Round 1 of this Chemo Cycle is in the Books!

Today Joe had his first chemo treatment of this cycle. Although he was running a few minutes late for his labs (7:20am appointment and he got there around 7:25am) he more than made up the time. By 8am he had already had his lab work done and gone to the food court for his breakfast. However, rather than his usual Subway English muffin and Chick-fil-A, he opted for the muffin and a drink from Subway alone. No more Chick-fil-a. No more money spent at that particular business. The reason, in case you haven't seen, heard or read, their very public opposition to equal rights for gay persons. See Chick-fil-a President Dan Cathy's comments here.

Anyway, although the morning diet was different, he made it to the doctors office prior to his 8:20am appointment time. By 8:40am, he was done with his visit with Leigh Howard, and on his way up to chemo. However, his chemo appointment wasn't until 10:30am, BUT he was in a chair waiting for his infusion by 9am. Not bad! Running 1 1/2 hours early. By 10:20am, he was done with his infusion, out of the Duke Cancer Center and on his way to the car. Now that is the beginning of a good day! But let me back up to his appointment. Since we were on vacation last week, coupled with the move to our new office, my week thus far at work has been slammed so I couldn't accompany him to his appointment. Therefore, it was another "Facetime" appointment. As soon as Leigh came in, Joe rang me up and I was able to ask questions and see/speak with Leigh and Joe. His lab work this week was all good. White & red blood cell counts good and neutrophil count was at 4100. Good numbers to start this chemo cycle. And Joe even got his favorite chemo nurse today, Brenda. All in all a good day of chemo.

With his early "release", he was able to get home and spend some time with Dolly, meet Mike for lunch at Chili's, meet Jill at Tutti Fruiti and then a trip to Sam's before coming home and baking cookies this evening. Aimee and Sara are coming up tomorrow morning so we'll get to spend a little time with them. Sara has a softball tournament in Cary this weekend so it is a perfect opportunity to get to see them. The cookies are being baked under the guise that they are for them, however, we have already consumed half tonight. Joe asked me to mention while speaking of baking the cookies, that everyone needs to know how wonderful parchment paper is. He say's he wishes he had known about parchment paper 45 years ago. Yes ladies and gents, he has been baking since he was 10 or 11. And his mother was surprised he was gay???? Go figure. His biggest disappointment in his childhood was that he never got an "Easy-Bake Oven" for Christmas or his birthday.

As an FYI, I've purchased a number of purple "Fight Pancreatic Cancer" rubber bracelets/wrist bands (purple is the pancreatic cancer color). If anyone is interested in one, let me know. I would love to see our friends wearing them in support. The proceeds of my purchase go to pancan.org, a pancreatic cancer research and support organization.

We thank everyone who continues to express their support to us and say prayers for Joe. Regardless of everything that we are dealing with, we feel so blessed by the people around us who help us remain positive. We thank each and every one of you.