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.
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…
Today was Steve’s first day of chemo and it went well. We are getting chemo at the Infusion center at Kent Hospital and I have to say we really like them there. Plus it’s nice and close to the house which is a huge plus. The doctor told us we’d be there for a couple of hours but when we arrived they told us that wasn’t true, we’d actually be there for about 5-6 hours. Steve wasn’t very happy at first but it is what it is and nothing we can do about it. Eventually we’ll be down to about 3 hours. So perhaps that’s what he was thinking about. Since Steve had the port placed just 2 days ago, the area is still very…
Steve finished his 8th round of chemo about a week ago. This was the 2nd round of chemo with the reduced 5-FU (along with a reduction of all meds due to his weight loss). The first time he didn’t see much of a difference as far as side effects go, but the second time he did. The 5-FU is responsible for the mouth sores and the tingling in his hands, fingers and feet mostly. I guess it’s also responsible for the exhaustion because this last round he wasn’t as tired either. He thought we has getting a mouth sore but it never really turned into one. And his taste buds finally came back this weekend. When he woke up Friday morning and realize that we…
Today we saw the Oncologist again with an update on Steve’s CEA Number. And we got some really good news! Steve’s CEA (tumor marker number) is down to 64!!! On June 4th it was 536. Then a few weeks later it was up to 834.8. Four weeks ago it was down to 263.1. And today it’s 64!!! The doctor said not all cancers can measure the tumors with this marker, but Colon Cancer is one of them so this does tell us that the tumors are shrinking. But we can tell as well because of some little differences that we see that I’ve mentioned before. (His dry cough is gone and his night sweats are gone for the most part and his bowels are better. …
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…