Round 3, Going, Going, Gone!

Today is the last of this chemo cycle for Joe at the Duke Cancer Center.  He texted me at 8:25a.m. this morning that he was done with his lab work and was in the food court getting his breakfast.  We have our fingers crossed that this chemo infusion goes off without a hitch.  His neutrofile count was only 1.9 for last week's labs and the magic number for not being able to get the infusion is 1.5.  Here's hoping he doesn't get a message once he is up in chemo that his numbers didn't drop much.  There have been other occassions where his round 2 counts have been low and rebounded for round 3, but then there have been others where they have dropped.  He's never had to skip an infusion due to low counts, but we've known since this chemo regiment began that it is a likely possibility at some point.  Just hope today isn't that point.  It's been a good week coming off the PGUMC Maundy Thursday Cantata, "The Shadow of the Cross" and the special Easter Sunday music.  He's still getting very positive feedback from Sunday.  Monday was my day off so we went out for lunch and did a couple of errands.  That night we went to Playmakers Theatre at UNC to see a staged reading of Dustin Lance Black's play, "8".  We had seen the LA staged reading on YouTube with an All Star Cast.  We were hoping that Brad Pitt & George Clooney might fly in to repeat their roles, but alas.......  All in all a relaxing day.  His cousin Steve from Asheville came to see us on Tuesday night so Joe and Steve spent the day yesterday exploring downtown Durham and Hillsborough (while I trudged along at work I might add).  Specifically they went to Ayr Mount in Hillsborough.  An estate dating back to 1815.  Both of them were quite impressed.  Here's a photo from Joe's phone, but let me warn you, his phone takes crappy photos.

But they had a great time and that is all that matters.  Steve left last night around dinner time to head back.  Me?  The spring allergies have finally caught up with me.  I usually start the minute the first pollen starts floating around, but I've managed to keep it at bay until the last couple of days.  And they have come on with a vengence!  I was asleep on the sofa around 7:30 last night and managed to wake up long enough around 8:30 to drag myself up to bed.  I'm throwing every allergy medication possibly at it.  Today, I sit at work with water running down my cheeks from my itchy eyes, my trash basket is filling up quickly with disgarded/used tissues and thus far my record for continuous sneezing is 7 in a row.  The phrase "Calgon, take me away" comes to mind.  How long will I last, who knows. 

9:20am and Joe is in his chemo infusion room so his blood counts must have been ok.  That is a big relief.  Now if they will just get him hooked up so he can be out before 10:30am and all will be right with the world, except for my sneezing!

The situation with Joe's family has yet to be resolved.  Joe isn't ready yet to open the lines of communication.  His pain runs too deep right now and it is all too fresh in his mind.  We have talked about him writing to them one day soon but for right now it is status quo with regard to them.

Thank you for all your continued prayers and support.  We are touched each time someone offers a prayerful thought or reaches out to us either online, by phone or in person.  We are surrounded by a lot of love and feel it each and every day.  Thank you.