Dakota has completed his third round of treatments. His breathing check went really well and his lungs and heart look good so far. He also gained 2 lbs in the last month so that is good news. This round has went really well as far as sickness goes. He was given a pill last time to help him process his food faster and to prevent his food from sitting in his stomach and another pill to knock him out. They also gave him another nausea pill so he now has three different pills for nausea. We are starting to look like a pharmacy. He takes a blood thinner every day along with his multi-vitamin. The blood thinner is taken to prevent blood clots near his port area. They also ask that you take Tylenol and Benadryl during your treatment as well. Our job is to make sure that Dakota takes all of the medicine. He doesn’t even like to take aspirin. We aren’t the type of people to take medicine unless we are feeling pretty rotten. We have to adjust to this new way of thinking and make sure that he takes everything or he could be very sick. His everyday routine isn’t too bad as he only has to take his blood thinner, multi-vitamin and nausea pill if needed. During treatment days he takes Tylenol, Benadryl, multi-vitamin, two nausea pills, pill to help digest food, and the pill to knock him out.
Here is a picture of some of Dakota's pills and his handy dandy barf bag that we take in the car. The chemo lab gave this to us. Much easier to carry around instead of the small trash can that we had been bringing. Luckily we haven't had to use either one of them but nice to have.
We see the doctor once a month and he was very happy with Dakota’s progress and he will take six treatments and then about mid-November he will have another PET scan to see how he is progressing. We were under the impression that if the PET scan went well that he would be finished with treatment. We found out this week that he will continue until January, so six months of treatment…UGH! I was so hoping that we would be finished by Thanksgiving. He will have 12 treatments in all.
I did learn anther good lesson this week. Dakota did go out last Friday. He came home early and I asked him why he was back so quickly. He said, “I felt like everyone was staring at me.” I remember seeing a woman at a football game and staring at her and my thoughts went like this:
1. I wonder what kind of cancer she has
2. I wonder if she’s going to be ok
3. I wonder if her family is ok
4. Why is she all covered up in 90+ weather
5. How can she stand to be out when she probably feels bad
What I should have done was ask her all of those questions or at least some of those and stopped staring at her. I did find out from our dealings with chemo that you have to stay out of the sun during treatment because it makes you very sun sensitive. I also learned that you can’t expect a cancer patient to sit in their house all the time. Dakota spends pretty much every day sitting at home and trying to get stronger. We make every effort to make sure that he can get out on weekends between treatments. I think people dealing with cancer would appreciate it if I acknowledged them and talked to them instead of staring. I know that I am so afraid to say the wrong thing or be inconsiderate but I think talking to that person instead of staring is a much better option. Lesson learned for me! I'm sure it won't be my last. Seems like every week I learn something new.
Had a good time with my sister and her family last Saturday and Sunday and took a few pictures. I love hanging out with them and we always have a good time. Our family is the glue that holds us together. Unfortunately we don't get to see David's family much since the majority of them live in California but they are all behind us 100% and are always here for us. Family is a great thing and we are fortunate to have encouraging and loving relatives.
Here are some pictures from last week when I sent David off with the camera to his brothers house. This is David's brother Darrin and his sister Dayna.
Darrin, his wife - Christy, Dayna, Francesco, and Darrin's son - Myles
This is from last Sunday. My nephew Austin playing with the kids
My neice Gracie and my nephew Raylan
My nephew's wife Holly and my sister Danita
Gracie & Raylan
My nephew Ben
My best friend/sister Danita
Dakota and my nephew Rhett
My neice Amanda
Danita and her husband Larry with Raylan. You can always tell the ones that love my camera, see the grimace. LOL!
My nephew Cameron
The day wouldn't be complete without sword fights
I also took some pictures from the Third Day concert. My favorite new song is from Trevor Morgan and it’s called Jesus Rides the Subway. He played this song with Third Day and I absolutely loved it! I posted the link on Facebook if you would like to listen to his song. I was going to post those pictures but I guess you can only post so many pictures on here. I had a great picture of the band and of Dakota chowing down on a turkey leg. Anyway...a good time was had by all and we made it home at 2 a.m. on Monday. Good times!
Romans 5:3-5
3. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hears with his love.
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