Week 2

It's Friday evening, and we've made it through the second week of treatments.  The schedule has been radiation 12-12:15 Monday through Friday, and labs and chemo for about three hours on Tuesday, and a visit with the radiation oncologist on Thursdays.  Last weekend and this week has been a bit tough as Dad hasn't been able to eat/drink much or keep much down (not an unexpected result of chemo and especially radiation) and so this Tuesday had an extra hour to give him a liter of fluids through the IV.  Dad had his port placed on Wednesday this week and there was some concern because his heart rate plunged at one point.  They assume it's a combination of the anesthetic they gave and the fact that he is dehydrated, so he got another liter and a half of IV fluids on Wednesday.   He had another two liters of fluids again today (Friday) after radiation, with an order to allow him to get more on Sunday if needed.  These fluids are helping him to get hydrated, and we notice a difference after he's had them, but unfortunately he's not getting a whole lot of nutrition from it.  Because of that Dad's scheduled to have a feeding tube placed next week.  Mom and Dad will meet with the surgeon on Monday to discuss options and verify the procedure as it's a bit different from the typical since they don't want to go through the stomach since they will be doing surgery there to "pull up" the stomach when they remove the esophagus later this summer. 

So nothing is too far from what the doctors and nurses expect, and we're all learning how this all works.  Please continue to pray for Dad, especially for strength and the ability to keep some fluid and nutrition down.  He's tired, as you might expect, but still keeping on with many things.  He replaced the garbage disposal earlier this week, he and I walked a mile and a half this morning before radiation, and he's continuing to try to teach me how to use my side mirrors to back into the garage (a losing battle I'm afraid, but we'll continue to fight the good fight at least until one of those side mirrors ends up on the garage floor.)

Mom asks that I thank the many of you that have sent such encouraging notes and comments.  They mean so much to all of us.  She asked that I let you know that some day she will respond to you directly to let you know just how much.  She's practicing as I type this and I'm hearing a beautiful version of "Day by day" while Dad is working on his sermon for Sunday, or e-bay transactions, not quite sure which.

We're looking forward to the weekend, a day of rest and preparation tomorrow, with church on Sunday.  I'm hoping to get a few hours of work time in tomorrow as Monday will likely be a full day in Everett.