2nd Round of Chemo Done

My Dad had his second round of chemo on Thursday, the 3oth of June. Mom and I took him in and got him all cozy in his recliner with his blanket, laptop, and his new iphone. Once he was settled, we first needed to find out how much chemo they were going to treat dad with; in order to figure that, they needed to look at his lab results to see if his bilirubin levels had gone down. His bilirubin levels went from a 5 to a 1.5. This was great news and enabled him to get a little more chemo then last time. The doctors gave my dad 100% of the Ribuxim (which is the main chemo to fight the type of lymphoma dad has) and 75% of the other 2 chemo's and 50% of the last chemo. Dad's lab work also showed that his white blood cell count was back within the normal ranges. That's why they decided to do the chemo every three weeks so that in between, those white blood cells would rebuild to keep him alive.

Mom and I spent those 6 hours that dad was being treated sitting in the waiting room, running to get dad lunch, checking back in with him, running errands, and spending quality time together. It was good to have time together and we got to laugh and give mom a good breather. My mom and dad said I need to put this: "Momma and Daddin love their baby girl and loved having her there that day."

The doctors told us that dad was in the 15% of chemo patients that respond well to chemo. These last three weeks have been good and my dad was only sick the first night and the 3rd day. After this round of chemo, dad has been doing great. The only side effects he has faced is fatigue and a little sass (hehe); we just laugh about it. Yesterday my dad had his injection of white blood cells. Tomorrow is day 3 after chemo, so we'll see how he does. They say day three is the worst, but we'll see how he does this time.

We are so grateful to all of you that have been praying, sending encouraging notes, texts, emails, facebook messages, etc. We are also grateful to those of you who have been helping out by bringing meals. Its a huge help, when we are busy with doctors appointments, phone calls, and enjoying time spent together. Thank you to HDC also for continuing the take-a-meal program for us. We are also grateful to HDC for flying us out to be with my dad and mom during this time. HDC and STN worked hard together to get us out here fast, and they did! We are so grateful! We know that God is in control and take every day as it comes. Thank you for your prayers. We sure feel them!