough to keep hydrated on my own I have the option to cancel that appointment.  Obviously prayers are appreciated for calm mind and minimal side effects for this treatment cycle and that the best decisions can be made medically through the course of this and each treatment.

The past treatment was VERY rough on my body and yet through the middle of the roughest feeling I saw Jesus.  By now I've likely piqued your interest.  Leah has been one of the best at taking care of me.  Whether sitting with me no matter how crummy I felt, or just plain being my cheerleader when doing something she though I might never be able to do.  She has been amazing by thinking and being ten steps ahead of me both mentally and physically at most times.  She cared for me as I imagine Jesus would for each and everyone of his followers.  Thank you Leah for showing Jesus both inside and outside the home!

~Kent