Bone Scan is Clean!

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…

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 had an appointment this week with his oncologist to go over his blood work and his CEA number is 12 right now… it was 11 last month. That’s GOOD! No big jump. So chemo will stay the same for another month (2 treatments).  The doctor scheduled a CT Scan and a Bone Scan the beginning of March before we see him again. If there is a 20% increase or there are new tumors, he’ll switch his chemo to the Oxiliplatian (for 6 months), if not then he’ll stay as he is for another month. That being said, it was a good appointment because he can keep going with this chemo for another month.  So we bought another month! In the meantime, we are going…

This morning I did the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I said good bye to my husband Steve. He peacefully passed away at 6:20 am and is no longer suffering. His soul is free from cancer, so he won! Thank you all so much for your prayers, friendship and love over these past 2+ years. Steve’s Obituary    

Today was Steve’s 3rd Chemo Treatment.  It’s crazy how fast the last 6 weeks have gone by since we first found out he had cancer. Last time there was no issue with the port and the IV went right in with no problems.  This week we had a problem again.  Not getting the IV in, but getting the blood to flow out of the IV.  You see, when they put a port in, sometimes your body realizes this foreign object is in there and doesn’t like it.  So it sort of forms like a blood clot so nothing will flow.  I’m not sure of the exact terms they use but basically it blocks it.  When this happens you can get stuff into the IV, like…

This week Steve completed his 5th round of chemo and he’s still doing really well. The tingling in his fingers started almost immediately when he touched anything cold.  Even when he washes his hands, if the water is a little cold, they start to tingle.  Or when he got up at the infusion center to use the men’s room, he has to push the IV to the bathroom.  The handle on it is metal and it’s so cold inside the infusion center, that the handle gets cold.  So even that bothered him.  It’s extremely irritating and he gets very frustrated with it.  Even though he knows in the whole scheme of things, it’s not the worst thing, it’s still pretty irritating. I remember before I…