New Chemo Begins

So on Tuesday, May 31, we headed to Chapel Hill in the afternoon. We made good time and found the "motel" easy enough.  It was in a fantastic location, but the motel itself was very, very sketchy.  I was uncomfortable from the get-go and that's before we ever even made it to the room.  The people outside of the motel were sketchy; the elevator to our room smelled like vomit and was filthy.  The room on first glance wasn't too bad, until you really start looking.  It was actually pretty dirty.  There was what looked like a blood stain on the wall near the bed.  I wouldn't have been surprised to see roaches or bedbugs.  The floors were dirty such that I wouldn't take my socks off, even to sleep.  The bathroom door scraped on the floor so that it made it hard to open or close.  On the inside of the bathroom, the door looked like someone tried to dig their way out.  There was no hand soap or trash in the entire place.  Lesson learned...pay close attention to reviews and not just the location/price.  I left them a bad review, as did Dad.  He didn't sleep well that night (last night) and I put on a "white noise" thing from YouTube.  We were both up at 6 a.m. and raring to leave!

The plus was definitely the location.  We were walking distance to a grocery store and restaurants.  Dad and I ate at a Mexican restaurant and we each actually had a beer.  Boy was that good!  Neither of us have had a beer in a long, long time.  We did a "cheers" to a good week!  It wasn't until we got back to the room that I remembered he's not supposed to drink on one of his meds.  Oops!

We ate breakfast at a McDonald's on the way to the Cancer Center.  We got to the CC an hour early.  Everything was going along smoothly except one of his appointments was changed to a video appointment, which didn't work with Google Chrome.  It had to be Safari.  It was a little frustrating at first as I didn't want to make Dad not have that appointment, but I got it figured out and he had his appt.  I was concerned that it might make him late for his 1:00 appointment for his actual chemo, but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA...No.  He didn't get called back for that until 2:50-something.  He received fluids (to help combat dehydration), nausea meds, and his azacitidine.  The fluids took the longest.

We had called the SECU Family House this morning and were told we did have a room available for us.  PRAISE.  We'd also told them (early on) that we'd probably be there around 4. LOL  Little did we know!  So after we finally got sprung from the CC, we drove straight here to the Family House.

This place is AMAZING!!!  From the moment you step foot in the doors, it's calming.  There's a sense of peace.  They've thought of everything!  The gentleman who registered us actually gave us the regular room rate, but we were given a suite.  So for six nights, it was only like $340!!  I could've cried just walking through this place.  When Dad was parking the car before we brought our stuff in, I was just thanking God for this huge, incredible blessing.  

They gave us a tour.  They have this family area with a fireplace, TV, board games, puzzles, a library, puzzle books.  There's a garden area, free laundry area, a kitchen where you can cook food yourself or, like tonight, sometimes meals are provided.  They have a community refrigerator and freezer, community cabinets, and people's individual baskets in cabinets that you can bring your own stuff.  The community cabinets, refrigerator/freezer are available for anyone to eat/share. They also have a shuttle to/from the hospital if you want to use it, which would save the hassle of driving in Chapel Hill as well as the cost of parking.  Dad wants to drive tomorrow, though, as we also have to find a Walmart and pick up a few things.

We got to our room and it was amazing, too!  Dad has his own room with a TV and full-size dresser.  I have a queen bed, dresser, TV, and shelving unit.  It's basically in the living room part, so there's an easy chair and a recliner with a charging port for my phone.  We have a sink, pots/pans, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, refrigerator, dining room table...I mean this place is wonderful!  Even better is that we got it for the whole time we're here and don't have to check in/out each day!  So, so thankful!

Like I said, Dad took his first chemo pill with supper tonight.  We were so thankful to finally be done with the long day of appointments.  We just brought our food to our room and I nuked it and we ate here.  I didn't bring earplugs with me as I would normally sleep in them, but I want to be able to hear if Dad needs help or gets sick or whatever.  I'm praying he tolerates this well.

One bit of scary information we received today that no one has told us before was that with Dad's particular leukemia, he's at a higher risk of it going to his central nervous system, i.e. his spine and brain.  They said to help guard against that, at some point down the road, he will receive chemotherapy via lumbar puncture as a one-time thing.

All-in-all, I felt it was a good day, long but good.  And now I need to hit the hay as we will be up early again tomorrow and have more appointments and some errands to run.

I got to call Tim earlier after I got to shower (I wouldn't take one at that dumpy motel - gross!).  It was good to hear his voice and tell him all about our day.  I'd been keeping him informed as the day progressed, but it's not the same as actually speaking with him.  Dad got to Facetime Carol, so I know he was happy about that, too.  God is good.