Chemo Set

Yesterday Matt & I met with a new oncologist in TC. We both have SOOO much peace about this doctor, his office and his techniques. He made us feel very comfortable. We are excited to get things going!

Matt is going to start chemo on Tuesday, September 11th. He will be admitted to the hospital for the first five days (he will receive chemo for five hours each day during that period). This is an old-school technique, but he will only need to do this for the first week. With a long list of potential complications (most of which are 1% or less) our doctor is more comfortable having nurses and doctors monitor Matt's reactions. So am I! It's been a huge relief to not worry about if I might miss something or react too quickly and start taking Matt to the hospital for no reason. The other nice thing about Matt being admitted is that they can watch for any side effects and, if he has any, they can prescribe medications to help him. The other alternative is to prescribe everything ahead of time, just in case he has reactions. This way Matt won't be taking any extra medication unless he really needs it. With the hospital pumping so much into him with them chemo we are very happy not to give him any more medications than necessary.

Matt starts chemo on Tuesday because the doctor is not in the office Monday. This way, for this first round of treatment, our doctor can supervise everything. After this week Matt will know the rest of the staff at the office and the other doctor or nurse can assist when our doc is gone. It's been very encouraging to know that our doctor cares enough to make sure he is there for the first treatment.

The schedule is as follows:
9/11-15: 5 hr. drips each day
9/17: 2-3 hr. drip
9/24: 2-3 hr. drip
10/1-5: 5 hr. drips each day
10/8: 2-3 hr. drip
10/15: 2-3 hr. drip
10/22-26: 5 hr. drips each day
10/29: 2-3 hr. drip
11/5: 2-3 hr. drip

He should only be hospitalized the first week. After that it should be okay for him to receive treatments as an outpatient. We already called the hospital and he can bring his laptop :) They have free wi-fi in the building ;) I don't know about visitation yet. I also don't know how he'll be feeling, but I'll let you guys know.

And that's it!! Nine weeks. We are currently looking for natural ways to help boost Matt's immune system during this process, especially after the 5th. We want to flush the toxins out and get him built up as quickly as possible. We are investigating juicing right now...if you know of any great, natural immune boosters please let us know!

Be blessed with love and love and love!!!