Back in the hospital…..

Steve had his 8th round of chemo this week and he’s pretty happy it’s over because he has a break and won’t be back to the infusion center for 4 weeks. Why the break?  He needed it for so many reasons and without it, going forward would have been way too hard. First of all, his CEA number is down to 11.  So that’s GREAT!  So if he’s going to take a break, now is a good time to do it since the number is still going down and the chemo is still working. But the real reason for the break is because he needs it physically and mentally.  Even with the reduction in the 5-FU, he’s still getting the mouth sores, but not as…

Steve saw his Oncologist today and his CEA is still going up, slowly but it’s going up.  Today it was 20.  In March it was 17 and in February it was 12.  So it’s moving up but that’s not the direction the doctor wants to see it go.  That means the cancer is also growing.  So it’s time to change chemo treatments. We are going on another family trip this month, this time out to California to Disneyland!!  The girls are VERY excited.  The doctor is going to wait until after our trip to change his chemo.  Tomorrow will be his last one on this type of chemo and then he’ll take a break so he’ll feel great on our trip. It’ll actually be a…

Steve completed his 3rd round of Chemo on Friday and it went well again.  We are very thankful that he’s not getting very sick with these treatments and I hope that continues to be the case.  He only had a few minor side effects once again… tired tingling in fingers when he touches cold stuff chills at night just one night (we noticed it again this time so it must be a side effect – but no fever) loss of appetite stomach was slightly upset but he took an anti-nausea pill and it helped and made him hungry And that’s about it.  The two pictures in this post are of the portable chemo unit and the bag it’s in.  It’s small so it doesn’t get…

Well friends…..It’s with a very heavy heart that I have to write the post I never wanted to write, nor did I expect to be writing it anytime soon. Steve came home today with Hospice. Unfortunately the tumors in his lungs have spread more and have taken over about 80% of his lung capacity, which leaves him with about 20% to breath. The doctor doesn’t really know how much more time he has, but from the looks of how much of the cancer that has grown in his lungs over the past month, his guess is about 2 weeks give or take. He’s on oxygen and Morphine to help him be more comfortable. He’s happy to be home and in a place where he can…

Happy New Year! The last chemo treatment Steve received on Christmas Eve went well.  He over did it over the holiday with all our company so he was exhausted coming out of it, but he enjoyed the time we spent with friends and family so it was worth it for him.  He also got another mouth sore this time around, however it wasn’t at it’s worst and he was still able to eat more than just soft foods.  That said, he still dropped a few pounds.  He’s going to try and work on putting those back on this week. The doctor checked his CEA number on Monday and it was 15.6, which is a little higher than last time.  We never head from the doctor…