Daddy is officially home!
Mom got him home at 11:30 Friday morning (9/25/09). He is doing pretty good. He's getting around the house very well with little to no assistance right now. He still has his good and bad days where some days he seems to feel pretty good and other days (like today) not so good. His head and behind his left eye is still hurting him quite a lot and the pain medication that he was sent home with is not relieving it. Dr. Heath prescribed two stronger meds yesterday that he is hoping will keep Daddy's pain under control or at least bearable. However; insurance will only cover one of them so Mom is going to see if he can prescribe something else as the medication is expensive. Daddy still doesn't have much of an appetite and has lost 50 pounds so far. He will probable need the feeding tube put back in before all his treatments are finished.
Daddy has had 1 week of radiation treatments so far and you can tell it is already making him weaker. He has to have a total of 6.5 - 7 weeks of treatment @ 5 days per week. As for the chemo, the Doctors have gone back and forth like a yo-yo on this subject. They all agree that the best chance Daddy has of getting rid of all the cancer is if he has chemo along with the radiation. However; they are concerned that Daddy's body will not be able to handle chemo. Dr. Heath, Dr. Chin and one of the Chemotherapy Doctor's (Dr. Mertin) had a conference yesterday to discuss what the safest and most effective chemo treatment would be for Daddy. Dr. Mertin thinks that there are some drugs that they can safely give him that will help the radiation be more effective (Carboplatin and Taxol). These drugs do not effect the kidneys or hearing like some of the other chemo drugs do. Dr. Heath is going to get with Dr. Inhorn to discuss this since Dr. Inhorn will be administering the chemo (he was not available for the conference). The treatment will be once a week and will take anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. That's going to make for a long day at the Cancer Center for Daddy and Mom since on those days he will have radiation too. For the first treatment he will be admitted to Roanoke Memorial Hospital's Oncology Ward so that they can monitor how he does. This is tentatively schedules for next Tuesday October 6th unless something else changes (or another Doctor changes his mind).
Mama and Daddy would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support.
I will update again when there are changes but if I haven't and you would like to check on him you may email me at halouf@cox.net anytime.
Thank you all again!
1 comment:
So glad to hear Roy is home now. Remind your mom to rest when he rests, the housework will wait. I'm glad to hear that he will be admitted when they give chemo, wish they would of done that with Tommy. It is so important to be well hydrated before starting chemo that cuts back on the nausea plus getting a good dose of anti-nausea drugs before. You are all in our prayers. Love, Laurie Ann & Tommy
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