2 Down, 4 To Go

It has been a while since I last posted. Chase did well after his first round of chemo. The first 2 days after chemo he had the most energy he’s had in five years. He was able to exercise the day after and he was feeling good. By the third day it started to kick in and he got a little sick. That lasted three days then he felt good again. He has been tired but not much more than before he started chemo. For six days following the first round of chemo he had the most random side effect. He got hiccups. These lasted a week and never went away. We called his doctor and they said sometimes that happens and not to be worried. It was more annoying for him than anything.

This past Thursday we went in for his second round at the Cancer Center at Village Point in Omaha. They took his vitals and his blood pressure was higher tan normal and he gained 15 pounds since the last treatment two weeks before. After they took his vitals and accessed his port we had a meeting with his oncologist, Julie Vose. While we were there we told her about the symptoms he was having and how he threw up for a few days following treatment. Also, I was explaining his mood swings. He was very irritable and angry for a week following treatment and I wasn’t sure if this was normal, but it was not my husband. I asked her if that was a normal side effect of Decadron, the anti-nausea medicine he was taking. She told us he should not be taking that but instead should be taking Reglan and Zofran. This explained the weight gain and mood swings. I was upset they told us to take the wrong medicine, but I’m happy we told them and they changed it for the second round. After that we had about an hour to wait before the treatment so we went to paradise café down the street and got some breakfast.

At 10:30 am they began the second round of chemo and it took a little less than 2 hours. He slept the whole time and took it like a champ. He felt fine afterwards and we went shopping downtown and walked around a lot. He has also gotten the hiccups again this time around but not as bad as the first round. They prescribed him a muscle relaxant and that has helped but it makes him very tired. We have been relaxing a lot today. We drove back from Omaha yesterday and have been lounging around enjoying the warm weather. Thank you to everyone for the support and lovely letters you all have sent us! This next week before the next round we plan to go on evening walks more now that the weather is getting nicer. Thank you for the love. 

xoxo,

Danielle Eilers

The Beginning of Treatment

Sunday evening we left for Lincoln to stay the night at the condo before our appointment Monday with Dr. Julie Vose. Monday morning we went to the fertility clinic in Omaha before our appointment with Dr. Vose to give a sample of Chase’s sperm to freeze in a sperm bank. We had to wait about 4 hours to get the results of his fertility and that would decide whether or not they would be able to save them for later in case the chemo makes him infertile. While we waited for the results we got some lunch and headed to the oncologist for her results of the biopsy and opinion on treatment.

They called us back and took Chase’s vitals. This office was so much busier than the first oncologist we met with in Kearney. We waited an hour or more to go back and meet with her and there were about 30 patients in the waiting room. We got to our room and a nurse came in and asked Chase a lot of basic questions about his symptoms. Dr. Vose came in about 15 minutes later to give us the results of the retested biopsy.  She got the exact same results Mayo Clinic found. Stage 4 B Classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She had the same opinion on treatment as well (ABVD) although she suggested chase only do 6 rounds every 2 weeks instead of 8 rounds. It was very nice to have consistency and confirmation on what the diagnosis was and the type of treatment we should do. The appointment with her was very short and to the point. We feel honored to get to doctor with her. She is a very experienced oncologist in the field of lymphoma. Her nurse Brad scheduled us to get his port placed Wednesday morning at 9 am and to start chemo later that afternoon at 2:00.

While we were in our appointment I had to step out and take a call from the fertility clinic and as if hearing your husband has cancer isn’t enough, we found out the cancer has also made him infertile. This may not be permanent and there is only a 10% chance that this chemo treatment will affect his fertility. But we are praying we will make lots of baby Eilers!

We had an off day on Tuesday and relaxed and went shopping all day. We had a nice relaxing day and went out to eat with some of Chase’s good friends.

On Wednesday we got up at 4:30 am and headed for Omaha to check in for his port placement procedure. Everything went smoothly and he felt wide-awake and good right after the procedure. We went to eat at Panera after the surgery then back to the hospital to start the first round.

Finally the moment we have been waiting for… the start of getting rid of this cancer.  They started out by giving him some anti nausea medication. Then they administered a bleomyosin test (which is the “B” portion of the ABVD). This drug is difficult on the patient’s lungs so they really have to be careful to see how they react. He reacted just fine so they continued on his treatment. They finished administering the entire treatment and this took about 2.5 more hours. The process in whole was about 4 hours.

He was a little tingly after the treatment but he still has not had too many side effects. His energy level is so high and he was up at 7:00 am this morning wide-awake. He has had crazy hiccups and slight indigestion. We called the doctor on call and turns out it is pretty common and he told him to take Prilosec and a couple of other post chemo medications they called in for him.

We are doing great and Chase is recovering great! Please continue the prayers we are already seeing results! The Lymph nodes have gone down in size and his breathing and itching are doing better already! Thank you Jesus!!! Thank you for all your support and prayers. We appreciate all you have done for us.

-Chase and Danielle