Today was a pretty encouraging day altogether!  Clara drank 4 oz. of formula first thing in the morning and went right back to sleep.  My mom came this morning to stay with the kids while Cathy and I went to appointments.  Clara also drank 4 oz. of formula for my mom twice.  Mom said the second time she would have kept going if there was more to drink.  I think she would have kept going for me, too.


We were at doctors offices for about 6 hours today.  The first, with the oncologist, was very positive.  Dr. Drosick is a hobby musician from a family of educators, so we clicked right away.  He gave us the straight dope on current research and the divide between corporate driven research and research he trusts.  He was very confident and confidence inspiring.  We decided that Cathy would get a port later this week (turns out to be Friday) then chemo will start on Monday.


The chemo treatment will be TAC, which is taxotere, adriamycin, and cytoxan.  Some courses alternate AC and T, but Cathy will be getting all three at once.  She will get them on Mondays every three weeks.  This will occur on six cycles.  We can pretty well predict, then, how things are going to go.  She will be treated on 6/18, 7/9, 7/30, 8/20, 9/10, and 10/1.  If Cathy is typical, which up to this point she has not been, she will feel ok on Monday and Tuesday, then feel bad on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  The second week she shouldn't feel too nauseous, but will be really tired.  The third week she should feel close to normal, just in time to start over again.  Everybody reacts to chemo differently, but this is typical.


Cathy will receive Neulasta to keep her white blood cell count up.  She also has the option for a clinical trial of Halaven later on down the road if things don't go according to plan.  We'll have to research that quite a bit before committing. Hopefully, it won't even be necessary.


The boys and I went to the batting cages.  Jonah hit really well, as usual, and Aaron hit 44/80 pitches his first time ever at the batting cages.  As I write this Cathy is feeding Clara her fourth bottle of the day!  Prayers answered!