Treatment Begins

After we had got the final diagnosis we needed to drive to Ottawa because that is where we decided to go through our treatment. We wanted to be close to family and friends. On our way home we got a call from the doctor in Ottawa and he had arranged a private room for us which was an incredible blessing because it was doctor ordered we did not have to pay for it. We parked the car and headed up to the 5th floor of the Ottawa General Hospital and checked into room 5225 which became our home for the next three weeks while I went through my first round of chemo. It was an information overload, we had doctors, nurses, and pharmacist all in in the first couple of hours. I was feeling better, Melissa was feeling better now that we were back in Ottawa with family and friends, we were excited to get through this and enjoy our baby who was due to arrive in four months.

The next day we got a visit from a social worker and no word of a lie I think she was sent by the devil. She had nothing good to say, she wanted us to prepare for my death and made sure to let us know how the cancer I had usually gets the best of people. She then looked at my wife and commented on how thankful she must be because of her pregnancy. She then went on to inform us that it was a blessing becauise I would never be able to have children again. The chemo I had was so powerful that it would be 99.99% impossible for me to have kids again. That did it for my wife. To tell her that she would never be able to carry any more children was a huge burden for her. I asked the social worker to leave and go bring down someone elses day.

I remember holding my wife and just thinking to myself, God you are able!

That day I started my treatment. I was receiving two types of chemo and was hooked up to an iv pump 24/7 for a whole week. I had a hickman tube put in my chest which stopped me from being poked with needles. They had to measure all the fluids that were coming out of my body and I remember one day peeing out 11ltrs of liquid, I think that is still a record today at the General Hospital.

Everything was going smooth, I was not getting sick. The nurses actually were thrilled at how well I was doing and I finished my first round of chemo relatively easy. I was so excited until the nurses let me know that the chemo really doesn’t do it’s thing until the second week.

They were right. After the first week I started to feel crummy and then I spiked a fever which I thought was no big deal until my doctor walked in and informed me that I could die within a half hour of getting a fever and they take them very serious. So began the toughest battle that I would go through over the next 10days.

More to come