No more Chemo Bag…..
Steve has been having a lot more back pain. It started to get worse last Thursday night. He had a hard time getting comfortable and could barely move. It was so hard to see him in so much pain. Friday morning when I spoke with the doctor, he told him to double up on the pain meds he prescribed him and if it got really out of control to go to the hospital to get something stronger to give him relief. He was scheduled to have a bone scan on Monday (yesterday) and CT Scan Tuesday (today) so he said we’d talk after those scans to see what was going on.
After doubling up on the pain meds when needed, he felt better and got through the weekend without having to go to the hospital.
Today the doctor called us with the results of the bone scan. He doesn’t have the CT Scan results from today yet. The scan showed that the cancer in his back has progressed. How far, I don’t know because I didn’t ask for specifics, but enough that it’s probably what is causing the continued back pain.
The doctor said he was going to have someone in radiation review his scan to see if he would get some relief from the pain with radiation. He also is having them look over the “damage” to his bone, to see if there is any chance of it breaking or fracturing. If they think that’s a possibility, they will inject cement into his bone to give it strength. It’s amazing what they can do.
There is no reason for him to get his last 2 chemo treatments since it’s obviously not working so we cancelled them. We will meet with the doctor next week to discuss the next steps.
It wasn’t the news we were hoping for but honestly it was the news we were expecting. Otherwise what was causing him so much pain?
We are okay. This sucks, absolutely but he has done everything he could to stop it from progressing and it’s just not working. And honestly, he’s a bit relieved. He has been very frustrated with the pain this week, it’s really been awful. So at least now he knows what is causing it. Plus, the side effects from chemo are getting worse and this last treatment last week really kicked his butt. The fact that he won’t have to do that again, brings a little smile to his face because chemo sucks big time.
We are sad because we were hoping to get one more month of no growth but again, we can’t control this. We are sad knowing that he’s at the end of treatments and going forward whatever they do is really to keep him “comfortable”. We knew this time would come, but we never wanted it to. But it’s been 27 months, that’s pretty good.
Steve is also happy knowing that now we can put a plan in action to help him feel less or no pain. I am also looking forward to that because it’s so hard to see someone you love in pain and there isn’t anything you can do about it.
We told the girls the latest news today after school. They weren’t happy, of course, but they also weren’t shocked because we’ve kept them in the know all along. There haven’t been any surprises for them and that’s something we decided to avoid 27 months ago.
If any of you that are local are looking for something to do this Saturday, our neighborhood friends are hosting a BBQ Cook off Fundraiser for our family. (https://www.facebook.com/events/532399610304136/
We will be there all day and I know Steve would love to see everyone! He may be stoned on pain meds, but he’ll be there! LOL
Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts, love and support. I will continue to keep you updated as we know more.