It starts...

Tim started the new regimen yesterday. Today we are sitting in the hospital room getting the Rotuxin treatment, which is the one that takes 4-6 hours. T is tired, but in good spirits. He didn't feel any nausea until this morning, which is what we expected after the last round.

Yesterday they placed the PICC line in his upper right triceps, which means there are two small tubes dangling from his arm at all times. Currently there are bags of chemo attached to the tube, each about the size of a quart-sized Ziploc bag. He has a shoulder bag holding the chemo packs around his body and it fits under his arm, reminiscent of leather water pouch favored by travelers or adventuring archaeologists. The attached bags make bathing and sleeping a challenge. Last night as Tim was trying to climb into the bathtub, I held the pouch for him and prepared to help him wash up. I remembered that I hadn't brought in a towel for when he was finished, so I went to get it...while carrying the chemo bag. Had it not been so utterly terrifying, it would have been hilarious. Sleeping has also been interesting. I set T up in the middle of our queen sized bed with the chemo bag on his right side and his phone and a light within reach, so if he needs help getting up and I'm not answering his pleas, he can ring me from the bedroom. I am for the time being sleeping on the recliner in the living room.



We made sure to plan a fun weekend to preface the new regimen and our new schedule. My cousin Dan was married on Saturday and we stayed in a hotel for that both Friday and Saturday. Tim got tired toward the end of the eve on Saturday and he went to bed a bit early, but at the beginning of the dancing portion of the reception, he was a twisting machine! Sunday we had a quiet day of reading, napping, baking tomatoes and general recovery and on Monday, we had lunch in Chinatown with our friend Richard and his roommate and saw the lovely Jessica and her Tim for a bbq that night. It was a tiring weekend, but a nice lead-in to the long week ahead.

Better a bald head than no head at all. -Austin O'Malley

T's hair has started to go. Last night I buzzed his head and now his beard is longer than his hair, which is fun. We've read that in certain circumstances chemo patients lose only the hair on the dome, but it seems as though his beard is also falling out. Picture an eyebrow-free Yul Brynner; that's the look we're going for. To the blazes with Nefertari...if anything can top our canceled Halloween wedding plan (Frankenstein's monster and the bride), it's Tim as pharaoh and Charlton Heston for me.

We traveled to Neponset to see my parents and pick up a new used chair this past weekend. My uncle and dad were thoughtful enough to load it in the van and our friends Mike and Becca helped me move it upstairs, graciously accepting farm fresh produce as reward for their toils. As anyone who has been to our place knows, our couch and love seat have seen better years, possibly decades. The new addition is a lift chair that almost completely reclines, so when he starts the intense treatment next week and he must have the chemo bags attached to him at all times, Timberly will have an alternative to the bed to rest in and remain comfortable. See the picture and visualize it in dark green. It stands him almost completely for when he's feeling weak. It's pretty rockin'.

T has finally gotten his appetite back, almost just in time for the chemo to start. This week we are stuffing him with full fat and calorie foods, hoping to put on a little of the weight he's lost before he starts feeling cruddy again. A side effect of his cancer, then, is that I have gained 4 pounds, one more reason why it's good that I no longer need to worry about that wedding dress! I baked Tim an apple pie last night with apples from the farm and we're going to eat it with ice cream when I get home from trading cars with my mom this eve. It required the use of 3 sticks of butter and a full cup of sugar, so this baby better be as good as it looks and smells. While it's far from a superfood, I think we'll worry about getting back to those when he's eating more selectively again. For now, we chow down!