Nick had his 5th chemo treatment on Friday. His WBC was 1.7 and his ANC was around 420 again. He's been sleeping a lot this weekend. We all had to stay home from church this weekend because Anna is sick. I couldn't leave Anna home with Nick and I couldn't send Nick with Leah while I stayed home with Anna, so we all had to stay home. He threw up for the first time on Friday night, but hasn't since, so hopefully that won't become an issue. His peripheral neuropathy has gotten worse. His fingertips have been numb since the first treatment, but he now has tingling extending down his finger and in his feet. His hands also fall asleep at night, and then wake him up, so he hasn't been sleeping too well. Dr. Koc gave him a prescription for this, Elavil. This is a particular concern for Nick because he is in dental school. So far, it hasn't bothered him while working and we'd like to keep it that way! We talked about treatment options with Dr. Koc again. He said that he felt "good" about doing 3 cycles of chemo plus radiation. That would mean only one more chemo treatment. He said he felt "OK" about doing 4 cycles of chemo with no radiation. We still don't know what treatment Nick will end up with. Apparently people are reading this journal. Dr. Koc said he heard about Nick's PET scan from one of his patients who'd been reading this website!

PET results-and GOOD ones!

Nick got an email this afternoon from Marla, Dr. Koc's nurse. This is what it said:

Nick,
I'm not sure if you retrieved your own PET results or not, everything is good. No abnormal uptake. All areas from 11/29 PET are completely resolved. Excellent!. Hope you are feeling well. Call me with questions/problems.
Marla

We couldn't have hoped for any better news! This means the cancer is already gone, after only 2 cycles (4 treatments)! We are so excited. We are now hoping that he will have only 2 cycles of chemo left and no radiation. We knew it was a possibility that it could be gone after 2 cycles, but we weren't expecting it. I just can't believe it!!!

Baldhead Buds

Treatment #4 and midway PET scan done

Nick had his 4th treatment on Friday. His white counts and ANC were the best they've been since he started treatment-2.8 and around 720. The treatment went fine. He doesn't have a port, so he's getting his chemo through an IV in his arm, alternating arms each time. He's had some pain in his left arm, which had had 2 treatments already, so they slowed down the dacarbizine drip, from 1 hour to 1.5 hours. Hopefully that will prevent any serious vein pain. Side effects have been the same as before-generalized yucky feeling and some nausea the first couple of days. He should start improving pretty soon. His midway PET was yesterday and that went fine. About 8 or 9 friends from school and church shaved their heads in support of Nick. We need to get a picture and put it in here. Nick was really touched. His hair is really falling out now. I didn't realize how thin it had gotten until I saw the other guys that shaved their heads. Even though their hair was the same length as Nick's, it looks so much darker because it is so much thicker. From a distance, Nick looks like a blond with very short hair-but he's NOT a blond. He just doesn't have any hair!