On Monday, Nick went to CHOP at 6am to begin the next phase of his treatment. Deb and Nick braved the snow storm and drove into the city at 5 am for his 6am appointment. For those of you who were up at 5am, (hopefully nobody), there was amazingly a break in the storm and there was actually no snow for the trip to the city.
The first step was an operation to insert a Broviac Catheter. This catheter is inserted into a major vein located in Nick's Chest. This line will be used to infuse the various medications directly into his blood stream to be distributed throughout his body. The line will remain in for the next four months until all of the treatments are over.
After Nick recovered from his anesthesia, he came back to his room to recover and get ready to receive his first round of chemo treatments. We are happy to say that Nick has fared quite well during this first course of treatment. One drug in particular, amifostine, is supposed to be very hard on your stomach and almost always causes nausea. Nick managed to get through this with minimal sickness (about 95% have pretty severe discomfort with this drug). He has had some nausea, and no appetite, but today is a recovery day with no drugs and he seems to be doing better. On Friday Nick will get his stem cell rescue and we will begin the recovery period which could last up to 2 weeks. The past few days have been pretty hard. While the past 6 weeks were a nice respite, it is mentally difficult to be back in the hospital and feeling so lousy. To help with this transition, Deb had a great idea. Last week Deb took Nick to see a doctor who specializes in self-hypnosis. The idea is that through the power of positive suggestion, Nick would be able to create a place inside his own head where he could go when times were tough. It seemed to have worked as Nick was able to rest fairly peacefully during the worst of the treatment.
As I type, Nick is catching up on his homework so as not to get too far behind his class. I know that he misses school and seeing all of his friends and this is a way that he can stay somewhat connected to them all. If anyone wants to drop Nick a note, please feel free to send him an email at nickc27@comcast.net.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi Nick,
We are thinking of you and wish we could have been there for the basketball event. It seemed like it was a nice time. Brett plays basketball too and has his team's party this Saturday, an end of the season party. Kelly's hockey team made the state final championship and is going on to play St. Mary's at the Garden (TD Banknorth in Boston) this Saturday. She will wear your number and she needs your support! The girls have been winning in OT and shootouts, so it has been tough. St. Mary's has not lost a game in 2 years! I'm sure you played some tough football teams!
More importantly, we hope we can meet you soon. Brett wants to play basketball with you, and Jen wants to see your beautiful home. Kelly would like to meet you and Peter, and wants to see Sam again (she hung out with Sam when they were both little and the dads watched the kids).
We are thinking of you and keep strong! We know you will do great!
Paul, Colleen, Kelly, Brett & Jen
We were so, so thrilled to hear the results of the radiation! I read that sentence five times just to savor it. Our prayers will be with you as the chemo bats clean-up. Let us know if we can do anything.
Peace and prayers,
The O'Shaughnessys
Post a Comment