Chemo session #2

Today was Neil's second chemo treatment, which ends his first "round" (which is roughly a month...treatment every other week).

I had to work today but Carol is off on Fridays and was able to take him. I've been in touch with him all day via text and he seems to be doing ok. It also went a lot faster today...the first time we were there all day and this time it was about 5 hours. That's still a long time to be there, but not much can be done about that!

The nurses from the first time must really like him because they set aside a private room for him again. Usually patients get their IVs in a common room, but it's much more comfortable and less stressful in a room with a bed and tv.

I asked him what he had for lunch and he replied, "Turkey and Big Red." I thought he meant the pop, but he meant Doxorubicin, (the "D" in ABVD). So he's joking, and that's good.

As I posted after the first treatment, any bad side effects are usually on the second day after. Knock on wood, the first went well and I'm hoping this one is fine too.

As an aside, I really liked the analogy the nurse used when explaining why chemo seemed so barbaric. When she was in school, an instructor predicted that in the future, we'd have the science to just turn cancer off. The metaphor she used was bringing a caveman to present time and telling him to turn off a car. The caveman would just beat it with a club until the engine died when all he'd have to do is turn the key. Hopefully, in the future, scientists can find that key so we won't have to use chemo to beat cancer.