It has been awhile since the all six of us have been a trip together, well for us two months is a long time. Things are mostly the same as always- the latest Disney movie playing, Dylan and Jackson eating chips and arguing about their Mario game, Harrison whining for more food, and Kellen sleeping peacefully. Jason is quiet as usual but not because he has nothing to say, because it hurts to talk and he moans because he is so uncomfortable. He has now lost 20 pounds. He is still as handsome as ever, but on an already thin guy who is going to lose even more weight from the chemo and radiation, it isn't a good thing. The treatments make his mouth full of sores and there is the constant state of naseau and exhaustion.
This week has been full of forced fun. There were moments of true enjoyment but all of us, even the kids, were exhausted and didn't feel good. I will first begin with our arrival to Dallas. Luckily, they changed his final appointment to set up the radiation to Monday afternoon. They first wanted us to come up there on Friday the 8th. That didn't seem to bad to us at first, because we thought it would be his only appointment that week. But they called to tell him that they were moving up his treatments and he would start on the 5th. We were dreading having to go up there again- just one day after we got back, but there was nothing we could do. Right after I called telling them we might be a little late because we couldn't leave till we put the boys on the bus at 7. His appointment was a 10 that morning. Jason texted me and told me they changed the appointment to 3:15 that Monday. I thought how nice of them to change it for us, that wasn't the case though- the RD hadn't finalized his treatment until that next Monday.
Jason and I misunderstood what that appointment was going to be about. I thought they were going to explain the treatments more thoroughly and that they were going to explain all the risks again. so I knew that I needed to be at this meeting. Well it is a good thing that they changed it to Monday because we had to be there anyways. Like I said, the appointment wasn't anything like we thought it was going to be. They let me go back with him and then showed me the machine and his mask and said, "okay well we will be out in a minute." I thought umm aren't we supposed to meet with the doctors? She said, "Nope, that's all we were doing today." If I had driven all the way up there with the babies then had to get them a sitter up there while Jason and I had this so called meeting that we are going to have, then come to find out that it wasn't a meeting at all I would have been very peeved. I of course didn't stay mad for too long especially when Jason came back out and said, "well they're going to go ahead and do my first treatment so now we don't have to come back that next Monday." I was overjoyed. That means we would finish on April 19th and wouldn't have to come back for 1 radiation treatment on April 22nd. By the time Jason and I went to Walmart for a few surprises then went out to dinner we got back to the hotel exhausted. Jason had to be to the chemo clinic at 8am the next morning.
Sometime that night Jason's phone died. Therefore, the alarm didn't go off, and we didn't wake up till 7:52 a.m. I was pretty impressed when we showed up at the clinic at 815, but even those 15 minutes had set us back quite a bit. Jason has to get his blood drawn so they can check it and that usually takes 30 to 45 minutes. Then it takes them another half hour to be able to clear a room for us to go in. Between the pre-drugs like a Benadryl and steroids, they had 2 hours of 1 chemo drug then 2 hours of another chemo drug then they had 2 hours of fluids. We were there from 8:15 to 3:30, and we weren't over yet. Then it was off to two stores trying to find specific food for Jason to eat, and back for the radiation treatment at 4:30. They were running behind, so we didn't get out of there until 6 o'clock. I thought he would be done for the night because I felt like I was, but he hadn't eaten since breakfast so we went and had Mexican... again. We also knew we had to go to Costco and to a store where he could find a hat that he could wear outside. All in all, we didn't get back to the hotel till 9:30. We were going to drive to Fort Worth to meet Sara to pick up the boys the next morning.
We still must have been pretty tired from the day before, because we were running late and I was worried that they were going to have to wait for a while for us. We were so excited to see the boys; they gave us hugs and wouldn't let go. We were going to try to go to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum on our way home, but that was not going to happen. We ate at Dylan's favorite restaurant Olive Garden. I guess the lecture Jason had gotten from the nutritionist the day before, and all of my gentle prodding had gotten Jason to cheat a bit on his no sugar no carbs diet and he had seafood alfredo.
After Jason went to his radiation treatment at 3:30 that is when the forced fun began. It was impossible to keep the kids in the hotel room without going crazy. Our choices were limited because of spring break, but we knew how much Dylan and Jackson liked to go to Great Wolf Lodge and do the magi quest. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a wizard game where they have to climb up and down the hotel stairs to be able to play it. I thought that Dylan would be so excited that he would be able to get over how he has been sick for the last 5 days but I was wrong he didn't last too long. Of course I was the one who was running up and down the stairs with them. But Jason having to just take care of the babies was hard on him. We knew that we needed to go get something to eat and that Rainforest Cafe was just down the street. I knew that there would be a wait, but I didn't realize that it would be an hour and a half long. Finally, I went up and ask them how much longer we had. When the host saw me holding both of the crying babies he said for us to just go ahead. The kids did enjoy themselves but we were all literally exhausted.
When we woke up the next morning both Jackson and Jason were sick to their stomachs. I knew why Jason was sick, but I had no idea that Jackson had picked up another stomach bug and had been throwing up all morning. We were planning on getting an early start in the morning to be able to go to the zoo, but Jason couldn't even get out of bed and Jackson was curled up in a ball. I didn't know if we would be doing anything that day. I took Dylan, Harrison, and Kellen to breakfast. When we had returned Jason had gotten up ate breakfast and was getting ready to go to the zoo. I knew we were going to be pushing it with the time Jason had to make his radiation appointment at 3:30 because he was meeting with the radiation oncologist. We didn't leave until 11 and didn't arrive at the zoo until 12. I thought it would be a miracle if we were able to get through the zoo in 2 hours with half of DFE also attending. Jason was being such a trooper; I could tell that he felt so sick, but he knew he wanted to take his boys to the zoo.
We were able to make it to the hotel in time for Jason go to his appointment. When Jason had returned from his appointment he had some good news from the doctor: the tumor felt softer so it was probably responding to chemo. I knew we were going to have a hard time getting the kids to sleep because they were all wiped out by 7 o'clock and wanted to go to bed then. I knew that was too early so I made them all go take a bath that did just the opposite effect and got them all riled up. We eventually got them all to sleep. 
I knew Jason wasn't going to sleep well because he must of caught a chest cold from somebody and he was up most of the night coughing.
When we woke up this morning it was weird to pack up the hotel room and only taking a few things because we knew we were coming back again on Monday. Jason has his appointment at 10:15, and we were able to head out by 11 o'clock. There was a big traffic jam on I-30 heading into Fort Worth, and we realized it was people trying to go to the Fort Worth Zoo!!! Unbelievable!!! Jason wanted to drive so I started writing this post. Halfway to Abilene he told me that he was getting too tired so I needed to drive. I have never seen him sleep so hard in a car before. I told the boys that when we got home they needed to let Daddy take a nap. It has been four hours now and he still asleep. I hope he feels better when he wakes up. It is so hard to see him go through so much suffering and pain.
We knew that this week was going to be hard, but the kids really did pull through and we all made the best out of what we were given!! It is almost better that he didn't start until when he did because I don't know if we would has been able to do what we did if you was later on in his treatment.
Thank you for everyone who has left us an encouraging supportive comment. I know Jason read them and they really do inspire him!!!
Love, Heather
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