The last few days have been a fairly nerve-wracking roller coaster ride. On Thursday, Tim was scheduled to have minor surgery in order to put in a port to make it easier to administer the chemo when the time comes. (Tim's veins are notoriously hard to find without lots of poking, jabbing and missing altogether.) Tim was prepped for surgery and had an IV started. Just before starting the anesthesia drip, the nurses mentioned that he'd also be getting an antibiotic as part of the procedure. When Tim asked if the antibiotic might impact his lab test on Friday for the clinical trial, it wasn't clear. Probably not, but we didn't want to take the chance. Tim looked up the antibiotic on his tablet and found out that it could irritate the liver. The medical staff then agreed with Tim that it would be better not to risk his last chance to qualify for the clinical trial. His port surgery was rescheduled for next week.

On Friday, Tim's bilirubin level has dropped to 1.3, but it needs to be 1.2 or lower. So close! He will be re-tested one more time before the port is put in next Tuesday (October 20).

Regardless of whether or not he qualifies for the trial, it’s clear that Tim needs to start on chemo very soon – likely some time later next week. The only question now is whether the chemo drug they administer is part of the experimental clinical trial or the standard "toxic soup" as it's called.

On Saturday, we go to Paul's multiple myeloma support group. What a fun social calendar we have! Sometimes it's hard to remember that we used to do other things besides going to doctors, taking lab tests, picking up meds, and just trying to keep up with the latest information about our cancers and treatment options.