Dad started his new chemo yesteday. Hopefully it goes well for him. So far so good. He takes 2 pills in the morning and 1 pill at night for 2 weeks straight. It sure beats having to sit at the hospital for 5+ hours. He has a handy compartment with each day am and pm on it so he won't get confused if he took them or not. I filled them up this morning for him so he's all set. He will continue this for a while and get blood work to watch his tumor marker, and as long as everything is good, he will be able to do this for some time before we have to switch it up. Say your prayers, cross your fingers, or whatever it is that you do and hope that it works out well for him. It would be nice for him to be able to do this for the summer.
Dad's is so anxious to get all his gardening and flowers/plants planted that he's been doing them himself. He's doing it slowly, but his legs aren't doing too well and today, while I was standing right next to him, he tipped over and hit the road. Luckily he was kneeling down when it happened so the fall wasn't too hard, but he did cut his head open and his elbow again. I had to pick him up and then walk him back to the house and bandage him up. I'm so upset about this. His balance is really bad these days. I feel horrible because I was right next to him when it happened and I couldn't do anything. I was too far away to catch him and he tipped the opposite way that I was. He's ok now, but I warned him that he can't be leaning over and kneeling to do things anymore. I know this upsets him, and knowing him, he won't listen. He has been falling at least once a week lately, most of the time, he tries to hide it from me, but luckily Mom tells me,.
So, I have a job for my family this Monday when everyone comes. I don't want to hear any whining or anything, but we need to get his gardening done for him. I did finish up what he was doing today when he fell and he promised he wouldn't do anymore today. But, if we don't get it done for him, there's no promising that he won't try it again. With all of us chipping in, it shouldn't take that long. I appreciate everyone's help with this.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Doing Good
Dad's been doing pretty good. He's been busy playing in the garden and tiring himself out. He has this week and next week off from chemo and then he will start his next therapy - Pill. He's excited about it. I just hope this therapy works as well as the other and keeps his cancer stable. Say a prayer that it works well for him. Meanwhile, he's enjoying his time off from chemo.
We still have lots of bracelets to sell. Would love it if you spread the word so we can raise more money for Dad's chemo bills. :)
Hope everyone is staying dry.
We still have lots of bracelets to sell. Would love it if you spread the word so we can raise more money for Dad's chemo bills. :)
Hope everyone is staying dry.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Better Day
Dad seems to be feeling a lot better today. I think it was that he had overworked himself yesterday. I also yelled at him because he hasn't been eating before he takes his medications, which can also be a problem for his belly aches.
I am happy to report that we have raised $255.00 so far for Dad's fundraiser and I gave $225.00 of it to him today to help pay bills that he was stressing about. $30.00 more of it is sitting in paypal and I will be forwarding that to is checking account today. He was so happy, he didn't know what to say. I wanted to hold the money and present it to him more formally, but he has been talking about his money problems for a couple of days now, so I figured it was the right time. Since the checks were made out to me, I signed them and then had him sign the backs, but wouldn't let him see who the checks were from. hehe They have been deposited this afternoon.
Thanks to everyone who has donated money to Dad's cause. We still have lots of bracelets left and hope to continue this.
Tammy
I am happy to report that we have raised $255.00 so far for Dad's fundraiser and I gave $225.00 of it to him today to help pay bills that he was stressing about. $30.00 more of it is sitting in paypal and I will be forwarding that to is checking account today. He was so happy, he didn't know what to say. I wanted to hold the money and present it to him more formally, but he has been talking about his money problems for a couple of days now, so I figured it was the right time. Since the checks were made out to me, I signed them and then had him sign the backs, but wouldn't let him see who the checks were from. hehe They have been deposited this afternoon.
Thanks to everyone who has donated money to Dad's cause. We still have lots of bracelets left and hope to continue this.
Tammy
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Feeling not so Good
Today started out well. We spent the morning with Mom and Dad having our typical Sunday breakfast, which was a bit more special since it was Mother's Day. Clark even did the dishes for me, which is usually my duty since i'm on duty Sundays with Mom. Dad spent a lot of the day outside working on the yard edging the grass. He's such a stubborn man and I think he may have pushed himself too much.
Although he has been struggling with stomach issues this past week, tonight was bad. He and Mom came to our house for dinner and he was not himself. He was practically falling asleep at the table a couple of times and just wasn't his normal chipper self. He barely ate anything for dinner and said he was just not feeling well which we could totally tell. He ended up leaving early and went straight to bed. I ended up driving Mom home and I checked on him and he was sleeping soundly, so that is good. I did the husbandly duties and put my to bed and took care of the doggie and locked up the house since i'm sure he'll be asleep for the rest of the night.
I hope tomorrow is a better day. I will be there early tomorrow so I'll see what's going on.
