Blessings!

Today was Jeremy's dr. appointment to get all his scan results and plan for his treatment to start. Dr. Bradford said that Jeremy's PET and CT scan both looked good! There was only one little spot that lit up and it was in the general area where the cancer was found, so they are unsure if it is a lymph node that is inflamed or a lymph node with cancer. However no other part of his body lit up, PRAISE GOD!!!!! Finally good news, this is exactly what we have all been praying for. They are going to watch this spot, but it will not affect his treatment in anyway because of the location of it. So he will have about 6 rounds of chemo and then they we will do another PET scan and see what it looks like from there.
Chemo starts tomorrow. Can you believe it? Seems so fast, but we are both so ready to get the ball rolling. We will be at the clinic at 9:00am tomorrow. We will be there 3-4 hours and he will have blood drawn, pre meds put into his port, nausea medication, and then begin his chemo. He will do the first couple hours of chemo there and once he shows no sign of reaction he will bring the chemo pack home with him and wear it for 2 days. On Friday we will go back and they will remove the chemo pack. From there we will wait until the following Wednesday and see Dr. Bradford again and discuss how Jeremy felt during and after the chemo. This will allow the dr. to check Jeremy's blood levels and side affects to see if anything needs to be adjusted.
Then the next week the process will start over again. Until he has 12 rounds done.
One of the main things the doctor talked with us about today is the type of treatment that he will have done and the side affects of the treatment. The chemo that Jeremy is getting is called folfox, it is a combination of 3 different medicines. A few of the side affects he may experience are fatigue, queasiness, loss of appetite, and sore mouth/throat. The main side affect that is the most common with this treatment is neuropathy, unfortunately all patients tend to suffer with it just on different levels and different times throughout the treatment. He said that Jeremy will experience tingling of the hands, fingers, feet, and mouth. He will also be very sensitive to cold, so during his chemo or after his mouth could feel like needles anytime he drinks or eats something very cold and when he goes to grab a cold door knob this winter it could be very uncomfortable. I see some good gloves in his future :). Before we left the clinic they sent us to their on site pharmacy where Jeremy got 7 prescriptions filled, now keep in mind this is a man that never goes to the dr let only the pharmacy......I had to giggle at the irony of it. He got premeds for his chemo, the night before and morning of and he also got nausea meds and antibiotics to have on hand as he needs them.
We were very pleased with his appointment today and very nervous and anxious about getting started tomorrow. Jeremy of course asked if he could be released to go back to work, but dr said not yet. He wants Jeremy to be off work for at least one week after his first chemo and see how he feels and how his body reacts and then hopefully after that he will be released to go back to work. So we will both possibly be returning to work on the same day. Knowing that we will both off work off and on all year, but luckily we both work at amazing jobs and they have been so supportive during all of this.
Jeremy and Ian decided they needed a little father son time tonight, so they went to the Naturals baseball game. I was so glad they went, I think it will be good for both of them. Carter and I stayed home and vegged out in front of the tv all night! No complaints from either of us for not getting to go!
I will post tomorrow night and let you know how the first day goes. Thank you for the continued phone calls, emails, cards, and support. I don't know how we would get through all of this without all of you.
Continue to pray for strength especially tomorrow as we head into his first treatment. I know that we are both going to need it especially after how hard it was sitting in the chemo suite the other day for 15 minutes and then tomorrow we will be there for 3-4 hours. Dr. Bradford was very good today though about discussing how normal this anxiety was and that it is ok for us to be nervous the first few times and eventually we will be pros at it. He said it does make it much easier when someone is there with him and I told him not to worry his #1 cheerleader would be there every time!
Thank yous:
*Thank you to Chris and Kasey Bare for the yummy dinner we had last night. The kids and I had ribs everywhere, they were delicious!
*Thank you to Judi for the wonderful down home cooked meal tonight! Even my own pan of cheese grits all to myself, I was in heaven! *for the record I do love grits....esp Judi's cheesy ones :)
*Thank you to Nana for coming back to stay with the boys during Jeremy's appointment and of course not leaving until our house was spotless.
Well gonna get everyone in bed, we have an early day tomorrow. I have a dentist appointment at 8 and from there we will go straight to Jeremy's chemo. We have been lounging in bed in the mornings, so all of us up and ready by 7:30 could be an adventure for sure!

Psalms 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Praise God he heard each and everyone of us cry out to him. Praise God for good PET scan and CT scan results!!!!!!!!