He Speaks!

Nov 182013
 

Rick’s slow recovery continues, but there have been some positive changes.

The most exciting is that he’s starting to speak.  You don’t know how much I’ve missed that man’s voice!  It’s only been a few words here and there because the more he talks the sorer his throat gets, but I’ll take those few words over grunts and silence any day.

We saw the Doctor again today which basically was refilling prescriptions and warning us to watch out for any fevers.  Fevers = emergency situation and that would be bad at this point, so Rick is sticking close to home and resting.  We did move his work computer home so that he can still do some mindless tasks like deposits, but not much else.

I have noticed that he has started to lose some of that “sick” look, and the other day he confirmed that he did feel a little better.

Music to my ears.

Now we continue on the waiting game, and also a week off from having to check in with the Doctor.  It will be nice to finally have a Monday off from the road trips.

:::

On a completely unrelated note, the weather decided to play nice this weekend and allow me to take a leisurely stroll around the homestead before the snow flies.

It’s amazing the things you see when there aren’t leaves all over the trees and bushes.

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This old bed spring was uncovered when we cleared the property across the road.  I think it’s reminding me that I saved it for a reason but that reason hasn’t been fully revealed to me yet.  Maybe SIL Roxy can give me a few DIY repurposing project ideas.

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This ginormous wasp nest is hanging by a pencil-thin branch that looks like it could snap at any moment. I passed by it many times over the summer and never noticed it, but it may explain why there were so many wasps around the house this past summer.

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The winner in the “What the…???” category goes to this roll of toilet paper hanging from a branch in the woods just off our property.   There is no logical reason for it to be there, hanging 7 feet above the ground.

Unless of course the local bears are shooting a Charmin commercial.

The Aftermath

Nov 122013
 

Well, it’s been a week now since Rick’s last treatments.  We were told going into this that the 2 weeks afterwards were the worst, and the first week was pretty miserable for my honey.

He was able to get a few days in at work, but by he end of the week his body was in pretty bad shape.  Most of his time over the weekend was spent taking pain pills, getting his required “nourishment in a can”, pushing water into his system and sleeping.

He voice is still on hiatus, so most of our communication is through hand signals and texting.  I miss talking to him so much!  (Thor’s a great conversationalist, but it’s just not the same.)

I was hoping that our Monday jaunts to Rice Lake were over, but that doesn’t look to be the case right now.  We had a follow-up appointment yesterday with his  Radiation Oncologist, and it looks like we will be doing those for the next couple weeks.

The Doctor’s main concern at this point is Rick coming down with a fever, because in his words “That would be an emergency.”  All that radiation and poison that was put into him for 7 weeks is finally coming to a peak, so his body is really vulnerable right now.

:::

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And speaking of his treatments, Rick was able to get a picture of what he looked like in the Radiation room.  The mask over his face and shoulders helped them to pinpoint the area they needed to concentrate on, and it also kept him immobile by attaching to the table.

On his last day they gave him the mask to take home with him.  I think it will be used next Halloween in some fashion.

:::

Another new tidbit of information was that he will need to go through a type of physical therapy to help him swallow and talk, two things that are the most painful to him right now.

So even though we thought that getting through the radiation and chemo was the hardest part, it was just part one of his battle.  Now he starts part two which will in all likelihood will take another 2 months.

This is very frustrating and depressing to Rick, but as the Doctor told him, “Each week you will feel a little better… a little less pain than the week before.”

He’s been right about everything else up until this point, I gotta believe him on that one too.

Fin

Nov 042013
 

He’s done.

He’s outta there.

Rick has left the building.

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Today was the last day of both radiation and chemo treatments!  This is the day we have been waiting for since the beginning of June.  It seems that everything has gone in slow motion since then, almost like some f’d up acid trip (not that I would know what one is like).

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In honor of his graduation from Radiation Therapy, he was awarded this Certificate of Completion signed by all of this nurses and his Doctor.  I almost cried when I saw it.

When we started this journey we didn’t have any idea what to expect.  I have to give a huge shout-out to the people at Marshfield Clinic in Rice Lake for making a terrible situation bearable.  Those people bent over backwards to pull us through these last 7+ weeks.  When you can go through the crap that Rick has and still have a smile on your face… well, that’s saying something.

