Monday

Today looks like a beautiful day and there's nothing on the schedule so I'm going to try to get some yard work and gardening done.

Weekend

Saturday our friends LeeRay and Damon and their daughters Jennifer and Hannah came to visit from Louisiana. We SO appreciated them driving 8 hours each way for a one day visit. It REALLY cheered Mike. Mid-day when Mike took a nap we went to Floyd's pond to fish (no luck) and played in the waterfall.
Sunday we spent the day napping mostly. It's been a long week.

Biopsy Day

Yesterday was biopsy day. We left home at 7 to be there for our appointment at 8:30. Once we signed in they told us our appointment wasn't untill 11 and the procedure would be at 1. So we had a long day in the hospital. Mike was in excruciating pain because the 1/2 patch had worn out. They gave him a shot of demerol then morphine. After that he was okay. Meanwhile, I went to the doctors office and got him a new prescription of the pain patch but at half the previous dose. He's feeling good this morning so this dose must be the right one. We should have the biopsy results tuesday afternoon.

Pain Meds

I talked to the nurse yesterday. The doctor can't give us any new medicine while the old prescription is still active - federal regulations. However, she said we could try cutting the pain patch (we still had an unused one) in half and using half at a time. That seems to be working with no ill effects. Yay!

Rainy Day

Another rainy day today. I'll be waiting on a call from the doctor this morning about the pain medicine. When I talked to the nurse yesterday she said she'd get with the doctor and call in something new. The patch was too strong and the pills (Tylenol3) don't work. Hopefully they'll come up with something inbetween.
I started Mike on Essiac tea yesterday. Even if it doesn't help the cancer, it's a good cleansing tea to help negate the toxic effects of chemo and radiation. If you've never heard of it you can read about it here: http://www.cancer-info.com/essiac.htm

Phone Call

Finaly got the phone call after waiting all day again. Biopsy is friday morning so I imagine we won't know the results till mid next week.

So, here we are.......

First post here, I hope it works out. And I have to warn everyone I'm a horrible writer. But I'll do my best to keep the updates coherent.

I'm a little behind so I'll start with friday and write up to today. After this I'll be able to post in real time.

FRIDAY:

We got the news. It's horrible. Cancer. Lung, Bone, Liver. Inoperable. The doctor makes it sound like it's last stages. He says he's never seen anything like it in a man so young (44). His main concern is keeping Mike comfortable so he gave him a pain patch and some pain pills. He advised him to visit his family. He's scheduling a biopsy and says there may be some hope with chemo and radiation. We're shocked and devastated. On the good side, the doctor is very kind and compassionate, we got lucky being refereed to him.

SATURDAY:

We have to tell people. THAT sucks. It's extremely difficult for me to talk about it without breaking down. My neighbor Floyd described the situation best - "It's like getting hit in the face with a baseball bat".

The pain patch works well but it's obviously too strong. Mike vomited all day, couldn't keep even a sip of water down. We took it off.

SUNDAY:

Not much going on, Mike's still queasy from the patch but feeling better. We're just trying to cope.

MONDAY:

Monday was a very bad day for both of us emotionaly. We spent the entire day waiting by the phone for the biopsy appointment. I finaly called the doctor around 3:30, they were still waiting on the radiologist to call back.

Mike is weak. He cooked dinner, just to get off the couch and DO something. It wore him out.

TUESDAY:

So here we are at tuesday. Another day by the phone I guess.