a nice week

This has been a pleasant and sociable week.  Saturday afternoon (just after the last post) Clair called to suggest that he and Steve go out for a walk (they used to walk for exercise at lunch hour back in the Shaker teaching days).  They walked from our house down to Main Street and back—maybe a short quarter mile?—not huge, but the first "hike" Steve has done, so we were excited about that!  While Clair was still here, we had a visit from Carol's sister Margie from Ravenna, and we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on our front porch enjoying the unseasonably warm weather—altogether lovely.

 Sunday, four friends from one of our dance groups trekked up all the way from Ashland, OH to visit.  We had been in email contact but not actually seen them since the diagnosis, so it was great to catch up in person.  We had dinner together, and Steve actually had a little bit of everything, from salad through dessert!  That felt like a very good bit of progress, even though he felt somewhat overstuffed for a while after… 

Monday we played a bit of bridge with Clair and Grace at their house.  Tuesday afternoon Steve had Reiki *and* an orientation meeting for nurses-in-training at The Gathering Place,  and when I got home we both went back there for our support group meetings.  Wednesday we had a very special outing—Clair and Grace took us to the Cleveland Museum of Art on their members'-guest tickets to see the Rembrandt in America exhibit.  Steve decided that wheelchair assistance would be a good strategy for that (museum-trekking can be exhausting even under normal conditions!), so Clair brought one along and also did the honors pushing the chair all morning.  We had lunch at Panera's on the way home, and Steve joined in again, sharing some onion soup.  That was another really excellent day. J

Thursday, Steve again had an enjoyable visit from our neighbor Ken;  the evening was a quiet one since Carol had a pile of school prep work to do for Friday.  Friday John and Liz  came over for some visiting and a bit of bridge—again, very pleasant.  The lilacs have started to bloom in the back yard, and Steve got up and walked out into the back yard with us to smell the flowers.  Saturday was a quiet day (cooler and rainy), though Carol still has school tasks as we near the end of another semester.  Sunday is shaping up to be similar to Saturday.  We had looked forward to a visit from Lee Hart, but unfortunately she had to cancel because of a cold which she very considerately declined to bring into anyone else's house—so we must postpone that enjoyment.

As you may infer from the above, Steve's overall condition has been pretty good this week.  His energy is limited, but so is his discomfort, and the various medicines that we have on hand seem to be fairly effective in controlling the discomfort.  The feeding tube and its attached pump are behaving themselves better than they were, which is also a relief.  When we check blood pressure and blood glucose levels, they clock in at appropriate levels.  We talk on the phone with both Melissa and Matt, and look eagerly forward to their visit planned for mid-April.  We know we have a lot to be thankful for.

So, that's it for now.  Thanks again and always to all of our friends and family who continue to provide support, both those who visit and call and write and email, and those who send it silently.  We appreciate all forms.

--Carol and Steve

a less ferocious chemo round

 We're glad to report that this week's chemo reaction has been much less severe than the one three weeks ago.  The oncologist supplied stronger anti-nausea medication before the chemo infusion, as well as additional anti-nausea  and "post-chemo" pills.  Those things, perhaps along with acclimatization (?), seem to have helped a lot.  Steve is still somewhat tired, but altogether this round has been a much less daunting experience than the last one.

We have been fussing a bit with the feeding tube (leakage issues)--most recently, got the tube itself replaced a couple of days ago.  Could tell a story about that, but on the whole it's been a nuisance more than a crisis. 

We continue to enjoy visits and other contacts from friends and family, and look forward to more of the same as the spring weather makes its early entry.  Thanks again to all of you for your ongoing support!

--Carol and Steve

a relatively smooth patch

Dear friends and family,

For those of you who are checking in-- the past week or so has been relatively smooth.  The port insertion seems to have gone well, and the feeding tube adjustment also seems to continue effective.

We have had a pleasant week in many ways—attended our first Novel Club meeting in several months on Tuesday, and ditto a Playreading Group meeting on Saturday, both very pleasurable experiences.  We've had friends and family visit on several occasions, and are feeling warmly supported on all sides. 

We are a tad apprehensive about the next chemo infusion on Wednesday, since the last one was sort of a bear… ;-<.  But we carry on. 

Thanks again and again for all of your support.

--Carol and Steve

some improvement; more procedures

The good news this week is that the nausea from (we now believe) reaction to the infusion part of last week's chemotherapy has pretty much subsided.  There have been no retching spells for the past couple of days, which of course is a big relief.  And Steve did eat a little food by mouth yesterday—some chex mix and a small dish of canned peaches for breakfast.  The day before, he had a small serving of ice cream.  This doesn't add up to a lot, but every little bit seems like a good thing.

The complication this week was increasing leakage from the feeding tube—so much that on Wednesday afternoon we called the Kaiser advice line and were instructed to proceed to the emergency room for assistance with it.  Unfortunately, the emergency room personnel didn't have the necessary skills or materials to do anything beyond putting an extra gauze dressing around the tube site and telling us not to use the feeding tube until we could see a surgeon the next day.  Since that would mean no food intake we declined to follow the latter instruction (the leakage had subsided—sort of like your car stops making the funny noise when you take it to the mechanic…).  So, we felt disappointed in the small result from our six-hour investment of time, but at least it did yield the surgery appointment on Thursday.  I rescheduled my Thursday school appointments and we spent the day in preparing for and going to that surgery  appointment.  (Actually, since they moved the appointment from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., there was time in the morning for a quick grocery trip and a visit from our next-door neighbor, which was nice.)  This time when we got to the office things went efficiently (in contrast to the Emergency Room…). And  it seems at this point as though the procedure this different surgeon did (basically further expanding the balloon of water which holds the tube in place, I gather) has been effective.   We do still need to keep an eye on the gauze dressings around it, but have not seen further problems with that so far.

In addition, the oncologist has recommended (and Steve's contacts in the patients' group at The Gathering Place concurred) that his chemotherapy infusions would be eased by the insertion of a "port" through which infusions and blood samples can be done, so he will less often need to be stuck with needles. (It sometimes has taken up to five attempts for the nurses to find a "working" vein. ;-< )  The port insertion is an outpatient surgery procedure, so we also had a Pre-Admission Testing visit this week, and will be spending Monday (starting at 9:30, lasting we're not sure how long) getting that procedure done. 

Yesterday (Friday) Steve was feeling really quite good, relatively speaking.  He had a visit from a friend during the day, and we talked with both kids, and the Rankins came over to visit in the evening.  He slept well last night, but still seems very sleepy this morning—has asked me to delay the meds so he can rest some more.  Since we have playreading scheduled for 1 p.m., he's still napping and I'm hopeful that he'll gather strength to enjoy that event.

All for now, I think.  Thanks again to everybody out there who is helping out, whether with expressed or silent support.  We're convinced that all versions of that are helpful.

--Carol