Yesterday, after I returned from my walk I had to make a decision. My daughter, Gina, had made reservations several months ago to fly in from her home in southern California, arriving on December 29 and leaving on January 1. With the economy as it is and flights being quite expensive, she had found this relatively low-cost fare and decided to book it. It was not going to be a long visit, but she would be spending all 3 days with us.
Things changed. Since making those travel arrangements we learned of the mets in his spine. With Pete's treatment schedule in place, 2 of those 3 days he would be receiving radiation. Then came the news of the lesions in his brain. Discussions of additional chemo and the possibility of expanding the radiation to certain of his brain mets threatened to whittle away the time brother and sister could actually relax and enjoy together. Gina decided to check for an earlier flight, and very fortunately, she was able to change her arrival date to last evening.
Her flight was scheduled to arrive around 7 PM which meant I would have to leave for Newark Liberty Airport around 6:30. I couldn't quite figure what excuse I could use to suddenly leave the condo to go for a ride to who knows where and with no idea how long it might take, so about quarter past 6, I broke the news to Pete that I was going to pick up Gina. He was a bit shocked and surprised, but by that time I had to leave to drive to the airport.
Gina went into the city with us this morning. The drive in was one of the easiest we've had. Pete had his radiation treatment and we headed upstairs for blood work. The first nurse tried 2 different veins and managed to fill one vial but that was it, so she called a second nurse, who was also unsuccessful at drawing the necessary blood. They decided it was time to call in an expert, so a young man from the labs made his appearance and expertly inserted the needle and extracted 4 additional vials of blood. Trust me when I say that the nurses are highly competent and certainly experienced, but Pete's veins have become extremely difficult to work with after being stuck so many times in the past 18 months.
A came in to touch base and began discussing the schedule for next week. It seems that Pete will not get the Methotrexate on Monday, but he would most likely receive one of the platinum-based chemos. It was at this point that I asked about a new port. A agreed that it would be a good idea to have the port implanted prior to the next round of Methotrexate because of the required injection of the "rescue" drug, Vincristine, prior to the Methotrexate. She asked about the radiation schedule and Pete informed her that Dr S4 had spoken to him after he finished his treatment and indicated that brain radiation would probably begin on Wednesday.
His results came in around noon as all being good. We called for the car and headed home; home as in our house along the Jersey shore, where Bruce and the 3 dogs have been waiting patiently for our return.
Having Gina home for the holidays was one of the best Christmas presents we could have asked for. The other one is that all these treatments will be successful in eliminating the tumors and cancer cells from Pete's body.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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