Relatively speaking

Seattle today~ April 23, 2012

by sherry

Today was Terence's weekly oncology appointment at UW Medical center.

We enjoyed Seattle's beautiful skyline today- it was absolutely beautiful.  

We are also very thankful to be here in Seattle.  Terence is getting such excellent 

and personal care at University of Washington/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

  Terence's appointment went relatively well; meaning there were no surprise 

procedures or emergency surgeries needed.   I can't remember the last time 

he hasn't had need of some sort of emergency procedure.......

so after only a minor incident of dealing with a blocked Foley catheter/urethra and 

draining his bladder of 600 cc's brackish fluid and heading off a life threatening infection...

I'd say the day went well.  He came home with one more urine bag, but who's counting these days.

So that's good news.

His labs came back good today, everything right and in it's place....no blood transfer needed.

That's good news too!

He's still  in a wheel chair...sort of... but that's due to the lymph edema swelling (it happens when he's on his feet), but he can walk if he had too just not more than a few hundred feet.  

No grocery shopping or trips to Home Depot.  He also started driving again.  

A few weeks ago, this wasn't possible either.

Again, good news!

He's still dealing with nausea and chemo related fatigue, but he can deal with that if it means chemo relieves the cancer related pain.  And so far, it is......

.....good news.

Scans are coming up in a few weeks which will determine whether or not he stays on chemo. Life off of chemo isn't very pleasant and life on chemo is like walking on pins and needles.  

Neither one sounds very pleasant, so we  remain hopeful in a miracle :)

Fearfully & wonderfully made

 April 20, 2012

By Sherry

I just want to remind my husband (who is having a difficult day today) and all of our friends who are ill, dealing with disease or fighting cancer of these powerful words:

"You are fearfully (intensely) and wonderfully created, God's works are wonderful, we know this well and we praise Him for it"  Psalm 139:14

I want to join you in praising God for creating you in such a wonderful manner.

 

 

Frustrated

Chemo today.

April 16, 2012
by sherry

How much? How much? How much can one person take?
Don't answer me, I already know the answer- I just had to vocalize the question out of shear frustration for Terence.

Lab work and chemo went well this morning.  We were both happy that he could re-start chemotherapy for pain management. His pain levels have increased to the point he has been at a permanent level 6.  So chemo today was good.

However last nite, as I was flushing Terence's nuphrostomy tubes (kidney by-pass), I noticed it was leaking at the incision site (see graphic ) when I flushed it with saline.  That's not a good sign- that could only mean the tube has puled away from his kidney, which could put him in renal failure again (since it is his only functioning kidney).

By the time I was able to draw attention to this (during chemo) by having Eric help me to test  drain it, it was leaking through the O.P. site dressing and Terence's clothing-- a trip to radiology for a CT scan,  some kind of sino-something (I've lost track of what kind of 'grams')-
and another replacement by-pass in the left kidney- which would be tube #3/but by-pass #4 (since February).

So here we wait. It's pretty important. He only has one kidney. My heart has been pounding with anxiety all day.  Terence has been through chemo today and is patiently waiting for the next procedure.  How frustrating. I feel angry for Terence.  In a weird sort of way, I feel like I want to beat cancer up because it's hurting him.  I don't think I've felt this kind of anger towards cancer until today!

"To them that have no might He increases strength." God comes and
takes us out of our sentimentality, and turns our fear and frustration into
 confidence and praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to take
the yoke of Jesus upon us and lean on Him.

It is a positive crime to be weak in God's strength.