HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Chemotherapy is now a thing of the past! Jimmy made it through 3 months of having needles constantly jabbing his skin, filling his body with poisons that are meant to kill an even more poisonous disease. ~We had the nurse take a picture on the last day of chemo :)

He made it through sitting in a room for hours with a constant flow of medical personnel playing the game of twenty questions during every chemo infusion: Do you have any pain? Can you rate the pain form 1-10? Have you had any nausea? What medications have you taken today? When did you last poop? Can you walk on your tip toes? Can you walk back on your heels? Have you had any fevers? Have you been exposed to any illness? Are your hands still numb? Have you been eating and drinking well?...you get the picture.

He made it through the first days of each cycle with the same routine: weight, height, temperature, blood pressure, wrist band, get settled in a recliner in our infusion room, ask all the above questions and then some, access port (which requires inserting a needle into his port w the IV tubes for chemo drugs), take blood samples to check blood counts and to see if he is able to receive chemo that day, pee into cup to see if he's had enough fluids (if not he had to be given fluids which takes an extra hour), Dr Dole comes in and asks all the above questions and does physical exam, finally a nurse comes in every 10-15 minutes to either change chemo drugs or check Bob (IV pole), he got chemo drugs over a period of 8-10hrs on those first days of each cycle. At the end of that time, he would usually go home hooked up with a bag of IV saline for 6 hrs, after which I learned to flush with Heparin and another fluid to keep his port from being infected. At the end of the day, he usually slept like he'd been knocked out cold. For the next 5 days, at least, he usually dealt with symptoms of fatigue, nausea and every type of pain.

So, when I say he made it through, what I actually mean to say is, he dominated chemo. Jimmy is something to be reckoned with, together with all the prayers sent up, and God's protection, chemo didn't have a chance to bring him down. I'm so proud of him. He is so strong and brave, he is my hero and a blessing to me from God.

Jimmy will have his Pet scans and other scans in 3 weeks, he will start radiation 2 weeks after that, and will receive radiation daily for 2-3 weeks. For the next 3 weeks, Jimmy can rest and recuperate to prepare his body for radiation. Please continue with prayers.

Tomorrow night is the Dayton Gems hockey game, we are looking forward to seeing everyone, and I'm hoping Jimmy has a blast!