Day 1 Chemo

After many days of waiting, and many, many prayers offered in petition for Charls' complete recovery, it was time for our meeting with the hematologist and clinical nurse to explain the treatment and side effects Charl would undergo starting Thursday February 11, 2010 (exactly 23 days after the mass in his chest was found).
Charl was his usual brave, optimistic self.
And then it was Thursday.

Aldyn and Mom came to Calgary to assist us in anyway they could for Charl's first days of treatment. It turns out that was very good timing because I got very sick with bronchitis and was down for the count and couldn't attend his first day of chemo. Aldyn being the oncology nurse/expert that she is (well, this is old hat for her!) Charl was accompanied by his personal nurse to the Tom Baker Cancer Center, and for the next 8 hours was injected via IV with a veritable cocktail of drugs starting with a steroid, anti-nauseant, anti-histamine, tylenol, and the chemo mixture for lymphoma specifically, called R-CHOP (5 drugs), finished off with a topping of another round of anti-nausea drugs. The coolest thing about this for us was that he was assigned a bed for the day, and the painting on the wall behind him was one of a huge soaring eagle (any of you who had attended our wedding may remember the first line of Charl's wedding vows to me: "Like an eagle we will soar...")

Charl arrived home for dinner that night smiling, feeling absolutely fine. A real shocker to both of us as we expected him to feel like he'd been run over by a truck. Ate a big dinner and slept well that night.