Something New

Our last blog was SO long ago. In that time, we cerebrated a marriage, two graduations, and the continued success of chemotherapy to keep this cancer at bay! As many of you know, the weeks following Kendal’s wedding have been a bit harder for me. My abdominal pain has been more consistent but continues to respond to pain medicine. The bigger problem has been my left arm.  The pain is the worst two days after chemotherapy, and I have had significant functional loss. For example, it is very difficult to write so my girls have been having to help me pay bills. J

As a result, we have decided to hold chemo for a few weeks to do radiation to the tumors above my clavicle and under my arm. The thought is that those lymph nodes that contain cancer are pushing on the nerves that run in that area and control strength in the hand and arm. The goal of radiation is to shrink those lymph nodes. Meanwhile, I am also having a biopsy of one of the lymph nodes. We will send that tissue to a lab in Boston that tests tissue to find out what kind of chemotherapy the cancer is potentially sensitive to. With that information, we will resume chemotherapy after radiation.

The logistics of the radiation are as follows. I will get a total of 25 treatments over five weeks (Monday thru Friday.) The radiation will be painless, and the major side effect is fatigue. The fatigue will be cumulative so that by the end of the five weeks, I will likely be pretty tired. I hope and pray that I tolerate this new treatment as fluidly as the last six months of chemotherapy.                                                                

So much for the fun stuff. My hair is starting to grow back. Where the hell did all this gray come from? I’ll just call this chemo color. My cranial prosthesis (wig) carries the color for now. Ellie has joined the work force with a vengeance. She is now working as many hours as sleeping. I get the sense that IU will not come soon enough. For those of you who need an update on Lewis: he is one cute puppy. (This puppy was a gift to Kaylin for helping to plan the wedding.) He does have though one very annoying habit. Greg calls him the “Ninja Shitter.” We are finding pooh in rooms that no one has seen him in. But he is cute and that is what saves him. The big dogs are tolerating him better. Tally and Lewis play like puppies until Tally has had enough and then she just lays a paw across his neck. Game over.

The newlyweds seem to be adjusting well. Kendal was home this weekend to go to a wedding in St. Louis. She is a remarkable young woman. Her help and kindness are invaluable. I guess all the dirty diapers were worth it. Kaylin has remained busy . Lauren is going to have a minor surgery this week so we will be couch buddies for naps. Thanks you all for the continuing prayers, visits, phone calls, lunches, parties at chemo  (they had to put us in the back room because we make too much noise!)  Love PAM