Iowa City Hospital - Outpatient #4 - Chemo Round #5 - December 30

Wednesday morning the 30th (one day earlier than normal because my doctor was taking the next day off) we left home about 7:40 AM. On Tuesday we got at least 10 inches of snow and Denise cleaned half the driveway the evening before. It was really hard not to help her shovel the heavy wet snow, even though I am weak, but the doctor gave me explicit instructions not to shovel snow.

In the morning, our road was not yet plowed on our side before we left, though it had been plowed on the other side. The rest of the roads were plowed and fine. We reached the Cancer Center in the hospital shortly after 8 AM, which turned out to be the beginning of a long day.

As usual, they drew blood for labs, flushed my PICC line, and changed the dressing on it. Then we waited to see the doctor. And waited. And waited. What was supposed to be a 9:20 appointment with him turned into 11:20. He said that he saved me for last because I was his buddy. I told Denise that it was probably because he knew that we were nice - and patient. Hopefully it was because he saw the character of Jesus coming through our lives.

The doctor told me that my 6th and final chemo treatment will be the 20th of January. Then we will do my final PET scan in early March. Hopefully it will be clear and cancer free, which is what we are all praying for!

After our visit with him, we were finally able to go upstairs to the Infusion Lab for chemo. It was not long before we were called back to the lab, only our spot was not free yet. So we got a different spot, close to the window. This is exactly what Denise wanted, because then she could lie down on the window seat.

We had a great view of Kinnick Stadium,
the home of the University of Iowa Hawkeye football team

My chemo process got started shortly after noon. Denise went to buy lunch right away, then mid-afternoon she took a nice nap. I never did dose off, though I came close once.

Chemo treatment in process

Because the Neulasta On Body (which automatically delivers a shot to help boost my white blood cells) worked fine last time, we went ahead and used it again. This time I had the nurse put it on the back of my left arm. (The next evening, we were glad that it worked successfully.)

The process went well, as usual, and we finished up before 5 PM, getting back home about 5:15. It was a much longer chemo day than normal, which was very tiring.

As I wrote on Facebook the next day, we are thankful for God's help and blessings this past year - and look forward with anticipation to what He has in store for us in 2021. We are hoping and planning on our return to Ukraine! Thanks for praying and caring for us.

With me being able to stay healthy and out of the hospital after the last round of chemo, there was even more hope that I would stay home after this round as well.