Journal entry by Allen Cooke —
Today is Monday and we are preparing to take Monique to Gainesville on Thursday for her second cycle of chemo. This will be her five day treatment, so after we admit her to the hospital on Thursday, she will remain there until Tuesday. Hopefully we will return home that afternoon.
Her treatments take place at night so that she will hopefully sleep through most of it. She experienced nausea immediately during her last treatment. She experienced severe symptoms for the most part for the past two weeks. Today she is more like herself and is feeling somewhat normal. Over the weekend, she started to experience hair loss. That was an emotional moment even though it was expected. We have scheduled a friend to come to our house in the morning to cut her hair. She is ready to take care of it and get on with life without hair.
Early Thursday morning we will leave to travel to Gainesville to check her into to the hospital. I (Dad), Mom, and Monique will be going this trip.
Her sense of humor has not waned at all and we spend many of our moments laughing hysterically at her. I'm sure that we'll laugh less over the days to come, but for now, we are trying to enjoy every moment we have.
We have several people asking how they can help and what we need. I can only give you suggestions of things that will help. Over the next several months we will be traveling to Gainesville for treatment. The American Cancer Society has a lodge in Gainesville but it is closed to guests because of Covid-19 so we are staying at a hotel close to the hospital. This gets expensive. The lodge will not allow any of us to stay there unless Monique also stays with us, which is an issue since she is admitted on Thursday and will stay until Tuesday. The most immediate need is prayer. We're having to travel a lot so gas is an expense. Gift cards are also perfect. We have set up a fundraiser on Facebook for expenses and the trip to New York later in the year.
https://www.facebook.com/donate/708395766629422/?fundraiser_source=external_url
Her treatments take place at night so that she will hopefully sleep through most of it. She experienced nausea immediately during her last treatment. She experienced severe symptoms for the most part for the past two weeks. Today she is more like herself and is feeling somewhat normal. Over the weekend, she started to experience hair loss. That was an emotional moment even though it was expected. We have scheduled a friend to come to our house in the morning to cut her hair. She is ready to take care of it and get on with life without hair.
Early Thursday morning we will leave to travel to Gainesville to check her into to the hospital. I (Dad), Mom, and Monique will be going this trip.
Her sense of humor has not waned at all and we spend many of our moments laughing hysterically at her. I'm sure that we'll laugh less over the days to come, but for now, we are trying to enjoy every moment we have.
We have several people asking how they can help and what we need. I can only give you suggestions of things that will help. Over the next several months we will be traveling to Gainesville for treatment. The American Cancer Society has a lodge in Gainesville but it is closed to guests because of Covid-19 so we are staying at a hotel close to the hospital. This gets expensive. The lodge will not allow any of us to stay there unless Monique also stays with us, which is an issue since she is admitted on Thursday and will stay until Tuesday. The most immediate need is prayer. We're having to travel a lot so gas is an expense. Gift cards are also perfect. We have set up a fundraiser on Facebook for expenses and the trip to New York later in the year.
https://www.facebook.com/donate/708395766629422/?fundraiser_source=external_url
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