Day One of Taxol Begins

Today the new chemo regimen begins. The technical name is Paclitaxel, but they just refer to it as Taxol (the brand name). The list of possible reactions is long but the most common are signs of infection/fever, chills, cough; low white blood cell counts; numbness and tingling in hands and feet; muscle or joint pain; nausea and vomiting; shortness of breath, flushing of face; hair thinning or hair loss; skin rash, itch; diarrhea; bruising, bleeding, red spots on skin. Sounds pleasant huh? But most every one of these were side effects from his last two regimens and his were minimal so at this point we can only hope for the best. Only a couple are new possibilities. The one major change, the fever limit is 100 degrees now. We will be doing more triage calls rather than emergency department visits, hopefully. There is a recurring theme here today: hope.

We are back in infusion now waiting for the pharmacy to send up his chemo. Good part, Joe's former Stedman Jr. High student, Jason, is his nurse today. Joe always gets a little extra attention when Jason is in charge. Right now he is getting his pre-fluids and relaxing in the lounge chair. Since this infusion is shorter, he got a choice of a chair or bed and chose the chair. That is my selfish choice too since I get a nice cushioned semi-recliner too.

This weekend was a very good one for Joe. He was able to do the Durham Public Schools All-County Chorus rehearsal on Friday and then the performance on Saturday as the accompanist as well as both church services at PGUMC on Sunday. Then last night. Our cousins Steve and Darr visited from Asheville and we went out to dinner and then to DPAC to see "Warhorse". I hope lots of people had the chance to see it as it was an incredible show. Emotional, extremely well acted and the mechanical/puppeteer horses were amazing. We were all awestruck by it. Truly a great way to end the weekend.

I dropped Joe off at 7 a.m. at the Duke Cancer Center for him to have his labs today and I went on to the office for an hour and a half. I was back here a little after 9 a.m. (his scheduled chemo time) but instead found him still waiting to see Dr. Zafar. So I got to join in for the doctors appointment too. Now we wait for his infusion, and see what if any reactions/side effects he has. Time will tell. Right now he is on the edge of a nap. Once they do get him going, I might try that myself.

It was a great weekend and we are looking forward to an equally great week. Take care folks and thank you for the caring and the support.

Main Durham News Feed: DPAC is Number One

Main Durham News Feed: DPAC is Number One: Again, Durham, NC comes out tops on a list, this time in the form of its internationally recognized performing arts center.  DPAC - Durham Performing Arts Center was ranked by the industry publication Pollstar as being the second busiest theater in the world in their 2012 Midyear ranking of Worldwide Ticket Sales Top 100 Theatre Venues.  That makes DPAC the busiest theater in the US, since the number one spot on the list is a theater in Mexico.  Durham's Carolina Theatre came in at 88th. DPAC also recently won a top ranking from the consumer travel website, TripAdvisor - the theater now bears the site's Certificate of Excellence.   This is a nice additional feather in Durham's cap.  Last week, Durham was ranked as the top market in the US for the creative class. Well known as an open and accepting haven for those in, and those interested in, the arts, Durham is home to more than a dozen theaters which are well supported by the community and those who visit.  Learn more about Durham as a great place to visit by visiting on the web.

CHeMo SidE SToRy

This morning was Joe's last chemo infusion for this cycle. He will now get a week off.(not much of a break, huh?). But we will take what we can get. He won't have any dealings with the doctors at Duke until the 20th when he has his next CT scan. But this time he has a regular doctors appointment the next day on the 21st so we won't have days of waiting and worrying about what the results will be. This time, less than 24 hours. I like that.

But what does chemo side story mean? I can hear the masses asking. Well that was Joe's idea since we are seeing "West Side Story" tonight at DPAC. Joe had it all worked out in his head. Dinner first at Cuban Revolution at ATC, then walk across the street for the show. Only problem, he forgot to make a reservation. DPAC show + Durham Bulls + restaurant week = no seating available. So next plan: leftovers at home followed by drive to DPAC. Maybe not as exciting as Cuban Revolution, but ALOT cheaper!

This is Joe Typing:
I really enjoyed seeing the professional tour of WEST SIDE STORY at DPAC. I was music director/pianist for the Fayetteville Youth Theatre production of it back in the early 80's, saw a dinner theatre production of it, and saw the North Carolina Theatre perform it a couple of times, but this was the first time seeing it like it was done on Broadway. This has always been one of my favorite musicals. I used to show the movie to my Stedman Junior High School general music students yearly so I have probably seen it over 100 times! I never tire of listening to Leonard Bernstein's music. Still totall exciting after over 50 years. The choreography was absolutely wonderful. I was wondering how it would be with Spanish dialogue inserted with the English, but this worked well and gave it a new authenticity. This tour was based on the production recently directed by the playwright, Arthur Laurents who also did the Streisand movie, The Way We Were and The Turning Point, two of my favorites! Jeff is not as big as a fan of it like I am, but I'm glad he agreed to go with me. He did enjoy the dancing and Maria's voice. The worst part was the 30 minutes it took to get out of the parking deck because of the Bulls baseball game being over at the same time. There was a lot of cussing going on with the drivers (but not Jeff)! --end of Joe's typing, Friday, June 8, blog addition.

