Joe Is Repetitive

Joe had his weekly doctor's appointment this morning and got to see Leigh Howard after her 2 weeks off.  I know that Dr. Zafar was probably the happiest person at Duke today.  2 weeks of handling all his own appointments has probably worn him completely out.  We didn't even catch a glimpse of him today so we aren't sure if he even showed up (I'm sure he did...not the type to skip out on his job).   But today went smooth as silk.  We arrived at 6:55am, scanned in at the Kiosk, I went and got coffee & Joe his diet lemonade and by the time I got back he had already been back for his lab work.  By 7:55 we were back in an exam room and about 8:05, the nurse, Mark, was in and a few minutes later, Leigh came in, talked with us, asked the questions, did the exam and sent us on our way.  At 8:30am we were walking out and taking the elevator up to chemo where I parted ways with Joe and came on back to work.  He was called to go back for his infusion at 9:20am and was out of there in just a little over an hour later.  All in all a pretty good day.  But why you ask, did I name this post "Joe is repetitive"?  Take a look at today's photo of Joe in the exam room.

Now scroll down to last Monday's post about his CT Scan results and look at the photo.  Notice anything?  Yep, exact same clothes and Chic-fil-A cup.  Come on Joe, don't be so repetitive.....think outside the box....maybe wear a green shirt....or blue shorts....or different shoes....or oh I don't know, cross your legs the other way....anything!  

A big thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts that continue to come Joe's way.  We both are very grateful.

Quick Chemo Cycle 3 Round 1 Update

Today was the the first round of Joe's 3rd cycle of chemo at Duke.  Since Joe's brother Bill is visiting from Vegas, he had the privilege of accompanying Joe today.  It was a good thing too since Joe's appointment was later today, 9a.m. and he didn't finish chemo until about 12:45pm.   That would have put me out of the office for a long time today!  Bill got to meet Joe's oncologist, Dr. Zafar, and the doctor got Bill's Seal of Approval.  The report today was a good one.  Dr. Zafar was pleased with last week's CT scan results which showed the tumor has shrunk some and he was also pleased, as was I when I saw them, with the results of todays blood tests.  His white blood cell count was down to 5.9 and his bilirubin count was at .6 (I don't think it's ever been that low before...especially impressive since last Tuesday it was at 1.7)  Regardless he got a good report today and the chemo went off without any issue..i.e. they got a good vein quickly without having to stick him more than once.  The down side to me not going is no photos :(
Oh well, there will be a next time.  Next week would be his 2nd time of Cycle 3 but since we are doing the beach trip, he gets to skip it!  That has been one of the best things about our oncology team, they have bent over backwards to work with our schedule and allowed us to maintain as much of a normal life as possible.   A big shout out to Dr. Zafar, Leigh Howard & Minoka Hicks (even though Minoka is now working with a different doc - we miss her!!!)

Thank you to everyone for their continued prayers and good thoughts.  They seem to be working!