Duke Calls

Since Mike didn’t seem to be getting a whole lot better with his responses to questions and his eating has slowed down, he had yet another CT scan last night. I was afraid that it was going to show he was hemorrhaging or the swelling had grown, but the report read that things are the same as they were with his last scan on Saturday. The measurement was the exact same (6.8 centimeters including the swelling). It is taking what feels like forever to feed Mike. Last night it took him an hour to eat, and he only had a meat, two vegetables, and applesauce. It’s clearly taking a lot of effort for him to eat lately, so he hasn’t been eating quite as much. Anything soft (yogurt, mashed potatoes, etc.) goes down pretty quickly, but if he has to chew, it takes quite a while.

Dr. Desjardins from Duke called our doctor back today. (She’s the doctor we saw when we went for our regular clinical visit and was wonderful.) She reviewed the actual slides of Mike’s CT scan and was very pleased with how well he is doing. She thinks he is an excellent candidate for the Avastin, but she said it’s too risky for him to take it while he’s getting the radiation. Mike’s last radiation treatment is scheduled for March 24, but the radiation still has an effect even after the treatment is finished, so I’m not sure exactly when he will begin taking it. Avastin is taken only once every two or three weeks (depending on what the doctors decide is best). When we were at Duke, Dr. Desjardins told us it begins shrinking the tumor within 24 hours, though patients usually can’t tell a difference in how they feel for at least a week or two. In case you don’t remember, in 65% percent of patients who have taken Avastin, the tumor decreased in size by half. The other 35% had their tumors shrink by 20%-25%.

Thursday Update

I talked with the doctor this morning, and he went ahead and ordered another dose of the Mannitol for Mike today. He said the swelling in Mike’s hands is from the steroids; his face may become puffy as well. His blood pressure and heart rate are now under control. When I asked Mike my name this morning, he said some crazy name, but when I asked him the name of his wife, he gave that same answer. I’ve asked him my name since then, but he doesn’t give a response. When I held up pictures of the girls, he was able to tell me their names and that they’re his daughters, so that was good. The doctor said I shouldn’t be too concerned about Mike’s dip because it is bound to happen. Mike did eat all of his breakfast, but it felt like it took forever for him to eat. There has been no word from Duke yet; the doctor is going to call up there today to try and nudge them a little. I will certainly post whenever I find out something.

There was no magic with my cell phone this morning…it actually had a setback and wouldn’t turn on at all again!

Thanks once again for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray for Mike and that this is just a minor setback he is having as well as that we’ll get the go ahead to take the Avastin from the doctors at Duke.

Birthday Boy

Wow!!! I wasn’t expecting such an overwhelming response for the birthday wishes and stories. Thank you so much for sharing! I knew some of the tales, but I learned some new “war stories” as well. I finished reading Mike all of the posts today—there were so many I couldn’t get through them yesterday! Mike had a good birthday. The girls finally got over the “crud” and were able to come for a visit; Ava sat on the bed with Mike for quite some time. Thanks to Fran, Regina, Cindy, Harry, and my parents, Mike ended up with quite a feast for lunch and dinner. He got a break from the hospital food and was able to dine on homemade barbeque, broccoli and cheese soup, beans, steamed broccoli, and banana pudding. And of course, there was birthday cake. There was so much food, Mike’s Uncle Gene had to bring me a cooler today so we wouldn’t take up too much room in the refrigerator. (It plugs into an outlet, so I don't even have to use any ice!) They only allow items to be kept in the fridge for two days around here, and there’s no way all that food would be gone by the Thursday. I think Mike is becoming a favorite on the 8th floor—the nurses and staff brought him a beautiful arrangement of tulips for his big day!

Mike is over half way through with his radiation and chemotherapy. He has thirteen treatments left. His heart rate and blood pressure got to be pretty high today, and he ended up having an EKG to make sure everything was okay. Things didn’t look too bad, but they did give him some sort of patch to help bring them down to a more normal level. Other than that, Mike was doing pretty well today, but he didn’t seem to be doing as well after waking him for dinner. He was having some trouble eating at dinner, at times it was taking him longer than normal to chew, and he didn’t eat as much as he normally does. Having a good appetite is one of the things the doctor has been keeping an eye on. His breathing was a little shallow, so respiratory therapy came in to do a breathing treatment. I quizzed him a little later, and he didn’t know who I was. That’s one he hasn’t gotten wrong since he was out of it from his biopsy. The on-call doctor was called and Mike is getting another dose of the Mannitol tonight. I’ll talk with our regular doctor about everything in the morning.

The doctors at Duke received copies of Mike’s latest CT scan reports, but they wanted to review the film for themselves. It was Fed-Exed to them yesterday, so hopefully, we’ll have their feedback by the end of the week about the possibility of starting with the Avastin.

Here’s your comic relief for today (at my expense): This afternoon Mike had that look that people have when they’re going to vomit, so I rushed in the bathroom to grab one of the plastic pink tubs to use to prevent him from getting it all over himself. I thought I heard something fall in the toilet, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it because I was trying to get back to Mike. I moved the bed to a 90 degree angle, and it ended up Mike only had to belch. (And it was quite a belch!) A few minutes later, I went back to see what fell in the toilet, and it was my cell phone. Arrggh!!! So, if you’ve left me message since about noon on Wednesday, I haven’t gotten it. I’ll be using my old phone for the next day or two until I can get to SunCom to figure out what to do with my newer one. On the bright side, the phone would at least turn on this evening—that’s more than it was doing this afternoon. It now gives me the message to insert the SIM card. Maybe it’ll just magically work in the morning. A girl can dream, can’t she?!