Semaine de Sept

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.

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.

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.