It takes 19 days!!

It takes 19 days before Dustin goes bald after his first dose of Spidey Juices.  After his first dose we did notice his hair coming out, especially when he was in the shower.....it was just washing away!  It didn't look bad, he was just a little thinner on the top.  After his second treatment, it was really coming out.  If you ran your hands through his hair, you would have a handful of hair. He had a few bald spots on top, but he still had a lot of hair in the back and on the sides.  He was pulling it out on purpose, getting a fistful of hair and yelling at the boys, "Look what you are doing to me, you two are making my hair fall out!"  Of course they are convinced he his crazy.  We had heard about people complaining that their hair hurt during chemo.  I told Dust this was not something people usually complained about so it was news to me.  After the second dose he understood what they were talking about.  He says it feels like someone is pulling out your hair one by one and laying his head down on his pillow really hurts.  When he woke up yesterday he said there was so much hair on his pillow and on his side of the bed we needed to get the shop-vac out of storage.  He finally had had enough and decided yesterday to shave it off.  So while at my parents last night he gave his beard trimmer to the boys and told them to shave it off!!  At first they thought he was kidding, but once they knew he was serious the shaving began!  They had a blast with it.  They tried to give him a mohawk, but it was a little uneven.  Instead of being down the center it was over his right eye. 

When we were getting ready for bed last night, Dustin took his beanie off of his head, Beanford looked at him like "Who are you and what have you done to my daddy?"  Bean would not go to bed, he just sat there looking at Dust for about 5 minutes then he laid on him and just stared at him.  Usually Bean goes straight to bed and doesn't pay any attention to us, he just goes to bed, but he would not stop staring at Dustin.  Crazy dog! 

Enjoy some pictures from last night.

Bald spot on top.

Bald spot on top and in the back.

Logan starting :-)

Tyler getting his turn :-)

Trying to straighten the mohawk!

Mohawk is "a little" uneven.

Such a pretty bald head!

                                                       Logan starting to shave his head.

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

:-) Delana

Good Week

Dustin has had a really good week.  He finally got his appetite back after about 7 days. He has lost 15 lbs in the past 2 weeks!!   He is now trying to eat every thing he can in preparation for his next treatment this Thursday.  He had me make him chocolate chip cookies yesterday because he "only had 3 more days to eat them".  It is really good to see him eating again, but I know come Thursday that will all change. 

He says he can "feel" his lymph nodes shrinking.   His chest and other areas where we know his lymph nodes were the largest hurt.  This is a new pain for him to deal with, but he just takes it as a sign that the Spidey Juices are doing what they are supposed to do.  One side effect of chemo (Spidey Juices) is insomnia, so he now has a prescription for a sleeping pill....he took it for the first time last night.  He took it at 9:00 and I promise he was asleep by 9:05, it was too funny :-) 

Not much is going on...we are just getting ready for Thursday.

:-) Delana

Diet of Champions!

**I wrote this Monday November 7, 2011**
Today is Day 5 since Dustin has received his Spidey Juices, and he is starting to feel a little better.  It was rough for a few days but he is starting to get his strength back.  Sunday he felt good enough to go to church and we were able to join the church....that was something we have both wanted to do since we moved here but haven't been able because one of us has been sick.  It was a wonderful blessing yesterday for us to officially become part of the Lovings Baptist Church Family.  Actually this was just a formality as everyone there has prayed for us and loved us.... member or not.  Thank you, Lovings family for all your prayers and support :-)

Dustin's diet these past few days has been interesting to say the least!  We knew going into this that whatever he could and/or eat would be what he got.  It has consisted of water, chocolate pudding, oatmeal, Gatorade, Uncle Ben's Chicken and Rice and Popsicles.  But I  must break this down and explain it... he drinks a lot....I mean a lot of water (I am by no means complaining about that!), I bet he is drinking 1-2 gallons of water a day.  The water feels good in his mouth (his teeth, gums and tongue hurt) and when he is hungry but is also still sick to his stomach he knows water is "safe".  His breakfast is oatmeal.......no, no not a cup of oatmeal or a half-cup of oatmeal.....1-2 tablespoons of oatmeal, but it is something and that is all I care about.  The chocolate pudding is something that again feels good in his mouth, and the boys were making fun of him because he was "chewing" his pudding.  He still only eats a few bites at a time.  I am sure by the end of the week he will graduate to other foods.

:-) Delana

Day 3

Last night was the last home football game, and Dustin was feeling OK, he said he was just going to sleep and would call me if he needed me... so I went to watch Logan march in the band for the last time this year.  I started texting Dustin in the 2nd quarter just to make sure he was doing OK....but I was not getting a response, of course that was worrying me.  After half-time and into the 3rd quarter of the game I finally reached him and he said he didn't feel good...while he was on the phone with me he got sick.... he quickly hung up.  I left the game and raced home to care for him.  After dry heaving... because he really didn't have anything in his stomach, he spent the rest of the night plagued with diarrhea every hour or so.  Neither of us got much rest last night.  He is trying to stay hydrated with water and Gatorade and he was able to eat some chocolate pudding today.  Today he says his teeth, gums and mouth hurt and that water feels good in mouth so first thing tomorrow I'm off to Wal-Mart to buy Popsicles, he wouldn't let me go tonight or I would have.

