Cancer update

Hubby had a stomach tube placed last week and the feedings were going great but on Monday he complained in the afternoon of stomach pain and his leg being swollen so I took him to the ER.  They admitted him and did lots of tests.  He had a blood clot in his leg and one near his kidney.  His stomach tube was OK although he was dehydrated because of the diarrhea (from the tube feedings).  He had two units of blood transfusion on Wednesday and they kept him because of his low white count until today.  He is now getting his chemo and after it is done he gets to go home YAY.   I'm rather tired.  Don't know why :)

I went home yesterday early and called my friend and she and her husband delivered some more wood to get us through some of the chilly nights.  I don't want DH to get too cold.  Bless our friends.  They have really come through for us...

Last night I heard something strange outside.  The cats make noise but this sounded different.  I went out with my flashlight.  I bring the chicken feeder up on the porch at night and here was a furry butt sticking up out of the middle.  I told Mr. furry butt to get out of the feeder and here it was a raccoon. I guess he thought the jig was up cause he got down and jumped off the porch.  I put the feeder in the house.  No more free food for him...I don't need a raccoon around.  I thought we had a possum.  We had some tracks in the chicken yard and the feeder was dragged under the chicken coop so that's why I started putting the feeder on the porch.  That worked for a while but Mr. furry butt is just a bit too smart for me LOL.  And the cats didn't even do anything when he was there...nice...I have the worst guard cats in the world ;)

Well that's all for now,

Denise

Busy week

It has been a very busy week.  DH has been going to radiation every day and then chemo on Tuesday.  He had a bit of a freak out with the mask they do the radiation therapy with and so he now is taking Alprazolam for anxiety.  Well he does have claustrophobia, can't say I blame him for freaking out a little bit with the mask and being strapped down to the table so he can't move.  He couldn't eat anything (Boost) on Sunday but was drinking juice and water but on Monday he had a hard time drinking.  The mouth tumor had swollen up so when we went in on Monday we asked about a stomach tube and he had it placed on Wednesday and is now on tube feedings.  He stayed in the hospital on Wednesday night and I picked him up on Thursday.  He is feeling much better and looks a whole lot better.  He kept saying I thought I was dead.  Seems they left him in the hallway alone at one time.  He was having a lot of pain after the procedure too.

To place the tube, the doc runs a little light on the end of a tube down the nostril to the stomach and pushes it up against the stomach towards the outside.  He can see that light and then makes the incision from that.  There is a little balloon that holds the tube in place so it won't pop out and then there is a disc on the outside.  He has cans of food that I put down the tube every five hours.  Right now he is only taking one but he should be up to 2 cans every feeding by Monday.  Don't want to overfill his little tummy :)  And you definitely don't want him to cough either when you are feeding him cause it comes back up the tube, yuck.

Hope everyone has a very Happy Easter!

too funny!

 

Learning new things

Yep I'm learning new things.  I changed the oil in our gas generator yesterday.  What a pain!  Why they put it behind a bar almost on the underside of the generator I don't know but it makes it difficult to change the oil.  I had to tip it one way to get the oil out and then tip it the other way to put new oil in. And that thing is heavy.  I did spill oil...oh well it's done anyway.

I wanted to show you the owls I made my mom.  I got the kit from Mary Maxim.

Sorry that some of them are a little blurry.  I took the pics with my phone.  Something else I learned.  Aren't they cute though?  I sent them as a surprise before Thanksgiving.  They are made out of felt with little touches of embroidery.  I even got myself a kit to make them too  :)  Mary Maxim even has Halloween owls and Christmas owls too. I just loved the mummy one.  Think I'll have to get the kits for those too and some for my mom as well.  She loved them.  Cost me to ship them to her but they didn't weigh anything it was the size of the box I had to put them in so they didn't get crushed.  I never worked with felt before so this is also something I learned.  I'll try to get some more pics on here.  I know everyone loves pics.

Next, learning how to service the riding lawnmower which I haven't done before and then cutting the grass (which I have done before when DH would let me - it's his toy not mine LOL) 

Hope everyone enjoys the spring weather - summer's just around the corner!

Cancer update

Well, DH's knee is doing better now.  The chemo has not helped his mouth tumor though which surprised the doc and now DH will be going for radiation treatment on it along with chemo treatments every week.  Hopefully this will take the swelling down so he can swallow better.  He dropped another 18 lbs since my last post.  He is very dizzy and is afraid of falling when he stands up.  I think the tumor is pressing on his inner ear putting his balance out of whack but I'm not a doc so what do I know?  He is still drinking the Boost/Ensure and now has a taste for ginger ale.  I found some at Kroger after looking everywhere for it.  I didn't want a big bottle just a small one.  He thinks something will taste good and then it doesn't so I end up throwing it away but he loved the ginger ale so it's all good.  The radiation doc made a mask of DH's face so they can bolt him down for treatment.  Sounds scary but he said he would just close his eyes.  He's very claustrophobic so I wonder how he will deal with this. He will have almost a sunburn in his mouth but it can't be any worse than it is now, right?

The bills are starting to come in, don't know how we will pay them with only my paycheck and we're still paying on the house in Alabama.  I'm working on getting it cleaned up and ready for sale but it's hard to do all by yourself.  I did get some help from one of DH's friends, Robert, who came and helped me load the trailer with some of the heavier things and then helped me unload them at the cabin.  I think he was really shocked to see the change in DH.  It was not one of his better days when Robert saw him though.  Because DH is so dizzy, he can't focus too much on what is going on around him sometimes and this was one day that was the way he was.  It takes a lot out of him to travel to the house which is 1 1/2 hours away from the cabin.  I told him next time I'll go by myself and not be gone so long.  He's afraid I might not come back but I told him that I wouldn't leave him for the world.  I love him too much.  I'm not going to let this cancer beat us down but I see him slipping away from me and it hurts.  I go out to the car and have a nice cry and try to keep a good attitude for him.

We appreciate your good thoughts and prayers, keep them coming.

Denise