Terence's PICC line has been bleeding off and on.

March 5, 2012
by sherry

We made it through the week-end without another trip to the hospital!  Last week we took 4 trips, totaling over 20 hours at the hospital (that's a part time job), countless miles and parking expenses. Terence's PICC line has been bleeding off and on for a week. The danger here is obviously the bleeding but also being on chemo he is also prone to infection so the dressing needs to be changed and it's a sterile procedure.  Terence & I are hoping we won't have to keep up with multiple trips every week-
 The thought is exhausting.

I wasn't feeling well yesterday so our youngest son Andrew drove Terence to his weekly appointment yesterday.  Everything turned out okay. All T's labs came back fine. *Sigh of relief*.  It's nice to get a break! I feel like we've been chasing something down for about 2 months-non stop- I'm tired and I know Terence is too.  Speaking of which I'll be going into urgent care tomorrow, I think I have strep throat. So I've been in full masked garb (protecting Terence), we sit at opposite ends of the room and everything is continuously dis-infected.  Jeez, this is all so exhausting. All I can say right now is that God is Good and cancer sucks!

Terence & our grand daughter Annie

Meanwhile: this is day 18 on chemo and up until yesterday he has been doing really well aside from the  typical nausea and fatigue caused by chemo. Three weeks ago, the cancer had caused so much swelling and pain he couldn't walk without assistance.  My sister bought him a walker (the "deluxe" model :), and though he appreciated it his face betrayed his true feelings.....discouragement and unbelief that he was in a position to actually need it.  It had seemed that once he became 'disabled' in that manner along with needing nursing/assistance care for his nephrostomy tube it really kept him house bound and it became tough to break through a cycle of discouragement.
But after only 4 days of chemo he was able to walk on his own!    He started driving his truck again a few days ago, he took our dog Cead out for a drive along the harbor.  He needed that. Cycle one is winding down, and I can tell. The cancer related pain and swelling is slowly returning, he needs to sleep with a heating pad for pain relief and he walks slowly and more carefully.  Also, I keep in the back of my mind that he has only one functioning kidney. I am told that you can live on one kidney, but this kidney isn't 100% healthy; it's the one that had the least amount of cancerous tissue in it. I only share this for prayer purposes.  Pray this kidney is not adversely effected by the chemo.

His next date with chemo is March 13/April 3 and then scans. This is only a 9 week cycle to determine if its working. So far, after only 18 days, it seems to be working.......we're praying this works, because after this, there is no known treatment (FDA approved) for Terence.

We are both physically and emotionally tired, the road's getting a little rougher but God's grace continues to carry us on His wings, strengthening our inner man.  I have to admit--as difficult as this has been, it's been wonderful experiencing the Grace we read about on the bible.
 It's been an amazing journey thus far.

We believe in Miracles!