Chemo: the agony and the..."not so" ecstacy

I spent some quality time with TGL yesterday. He has finished the chemo and is laying low, both mentally and physically. We should have knocked on wood when we bragged about how he never got nauseous or threw up with the first round of chemo. Such is not the case with round II.

Things all started with a bang last Tuesday when he fainted in the bathroom at 2am and woke up with his "chemo caddy" on top of him. He had cuts and bruises that we are still finding as we massage him each day. Of course he was a trooper and didn't want to bother the nurses - you know because that isn't their job or anything.

Then Sunday morning he fainted again and was very nauseous. When I got to the hospital he had a STAR on his door - I thought it meant he had been awarded "best AML patient of the year" but he informed me it meant he was on "faint alert". Anytime he wanted/needed to go to the bathroom he had to call the nurse. Poor guy threw up twice, once while I was there. He came out of the bathroom and said to Dave and I "well that was fairly embarrassing". He called the nurse for cleanup on aisle Lewis and apologized profusely for the mess. Such a sweet and undemanding soul.

The family, as usual, is amazing in every way as each person, Sara while here, does all they can to help him. I'm not sure how I got such great siblings but I'll ride on their shirt tails any day. Rand has spent hundreds of dollars on equipment in order to somehow get HD access via laptop so that dad can watch the golf channel while there. Mom goes down each day and then Carrie comes and hands Brig off [no kids under 5 are allowed]. Mom walks with Brig around the relatively seedy neighborhood while Carrie goes up to be with Dad. Sara did the same with OZ when she was here and calls each day.

We all think of him constantly and feel your love.