Playing catch up
After being accidentally M.I.A. for two weeks, we wanted to give a retroactive update on what we’ve been up to. It somehow feels like we only just shared a post and also like it was an eternity ago. This cancer rollercoaster has a way of playing with your sense of time like that.
Today marks 83 days since the first diagnosis of leukemia.
In the last two weeks we’ve received the amazing news that our donor cleared, triggering some additional testing that needed to be done close to transplant, and Nick had a surgery to swap his PICC line (a two-line IV used for drawing blood and administering meds that runs from the heart down and out of the arm around the bicep) for a trifusion (more or less a three-line version that runs from his heart and comes out of his chest). This is the line they’ll be using to give Nick the donor stem cells for the transplant. With the tight timeline we are extremely thankful everyone (multiple teams and groups at different facilities) was able to rearrange schedules and quickly coordinate multiple appointments with the radiation oncology team to get Nick fitted for what is essentially a custom-crafted cocoon to support his body during the radiation treatments.
A peek inside the full body radiation room – full of custom body pads – at Texas Oncology.
We also unexpectedly lost our dog, Zeus, one week from today. After a seizure out of nowhere last Thursday evening, we found out within a couple of hours of taking him to the emergency vet it was caused by cancer.
Zeus enjoying some of his many toys.
Since then, we’ve been in sort of a daze; a blur of a week made up of complete disbelief, grief, hope and thankfulness for the positives that are in our lives, tail ended with three consecutive full days of combination radiation and clinic appointments where Nick was given a bunch of fluids to complement and help fight the effects of radiation, and culminating with our being admitted to the hospital today, immediately after our sixth and final full body radiation treatment.
It’s from our 6th floor room – estimated to be our home for the next 2-4 weeks – at 3 a.m. this morning that I write all of this. We are excited. We are nervous. We are many other things that maybe we don’t even quite know. But we do know we are ready – for today and for whatever comes next.
