finally an update!

Sorry for the long delay in getting another post up. Things have been busy lately. I promise I'll be better.

Promise.

So here's the latest with us.

Duben had his first chemo session Friday, August 26th. We both woke up that morning really feeling the magnitude of it all. It was all really happening and he was starting chemo that day. To say we were nervous is a bit of an understatement. It really hit us that the next year will be like nothing we've ever known. We are so thankful to know we have the support of so many amazing people to help us fight our way through it all.

This gives us so much strength.

Thank you.

The Oncology Clinic we go to for Duben's chemotherapy is right here in Bentonville, which is nice being so close to home. The nurses at the clinic have been amazing. They explained everything so well and were so accommodating and really tried to put us both at ease.

At the beginning of the treatment they load you up with a nice mixture of pain killers and other things to help with nausea. One of the drugs was Benadryl, which ended up making Duben pretty tired. He managed to sleep through some of it, which was a nice relief.

It has been interesting to learn so much about how the whole process works, which the different types of drugs and how they administer them, but I'll spare those details.

Everything went well until we got to the last drug. For some reason it made Duben feel a little warm and by the end of it, he felt pretty queasy.

The next few hours were pretty rough.

Luckily I have an amazing friend who walked me through all of his different nausea pills and he got what he needed. We had some of our friends come over and give him a blessing and he was able to sleep through the night and felt much better in the morning.

Thank you to everyone who helped us that day.

It was such an emotional day, and it meant so much to us to have our friends there. Thank you all.

The drugs they give him in the start of his chemo stay in his system for a few days, so his 'bad days' are a few days later. Tuesday/Wednesday for us.

So we were able to relax and enjoy the weekend without any problems, he is mostly just tired. Sure enough Tuesday/Wednesday he felt a little nauseous, but luckily it was controllable with his medications.

The past few days he has felt really good and we are trying to keep up a 'normal' routine. He is still working full time, he just takes naps at lunch time to help with the fatigue.

The other good news is, he still has his hair! We are debating the different styles to try out when the first of his hair starts falling out....

this is my favorite...with my name, of course.

or the other pretty one...

Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful for all the support and service we've received. It has made this easier on us knowing that we have such an amazing support system here in Arkansas.

Thank you.