Chantel's FUN week... is done!

Quick update on Chantel's week.

CT Scan showed that Hodgkins had not spread below her diaphragm... this means she is still Stage 2A for her diagnosis. Dr. Savage gave outlined her prognosis at 85-90% of no recurrance of the cancer for 5 years post her treatment. She has put Chantel on a 6 month regimen of ABVD (Chemo).

On Tuesday, Chantel had her first round of Chemo. We had acquired 3 anti-nausea drugs (one of which costs over $20 per pill). The first chemo session was interesting. Neither of us have had a family member who had cancer so we were a little in the dark about how it was all going to take place. She was put in a room with 3 other "IV junkies" and given a very thorough explanation about the drugs, their effects, and her symptoms post session. The B and V drugs are very harsh on cellular tissue and had to be manually injected into the IV to ensure that it didn't overwhelm the IV site and cause significant damage to tissue. The second two were added to the IV mix and put on auto drip. The first 3 drugs only required 45 minutes but the last one took 1-1/2 hours. Afterwards, we left, grabbed a bite to eat and then headed home. We had Marcus with us the entire time and he was fine.

One bizarre thing was how I half expected to find that Chantel would wither in front of me from the drugs. She was surprisingly (to me) strong and felt fine. The nurse had warned us that nausea could spring in the next 24-48 hours. That night Chantel went to bed and I took care of the baby and slept on the couch so I wouldn't disturb her if the baby cried, etc. We had set her alarm for 2am to take another round of anti-nausea pills but she shut if off during the night. She woke up at 4am when I was changing the baby and felt totally fine. I had her take her pills and go back to bed. Chantel did not have any nausea during Round 1! Hurray!

On Wednesday, Chantel had a Nuclear Medicine Scan. This was done because the CT Scan showed that her liver nodule looked more like it was due to the pregnancy rather than Hodgkins or some other liver ailment. Dr. Scudamore got a rush test done and reviewed the image that day and then called us to advise us that Chantel would not have to have surgery on Thursday. He concurred with the CT Scan results and believes that the liver nodule was pregnancy induced and would return to normal on its own. Wow - the good news just keeps piling on!

By Wednesday, we had run out of Chantel's expressed breast milk and the milk we received from the milk bank. We put Marcus on formula which was really hard for Chantel. She was pretty upset about not being able to continue breastfeeding. She definitely had enough milk (I think her breasts had tripled in size). Marcus is fine and he seems to really enjoy the formula as well. Although it has been two days since his last bowel movement :-(

Looking forward, Chantel will be feeling weaker over the next few days as her red/white blood cells and platelets continue to deplete. Around Thursday/Friday/Saturday, she will be at her weakest and then she will begin to recover in time for her next chemo session the following week.