Last week had no unexpected things happening, probably because Rick followed Doctor’s orders and stayed at home and rested.  He was put on antibiotics on Tuesday because the Doctor wanted to play it safe when he heard that Rick had run low-grade fevers the previous weekend.

But other than that it was pretty quiet, mainly because Rick still can’t talk, but we’re told that over the next 2 weeks that should be changing, as well as his appetite.

He has 2 follow-up appointments over the next month with his Oncologists, but that is it until the 90-day mark when he will go in for another PET scan to see the results of these last couple months.

Today also marks the end of seeing my furry friends.

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This is Nala and she is a one-year-old Golden Retriever.  Rick was taking a nap but I certainly wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to get one last fix of puppy love.

And boy did she have oodles to give!

So it looks like your weekly updates of Rick’s Adventures in Oncology have come to an end, my friends.  Thank you for all the support, encouragement and love you have shown us, we will keep that with us forever.

Semaine de Sept

Oct 282013
 

We’re classing up Week Seven in French (much better than German IMO).

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Yep, we’ve made it to the final lap of the race.  One more week to go, or as we’ve been counting it down in our house:  5 more radiation treatments and 1 more chemo treatment.  Either way you slice it that finish line is finally in sight.

And let me tell you, it’s starting to really look beautiful after last week.

Week six was full of changes.  All of these past weeks have started to really take a toll on Rick’s body.  When the Doctor said that they were going to fry his throat, he wasn’t kidding in the least.  And when he said that Rick would be grateful that they put the stomach tube in before all this started, he didn’t know how true that was.

Rick has been struggling to eat because of how sore his throat was, so the decision was made to start going the “liquid” route.

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Last Wednesday he started his tube feedings of this stuff.  It has all the calories and nutrition he needs to get him through the next few weeks until he starts to heal and can get back to normal food.  He takes 6 cartons a day to give him 1,500 calories, and we’ve marked each one of them so he doesn’t loose count.

Most of his water intake is through his tube also, but as we found out at today’s appointment, he’s not getting enough so he’s a little bit dehydrated.  The nurse told us that this was normal this far along in the treatment, so usually they start giving patients a liter of fluids each day they come for radiation.  He starts that extra boost tomorrow.

Another new kicker came on Saturday when Rick’s voice finally went out.  It’s been interesting trying to communicate the last few days.  He’s able to whisper some times, but mostly he just sends me a text or types something on his cell screen and shows it to me.  It puts a real crimp on him being able to work because he can’t answer the phone and if he wants to communicate with a customer face-to-face he’ll have to type it on his computer.

He also had a low-grade fever all weekend but his labs looked really good today, so I’m not sure what that was all about.  I’m just glad it didn’t turn into something big that would have delayed these last treatments.

Fingers crossed that Week Seven goes better.

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This week’s puppy visit to the chemo room was Cash.  This beautiful boy is a 4 1/2-year-old English Lab who has been with his person John since he was old enough to be weaned from his Momma.

He went right up to Rick when he came into the room and was rewarded with some head scratches.  I think that he enjoys these visits just as much as I do, even if he won’t admit it.

 

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Oct 212013
 

We’re trying German for Week 6.  Somehow it’s not a very exciting language for the words.  I’ll have to find something better for next week.

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All right guys, we’re getting down to the wire.  2 more weeks to go and we can put this all in the rear view mirror.

Week 5 started to get rough for Rick.  His throat is getting sorer which means it’s getting tougher to eat lots of foods.  His diet has mainly been Coco Wheats, scrambled eggs, mashed taters and chicken noodle soup.  Pretty “bland” foods, but they slip down the gullet pretty good.

There is more redness to his neck from the radiation, but he’s not complaining about his skin hurting.  I’m not sure if the lotion the Doc gave us is doing any good, but we’ll use it anyway.

Hes also getting a little more lethargic, but who can blame him with trips to Rice Lake 5 times a week and still trying to work as much as his body will allow.

I think that the Doctors are pretty impressed with how it’s going for him, so we’re taking that as encouragement that things will be OK.

Today’s special guest in the Chemo room was Dice.

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Isn’t he just a cutie?  He’s a 4-year-old German Shepherd that loved having his ears scratched.  He was quite the big fella and I could tell when he was ready to go that nothing was going to stop him.

Which is why I got out of his way rather quickly.

 

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