Wednesday November 11, 2009

Daddy had another chemo treatment on Monday and has started another 5 days of radiation. He should only have one more chemo session this coming Monday and will have his last radiation treatment on Friday November 20th. Dr. Heath said it would be about 4 months before they would do a PET Scan to see if they had gotten all the cancer. Although he is very confident that they did.

Physically Daddy is doing much better. He is not needing the walker to move around the house now and is not needing the oxygen on a continuous basis. Although he is still on the continuous feeding tube which he will need to use until he can eat enough food daily to keep his nourishment up.

As I said physically, Daddy is doing great but emotionally is another story. When he saw Dr. Heath Monday he asked him when he thought they would do the surgery to put in a new jaw bone? Now let me back up several months to July when Dr. Chen & Dr. Heath were evaluating Daddy's overall health and what treatment would be best. At first they did discuss reconstructive surgery (removing the bone and replacing with bone from somewhere else in the body). However; Dr. Chen said considering Daddy's other health problems and the fact that reconstructive surgery would take 14 + hours, he did not feel Daddy would be able to survive the procedure. That is why the less evasive procedure was elected (only an 8 hr. surgery). We are not sure where Daddy got the idea that he would be having another surgery. Maybe he just didn't understand the two options or maybe he just forgot. Nevertheless he thought he would be getting another bone put in. Dr. Heath explained to Daddy that putting bone back in was not really an option at this point because the radiation effects in that area would not allow that area to heal. Also with all the complications he had from the less evasive procedure he was certain that Dr. Chen would not even consider another surgery. Daddy said "so you mean I'll never be able to eat normal food again and I won't ever be able to talk clearly again?" Dr. Heath tried explaining that Daddy would adapt. That he will get used to what he can and can not eat and he'll make lifestyle adjustments accordingly. He thought that Daddy was doing remarkable well considering all he's been through and even commented on the fact that Daddy is doing much better than a lot of his other patients that had this same procedure. Daddy was still upset that he won't be able to chew and eat the same as he did before the surgery. What has just devastated him is the possibility that he may not ever be able to speak clearly enough again to give the Masonic Lectures. Just so you know how much giving these lectures means to Daddy, he told Mom Monday night as she was helping him get in bed that "if I can't do my lectures then there is no point living". Then yesterday morning when I was down there we were discussing whether or not to repair his broken hearing air or get him a new one. He said "just have the old one fixed, I'm not going to live long enough to use a new one anyway". We've tried to explain to him that he needs to give his body time to heal and that anything is possible. He doesn't sound as bad as he thinks he does and I think he speaks pretty clearly, considering. Unfortunately Daddy doesn't see it that way.

What worries me now is Daddy's emotional state taking a toll on his physical condition. We try to reassure him and tell him lets just take it one day at a time. You never know what the future may bring. We are just thankful that he's still here.

In closing, I have a simple request for you all. When you include Daddy in your daily "get well" prayers. Please ask God to heal his speech so that he may continue his Masonic work that he loves so much.