Today is one week from Joe's last chemo treatment. They had reduced the dosage of the Iranatican again... and thus far... no diarrhea... Not even a niggle of it. Praise the Lord!!!
If a body has never dealt with chronic diarrhea... you can't imagine how wonderful it is to NOT have to deal with it. No more man pants (Joe is LOVING that!), no more massive doses of Imodium (tho we did do a few doses for the first few days just after treatment, and he IS still on the Welchol... which is supposed to be helping to keep the scooters at bay). We've been able to get out and about without the fear of him needing to go, and no bathroom nearby... Just breathing a HUGE sigh of relief!
He was able to work a little over 1/2 days last week... This week, he's gone back to full time... Was out yesterday getting his right eye operated on... no more cataracts! Aside from a couple of follow ups... going back at some point for a quick lasering of his left eye (the pocket that the lens sets in had just a bit of plaque on it... going to bust that away)... the eye business is done.
Likely not this week, or next... we're going to have to get him set up for surgery to remove his gallbladder. Dr. Geils and Dr. West are going to have to coordinate that, but it IS going to have to go. He's had 2 or 3 flare ups with it since we ended up in the ER Easter morning. Little bit "scary" as the gallbladder is another pre-filter (or co-filter) for the liver... The liver being compromised with the cancer already has the gallbladder and spleen working overtime...
Last trip to the oncologist... we saw the PA (Dr. G seems to have just turned Joe over to her... we were at least seeing him every other visit, or at least once every two months, but lately, it's been just her, unless Joe has issues that she wants the dr. to check on). Joe asked her about the last sentence that the dr. had written on his "back to work" note... about the condition not being expected to improve... actually to worsen... Her answer was that they still HOPE, of course, that the chemo will cause the cancer to go into remission... for the cancer markers to continue to go down... but since it's NOT happen thus far, in over 1 1/2 years... we're looking more at maintenance. Chemo every two weeks for the rest of forever. Chemo until this treatment loses effectiveness akin to the Folfox... then, that's it, I guess.
So, we just keep praying for a miracle... keep praying that God will touch Joe and aid the chemicals... put the cancer into remission... Beyond that... we just keep plugging along... taking each day one day at a time... living to the fullest. Can't just give up... can't just quit... There are those who think that Joe should go ahead and go on disability, but I tell you, when Joe doesn't work anymore... when he CAN'T work anymore... it'll be just a matter of time... Joe has to be able to work. At the point he can't, that'll be the point he just shuts down. I know it's coming... I just hope it holds off for awhile... We need some good days for awhile... some degree of normalcy. (*"*)
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