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.
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…
Steve had chemo last week and once again his side effects weren’t that bad since the reduction. He’s even been able to maintain his weight, which is exactly what the doctor wants right now. It’s been nice outside the last few days so that’s been helpful too. On the cold days we had a week ago he had a very hard time. Once his hands and nose get cold, they hurt. He’s trying to bundle up the best he can, but if he bundles up too much he sweats. Over time he’ll find a balance. It’s something new to get used to. He sees the Oncologist next Tuesday and he will then make an appointment for another CT Scan. I’m very hopeful that we will…
Today Steve and I went to Dana Faber to meet with a research doctor in Gastrointestinal Cancers to talk about possible clinical trials. We did our research and talked with Steve’s Oncologist in Warwick beforehand and we were pretty sure there wasn’t anything that Steve qualified for so we weren’t expecting much. But figured a ride there wouldn’t hurt. And it didn’t hurt, nor did it help. We were correct. There is nothing right now for Steve’s specific cancer and mutation of his cancer. However, the doctor did offer to test Steve’s original biopsy sample to see if it has a specific mutation that it wasn’t tested for back in June 2014. While the doctor doesn’t think Steve’s cancer has this mutation according to other…
Yesterday (7/21/14) Steve and I received some really good news about his Stage 4 Colon Cancer. His CEA number, which is the tumor marker in his blood, was lower – a lot lower! When he was in the hospital the first week of June it was 536. Then a few weeks later it was up to 834.8. Yesterday it was 263.1. Needless to say we both cried when I gave him the good news. That means the chemo is working. We saw the doctor today and he was very happy as well with the results. He said the drop in his CEA is great after only 2 treatments. I asked him if he expects that number to go to zero at some point, if…
Steve finished his 7th round of Chemo last Friday and it went well. He started eating more as his mouth sores healed and had a generally good weekend. I just heard from the doctor and he said the surgeon doesn’t think that there is any need to worry about what they saw in the CT scan and they are leaving his colon as it is. They will just keep an eye on how he’s feeling and if he starts to have any problems. We are relieved because surgery means no chemo and we are not ready to stop because the tumors are still there. This past round of chemo the doctor reduced one of the meds to hopefully stop the mouth sores from coming back….
I had a house full of people today. Just the way it should be. My brother brought over a bottle of something for shots. I have no idea what it was, I can’t remember. But I do remember that I didn’t have any shot glasses so we used wine glasses. My crystal wine glasses that I got when Steve and I got married. So they were pretty appropriate to use! We all got together and did a “Shot for Steve”….. it was pretty fitting considering he enjoyed himself a drink or two over the years. A memory I will always cherish!