Round TWENTY-ONE!!!

Here we are again, in the thick of chemo.  Twenty-one rounds.  Wow.  That is so hard for me to wrap my mind around.  When Trent was first diagnosed I thought the most you could do was five.  I am so glad I was so clueless.  It would have been even more devastating than it already was.  

Wednesday morning my dad asked if I wanted him to give Trent a blessing before we left.  I thought it was a little odd because it was just regular chemo, not scans.  I shrugged and told him he could if he wanted to.  Right after that Trent's Aunt Susan called out of the blue.  She asked if he had his blessing for the day.  After that I figured someone was trying to tell us something and Trent better have a blessing.  I called my dad and he came home from work to administer to Trent.  It was another beautiful blessing that had us both bawling. One of the first things my dad said was that all of the difficulties Trent is having are still lessons to be learned.    Trent started bawling then.  That was a little discouraging to hear.  What haven't we learned?  Why don't we just hurry up and learn it?  Oh wait, maybe the lesson is PATIENCE.  Anyway, the rest of the blessing was very specific and very comforting.  I am so grateful to my dad for being the priesthood man that he is.  He has been such a support for us and is always ready and willing to lay his hands on our heads and call upon heaven for blessings.  

Right before we left for SLC Trent went downhill.  He was feeling really yucky and was a bit dizzy.  I am sure it is hard for him knowing he is heading down to be poisoned.  By the time we got there he was a little bit better.  When he checked in they weighed him and he was up about four pounds.  That was good to see because we have both been a little concerned about the rapid weight loss.  All of his labs came back looking pretty good.  Nothing is too out of whack.  He is still a little anemic though.  Our nurse, Katie, came over to check in on us and get us some scripts.  She was surprised and happy to see how good Trent looked.  Even being under the weather he still looks about 10 times better than he did one month ago.  We asked about the bumps on his arm that keep coming and going.  No one has any idea what those might be so I will just continue to take pictures of them and keep track of them.  Katie also said that if Trent starts feeling a little "punky" we should call and they will give him blood.  She told us about another patient who is having a hard time fitting chemo into his family life.  Once again, we realized how lucky we are to be in the situation we are in.  We never have to worry about who will take the kids.  My mom has alleviated so much of that burden for us.  She never even bats an eye at the extra work we are for her.  She is such a trooper and we are so grateful.  We have been so blessed!

While we were in Infusion someone brought in some fast food.  The smell made Trent really sick so I whipped out my trusty Peppermint oil and shoved it under his nose.  Wala! No more nausea!  I really like that peppermint-and peppermint loves Trent!  We now carry it everywhere Trent goes.  

We were lucky enough to have Scott and Heather Church come spend some time visiting with us.  They were in our ward in Lincoln and have now moved to Sandy.  Scott is a cancer survivor and can relate to a lot of what Trent is going through.  It was really fun to talk with them and spend some time laughing.  I had so much fun I forgot to pull out my camera.  Next time...

After chemo we stopped at Red Robin for some dinner.  Trent had been craving a burger all day.  Unfortunately by the time we got there the chemo was starting to hit him.  I was able to get a decent picture but he is really faking a smile.  Right before I took this picture he was laying on the table trying not to moan too loudly.

Thursday was not too bad.  Trent slept most of the day.  That's fine with me...as long as he is not in pain.  I gave him his Neupogen shot around 8 pm.  It was all downhill after that.  He woke up this morning really sore and having some really bad back pain.  Round the clock pain meds are now ordered up for him for at least a few days.

Aunt Susan and her son, Jared, came down from Rexburg today to visit.  Jonathan practically mauled Jared all day.  Jared was a really good sport and played blocks, trains, and wrestled with Jonathan.  I think Jonathan was excited to have some attention from someone other than Mom and Grandma.

Trent enjoyed his visit with Susan and Jared and we are thankful they drove all the way down to see him.  We were lucky they came when they did because he is definitely headed downhill.  He is probably going to be out of commission for at least the next few days.  We are going to try to keep it to days, not weeks, so we can have some fun before we do this all over again!  Sigh...