No News is Good News

Well, since the last blog dad has been going everyday to his radiation. He didn't get to see his doctor yesterday, but he saw him today. The doctor is really pleased at how everything is going and glad with dad's ability to endure this treatment and dad's upbeat spirit. :D

:D

Dad spoke with his radiation doctor yesterday. He said that everything went good on the first week. Radiation went normal yesterday and today, so there's not much to update. For the next two and a half weeks, there won't be much to report. Dad will see his radiation doctor on Mondays, so I will report that news and any other interesting/relevant occurances. :D

A++++++ Report Card

Dad spent all weekend studying the backs of his eyelids. After 2 days, he concluded that they were normal and needed no further all day studying.

Today was the long day of chemo treatment. Before he started, they did lab work to make sure his organs were still in tip top condition. All of his tests came back A+++. Heart, kidneys, liver, white blood count was all in "real good shape" as dad told me. Then, they did the last day of the first half of cycle one of the chemo. WOO HOOO!!!

Now all he has is his boring radiation for three weeks. Then, the second half of the first cycle of chemo. He is becoming good friends with Spring Hill's medical staff. They all really like him.

He has decided that Sarah should be a radiation oncologist when she grows up.

And I apologize for the lack of blog updates. I am on Spring Break and had trouble getting acess to the internet. But I have it now, so all should be good again!

Smooth Sailing

Chemo went smoothly; radiation went smoothly; all in all, a very smooth day. Dad was finished and home by 12.

Coconut cookies are "da bomb"!

Today, Dad's chemo and radiation ran like clockwork. He even got to go into the radiation early today! He also went for a check in with Dr. Uzel. She said the treatment Dad is going through now is a cycle one. He is getting half of the maximum dose of chemo and all of the radiation. The cycle one treatment will end on Monday, April 26. Radiation will go through approximately May 12. About three weeks after the last radiation treatment, he will get another PET Scan to determine the effects of the treatment and plan for another one. The doctor said he was doing good, she glad he was keeping his nauseousness under control. He made an appointment to see her on April 8 to check his blood count. She smiled and told Dad and Mom: "I like yalls savvy attitude."

Dad got a big kick out of Aunt Sharon's card today; and the CD is awesome! (I stole a copy of it for myself!)

We went to the grocery store today, and found these amazing coconut cookies. They were super de-lish.

20 Minutes of Laying Down

Chemo went just as planned today. After the chemo, Dad started his radiation treatment. He said he almost feel asleep! He was disappointed though that he couldn't start early today and had to wait till his appointment time.

Up 2.5 Pounds!

Well.. nothing much has happened today. Except I spent way to long making this blog look pretty. For those of you who don't recognize the ship at top, it is a picture of the ship dad spent four years on. The patch is a Gunnersmate Guns Second Class Petty Officer patch, the ranking he was when he stepped off of the ship in 1985.

Dad went in for another batch of his chemo treatment, all went well. He has figured out when to take his meds so that he won't be nauseous after chemo treatment. After the chemo, dad went to the radiation department and got fine tuned to the radiation machine. They precisely matched the machine to his dot tattoos. The department said they would pencil him in tomorrow so that he could get started. YAY! Somehow, he managed to only use half of his battery life for the iPod. He did have it on and loud ALL day. He still absolutely loves it. He has bought more music online. :D

Sitting on Top of the World

First dose of chemo in the pricipal's office.

Dad has his dancing shoes on!

So, I have almost doubled the music on my computer today. I've spent the whole afternoon/evening/night loading dad's old Cd's so he can listen to them on his iPod. I forgot to mention earlier, but his last question about the iPod last night was at about 12:20. He came upstairs and asked me "How do I shut this thing off?"

He has been dancing around the house since he got home. Literally dancing. He has the volume turned up so loud, that we can all hear the music word for word. Even from other rooms with the TV on. His spirits are completely turned around this week, and I know the iPod had a huge impact. He keeps saying how much he really wanted one, but how he wasn't going to actually spend the money and get one. He has not set it down, except for me to add more music to it. He even already drained the approximately 16 hour battery life.

I have also realized that I'm no longer going to be able to initiate conversation with my father without some sort of nudge, hit, etc. With his iPod constantly on and loud, he can not hear a word we are saying. But, this also makes it a million times easier to talk about him behind his back. ;D

First Dose of Chemo

I just left the chemo place where dad is getting his chemo treatment. Let's just say it's like riding first class on an airplane. He sits in this big comfy recliner, does whatever he wants to keep busy, and has a lot of super friendly nurses who attend to his every need. And I can't forget about the free snacks and drinks they have out for the patients. When I got out of class, I picked mom up and we ate lunch at Atlanta Bread. Dad requested we bring him back some Bread Pudding. When we walked in, he was sitting in his recliner listening to his iPod. One of the nurses told us that he has been jamming since mom left. He told me that his iPod was really cool. But he did put it away to talk to us. Or at least to me while I was there. He seemed to really be enjoying himself, despite the circumstances.

They gave him a "medium" dosage of the chemotherapy treatment. And they aren't going to start his radiation till next Monday. The nurses told him when they found out he was a new patient that he had to go sit at the "principals office", which is the recliner closet to the nurses station. That way, they can make sure he behaves. The funniest thing was the IV machine would yell (beep profusely) at him when he moved his arm too much, which was about every 2 minutes.

Giving the iPod

I just gave dad the iPod. It would be the understatement of the year to say he absolutely loved it. He was completely surprised. He said he wants to know who to send the thank you cards to. We gave it to him right before he was going to go to bed. I had a very busy weekend and had to wait till Sunday night to add the music to it. He made the comment "now I'm going to stay up all night figuring this thing out!" He took it downstairs, and kept coming back with questions about it. I gave him the rest of the money to spend on certain Cd's, accessories, etc. for it. I told him there would be a lot of disappointed people if he didn't spend that money on goodies for himself. He soon came up with cash and wanted me to buy him some Cd's over the Internet. We searched and bought one (because that's all my bank account would allow with a deposit). He was so excited and began to list a lot more Cd's that he was going to buy. As of now, he is still downstairs playing with it. :D