One Down, Eleven To Go

"Dad, the basement is flooding in the laundry area!" Not the words you want to hear as you are walking out to get some breakfast before cleaning up to take your wife to her first of twelve chemotherapy treatments. Yet those are the words that came from my sons mouth... and the day began!!!

It seems there was a clog in the line somewhere, so between calling our friends to get a plumber, moving things out of the way, and telling Sarah to not use any water downstairs ("Yes, that means you can't use the toilet!"), I vacuumed up the water that was slowly spreading. All that while thinking, "This is not how I pictured things going in my mind..." Praise the Lord we got to it early and, without more water being used down there, the flooding stopped. Once all the water was vacuumed up, our friends took over being sure the problem that caused it was addressed while I got upstairs to get ready to take Michelle.

Okay, let me give you the good news first... Michelle tolerated the Herceptin and Taxol very well and up to this point she has had no real side-effects to note. No allergic reactions, no nausea, no rashes, no headaches, nothing to be concerned with at all. All your prayers are being answered and we are convinced that is exactly why she has tolerated the treatment today so well. Getting to the point of knowing this was quite another story actually! We should have been home by about 1:30pm, having gotten there at 9:15am, but didn't make it until 5:20pm!!

The short of version (it is late and I AM tired!) of why we got home so late is that, first, accessing the port was very painful, partly due to the fact that she still hasn't healed fully. Once it was accessed, the Huber needle used was not long enough so it caused some discomfort when fluids started to flow through it. So, out that needle had to come, though before inserting the next one the nurse used some Lidocain to numb the area, making that a much more pleasant experience! All went well and the drugs started to flow. The second difficulty came following the completion of the second small IV of pre-meds they gave Michelle, that one containing Benadryl (50mg; to combat any allergic reactions) and Zofran (anti-nausea). Once done, they started the Herceptin and almost immediately Michelle started to get a lot of discomfort on the backside of her head right at the upper part of the neck and her limbs (arms and legs) became so "heavy" that it almost felt like she couldn't move. They stopped the Herceptin, which seemed to ease things a bit. Thinking it was the Benadryl, they waited a bit and then restarted the Herceptin... same result but somewhat worse. They stopped the Herceptin again and she started to have the shakes uncontrollably. They immediately started an IV of Saline and gave her some Adivan. That eventually settled things down and, after the IV completed, they decided to try the Herceptin one more time since they believed strongly it was the Benadryl that had caused the problems; they felt 50mg might have been just too much for Michelle. This time it went without a hitch, as did the Taxol right after the Herceptin completed.

So, as you can see, it was a bit of an eventful day. The best thing, apart from getting the first week of treatments behind us, is we learned some valuable lessons for next time that should make things go much more smoothly. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to get us through this day... looking back now, only the Lord could have got us through it all! Give Him thanks!!! Be assured, Michelle is resting comfortably and is doing just fine...

Oh, and the basement.... all fixed. Drain pipes all cleaned and a new ejector pump later, that is! Man, when it rains it pours. Can't really say it was a light Spring shower of a day, but it wasn't the deluge it could have been! Thank you, Lord Jesus... our good, gracious and great God! Be blessed; we love you! - Steve and Michelle -