Well no news is good news over here. Or at least decent news. David is 3 weeks after his most recent chemo round and it seems like everything is going the way it’s supposed to. Here is what we’ve noticed so far:
Week 1: Chemo week. While there are loads of appointments, David went into the week feeling well (good blood count numbers) and feels well throughout the week. There is some nausea but the medication he gets manages things effectively. The eye drops that keep the chemo from burning his eyes are easy enough. It’s busy but the body is up for it.
3-4 days after Chemo stops: David feels pretty good during this time too. He’s taking a pharmacy of medications at this stage to keep any infection at bay, but it’s cool. Less appointments is also nice
4-10 days after chemo stops: the Chemo starts to have an impact. Which means David’s blood is annihilated. That’s good but not fun. He didn’t feel as bad as he did in the hospital but he gets tired super easy. The chemo brain settles in and so it takes more mental work to do some everyday things. Plus getting winded on stairs (he is loving being at home because he has more movement in his day than at the hospital) But he can drive well enough. Which is good because he goes to the hospital 3/4 times for platelet and blood transfusions plus his regular 3x a week blood tests. Transfusions take a looong time - 2 hours a bag, so the day when he needed two bloods and one platelets was a 6 hour hospital hang out. Lots of naps and avoiding crowds because there are no white blood cells to keep him safe.
Week 3: slowly, very slowly his own blood starts to come on line. This is great because he’s out of the transfusion danger zone and last minute appointments to get juiced up. But he still feels pretty crappy. Especially because at this point he’s been taking so many pills to keep infection away that they kind of just make him feel yucky - bad taste in his mouth, fatigue, etc. But the blood coming back is what want because it shows that the bone marrow can do things right. It also means less appointments at the hospital - two a week instead of 3 times a week. Still avoiding the general public because of germs.
As we go into week 4, we expect that David will continue to feel better and hopefully will have a couple of weeks of feeling like himself before he has to start the next round of chemo (two left). He is actually thinking that he really wants at least two weeks to feel good before starting the chemo again (if he can) so he can just feel good for a bit. The red blood cells are the slowest to ramp up and he really notices their absence.
It’s not the most exciting time and it sucks to not feel like yourself day in and day out. And when you consider that he’s had leukemia since May 2025, it’s been a long time since he’s felt like himself. But he keeps the steady work up. We heard from his doctor that he will likely wrap up his last chemo in mid January and be off work until April to get his energy and immunity up So that’s like a full year.
It’s also been a silver lining to have David only feeling medium awful because he can support the kids during this teacher strike. 🫠🫠one more thing 🙃🤪
I’ve set up the kids with workbooks and a schedule so they are mostly self guided, but they are still kids and so having someone to keep them focused-ish or breaking up the day with activities is so valuable. He’s take them to library and got them to go on walks or learn how to clean something. While I don’t think anyone is having the time of their life or jumping ahead on any education milestones, we are keeping things going.
I am doing my best on my front. And my best is probably pretty mid. Last week I had a perfectly set up plan for when Ellie had to be at an appointment, David had to go in for blood tests and I had a tricky to schedule meeting all at the same time. Which I thought was 10am. It was not. It was 9am. So when my computer dinged that the meeting was starting, I panicked and then booked an uber for Ellie. It’s a $170 fee for Ellie to miss an appointment so she definitely needed to go. She was pretty anxious about taking an uber alone but she got to her appointment on time, my meeting went well enough and David was doing his thing. Chaotic. Cost $12 for the uber. And Ellie would prefer to ride with her family next time. But she also felt brave and there were no casualties. That spinning of too many things and mixing up a detail is exactly what happens to me when I’m at capacity. It also broke my heart a bit when Ellie later told me she feels like she’s doing too much for a kid. And she’s right - having your dad in cancer treatment or being on a teacher strike alone would be hard but doing both at the same time is a lot.
I did decide to book off the next couple of Monday mornings, book a couple of days in November to take off and get the Christmas holiday days off in order. Just to have a bit more time. And to show Ellie that I do hear her and want to be there for her. It is tough because it is also one of my busiest times at work. And you know, having to do the logistics to schedule time is one more thing to do.
Which is probably why I am now getting sick. It’s been just under 3 months since David was diagnosed and I think some light food poisoning on Wednesday took the last bit of immunity I had, so I’m staring down the barrel of a cold (I hope only a cold).
We don’t really need anything other than to get through it all. We’ve got a fridge full of food, help coming from hired folks, and a great community. We’re not panicking anymore about the future because it will get here when it gets here. So if you could keep the prayers going for stamina and mental clarity for us all, that would be rad.
P.S Sloan is doing better. Not 100% yet but he’s a poo-champion (he does not approve of that title).
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