We saw Scott's oncologist this morning, and he postponed chemo for one week because Scott's white blood cells are too low. He's expecting them to return to a good enough level so they can blast away at them with chemo again next week. We were sort of pleased because then Scott can enjoy trick-or-treating with Maz and will be in a lot better shape for our trip to Cedars-Sinai on Friday.

On Saturday, we got a jump-start on Halloween with Maz's school carnival. And, of course, the hot dog costume made its 2013 debut. (FYI: The hot dog costume is a joke that backfired on me. I bought it five years ago because I was irritated that Scott would not come costume shopping with me. I figured I'd get back at him by buying him a really terrible costume. But the joke's on me ---- he won't stop wearing it. And not just on Halloween. He totally loves it).

Scott's hoping to catch up on email this week.

We felt so blessed to have Scott's sister, Muffie, visit us this week. I had to work a bunch of days so Muffie and Scott got some great quality time together. Walks at the lake and Sunset Cliffs (pictured below) seemed to be highlights.

Scott has been feeling pretty good this week -- he needs to sleep a good 12 hours a night with frequent napping, but the nausea is not too bad. He's trying hard to gear up mentally for another cycle of chemo. We will do another three-day run starting Monday. We're a bit bummed that Halloween will hit on what has traditionally been the hardest day of each cycle. Scott may do more sleeping on the couch than trick-or-treating this year. I hope he still wears his hot dog costume because it just wouldn't be Halloween without it. And this year, I was able to find Casey a matching hot dog costume. I tried to talk Maz into being a ketchup bottle, but he declined.

We also celebrated my 40th birthday this week. Muffie made me a cake!

This week has been so much better than last week. Last week's chemo was just as rough as the first cycle, but the recovery time was shorter. Over the weekend, Scott started to feel better. This week, he's been going on long walks and this morning he even forgot to take his anti-nausea medication. We're also looking forward to a visit from Scott's sister, who arrives on Sunday. And we're counting down the days till we get to see the specialist on Nov. 1. We keep hearing more and more good things about him so we're very hopeful.

We were definitely feeling thankful today that we were able to properly celebrate our 15th anniversary over the summer. We went to Ireland for our honeymoon 15 years ago and this summer we took Maz to some of the same places we visited on that trip. (The photos are of us at Donegal Castle 15 years ago and with Maz this summer. And a couple of other pre-Maz oldies). We didn't know at the time that our days would soon be filled with a constant battle to try to get better.

Today, Scott mostly napped. The big anniversary date was a mid-afternoon viewing of a show on Netflix. And after a romantic dinner of Panera soup, I gave his head a closer-crop buzz. The hair loss is increasing and he was beginning to look a bit like a dog with mange. :)

Day 3 of chemo is definitely a drag. Nausea that just won't let up. Luckily, Scott was able to spend the bulk of the day sleeping.

Our friend Eric took Scott to chemo today so I could stay home with Maz, who was sick with a cough. Definitely feeling grateful for all the support we've gotten. Our friends the Knapps came down last weekend and cleaned up our yard and trimmed our plants. And all the families who have been watching Maz have taken such a tremendous load off. Last night I was having a bit of a panic about how I would get Scott to chemo and stay home with a sick kid, but that panic was alleviated yet again by the kindness of another. Scott did end up dropping one of his assortment of pills in Eric's car so we're hoping he doesn't get pulled over and searched.

We saw Scott's cardiologist yesterday and got another good report on his heart -- nothing has gotten worse. Nothing has gotten better either, but we at least are not heading in the wrong direction. And there is still no reaccumulation of fluid in his pericardium, so that's good news. His cardiologist did a chest X-Ray, too, and the mass appears unchanged. This is not surprising after only one cycle of chemo. But it's good news that the mass has not gotten any bigger. And the cardiologist was so encouraged by the latest echo that we don't need to see him again until November. This is good news except that Scott loves his cardiologist. They always end up talking a lot about guitar playing, trips to Big Sur and books.

We're hoping for a restful sleep tonight knowing that tomorrow is a day free of chemo treatments, free of appointments, and it's also our 15th wedding anniversary.

We saw Scott's oncologist today before hitting the chemo infusion center. Scott's immune system is low, not surprisingly, but it was good enough to start another round of chemo. We learned that Scott is tolerating the chemo much better than expected. Our doctor admitted he had expected him to require hospitalization during the first round, due mostly to the complications with his heart. Apparently very few patients are able to withstand, or even attempt, chemo after a major pericardial effusion.

Unfortunately, that also means he wants Scott to do more cycles of chemo. How many more? We don't know. Scott is scheduled for another three-day stint Oct 28-30. The news was disappointing at first because chemo sucks, but then Scott pointed out a silver lining: "Miracles are already happening — I handled what they didn't think I could handle."

We got through Day 1 of the second round of chemo and Scott is doing OK. He even beat me at cribbage this time. He spent the afternoon reading and napping in his backyard lawn chair, then walked a couple miles this evening.

And good news, his doctor overruled the infusion center staff, telling him he could safely resume some of his favorite activities like gardening, eating fresh fruit and vegetables, and picking up Casey's dog poo. Wait. That last activity may be my favorite thing that he does.

We've had a pretty good week. Scott has had little pain and the nausea is pretty well managed. Scott had an echo yesterday, but we won't get results until he sees his cardiologist next week. 

This week, Scott plans to spend as much time as possible getting in good walks and roughhousing with Maz before chemo starts again next week.

I return to work Thursday and it's probably a good thing for two reasons. It will be nice to return to some sense of normalcy, even if most would not describe ER work as normal. The other reason is that Scott and I have begun collaborating on Halloween decorations. Luckily he seems to have regained his wit, and "chemo brain" is all but a distant memory, judging from his contributions to our work below. We are accepting original Halloween headstone suggestions. Got any?