3rd Round of Chemo Done

Steve is going this morning for his first CT Scan.  We are pretty hopeful that it will look good because of how good his CEA number has been.  But seeing it will be good to reassure us that the Chemo is working. He will also have is CEA number checked on Monday.  We will have the results of both of those tests on Tuesday when we meet with his Oncologist. Steve has been getting mouth sores the last 3 cycles and they are unbearable for him.  We’ve been trying all sorts of ways to make them better and possibly avoid them but after talking to the doctor yesterday, we are thinking of pulling back on one of the Chemotherapy drugs a little bit.  There is…

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…

I remember the night my husband died as if it was yesterday, but really it was 5 months ago that I would wake in the middle of the night to hear him mumble for the last time “I love you too”. Friday, November 4, 2016 Steve was transported to the Hospice home in Providence, RI.  We (Mark and I) wanted him to go the day before, but he told us he didn’t think he was ready and wanted one more night.  When he was placed on hospice less than two weeks earlier, we discussed that he would be transferred to the home before he died.  We didn’t want him to die at home. Friday morning we got up and started getting him ready for the…

The doctor called to tell Steve today that his CEA number is 12.  Last time it was 11 but the doctor says that’s still great and it will go up and down a bit, but doesn’t really mean anything.  So Steve was happy. Steve also noticed at 1pm today that his pump wasn’t working and we don’t think it pumped anything since we left the infusion center yesterday at 1pm.  🙁  So  now he’s hooked up until Saturday instead of Friday.  We weren’t very happy but nothing we can do.  Now we know to make sure it’s working like all the time.

I knew it had been a while since I updated this site, but I didn’t realize it had been 6 months!  The reason I haven’t updated in the past 6 months is there hasn’t really been a significant change….. which isn’t a bad thing when you are stage 4! This past week, Steve had his last follow up for the year so I thought it was a good time to share how he’s doing. His CEA number is holding at 11, which is low and good.  He had a bone scan earlier this month because he was having some back pain and his last scan still showed a spot on his vertebrae.  I won’t lie, this scared me.   I was more worried than Steve was. …

A week ago Wednesday, Steve’s doctor ordered an MRI to get a better look at his spine and the tumors to see if Radiation would be good or not.  When the radiologist read the MRI he contacted Steve’s doctor and suggested that Steve go to the hospital immediately to have the spine doctors look at the MRI.  The concern was that the tumors were too close to his spinal cord and they were afraid of paralysis. So at 10pm last Wednesday night, Steve and I headed to Rhode Island hospital where they gave him a steroid to relieve some of the swelling around the spinal cord to avoid the compression.  The spine doctors then looked at the MRI and decided that with the steroid, there…