First Day of Chemo

Today was Mark's first day of chemo. Thankfully it is literally painless at this point. A nurse slowly pushes a syringe full of red liquid into Mark's PICC line. Apparently any side effects will start in a few days once all his cell counts drop.

The real story of the day is headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Mark woke me up at 8:00 this morning needing me to grab the trashcan because he had to vomit. He continued to feel nauseous for several hours. The nurses are now giving him a rotation of nausea medicines ever three hours in an effort to stop the nausea before it starts. They are also working with his pain medications in an effort to ease the headaches without causing too much more nausea. Unfortunately, since he felt sick for the last couple of days, Mark did not eat anything today. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow and eat at least a little bit.

The other thing that happened today is Mark started having a "smokiness"in his right eye. His eyes reacted normally, but he saw the smokiness. The oncologist called for an opthamologist to see what might be causing the problem. The opthamologist said it looks like a small hemorrhage caused by his low platelets. The oncologist decided to give Mark platelets to increase them so the hemorrhage should correct itself without any damage to the eye. They are also starting cough medicine regularly to control his cough in order to decrease the chances of causing similar problems.

Our friends Ken and Abby came into town to see us. Ken stayed with Mark today, while Abby and I went to my house. We started a load of laundry to have clean clothes. Then while the laundry continued, Abby washed my dishes and cared for my plants, while I cared for the cat and sorted through the mail (which took a while). Then we both worked at basic clean up stuff like putting away clean clothes, vacuuming, and taking out trash. It is great to know that when I do make my way home, the house is in good shape and I don't have to worry too much about it now. I do have to do a deep clean before Mark gets home, but that will come later.

It was great to get out for a little while, and I managed it because I knew Ken would keep me updated, which he did. A great big thanks to both of them for everything they did today to care for and serve Mark and me.

Prayer requests:
1. Mark's headaches, nausea, and vomiting disappear.
2. Mark begins eating at least a little.
3. Mark gets energy to walk around the unit some in an effort to avoid muscle atrophy and additional pneumonia issues.
4. If Mark must have side effects, keep them minimal and easy to manage.
5. Strength and continued positive attitude to get through this part of the treatment.

With a grateful heart,
Amanda