Day 1

   Today was the first day of chemo. We woke up early, got ready, got our lunch packed, and got Kaizen up and fed. Just as we were getting ready to leave the door bell rang, and it was Fed Ex delivering Eric's Ipod touch! Thank you to all of our family for your support on getting that, he was excited to receive it. We met with the doctor first to go over an questions that we had before beginning the treatment, and they took his blood to have a baseline to follow on where he is starting at.
  The room that the chemo is administered in is set up with about 13 recliners, and TV's around the room. They have a small area where family members are allowed to come and sit at a table to be close to their loved ones. So Eric took his position in a recliner, and I sat at the table close by. They first started him on a saline solution, and then started the first drug. Eric became nauseated quickly, and his face turned red, he started feeling the meds inside of him and he was having a hard time breathing. He looked at me thinking he was going to throw up, and I was searching for a barf bag for him. We then got the nurses attention and the team went to his side quickly. He was having an allergic reaction to the drug, so they stopped it immediately. They hooked him up to oxygen, pumped him with some benadryl, and other steriods and called the doctor in. He came in and said that this was the drug we needed to use so they would have to try it again once they had him recover for about 30 minutes. Eric fell asleep quickly and was pretty out of it for a bit, it was a scary, frantic moment for me. I was grateful that they knew how to respond to the situation, and did so quickly. The nurse said that it was very rare, so she hasn't seen that happen very often.
   After he rested, they started it up again and he was able to handle the drugs. The rest of the day went smoothly. We were there for about 6 hours total. I spent most of the day trying to read, but not able to focus enough to get very far. I mostly reread the same page over and over again, but my mind was going way to fast to even understand the things I was reading. I was able to visit with many others that are supporting their spouses through this. It was nice to get a few helpful tips that they have learned. Something as simple as directions to the cafeteria if we ever need to buy lunch, or keeping barf bags on hand in the car etc. It was nice for others to offer their support and the simple things they have learned to make things a little easier.
   Overall it has been a good day. I am so grateful to have Eric's parents here with us looking after Kaizen. It was just comforting to know that they were here with him so I could focus on Eric and not be worrying about what time it was and how much longer until we would be relieving whomever from watching him for us. We came home to some delicious tomatoe soup, enjoyed a nice meal as family, played with Kaizen, and prepared for the day tomorrow. We are so blessed.