He did go on a field trip this evening.  My aunt and uncle smoked a wild hog and we went to their house for dinner....we had a really good time visiting with family and friends.  Dustin hasn't been out of the house except for Dr appointments or my parents house (or the occasional gro. run with me) in a while so it was time for him to "air out".  He was able to stay out for about 2 hours, which was about an hour longer than I anticipated.

He should start to feel better tomorrow and should start to get his strength back and hopefully his smell won't be so strong.  Please continue to pray for us and our family.  Please pray for strength for Dustin as he is already questioning how he is going to manage this for 6-8 months.

:-) Delana

Day 2

Today is day 2 of the Hair Watch and day 2 since chemo.  Believe it or not he is loosing some of his hair already.  He was taking a shower this morning and I hear him screaming my name, I thought he fell or was bleeding, but to my surprise he just wanted to show me a hand full of hair.  So it won't be long and he will be as smooth as a babies bottom :)

So far the only bad side effect he is having from chemo is, his sense of smell is intensified so much that he can not stand any odors.  I had an air freshener in our bathroom that was a very light sent, but it made him sick, I had to take it outside and put it in the trash can.  Then when he went outside he was looking at me like I had done something horrible, he yelled "Do you smell that?"  At first I had no idea what he was talking about but then I remembered the air freshener in the trash can.  The Spidey Juices have given him Spidey Powers!!  He just could not stand the smell.  I made tea and it made him sick, just normal tea, not fu-fu tea...plain tea!  I will admit that when I made tuna salad that was completely my fault and I should have known better, of course it made him sick, lesson learned. He made Tyler eat it outside. We may never have tuna in this house again :( I have a picture of that. I am now trying to figure out what to cook that doesn't have a odor.  If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!!

:( Dr Pepper doesn't taste the same right now, he has a few sips yesterday and tried to drink one today, but he said the fizz just tastes funny. 

Tyler...banned to the back porch to make his tuna sandwich :(

Tyler eating his tuna sandwich...

Until tomorrow...
;-) Delana

First Chemo Treatment

We got to the Dr's office around 915 yesterday morning, needless to day Dustin was a little nervous regarding the unknown of his first chemo treatment.  After we saw the Dr (whom, I just love, Thanks again Uncle Jim!!!) and he told us his Echo and Pulmonary Function tests were normal, we made our way to St. John's hospital for the dreaded chemo. 

I don't know what he was more nervous about.....the actual chemo or the nurse accessing his port for the first time.  We made our way into the hospital prepared for the side effects of dry mouth, bad tastes and boredom.  We were equipped with jolly ranchers, peppermints, teddy grahams, his water bottle his I-Pod and I had 2 books.  We were told his treatment would take about 4 hours, and some of the medicine would cause immediate dry mouth and or a bad taste in his mouth, so eating hard candy would help, but not candy you really like because if you got sick you may not ever eat that candy again.  We got to his chair about 1100, by the time the nurse finished with his paperwork and ordered his meds it was 1200.  When she came to access his port, he was in bathroom and I warned her he was a little nervous about her accessing his "virgin" port, she was sweet and said she would be easy.  He was relieved to find out you can't even feel it when they access the port. 

Now came a waiting game....we had to wait on his meds to come from the pharmacy, they did not arrive until around 2.  He has 4 meds he has to take, his cocktail (or Spidey Jucies as he so named them yesterday) is abbreviated ABVD, this is the common cocktail for Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  Fortunately 2 of the meds only took 10 minutes, 1 takes 30 minutes and the other takes an hour, so it didn't take 4 hours for the meds, it only took about 2.

He did really good during the treatment, he ate his jolly ranchers and drank his water (no Dr. Pepper for him all day, he didn't want to chance getting sick on Dr. Pepper and never wanting it again....can you imagine!!).  He was fine until we started home, then he got really tired, and he took about an hour nap.  When we got home he went straight to bed, he said he just so tired.  He slept for a while then he got up coughing (one of the meds affects the lungs), but he was able to go back to bed.  Other than being tired, so far he is OK today, but we are told the bad day will be tomorrow, so we shall see.

This is Day 1 of the hair watch.....he still has a full head.....none has fallen out over night...lol

Waiting for Meds

Not the best pic, but I love his smile :-)

;-) Delana

Chemo Starts Tomorrow

First chemo is tomorrow.  We are to arrive at the oncologist office at 930 for blood work, then we head over to the hospital for his first chemo treatment.  His first few treatments will be at the hospital then he will graduate up to the treatment center at the office.

He has felt really good these past few days.  He still looks like he is about 6 months pregnant at times and his back and hip is still bothering him, but hopefully once the cooties is gone the pain will be gone.

His oncologist told him he would loose his hair, so today we went out and bought some beanies.  He is already thinning on top, so he wanted to be prepared!  This got us to thinking......How many days until Dustin looses his hair?  We are going to keep track......Kinda like the Owl with the Tootsie Roll Pop....How many licks to the center of a tootsie roll pop? 1...2...3!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhjb4P_jnKk

So enjoy the video and wish us luck tomorrow.

:-) Delana