Yesterday Lee left for Duke along with his youngest son, Doug who came down on Sunday from Radford, Virginia. They left around 8:30 Monday morning with rain and weather forecast for flood watches. His first appointment at the oncology clinic was for the initial 11:30 Labs. Fortunately, things were running slightly ahead of schedule so there was time for Lee and Doug to have lunch at the Sub-Way area in the cafeteria of the clinic.
His next appointment was with his assigned PA who presented him with a very good lab report. His Platelet count had risen from the low of 113K to 289K, which was even higher than before the beginning of the chemo drugs. All of the labs were within a normal range. I can only surmise from this that Lee still has a very strong body. He amazes all the health-care professionals with his ability to keep returning to a better, and healthier state. That has to be true, because very few people could have faced all the assault on their bodies such as he has while continuing to maintain an almost normal lifestyle!
Lee has always attributed this super-human feat to his background in sports, especially football. Even today he will tell you that a "winner never quits, and a quitter never wins!" He just picks himself up and continues to win and never quits!
Yesterday he was able to take the double-dose of two chemotherapy drugs. He was pre-medicated prior to the treatment with anti-nausea drugs and allowed to wait thirty minutes before the I.V.. Each chemo drug was given I.V and separately. The entire procedure lasted approximately two hours. Currently, he will be maintained on two drugs one week, skip a week, one drug the next week then skip a week, etc......A scan of his body may be done after the sixth treatment. So far, he has had only three treatments. We will be anxious to see if there is tumor shrinkage at a later time.
Today, he has felt very well. There has been no nausea or fatigue. We wait for that on the third day! He does, however continue to have some voice issues with his larynx that is probably the result of some damage to his vocal cords from the biopsy six weeks ago. He will see a local ENT doctor next week.
Thank you all for your continued support, and for your prayers,
More Later.........................................................................................Brenda
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