Mike graduated from radiation treatment today. He even got a certificate to prove it! And since some of you were a little disappointed that Mike opted not to keep the staples in his head from the biopsy, I made the executive decision to keep the “helmet” that was used during radiation. It’s just a little souvenir. I figure Ava or Savannah can use it if one of them ever decides to take up fencing.
Mike’s blood count is okay today. Not great, but not bad. Because the chemo can have such a negative effect on it, the doctor is still holding off on giving him Temodar. Once his blood levels get back up, Mike is probably going to take the Temodar in conjunction with the Avastin, though I’m not sure exactly when that’s going to start. I would imagine that the doctor would want to do one more MRI before beginning the Avastin to make sure there is no hemorrhaging, but I’m just speculating on that. I asked the radiation personnel this morning when they normally do the follow-up MRI, and they said between four and six weeks after the last treatment. If you recall from earlier posts, radiation continues to work its magic even after the final treatment, so that’s why they wait a while.
Today should be the last day with the feeding tube. The doctor wanted to keep it in for this last day of radiation, and the plan is to remove it tomorrow morning. The echo-cardiogram (heart ultrasound) results came out fine, so Mike was taken off the perpetual heart monitor this morning. He continues to be on the oxygen, but he doesn’t have to wear the mask—it’s just the tube that sits at the base of his nose, so it’s not that big of a deal. Oh, and I think I forgot to tell you that Saturday afternoon they came in and did an ultrasound on Mike’s legs to make sure he didn’t have any blood clots. When I posted the thread for that day, I had not been told that test was going to be done. Apparently, if a blood clot develops in a certain area, it can cause problems with the lungs. Fortunately, Mike got the all-clear on that. The only thing that could be seen on the ultrasound was some fluid in the legs…that’s a heck of a lot better than finding blood clots, seeing as how a blood clot can kill you and all. Mike didn’t get physical therapy on Monday because the therapists were waiting on the results of the ultrasound. They didn’t want to move him if he had any clots. Of course, they could have just asked me, and I could have told them that nothing was found. Surely, they would have respected my professional medical report.
Over the last few weeks, Mike has pretty much stopped moving his arms and legs at all on his own. However, yesterday during physical therapy, he moved his arm by himself twice. I’ve gotten to the point now where I move his arms and legs a couple of times a day in addition to the physical therapy he gets. He has a pretty hard time holding his head up during therapy, so I’ve started stretching his neck muscles several times throughout the day.
That’s about all the excitement for the time being. Now it’s a whole lot of wait and see. Hopefully, Mike will regain a lot of strength over the next week or two since he won’t have the radiation zapping energy from him, and we’ll be able to start phase two of his treatment soon.
Mike’s blood count is okay today. Not great, but not bad. Because the chemo can have such a negative effect on it, the doctor is still holding off on giving him Temodar. Once his blood levels get back up, Mike is probably going to take the Temodar in conjunction with the Avastin, though I’m not sure exactly when that’s going to start. I would imagine that the doctor would want to do one more MRI before beginning the Avastin to make sure there is no hemorrhaging, but I’m just speculating on that. I asked the radiation personnel this morning when they normally do the follow-up MRI, and they said between four and six weeks after the last treatment. If you recall from earlier posts, radiation continues to work its magic even after the final treatment, so that’s why they wait a while.
Today should be the last day with the feeding tube. The doctor wanted to keep it in for this last day of radiation, and the plan is to remove it tomorrow morning. The echo-cardiogram (heart ultrasound) results came out fine, so Mike was taken off the perpetual heart monitor this morning. He continues to be on the oxygen, but he doesn’t have to wear the mask—it’s just the tube that sits at the base of his nose, so it’s not that big of a deal. Oh, and I think I forgot to tell you that Saturday afternoon they came in and did an ultrasound on Mike’s legs to make sure he didn’t have any blood clots. When I posted the thread for that day, I had not been told that test was going to be done. Apparently, if a blood clot develops in a certain area, it can cause problems with the lungs. Fortunately, Mike got the all-clear on that. The only thing that could be seen on the ultrasound was some fluid in the legs…that’s a heck of a lot better than finding blood clots, seeing as how a blood clot can kill you and all. Mike didn’t get physical therapy on Monday because the therapists were waiting on the results of the ultrasound. They didn’t want to move him if he had any clots. Of course, they could have just asked me, and I could have told them that nothing was found. Surely, they would have respected my professional medical report.
Over the last few weeks, Mike has pretty much stopped moving his arms and legs at all on his own. However, yesterday during physical therapy, he moved his arm by himself twice. I’ve gotten to the point now where I move his arms and legs a couple of times a day in addition to the physical therapy he gets. He has a pretty hard time holding his head up during therapy, so I’ve started stretching his neck muscles several times throughout the day.
That’s about all the excitement for the time being. Now it’s a whole lot of wait and see. Hopefully, Mike will regain a lot of strength over the next week or two since he won’t have the radiation zapping energy from him, and we’ll be able to start phase two of his treatment soon.
2 comments:
Hey my Brother and Ms. Diane,
GOOD NEWS for sure. Am so glad that things are looking upfor "Coach". I wanted to come by today but I seem not to be able to finish with this cough (a small one but it is a cough).
I am still on my mission for you all of praying. It still amazes me that it is still on-going.
We are going to Disney World for spring break so we will have to find all of you something from there.
Hopefully I will be able to bring Morgan with me too.
Still praying and ya'll are on my mind constantly, Much love, Billy and Morgan
Thanks for the detailed update. Glad to hear all the good news and that he can concentrate now on getting his strength up. In rugby, we call those helmets 'scrum caps'.
May God Bless You All!
Rockefeller's San Antonio
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