Round Two

Mark started round two of chemo this week. After a get away weekend to Vegas, where we saw Weird Al in concert...yeah, Weird Al...it was nice to come home to cooler weather and an affectionate cat who obviously missed us both. We went to the oncologist office on Wednesday and began the IV/port hook up. Things were a little smoother this time, since we knew what to expect and got a head start on nausea prevention...breakfast and anti-nausea pills as a chaser. And the treatment went a little quicker than last time. We were done at 3 p.m. The weird side effects that have occurred are Mark's jaw gets clenched and he is complaining of tiny sore in his mouth and throat...he describes them as little ice crystal like formations that react when he drinks something chilled. We may have to switch to room temperature drinks for a while. At least it's not the peak of summer and the weather is cooling down a little. Sleeplessness is still an ongoing issue for him, but he wants to take as little additional meds as possible. He's taking: anti-nausea preventive, anti-nausea as needed, anti-diarrhea as needed, Norco for pain during the day, Percaced for pain at night, a heart med for the palpitations (preventive), anti-inflammatory for the tumor swelling and I'm sure I'm forgetting others. When the paramedics came 2 weeks ago for the heart palpitations, one of them asked, "Is he on any medications?" I laughed as I handed him a grocery bag full of bottles. I must say that things are going rather smoothly and we are remaining positive and have found time to laugh about stuff and enjoy life. Vegas was fun and we plan to take some more trips when treatments are over. Maybe North Carolina or Connecticut? We'll see how things go.