The week after his first chemo treatment, he felt generally lousy - very tired and his GI system was out of whack. But the second and third week after, he felt fantastic. The lumps all over his body mostly faded away, and his huge spleen which had been such a source of pain and discomfort, reduced in size and doesn't bother him anymore. :-) He felt so good he went to work, and gardened on the weekends...
We went this past Friday to the doctor's. The doctor said that the chemo had lowered his white blood cell count, but it went from being too high, to being too low (neutropenia). So Graham couldn't get his second chemo treatment as planned on Friday.
Since then, he's been getting a shot every day of Neupogen to boost his immune system. Hopefully on Monday, his count will be back in the more normal range and they can give him the 2nd chemo treatment. Until the count gets back up, he's very vulnerable to getting severe infections, so he has to stay home and away from crowds/germs. But he feels great!
He is losing his hair though. I think he's going to look awesome totally bald. Since a lot of guys shave their heads these days, Graham isn't that worried about losing the hair on his head. But it is a bit startling that he wakes up with so much lost hair in the sheets around him that he has to vacuum his side of the bed every morning!
Here are some photos of Stanford Cancer Center. It's actually quite a lovely place. Beautiful flowers and artwork everywhere. Very soothing.
Here's the cancer clinic. One becomes one's cancer there. To check in, Graham has to go stand in the "Lymphoma" line.
They have lovely waiting rooms where they offer you juice and cookies, as well as a chair massage! Which is a good thing, because you often have to wait hours to see the overbooked doctors.
We've been watching DVDs lately. We liked "Juno" and "The Kingdom".
That's the latest!
We wish all the mothers a very happy Mother's Day!
And Happy 60th Birthday to Israel!
Love and hugs,
Lee and Graham
Lee and Graham