Hope everyone who's a mommy had a great day :)
Although he has been struggling with stomach issues this past week, tonight was bad. He and Mom came to our house for dinner and he was not himself. He was practically falling asleep at the table a couple of times and just wasn't his normal chipper self. He barely ate anything for dinner and said he was just not feeling well which we could totally tell. He ended up leaving early and went straight to bed. I ended up driving Mom home and I checked on him and he was sleeping soundly, so that is good. I did the husbandly duties and put my to bed and took care of the doggie and locked up the house since i'm sure he'll be asleep for the rest of the night.
I hope tomorrow is a better day. I will be there early tomorrow so I'll see what's going on.
Hope everyone who's a mommy had a great day :)
Monday, May 2, 2011
CAT Scan Update
Today was Dad's appointment with his oncologist and then his chemotherapy was right after. The visit went well. Hmmm where do I start? First off, the CAT Scan showed stable disease. Although the report is very confusing to read (I have a copy) the oncologist summarized it and said that he is stable, so that is good. Of course we would like to hear that the tumors are shrinking, but we will take stable. The oncologist we saw was not the usual one that I was used to seeing. I really liked him. He is very thorough and he speaks in layman's terms which is nice to understand. He showed us the graph of Dad's CEA levels (tumor marker) which has been very sporadic throughout the last year and a half. I asked lots of questions and he was awesome with answering them.
I asked what our options are at this point and he said that there are still options. One of course would be to stop chemo altogether, which isn't an option for Dad and he has made that clear (thank God!) He explained that basically there is only 4 medications that can treat Dad's cancer. One of which his body has already showed immunity to which is why they changed his dosing about a month or so ago when his CEA levels started to rise (this is also why Dad has lost his hair and now has a cute bald head). He then brought up what is very exciting and it was the first time I saw Dad smile with his cute gums showing hehe. He said that Dad could take a pill form of the chemotherapy in which he would take 2 pills a day for a three week interval. Then he would have to come in to run tests and such. This would mean no more 5 hour visits to the hospital or them accessing his port to push the chemo through. Dad was so excited. He stated that he would take if for about 3 cycles and they will watch his blood work to see where his CEA levels are going to make sure that it works. If it works, then he can do this for a while. He did say that if the levels increase a bit, that they may opt to give him Avastin (starves the tumor) in which he would go in every two weeks for that, but that would only be an hour visit. I asked if that meant no more "Russel" (Russel is dad's pump that he has to carry around from the time he leaves chemo until Wednesday when he has to go and have it removed. It pumps the one drug that he receives sporadically throughout the 3 days. Dad calls it Russel because that was the name of one of Dad's boss's that he absolutely despised). The oncologist said it would be eliminated. Dad was glowing. It was nice to see some excitement out of him for a change.
I was a bit confused why this option was not offered to us before now and I did ask the oncologist, but he was in the middle of typing things in the computer and by the time he was done, the topic got changed. It's a bit bothersome, but I'm thinking it's probably because when he was first diagnosed, they wanted to do the most aggressive chemo and the pill probably wasn't the most aggressive. Not sure if this is true, but that's my thoughts.
So, long story short, Dad's cancer is stable and after this week he will have 3 weeks off and then will start the pill form of chemo. Please pray that he responds well.
God Bless Our Troops
I asked what our options are at this point and he said that there are still options. One of course would be to stop chemo altogether, which isn't an option for Dad and he has made that clear (thank God!) He explained that basically there is only 4 medications that can treat Dad's cancer. One of which his body has already showed immunity to which is why they changed his dosing about a month or so ago when his CEA levels started to rise (this is also why Dad has lost his hair and now has a cute bald head). He then brought up what is very exciting and it was the first time I saw Dad smile with his cute gums showing hehe. He said that Dad could take a pill form of the chemotherapy in which he would take 2 pills a day for a three week interval. Then he would have to come in to run tests and such. This would mean no more 5 hour visits to the hospital or them accessing his port to push the chemo through. Dad was so excited. He stated that he would take if for about 3 cycles and they will watch his blood work to see where his CEA levels are going to make sure that it works. If it works, then he can do this for a while. He did say that if the levels increase a bit, that they may opt to give him Avastin (starves the tumor) in which he would go in every two weeks for that, but that would only be an hour visit. I asked if that meant no more "Russel" (Russel is dad's pump that he has to carry around from the time he leaves chemo until Wednesday when he has to go and have it removed. It pumps the one drug that he receives sporadically throughout the 3 days. Dad calls it Russel because that was the name of one of Dad's boss's that he absolutely despised). The oncologist said it would be eliminated. Dad was glowing. It was nice to see some excitement out of him for a change.
I was a bit confused why this option was not offered to us before now and I did ask the oncologist, but he was in the middle of typing things in the computer and by the time he was done, the topic got changed. It's a bit bothersome, but I'm thinking it's probably because when he was first diagnosed, they wanted to do the most aggressive chemo and the pill probably wasn't the most aggressive. Not sure if this is true, but that's my thoughts.
So, long story short, Dad's cancer is stable and after this week he will have 3 weeks off and then will start the pill form of chemo. Please pray that he responds well.
God Bless Our Troops
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