Day 5 - 3

So last night went well.  Steve and I both slept fine last night and didn't wake up until 8 am.  Steve was supposed to get 1 last Interferon shot, but his platelet count was 44 and they do not give the shot if your platelet count is under 50.  So, he was officially done with all drips, shots, pills, etc at 8:30.  We got some breakfast and by 8:45 Dr. Kim was in to see us.  We let Dr. Kim know that everyone was saying that we were going home today.  He let us know that generally they like to monitor for 24 hours after treatment before they discharge.  We just kinda wrote it off and let him know that we weren't really asking to go home, just all week all of the nurses had told us that we were going home on Saturday and maybe someone had just wrote something down incorrectly somewhere.  Then he asked what we wanted to do.  We said we were kinda torn, but probably should just stay there till the morning.  He said if Steve was up and moving around and we really wanted to go home, since we are local we could go home and just have the staff get in touch with him.  I layed back down around 9:00am and slept till noon! Almost a year ago, I started having a lot of anxiety issues.  During this time I would also get EXTREMELY sleepy and could literally just sleep all day.  I finally got it all under control when I found out it was a due to a lack of Progesterone.  I forgot my Progesterone at home this week.  Early in the week I started having minor anxiety, and by the end of the week I was having a LOT of anxiety and sleeping many, many hours of the day.  So, after I forced myself to get up at noon, I asked Steve if he thought we should go home after all.  He was all for it.  We didn't see our nurse at the time and knew he needed to get some walking in, so we took a walk around the nurses station and down the hall.

Steve reading 'Catching Fire' - the 2nd of The Hunger Games Series while I slept .

While on our walk, we met the husband of a girl our age who also has melanoma.  She did 6 rounds of biochemo last year and was then classified as NED (no evidence of disease).  Just after she got the all clear, her husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Then on her 3 month follow up, they found her melanoma was back. So now, she is doing a new treatment.  I just can't imagine 2 young married people having cancer at the same time.  Terrible.  While on our walk, we also caught up with another couple who we met on Steve's first cycle.  This man did high dose IL-2 only for his first treatment.  Unfortunately, his scans showed no results.  So, this was his first week doing biochemo like Steve.  We all sit and chit chat, but I never think to get anyone's name, Facebook, etc so we can keep in contact.  I'm going to be sure and do that next time.  Maybe I will have some business cards made with our names, Facebook info, and blog info.  Then I don't have to worry about writing it all down.  We could give them to the other patients we meet, doctors, nurses, volunteers, anyone who may wanna follow our story.  I know I would love to follow the other patients.

After our nurse got back from lunch, we let her know we wanted to be discharged.  She contacted Dr. Kim and the Physicians Assistant came by to make sure Steve was ok to leave.  Most patients who do this treatment gain 15-40 pounds in fluid weight while they are undergoing treatment.  On "recovery" day they get lasiks to get rid of the extra fluid.  Cycle 1 and 2 Steve only gained 5 pounds and he didnt gain any weight this time.  So, there was no concern there.  He is able to get up and walk around on his own, so there was no concern there.  So, we got the all clear to leave.  We were both so happy to be home in our own bed tonight.    We got home a little after 6pm.  Sadie is out of town with a friend and mom said she would go ahead and keep Ashlynn so we could rest and since Ashlynn would be asleep in the next hour or so anyhow.  (Thanks Mom!!! Love you!!) When we got home, Steve layed down to watch TV.  I was able to clean litter boxes, sweep and mop the kitchen (how do cats make such a mess???), water all of the plants, go through all of the mail, and unpack all of our bags.  Then I had to make a grocery store run to get Steve some Gatorade, and his grocery requests.  I made him a grilled cheese and tomato soup when I got home.  He ate it all.  It's amazing how much better he eats when he is home.

So now what?  Well, we are halfway finished with the biochemo treatment!!  In 2 weeks, we will go back for cycle 4.  Before cycle 5 Steve will get a new CAT scan to compare to his last CAT scans.  Steve's brother, sister in law, and nieces are coming from Biloxi to visit this weekend.  Hoping for a good 2 weeks for Steve!  I know he is looking forward to the visit from his brother and family (we all are!!).