Second Round of Chemo is Done!
Yesterday Steve finished his 2nd round of chemo and he did well. No real big side effects except he feels really tired. But this morning he’s still feeling good.
2 down, many more to go! Let’s hope it’s working!
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…
It’s a little over a month later and the girls and I have began moving forward with our life without Steve. I won’t lie, it’s awful. Some days are okay, but lately most are not. I’m really struggling with this. I thought I would be okay. I thought I was prepared for this. I thought I grieved the last 2+ years, and I thought that was hard. This is worse. I was no where near ready for losing him. I was no where near ready for the pain of missing someone that has been in my life, every day for 18 years. Especially losing them when you have no choice. I also thought we had more time. I thought we had one more Thanksgiving… one…
On Tuesday, June 10, 2014, we saw the oncologist from the hospital to get the final results from the biopsy. We knew Steve had cancer but we didn’t know what kind so we weren’t sure what we were dealing with, yet. That was when we found out it was Colon Cancer. And since it’s spread to 2 other organs (liver and lung), it’s Stage 4. Colon cancer is not curable once it’s spread to other organs. Therefore, Steve will never be cancer free. 🙁 The doctor said there really is no reason to operate since there was no large obstruction in the colon (since they didn’t see anything on the CT Scan) nor is there a lot of bleeding (since Steve has never noticed any)…
Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated you all about Steve. I’ve been so busy between the girls being out of school, and my summer classes…. it’s been pretty crazy, to say the least! Steve had scans done about 1 month ago. The chest CT was a little blurry because he sneezed during it and the (dumb) girl CT technician told him it came out fine, but in fact, it didn’t. The radiologist that read the report couldn’t see everything, but from what he could see, the lungs were pretty much the same as the last scan. His liver is good as well. There has been a spot on his liver that has grow slowly since January. But the growth wasn’t very significant so…
We saw our 2nd opinion doctor today who is the best in RI and came HIGHLY recommended by many. He agreed with our current Oncologist and thinks this chemo regimen is really the best way to start. And then see what happens in 2-3 months when they do the first scan. At that point he said if it isn’t working, we should think about something else. He’d be more than happy to talk with us then but sees no reason to do anything else right now. Knowing he feels the same way makes us even more confident that this is the best thing for Steve. And we really like our current Oncologist so we’ll be staying with him. However, our 2nd opinion doctor also said…
Steve’s surgery last week was a success. The spine surgeons were able to remove the tumors that were compressing Steve’s spinal cord without having to insert the titanium rods. His bones were surprisingly strong. They did insert a little cement into the spine where they removed the tumors, just to give it a little more strength. Because they didn’t have to insert the rods, the recovery was much easier. Steve was up walking around the following day and then doing the stairs a day later. Two days after his surgery, his heart rate was still high – it was running 115-120. Come to find out it was because he has a blood clot in his lungs. He was at a high risk for getting one,…