The roller coaster continues! Since I wrote last, Erik's started feeling more of the effects of the chemo. He's very tired, and pretty nauseous most days. Food helps the nausea, but he has a hard time eating much - no appetite, and it's hard to swallow without coughing - but the new Vitamix is fantastic for making shakes, (a million thanks to Carie & Matt!) which are easier to get down. The coughing is continuing to get worse, and the fever is hovering at the high end of ok.
He had to go back to the hospital last week for several hours - shortness of breath, high fever, and also chest pain, which was new. The chest pain was controlled with an opiate, shortness of breath with oxygen, and the fever with Tylenol. He went back home, but he was still pretty uncomfortable, and the symptoms continued.
On Saturday night he was coughing so much and having so much trouble breathing, that we brought him back to the hospital. X-rays showed the lining of his right lung was almost completely full of fluid. Because it was the weekend, he had to wait till today to have the fluid drained, so yesterday was pretty miserable. But today they drained more than a liter and a half, and the change is striking! He's almost back to his old self again, and the coughing has gotten so much better. They're doing analysis of the fluid to see if there's any infection involved, but the doctors' opinion is that it's the cancer itself that's causing the fluid to build up, and that he'll probably have to have the drainage procedure again. His white blood cell count is way down. They're giving him something to try to bring it up, and they're going to keep him in the hospital until that happens - at least several days to a week. He was originally scheduled to start the next cycle of trial drug today, but that'll be postponed until he's well enough.
The cancer is still growing really, really fast. Each new scan or x-ray, even just days apart, shows more and larger masses - his chest is almost completely filled, and they suspect the liver has become involved as well. The doctor says she's never seen a cancer grow this fast. We're going to give the chemo time to do its work though. Timing for continuing the trial and chemo is kind of up in the air right now, so our original target of the middle of the next cycle to get any concrete results, is probably not going to materialize. We'll just take it as it comes and not try to rush anything at this point.
Even with all that, Erik's been mostly positive. He's been down a couple days, and especially since it's been so hard to talk, has been quieter than usual, but his spirit is still strong and hopeful! His brother Brett is coming up from San Francisco today for week's visit - he's looking forward to that. Me too!
I'll keep you posted. Thank you so much for staying with us! Erik so appreciates getting your mail, emails, and warm wishes - and surprise packages from Canada! ;) Lots of love to all of you!
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I'M STILL FIGURING OUT HOW TO REMOVE THE LINKS BELOW, BUT IN THE MEANTIME
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