9:15pm, Thu 9/7
Stefan will be starting chemotherapy tonight, 9:30pm. I don't know the names of the drugs he'll be getting, as I had to leave the hospital before his oncologist came to speak with him. I do know he'll be getting two drugs intravenously - one 15minute drip, the other quite a bit longer - all day, in fact - it's a 24 hour IV, for seven days.
The start of chemo will leave him feeling much weaker and more tired than he is right now. I was able to spend all afternoon with him, and he was up and about today. He ate his meals - okay, not ALL of the meal, but after all - it IS hospital food! :o) ! He sat up several times during the day to talk, stretch a bit. He got up to go to the bathroom as well. He did not have the chills or the hot sweats today, as he's had almost every day for the last two-three weeks. His temperature has stablized too, and hasn't spiked - but I don't know what chemo will do to that. Throughout the day, the nurse was lowering the dosage drip of his saline IV, because he's not as dehydrated as was on Monday. His breathing was also much better, but I did not get to ask the doctor if his pneumonia has passed or not. He watched some TV, he sat and talked some, and he even dozed off a few times. Overall, today he looked the best he's looked in over two weeks. Other than not being very talkative - which is very hard for me to get used to - he's like his old self, on a lazy weekend. He just laid around doing nothing, watching TV or sleeping. Except he did all that in a hospital bed, and not on the couch at home. But it was good to see the color back in his cheeks, and good to see him up and about.
Daniella was doing better today, or at least she didn't break down crying. I brought her to the hospital after she dropped her van off at home. We had lunch. She is very aware that she has to eat and keep up her energy and strength, which I'm glad for. Daniella even got to lay down and take a nap (over an hour long) with my little Stefciu. Which I know did wonders for her - both because she got to rest, knowing someone was there if Stefan needed something; and because both Daniella and Stefan take comfort in being with their grandkids.
Not knowing is hard to deal with. It also makes it hard for those who want to help. Folks are contacting me about visiting Stefan, and the best I can tell you right now is to be patient. He doesn't know how he's going to react to the chemo, so he can't say whether he'll be up to having visitors anytime soon. The nurses said the first three days are pretty bad, that the chemo could just knock you upside the head, or it may not affect you so much at first. I don't know that he'll feel up for having visitors Friday or Saturday. I will know more once he's had the 24hour chemo drip finish - at least, that's what Daniella told me. If you had your hearts set on visiting him over the weekend, please wait to hear how he's feeling by Sunday before planning on going all the way downtown [it's not far... but it is, if you get down there and don't get to see him]. With chemo starting, Stefan also said he is not up for phone calls right now, since he'd feel obligated to speak a while with each caller and talking makes him winded right now. And since Daniella should not have to be turning family and friends away when they call, they are asking our cooperation in not calling them directly at this time. As always, if you have any questions, please call or email me, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Just know that your thoughts and prayers are being passed on to Stefan and Daniella. I print out your emails, blog posts and comments and pass them on to Stefan and Daniella to read, to know they've got this great support system. They thank you, and hope you know that if Daniella could call you each individually with every update, she would do it.
So that's the news at 9pm. If and when Daniella calls me to let me know how chemo is going, I will update then. --SMK
