Second Round of Chemo

Jim's second round of chemo is going well. He got to sit at the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic for this round of chemo rather than at the hospital. The Vince is really nice - all the patients get to sit in barcoloungers, they all have their own tvs, and it's a very friendly atmosphere. We don't know the nurses at the Vince really well yet, so ironically it's not quite as personal as chemo was at the hospital. But the nurses at the Vince are GREAT - they all give you their home phone numbers in case you need anything - 24 hours a day! These people are truly committed to their profession.

Jim's bloodwork is all normal, which is excellent. They've upped his blood thinners a little bit, but otherwise his bloodwork is that of a normal, healthy person. That's exciting because we want to keep him strong for future chemo treatments.

We had a great appointment with Dr. Haid on Monday. Jim's sister did a lot of research and prepared a wonderful document to help us determine the best vitamin and supplement regime for Jim. Dr. Haid looked over her research and made some suggestions, but on the whole he approved. So Jim will be starting a supplement regime. Dr. Haid said that Jim appears to be very healthy.

We're starting tai chi at the end of November. I also bought a Tibetan Bowls CD for Jim that his cousin recommended. It's a wonderfully relaxing CD. Jim's cousin, Lynn, works with Dr. Mitch Gaynor in NYC at Gaynor Integrative Oncology. She's a holistic nutritionist, so she's been giving us a lot of great information on making changes in his diet. Dr. Gaynor has written several books on the healing properties of sound therapy, so the Tibetan Bowls CD is good for Jim. Dave and Melissa French also sent a CD of yoga music and guided mediations, so we've been using those, too. We've also moved to an almost completely organic diet. We're eating ultra-healthy, which is great for Jim's immune system and for keeping him cancer-free in the future. Rachel isn't as jazzed about eating healthy, but she did manage to plow through a piece of salmon last night, so she's not totally against it. (Although admittedly, she'd much rather have candy!)

Jim got more cards in the mail today. I think he's up to around 188 cards now. He gets so excited about his cards. I put all the cards in a basket for him so he can look at them whenever he wants. He likes to go through them.

I'll post more tomorrow after the pump comes out. Tomorrow is our big test - Wednesday was the really "sick day" of the last treatment. Dr. Haid changed a few of his meds so hopefully he'll be feeling good.

Love to all-
Kate, Jim, Rachel and Jake