Andy and Burgess’ Dana Farber Update

AAll,
We had an encouraging day at DF, highlights below:
– Cindy gained 4lbs, to her surprise. Great job friends/chefs!
– Chemo to start on Friday, in one week.
– Met with Social worker.
– Will have CT scan this weekend to establish base line prior to treatment.

Cindy still gets full very quickly. But we feel good about the path forward
A

Today at Dana Farber we met with the Dr. to discuss Cindy’s main obstacles: Pain management, Weight Gain, Eating issues (such as nausea and getting full early). Another topic we discussed was when Chemo therapy will begin. Andy was eager to begin Chemo, I was unsure and my mom thought whatever the doctor decided was best. After elaborating on the possible risks and gains we decided that it would be best to begin Chemo therapy on Friday. Cindy will be receiving Chemo every 12 days/two weeks.

Tomorrow Cindy will return to Dana Farber for a CT scan which will act as a starting point for the Dr. He will compare later CT scans to this one in order to understand if the Chemo is killing the cancer cells. It should be a relatively easy procedure. During the next week Cindy will be recovering her strength from the CT scan and attempting to gain as much weight as possible. She’ll want to be strong for the Chemo.

From what I understand, on Friday we will go in for Chemo therapy. Cindy will leave with a certain bag full of Chemo drugs which will be attached for two days. This bag will be connected to the port. Though everyone is different, the Dr. is guessing that she’ll be weakest after a couple days of Chemo. Since she has opted to use a drug which kills your hair cells she’ll probably be loosing hair after approximately two weeks.

Looking forward to seeing all of you,
Burgess