Round 6 Happened Reluctantly

​Here we are, one week away from Christmas, December 18, 2025, around #6 of chemo.  Definitely not wanting to do this one.  Sadly the last 2 weeks have been very hard, frustrating, painful, nauseating, and lethargic.  It’s hard.  But we can do hard things.  So here we are. 


Grabbed some burritos from the cafe and I opened up my work laptop to spend 4 hours in infusion which began around 9:30 am  (supposed to be 8:30 am but doctors orders didn’t get in and they have cancer board on a Thursday mornings so had to wait).  

Willie is unfortunately losing his hair again today.  It’s been growing for a few months now but the chemo will cause him to lose it all again.  Disappointing, but we’ve sort of come to terms with the fact he needs to complete round 6, 7, and 8 to be certain that any loose cancer cells are gone. 


We met with oncologist, Dr Voshtina yesterday and she was willing to postpone/delay this round until after Christmas or lower the dose by 15% and better manage side effects, in lieu of stopping treatment altogether.  After a few tears (mine), Willie decided to bite the bullet and suffer through today’s treatment using lower dose.  He’s tough!  She also gave a new prescription for nausea so hopefully that will help since he’s had a rough go for the past two weeks.

His blood counts were good and even though he feels like shit, he’s healthy.  With each round his side effects progress and we never know for sure how it will affect him.   Here’s a list of some; neuropathy in his hands, arms,and feet /legs, watery eyes, throat burn, no taste buds, food tastes like cardboard, dizziness, nauseated, weight loss, tired, lack of appetite, hair loss, cold, nails falling off, ice “shocks” him, can’t swallow liquids well (surgery related), can’t eat more than a cup at a time (trying to maintain his 25-30lb weight loss), flushing and rash.  I may have forgotten a few.  You get the idea.  It sucks.  And, it’s hard to watch and I feel helpless.



Also, it’s been a huge blow that he can’t talk after the surgery.  He lost his voice during the 6 hour surgery.  That’s normal and unusually it will come back but it’s been 2 months now and he’s still as hoarse as ever and hard to hear him when he talks.  He has to repeat a lot and that wears him out.  He has an appointment on January 7th with a speech pathologist for a swallow test.  Hopefully they can start to help him get his voice back some.  It’s been so frustrating for him  


That’s about all to report for now.  I’ll update as needed on how he feels in a few days.  He goes in tomorrow to take off pump with chemo in it that stays on for 24 hours.  He’ll get a shot for the next 3 days of Xarxio to keep his white blood cell count up after chemo   Next rounds are on 12/30 round #7 and 1/14 round #8, IF he does them.  It’s so hard! 


Tree in the lobby of 4th Floor Infusion by the elevators.  ❤️ I love white Christmas trees. 

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