Round 2 Over, and what a pain in the butt....

Well round 2 is done, and once again Tami shows how tough she is. We went up Thursday night, stopped in our favorite restaurant and had a nice dinner. Tami and I walked back from the restaurant, which was a good 6 -7 blocks. We stayed at the Westin on Michigan Avenue, thanks to the American Cancer Society for a decent room rate.

Friday morning we headed off to Chemo, Tami had her labs done first, and they were really good. We met with Dr Benson, I cant say enough of about him. I really think a lot of him, and that says a lot coming from me, I dont care much for doctors, specially these days. He talked more in-depth about this shot Tami would be getting. Its basically a human growth hormone, it has been shown to stop the growth of tumors like Tami has. He said he has had patients on this shot since 1992, so if it works for Tami, at the very least we could stop tumor growth completely. He did go on to say that Tami does have a more aggressive style tumor, but he was hopeful for good results, and the fact that the tumors have the receptors to accept this shot is very very hopeful. The shot is given in the backside with a very large needle, it has to be injected into the muscle if I understood correctly. The Nurse giving the shot seemed to enjoy it a little too much :)

I dont know what it is about Dr Benson, as we look back on Tami's journey his name has popped up here and there at a number of different times. The way he talks to you and communicates what he is doing is just remarkable, every other time we have a meeting with a Doctor, Tami always comes away feeling confused and lost. I have yet to see that in Tami, and thats a good sign. He makes no promises, but he also doesn't make any prognosis, its refreshing to find a doctor that doesn't consider himself so godly that he can predict the future. I think we are finally in great hands.

Even better news, after the Chemo, Tami walked out to smoke and I ran off to pick up the Chemo pills she takes home. The gift shop in the hospital had just what we have been looking for all this time. A new liver! SO I bought Tami a new liver. Ok, its a little yellow stuffed liver (kinda like a beanie baby) but it made her smile and thats my most important job these days. Its good that we can laugh and joke about this, otherwise we would be doing a lot of crying.

Tami decided she wanted to walk back to the hotel, again, showing just how tough she is. It's a nice walk along Michigan Ave back to the hotel and was just nice to be able to spend time together. I figured that would be it for the day, and that I would run out and get food and bring it back for Tami, after a couple hours nap, Tami would have nothing of it. Back out on the streets we went. We went up to the Hancock Observatory that was right across the street. Up to the 94th floor. We then walked around Chicago, stopping in at a store called Lush, the man description I will give you is a store with a bunch of stinky soap. I am sure Tami would describe it otherwise. She found herself a couple stinky items and off we went, we wandered about around the Water Tower, over to the Hersey Store and then down to Giordano's Pizza for a stuffed pizza that was simply amazing. We must have walked for a few hours and Tami kept truckin along, I am so very proud of her, she is such a fighter, more than I think she even realizes at times.

Ok, I better mention this as well. I guess some Mexican Soccer team was staying at the hotel we were at. They had police barricades up at times and there was media everywhere snapin photos and interviewing fans. All I will say is this, if Tami would have turned up missing, I probably could have found her on the 5th floor. :)

Saturday morning we hit the road, loaded up our Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and head home. Tami had moments all weekend with not feeling well, but all things considered it was a good Chemo weekend, as good as they can get anyways.