Author: Karen

Friday (6/27) Steve completed his first round of Chemo.  He was so happy to have the visiting nurse remove the IV and he was excited to take a nice long shower.  Something he can’t do while hooked up to Chemo. He is doing well.  Just very tired.  Having the surgery in the same week as starting chemo, was very hard.  He’s sore from ‘babying’ his right side (where the port was put in) and hopes that the next round he’ll be more comfortable with the IV in. As for side effects from Chemo, they were very minor.  He didn’t get nauseous (thankfully!), he was very tired, his taste buds were off a bit, and he didn’t seem to have much of an appetite (which we…

Steve is doing great.  He’s just tired.  But he feels fine. The side effects from Chemo can come on at anytime but he’s doing really well so that helps.  He had trouble sleeping last night because one of the meds is a steroid – the nurse warned us about it. Steve is also having some back problems which is completely unrelated to the cancer, thankfully.  So his back was also very sore.  After he finally listened to me and took the pain pills they gave him at 2am, he was able to fall asleep and slept through till 10am! Who knew I actually knew what I was talking about! He’s tired still and has napped a few times but in general, he still feels great. …

Today was Steve’s first day of chemo and it went well. We are getting chemo at the Infusion center at Kent Hospital and I have to say we really like them there.  Plus it’s nice and close to the house which is a huge plus. The doctor told us we’d be there for a couple of hours but when we arrived they told us that wasn’t true, we’d actually be there for about 5-6 hours.  Steve wasn’t very happy at first but it is what it is and nothing we can do about it.  Eventually we’ll be down to about 3 hours.  So perhaps that’s what he was thinking about. Since Steve had the port placed just 2 days ago, the area is still very…

We saw our 2nd opinion doctor today who is the best in RI and came HIGHLY recommended by many.  He agreed with our current Oncologist and thinks this chemo regimen is really the best way to start.  And then see what happens in 2-3 months when they do the first scan.  At that point he said if it isn’t working, we should think about something else.  He’d be more than happy to talk with us then but sees no reason to do anything else right now. Knowing he feels the same way makes us even more confident that this is the best thing for Steve.  And we really like our current Oncologist so we’ll be staying with him.  However, our 2nd opinion doctor also said…

Steve had the port placed today.  It went well with no problems.  He’s sore and groggy and is actually taking the pain meds. Step 1 – DONE.