The C Word – A New Battle Day 34 - More changes and a milestone

Today was George’s “milestone” day…. He made it all the way around the block for our evening stroll!  Last time around it took much longer for him to get to the point he could go all the way around the block!  Hoo-rah! 

The other activity this week was to be scheduled for a CT exam.  However, he had a chat with Dr. M on Monday and they both discussed the fact they no longer felt the need for a CT scan to be done.  This is based on the fact that George is feeling better, the fluid in his drain had stopped, and he is tolerating eating foods okay.  This means that the PICC line should be able to be pulled but we did not receive a return call from his office today.  I will call on that tomorrow and see about getting in to the office on Thursday to have that removed.  That will mean “2 down, 1 to go”.

We have reduced the amount of tube feeding from 1000mL to 750mL overnight.  We are monitoring his weight for the rest of this week and if he maintains his weight we will take it down another notch and see what happens.  Hoping that by the end of the month we can take the feeding tube out. 

So, things are progressing in the right direction with the healing process.  We are thankful for that.

We contacted the oncologist to see when we should be following up with him about the next step.  He suggested we schedule an appointment in 2-3 weeks to talk about chemotherapy.  We will surely have our questions at that point about the success rate, the side effects, pros and cons, etc. Then we will have to make a decision about what is best for George.  I imagine if we do move forward with chemotherapy that we would wait a bit longer for George to be more healed from this surgery.

On the point where George’s mom is concerned, she is being moved to a skilled nursing facility tomorrow.  They located a company that can move her via gurney as she is not able to get out of bed on her own.  We are not sure what the expectation is for her to improve (or not) in the coming weeks and have to determine what to do about her living situation.  Will likely need to give up her apartment unless they can handle all the changes that have occurred recently (and that is only if she has some physical improvement).  Still a tenuous situation at best. 

I enjoyed a wonderful 90 minute massage yesterday.  So much deserved and so much needed!  Erica really worked over my back, shoulders and neck which were full of knots after sleeping in convertible beds (at the hospital) and the couch!  And, I slept really good last night!!  Trying to “take care of the caregiver” as best that I can.  I take a nap or rest at least every other day in the afternoon.  When the eyes start to droop I just put away whatever I am doing and head up to the bedroom for some extra rest.  (I enjoy being able to stretch out in bed versus curl up on the couch!) 

All in all a pretty good couple of days!