Monday

November 2006

Mike's Birthday. He got cards from all of his favorite people. That was great.

The Hospice nurse came by for her first visit, she's very nice. She ordered him a hospital bed, oxygen, a walker, and I forgot what else. She'll be coming by once a week (for now) to check on his condition, medicine, etc.

Sunday

Quiet day. Mike is looking and feeling a little better now that he's over the exaustion of 2 days at the hospital. The Hospice lady is coming out for the first visit monday.

Saturday

Las Vegas - August 2002

So. Now that we've recovered from the trauma of what the doctor told us we've realized what a good thing it is that Mike won't be spending the rest of his time going back and forth to Little Rock and suffering through treatments and exausting trips. We're relieved the doctor didn't try to keep him until the bitter end. We're free now to appreciate the rest of the time we have together.

A Timely Article

Cancer's Unexpected Blessings
When you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change.
by Tony Snow
http://www.ctlibrary.com/47315

Thursday

We had the transfusion this morning then a doctor visit.
The doctor said:
Mondays CT showed the cancer has increased enormously. What was (2 months ago) spots on the liver is now a liver consumed with cancer. Same with the bone and lung. Treatment is not helping at all. Lung fluid removed yesterday was cancer. They've canceled any future treatment. Mike has maybe 2-3 months left to live and they've refered us over to hospice for home health for the remaining time.

Wednesday

Everything went okay today. They removed the fluid from Mike's lung with no problems. Bloodwork showed his count way too low though so the doctor has ordered a transfusion for tomorrow morning at 8. After that, a doctor appointment then chemo (if the doc doesn't postpone it).
Long day, we didn't get to the motel till after 6.

Tuesday

The nurse called today with news of the CT scan. Mike has 'severe' fluid in his lung. We have an appointment tomorrow to have it drained. Afterwards he's not allowed to be farther than 30 minutes away from the hospital so we'll be spending the night in Little Rock. Then thursday we have the normal doctors appointment and chemo. If all goes well we'll be home late thursday afternoon.

Monday Morning

Mike's Birthday is next monday, July 30th. He'll be 45. If anyone wants to send him a card that would be great because it's most likely his last one.

On the way to Little Rock for anemia shot and CT scan.

Fri/Sat/Sun

Yardwork, Errands, Laundry, Naps. That's about it.
Talked to a firewood guy saturday about cutting us some wood for the winter.
Mike sat on the porch for a few hours sunday, a big day for him.

Tues/Wed/Thursday

Not much happening. Mike's feeling a little better. He's wasting away though, not eating - he just has no appetite. One Ensure or one yogurt and he's pretty much full for the day.
I'm still trying to catch up with yardwork and house stuff.
Next medical appointment is monday for anemia shot and CT scan.

Monday

Went to Little Rock for the anemia shot. Left home at 8 and got back at 1:30 for a 30 second shot.
I woke up tired today, after we got home Mike watched TV and I took a 4 hour nap.

Weekend

I worked on the yard all weekend. It's a mess after 4 weeks of daily trips to Little Rock, 4 weeks of almost daily rain, and a broken mower. Mike tried to help by mowing a little but it wasn't worth it. He suffered all saturday afternoon and evening for it. He won't admit when he's in extra pain but I can tell.

Friday

Friday was the Last Radiation Day. Thank God.
It's been a rough 4 weeks. Really hard on Mike, I'm not sure if the treatments harmed or helped more. His pain is better but he's too weak.
Next week all we have is an appointment monday morning for the anemia shot so he'll have 10 days more or less to recuperate before CT scans, labwork, chemo, etc. the following week.

Thursday

Thursday was uneventful. A trip to Little Rock and back for radiation then it rained all afternoon at home.

Wednesday

Easy and quick trip today. No rain. Yay.
Nothing else new.

Tuesday

Tuesday was better. Rainy but not storming. We just had a quick radiation appointment.
We have a new routine now. I get the coffeemaker ready at night, and Mike pushes the button in the morning to turn it on then calls to wake me. When we're ready to go I drive the truck up to the porch to pick him up. Once we get to the appointment I leave him at the truck and get a wheelchair to bring him in. Repeat in reverse.
I'm hoping that when the radiation is over (friday is the last day. for now anyway.) he won't be so weak. We'll see. The nurse said today that the effects won't start wearing off for 2-3 weeks. By then he'll be back on chemo.

Monday

Today was another hell day. We got halfway to Little Rock this morning and it started storming. By the time we got to town, half the roads were flooded. Good thing we have a big truck or we wouldn't have gotten through. We got wet going into the radiation center and of course it was freezing in there. I got Mike a blanket then we waited (frozen) for what seemed forever because the electric had cut out and they had to reboot the radiation machines. We left there and went to his appointment for the anemia shot - 45 minutes late. We waited THERE 2 hours. Once we're finaly out of there and on the way home, it started REALLY storming. Visibility was about 10 feet, the traffic on the interstate was 40mph. We made it home cranky (me) and worn out (him).

Weekend

Nothing new. Mike's feeling a little better, not much. He's soooo weak and frail. It's pitiful.
I spent the weekend trying to get the mower going, no luck.
Overall an extremely usless and frustrating 2 days.

Friday

Nothing new. A repeat of yesterday.

Thursday

Thursday was a bad day for Mike. His one thing he's been still able to do is make the coffee in the morning then come wake me. He couldn't even do that. He had to call to me to wake me up.
It really broke my heart to see how upset and frustrated he was.
When we got to the radiation center I had to get a wheelchair to bring him in and to the back. Later in the day he had to rest after going from the couch to his chair (3 feet).

Wednesday

Dwayne, Becky, Joe, Mike, Mom

Mike and Mom

Mike and Dena

Tuesday

Little Rock was half flooded and still storming so I canceled the radiation appointment. Mike slept all day, still catching up from the weekend. I did a little house cleaning and took a nap.

Monday

We thought today would be an easy trip to Little Rock then we'd come home and rest. Ha.
We had a radiation treatment (10 minutes) then an anemia shot (5 minutes). Weeeellll, after the radiation the doctor wanted to check on him. We waited 45 minutes for that. Went over to the infusion center and they had a new computer system and were backed up. We waited over 3 hours. So for 15 minutes of treatment we left home at 7:30 and got back at 4:30.

Weekend

Seeing Mike's mom was nice but the weekend was just way too exausting for Mike (and me too!). Because they came on friday we never had a chance to rest up after all week in Little Rock.
Mike's mom stayed with us, everyone else stayed in a motel in Clinton. (Cousin Dwayne, his girlfriend Becky, and friend Joe). Everyone else left for the motel by 8:30-9 every night so that was good. But mom kept us up till midnight every night. HOURS past our regular bedtime.
They left late afternoon sunday, Mike went to sleep instantly. Good thing 'cause Mom called at midnight to tell us they'd made it home. So we didn't sleep much sunday either.