Doctors appointment Tuesdays...

On Wednesday...oops!

This week just hasn't been the best one for me- nothing specific just feeling very, very stressed. Yesterday I literally rushed from every single event during the day to the next one without feeling like I was really doing a good job at anything; when I'm stretched this thin it's hard for me to be a good wife/friend/caregiver/employee because I am overwhelmed with all of my obligations. But I digress, this post isn't about me throwing a pity part but instead I want to update everyone with Rion's progress.

First of all the good news: WE ARE HALFWAY DONE WITH RADIATION AND THE INITIAL CHEMO REGIMENT!!! Rion had his 16th radiation treatment yesterday and only 14 to go. April 2nd is his last day of chemo/radiation so we are on the homeward stretch now. The side effects are still very, very minimal- he has lost some more hair and continues to have fatigue some days but over all he is doing so much better than we expected. Here's a picture of his head to show how much hair he has lost:

Many people have suggested that we shave his head completely so we asked the doctor about it yesterday and he recommended that we wait- the reason being is that Rion has to wear a very tight, form fitting mask while he receives radiation and the mask may not fight right if he shaves his head. It may seen like a very minuscule size difference- 1/2 shaved vs shaved head- but the radiation machine calibration is VERY sensitive and the last thing we want is for Rion to receive radiation to the wrong part of his head. So we've decided we'll have an official head shaving ceremony on April 2nd to symbolize the completion of this phase of treatment. At first Rion was pretty insecure about the hair loss but I think we've both just put on blinders and quit noticing the stares that we get when we're out. He tries to wear a hat but it causes a lot of irritation and itching so normally it's better if he just goes bare headed : )

There really isn't too much else to report from our appointments yesterday. The medical oncologist did routine blood work and all of Rion's levels are right where they need to be. We don't go back for blood work again until 3/27/2012. We have received our 2nd shipment of chemo and have all of the medications that we need to finish out the schedule. Oh, I just remembered something! If you're around us for any period of time you'll notice that our cell phone alarms seem to go off constantly; that's because we've found the best way to remember for Rion to take his medications is to set an alarm. His cell phone alarm goes off at 8:30 AM (regular AM meds,) 10:00 AM (chemo,) and 12:30 PM (anti-nausea meds) and then my alarm goes off at 8:30 PM (regular PM meds) when I'm usually with Rion. It makes it so much easier and I'm not constantly asking/reminding Rion about his medicine. It would have been nice if someone had suggested this to us from the get go instead of it taking us a month to figure it out. But either way...if you have a lot of medicine to take, set alarms so you don't forget!

We didn't cover anything else with the radiation oncologist except for asking about the hair cut. Both Rion and I found it funny that the doctor seemed to expect us to argue with him when he suggested we don't shave Rion's whole head yet. I guess he must get a lot of patients that ask for advice/permission and then argue when they don't get the answer they want. Well not us! Rion is always complimented for being such a good patient but to us it's just common sense- these people are doctors for a reason and as long as what they are telling us makes sense we don't question it and just do as we're told. Just a funny little thought I thought I'd share with everyone.

So that's it for now. Still plugging along and taking each day as it comes. It helps that we have established a pretty normal routine so life is fairly smooth & predictable these days (save for days like yesterday.) As much as I hate Rion having cancer, I love how happy we are with each other and our lives in general and how we have been able to finally find peace and acceptance with the diagnosis. We look forward to the next MRI in April and hopefully not seeing any new growth around the resection cavity where Morton was evicted!

God Bless,

Emily