Joe's treatment went well today, although slow. Best part, he only had to be stuck one time by the nurse for his infusion. Any day without multiple stabs is a good thing. This weekend will be a quiet one with no special plans. Maybe extra nap time? Probably not. More likely extra mowing and working in the yard time. I sure do miss townhome living!

OR

Thank you to everyone for your good wishes and prayers. Both of us are very appreciative.

Third Chemo Infusion of this 3 Week Cycle...CHECK!

This morning Joe had his final round of this chemo cycle at the Duke Cancer Center.  He now gets a week off!  Lucky him!  Although his lab work was done in a timely manner, he had to wait until 9:30ish for his 8:30am appointment.  His lab work this time showed his white cell count very low so he has to be aware of anyone with sniffles or cold/flu like symptons for the next week or so.  I'm sure there will be a lot of hand washing going on along with lots of hand sanitizers.  But he got his infusion done and that is the most important thing.

This has been a particularly trying week for Joe.  On Sunday afternoon soon after returning home from church, he received a text from his sister informing him that his Aunt Sue had died during the night.  This came as a big shock to the entire family since she had not previously been ill.  They did an autopsy to determine the cause of death but as of yet, we have not learned the cause.  His late aunt and her husband, Ward, live in Rocky Mount so that is where we will be spending a large portion of the weekend.  Tomorrow evening is the visitation and then the funeral will be on Saturday.  Besides having to deal with the loss of his aunt, whom he loved dearly, this weekend means that we will be in the presence of his mother and sister for the first time since the "ruckus" of March.  Already, both of us are tensing up over that aspect.

On a lighter note, we will have the chance to see our niece Brittany.  This will be the first time we have seen her since her recent gall bladder surgery.  That part we are both looking forward too.  Also, this week, of course, was the Amendment One debacle.  That right there was enough to cast a dark shadow over everything but last night we shook off the blues and went to see "Wicked" at DPAC.  This was our 4th time and we loved it as much as the first time.  Ironically, Joe's Aunt Sue had been at DPAC last Thursday to see "Wicked" and had remarked to Joe afterwards that she wanted to see it again.  We wish she could have been there with us last night.  Joe had organized a group of 48 people, mostly from PGUMC, to see the show and from what I overheard from those in attendance, it was a big success.  It was great to see so many people out of the usual PGUMC setting.  I don't even remember everyone who was there but we did have a chance to talk to Challie, Lucinda, Danny, Julie, Elizabeth, Colin, Meredith, Julia, Paul, Meagan, Donna, Mike....oh, there's no use in me trying to remember everyone we talked too.  Joe's cousin Steve Woolum even came over from Asheville for the show.  We had a great time and hope everyone who was in attendance did too!

Thanks to everyone who has emailed, called and texted us this week offering support.  Your prayers and good thoughts are so greatly appreciated.

 

Thank Goodness it's the Weekend!

We are so glad it's the weekend.  We were able to sleep later this morning with no alarm clock waking me up before dawn, and subsequently waking Joe up.  He has slept better the last 2 nights without the bouts of nausea.  One of the best parts of this weekend is that we have tickets tonight for Carol Burnett at DPAC.  Carol Burnett has been a life long favorite of Joe's and he is extremely excited to get to see her tonight.  We just need to make sure that he doesn't overdo anything today to assure he feels up to the trip tonight.  But something tells me he will insist on going regardless of how he might feel.

Yesterday, I learned I have a fracture of the cuboid bone in my left foot (I had no idea what the bone was either- I had to Google it) and there is a possibility of a torn tendon around the outside of the my left ankle.  The MRI at the Duke North clinic was malfunctioning, so I have an appointment next week at the Southpoint clinic.  The advice the orthopedist gave me was, "get used to the boot".

Joe has been out 2 times this week, once to Costco (Mike took him) and then yesterday he went to Cheesecake Factory with Desiree.   Today Joe is busy doing laundry and giving me a hard time. Seems like old times.

Ain't He Purty

That's about all I can say.  Just look at him all dressed in his tux for the TGMC concert Saturday night.

Anyone that didn't make it to one of their shows missed a beautiful Christmas evening of song & piano.

Then tonight we went to see "Young Frankenstein" at DPAC and Joe had a great time (I can tell because of the number of belly laughs that I heard come from him).  Tomorrow morning he starts his 2nd week of radiation but this week his appointments will be at 7:30am....if it gets any earlier he might as well just sleep there!