David is the Kool-Aid man? Vs the dum-dum cancer

 Thursday night David started his chemotherapy! Hooray! 🎉 this means that all the tests came back that he is in good health (no infections) and ready to go. 

David’s chemo is a 7+3 protocol which means he has one drug (cytarabine) in a continuous drip for 7 days and a second drug (idarubicin) once a day for 3 days. They start together. The idarubicin is the colour of kool-aid which was so wacky. It remains to be seen, if David will start smashing through walls shouting “oh yeah”. 

The drugs are obviously super toxic and so it was interesting to learn from the nurse that there is special training to hook them up and lots of warnings on his IV pole. The nurse was all gowned up while she was hooking them and had me sit a bit away. 

Friday David woke up feeling a bit blech. Not like full sick, but that kind of unwell feeling you get when you start coming down with a cold. He was told he’ll feel truly terrible at the end of the week. Over the course of the day he didn’t really feel better but didn’t start feeling worse. His blood tests are already showing that everything is going down: blasts (the cancer) - good; red blood cells and platelets - not so good but expected. It is wild how fast the drugs are working.

Even though the genetics say that he might not need a stem cell transplant, David still met with that team on Thursday in the event that it is needed. David’s awesome brothers are all going to get tested to see if they are a match for him (so cool that it is a border-less experience and can test them from wherever). If we end up down that route, they talked through staying in Calgary and all that jazz. Hopefully not needed but amazing that the care team is proactive on all fronts. We are so grateful for the siblings to be willing to be a donor. Each has a 25% chance of being a match so with 3 brothers, it does make the odds pretty good. If they don’t match they will go to unrelated donors so I am going to get tested too. 

He also got a skin biopsy to do some further genetic testing. 

Thankfully David says that he sleeping quite well and fills his days with walks and naps, plus all the testing and monitoring that happens about every few hours. He also started watching the new Dexter. 

On the home front, the kids finished a week of no camp and just playing. Ellie is pretty much over her jet lag. On Thursday it was just the two of them and they did so many great things. It was awesome to come down after work and have the dishes totally done. (Full transparency it was asked of them, but wild I only had to ask once and they didn’t need further instructions)

I am sleeping terribly and can’t seem to get more than 4-5 hours a night, so I’ll be visiting a doctor about that. Plus I’m doing some Olympic level jaw clenching, so I reached out to my dentist for some options there. Despite my body obviously processing things intensely, mentally I’m doing really well. I had an appointment with my therapist on Friday and that always helps me process what’s going on. I generally feel a 6-8 out of 10 most of the time. We have amazing friends who feed us breakfast and check in on us. As I sobbed opening an incredibly thoughtful care package from some friends, I told QQ “I don’t know what to do with all this love.” So thank you so so much.

At this point in addition to prayers, please feel free to visit David and give him some company. He’s at the U of A hospital in 5FA. He appreciates any and all snacks - but especially those that are chocolate and peanut butter. But you don’t need to bring anything. Just some chat.  

Please pray for:

- David’s body to be very responsive to the chemo

- for the side effects to be manageable

- for the staff on his floor to feel alert and responsive 

- for me to sleep better

We love you all. Please feel free to keep checking in and connecting - you’re not bothering us. We feel the prayers keeping spirits up and know that David is in the care of the Lord (like he always has been, and like we all are)

Xoxo 💜💜