Radiation will be Monday through Friday (every day) for 6-1/2 to 7 weeks. The radiation itself is only about five minutes, and the whole appointment will be rather short. Greg will be driving himself unless and until such time comes as he's not feeling well enough to drive. If that appears to be on the horizon, we will be sure to let everyone know so we can get some volunteers to help take him, as we simply can't afford to have me take off work that much to take him. We are praying that never happens!
Greg will also have his first chemotherapy treatment on May 1. He will receive a drug called Cisplatin, which is one he had the first two times he had cancer. It takes 2-3 hours to administer the Cisplatin, so we will have some downtime while the poison is being pumped into his veins. I would apologize for calling it poison, but I'm not going to, because that is exactly what it is.
Once he's done with the Cisplatin, they will set him up with a pump, so he can receive a drug called 5FU on a continuous infusion for five days. When he goes in for radiation on Friday, they will remove the 5FU pump.
Greg will have the Cisplatin and 5FU approximately every four weeks, so he will have two courses of chemo during his radiation treatments and two courses of chemo after his radiation treatments. Based on this schedule, he should be all done with all treatment by the beginning of August. If that is the case, I'm hoping and praying that he will be feeling better (at least normal?) by the time of our son, Aaron's wedding in October.
Because I have the kind of job that United HealthCare allows telecommuters, I will start telecommuting tomorrow! I'm SO excited to be able to do this, and cannot thank my supervisor and manager enough for all their support! In order to work at home full time, I need to have a separate room for me to work. If you know what our house is like, then you know that we have an abundance of bedrooms to choose from! Ha! I chose Aaron's old room, as the heat works well in the winter, and it's always cooler in the summer, because it's in the lower level (we have a tri-level house).
In order to make that my office, I needed a desk! We went to EVERY STORE IN MARSHFIELD that sells furniture looking for a desk for me! I was amazed at what little choices we had, and quite disappointed! I did NOT want a cheap "Sauder" desk. We finally found a halfway decent desk at Walmart, and yes, it is a "Sauder" desk. 😒 Not exactly what I wanted, but it is what it is. In order to get the desk put together, we had to move the bed out of Aaron's room. Jessica and I did that, and then needed Abby's help to move it up to Erica's old room. We bought that bed when we moved to Sturtevant, in 1998. We moved up here and it went into Aaron's room. Aaron got a new bed and this one went upstairs to Erica's room. Erica got a new bed, so it went back downstairs to Aaron's room (he was not living at home any longer). And now, because Aaron's room is my new office, it has gone back up to Erica's room! That bed has gone up and down more than Seattle Slew! 😆 And, it's HEAVY! It doesn't use a box spring, as the mattress sits directly on the bed, with three drawers underneath.
Jessica and I (OK, mostly Jessica -- my dear friend and neighbor) put the desk together.
There were 18 steps to put it together! YIKES! Jessica did most of it, and I was just there for moral support and to hand her the pieces. We worked together very well, and only had to take apart one piece that we had put together wrong! I think that was pretty darned good! Abby came to help again, and put together my "cube" that you'll see in pictures below.
I'm SO happy with how my office turned out! Tomorrow is going to be a GREAT day at work! I can wake up at 6:30 and be at work by 7:00! No worries about hair, make-up, clothing, etc! And yes, I will begin each day at work in my jammies! How cool is that?!
Here's my new office:
I am so blessed to be able to work from home and to have this beautiful office to work in! We serve such an amazing God who is always good, all the time! We continue to praise Him as He guides us through this latest trial. We will get through this, with His help and grace.
Blessings to all!
Julie
Greg's GoFundMe
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