To say these past two months have been unusually hectic and stressful would be an understatement.  But we continue to press forward!  We’ve learned to simply take one day at a time, roll with the punches, and lean on the support and prayers of our loved ones.  It’s difficult to explain, but God has been taking care of our family when we’re unable to take care of ourselves.  It’s been amazing. 

Some good news... Carey is now past what has been the most difficult portion of his treatment thus far. The radiation enhances the effects and symptoms of the chemo, which is great from a treatment perspective, but not so great as far as the side effects go.

I’ve never run a marathon, but Carey has run several. In terms of distance, Carey is at about the ten-mile marker of his treatment marathon.

I'll keep this post short and sweet since our whole house is not feeling the greatest right now (sharing all our cold germs!).

This cycle was fairly uneventful. We've learned that Carey needs to sleep the majority of the time each day for at least three days post-treatment - so we've had a fairly relaxing weekend.

Last week was a whirlwind. Eli started preschool and it was quite tough for this momma to leave her baby kicking and screaming. But I was reassured each day that he calmed down quickly after I left and played well with the other kids.

In comparison to the previous two treatments, this go around has been better. I hesitate to say that because I don’t want to diminish how difficult this all is for Carey. He is still very nauseous, fatigued, and weak.
But due to a necessary dose reduction we haven’t had to make any extra trips to the hospital or ER. It’s been an improvement for sure, and this is good news!

It's always tempting to sugar coat things. We are guilty of giving the standard answers like "we're good" or "it's fine", or at least I'm guilty of that. Carey is much better at being bluntly honest than I am. I suppose I don't want people to think that we're negative or weak. But here goes the non sugar coated description of this past week: it was awful. The treatment they have him on is intense and his body seems to be pretty sensitive to it. We can only hope this means the tumors are sensitive to it as well.

Carey compared his first day of treatment on Thursday to the first day of school: exciting, scary, and new. You sort of know what to expect, but there's still enough unknown to make the day exhilarating. We had our clothes set out the night before and arrived to the clinic a half hour early - just to be sure we weren't late.