I Lied...

Sorry, I thought this was his last chemo, but after looking at his schedule, I need to take back that statement. He still has 4 more doses of a milder chemo. They are more spread out as well and will be used to suppress his new immune system so that it does not attack him. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Last Day of Chemo....Hopefully Forever

Today is Tony's last day of chemo. We are crossing our fingers that it truly is his very last day getting poisoned. He was pretty wiped out when I visited today. All the radiation and chemo is pretty rough on him. He has lost his appetite and is pretty nauseated constantly. The nurses are super sweet and are taking good care of him. He is also grateful for the hospitals extensive menu because food doesn't sound very good to him. But with so many options, there is usually something he can manage to force down.
Thank you for all of your prayers. He can use all the help he can get.

For Brad

Here is the picture you asked for Bradley Buddy. He is definitely set up with a lot of games. But he hasn't been able to play as much as he wants because he is having a hard time focusing. My all time favorite line from this week was when I was waiting with him before his radiation. I apologized for not bringing the Ipad for entertainment for him. He said "it's alright. I usually just stare at the ceiling tiles until they start spinning." I agree...that it pretty good entertainment. 

Better pictures, and Breakfast with Jack

Jack's favorite breakfast is pancakes and bananas. He eats a lot if that is what is on the menu. He is also so funny about the way he sits while he eats. As you can see, he likes to put his foot up on the tray, and occasionally he tries to pick up food with his foot. Such a little monkey. But my favorite part about meal times is the faces he makes at himself in the mirror. I have yet to catch him in the act, but he makes the funniest faces. He especially likes to watch himself chew. 

So here is Tony's IV stand. There are 5 machines all pumping at once. It's quite an impressive sight. Tony wasn't feeling well at all today. The radiation and chemo is really getting to him. Nevertheless, he still managed a smile for the picture. Such an amazing guy! 

Here are where the 5 tubes go in. One is going into his arm, (and they have another one available. Right now, they have him rigged up to have 6 lines total. So he is only not using one line). The other four combine into the 2 lines going into his chest. 

Here is all the medicine....and poison...up close. (we like to call the chemo poison...cause it basically is)

All Plugged In

Tony wanted me to take some pictures of him all plugged in. I didn't have my awesome camera with me, so these are kinda blurry. They were taken with my phone. There is his IV stand with 5 different fluids pumping into him (one of them being the chemo. He gets chemo today and tomorrow).

Here is where 2 of the lines go into him. And each of them have an extra line that can connect into it, so there can be 4 total that go into his chest. On the right you can see how the nurse taped all the lines together and pinned them to him so they wouldn't get all tangled and get in the way. 

Here are the other 2 lines. I think Tony was a little sad that they needed to put one in his arm. That is no fun. 

On an extra note, the radiation actually made him get a light sunburn. I came to visit him and it looked like he had spent too much time on the beach. He said he couldn't really feel the burn, but his face and back looked quite red. He was looking better today now that the radiation is over. 

On another note, Jack is still sick. We are very grateful that we are able to use Skype so that Tony can see Jack. After the transplant, he is not allowed to come, and he is sick now, so he is not allowed to come, so Tony may not see Jack in person for a while. We are all pretty sad about that. Thanks Dad and everyone else that pitched in for getting Tony a laptop so he can Skype with his Jacko. It makes all the difference!

Radiation and hiccups

As promised, here is the picture of the locked up medicine:

It is off to the right side of the picture. It is the medicine called BAD (Benedryl, Ativan, and D...something)

I took this picture to show you how they make the radiation room seem a little more pleasant. It has beaches and mountains, and the roof has a bunch of tree branches with pink blossoms on them. The thing that cheered me up the most in that room was the fact that we had 3 radiation physicists. They all introduced themselves to me and the one actually commented on how important Tony was to them and that they were all indeed radiation physicists. We also had one radiation therapist. 4 professionals all in one room ensuring Tony is taken care of. What more could I ask for? Not to mention it was after they all should have gone home. They are supposed to close at 6 and it was 6:30 before Tony was able to get in. So all 4 of them stayed late. We sure love the people at Inova Fairfax Hospital!

So here he is! Doesn't he look so cute. He especially loves his party hat. And yes, those are straps on both his arms and feet, but he still managed to smile for the picture. Such a good sport. I got to watch the whole set up and it was pretty interesting. It's quite the process. 

Tony is doing well besides just being extremely tired all the time. Today he kept falling asleep while I was talking to him. Poor guy. 

The funny update, (well, annoying for him): is that Tony almost consistently has the hiccups. One of the tech guys told us it was probably the medicine he is taking. I guess it causes you to get the hiccups. I hate the hiccups, so I feel way bad for him. So far, a spoonful of sugar has worked once to cure him (Thanks for the tip Mama Roring). But it didn't work the second time. They only stopped when he fell asleep. They are looking into getting him some anti-hiccuping medicine. I thought that was pretty interesting. I didn't even know that had something like that. (But one of the nurses said that even in oncology books, the first things prescribed for the hiccups is a spoonful of sugar. I think that is so interesting) So Mama Roring, I guess you could be an oncologist since you already knew that. 

It begins....

Sorry, no pictures this time. This post is strictly informational. Tony checked into the hospital yesterday afternoon and we got him all set up with the best of entertainment. We tried hard to ensure he was never bored. I am currently working on beautifying the room as well. They hooked him up to some saline solution and also to what they call B.A.D. I find it humorous that they call something BAD and then hook it up to your blood stream, but who am I to judge. It is always in a locked container, even when it is pumping into him. It is Benedryl, Ativan (anti nausea), and then some kind of steroid that starts with a D. Maybe I will take a picture of it tonight. Anyway, he underwent his first total body irradiation today. It went well. He hasn't felt any effects of it yet, but he said it was kind of boring. They make him stay extremely still for 15 min, then they flip him over and make him do it again. They do that twice a day for 4 days, and then he gets 2 days of chemo. Then he gets a free day on Monday, and the transplant happens on Tuesday afternoon. We found out a little more about his donor. He is a 19 year old from Germany. We also found out that he does have the same blood type, so it will not be changing after all. We are not allowed to contact the donor for 2 years because of several regulations, but we will be able to send him a thank you through the registry. They will give it to him. We are so incredibly grateful for the sacrifice he is making. It is not a super pleasant procedure so this man is definitely our hero. Thank you random stranger! We love you!