Is it really already December? How did that happen? Were we not just walking out of the Joplin airport (missing one bag) in a rainbows and stardust type glaze after an uninterrupted four weeks on an island. If we knew then what we know now. . .
This week lived up to all the hype. It was text book - very much like everything we had read in preparation for this road trip. In summary "things will start to get rough around week five - after the second round of Chemo." We were prepared - but are you ever really prepared?
We both know that things could have been worse. Peggy Two stepped up and single handedly saved the week! Ran simply had no appetite. Eating was way out of the question - I was band from even talking about food (which apparently is harder for me to do then one would think!). Ran continued to drink water and Gatorade as much as he could stand and today, at 4:26pm, he ate his first bite of solid food since Monday. Can anyone guess what it was? Very good Sarah . . . Cheerios! Though not eating via his big loud mouth (Crowder folks know I speak the truth on that one!) he has been diligently feeding himself the high calorie, high nutrient, high everything shakes via Peggy Two. Much to our surprise, when we weighed in on Friday, he had not lost ANY weight for the week! We were thrilled. But, that didn't touch the best news we were given. During our visit with Dr. Sun she used her tiny flash light (with a camera this time) and stuck her tiny fingers down Ran's throat. She then stepped back and shared that the tumor is evidently smaller - she could both see and feel a difference! That is the kind of news that gets you through vomit, and exhaustion, and 24 hour nausea. So, they say we've got two and half more weeks of this? We say. . .Bring it!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
November 30th, 2011
Today. . . today was a sleepy day.
Woke up and did a light workout. Randy on the treadmill so that he could read and walk - I on the bike (padded shorts and all!). Ran fell asleep as I got my shower. Hated to wake him but we had to go to SHR and our second Tens Unit meeting. We were back at the HL by 10:30, Ran had another Can of Power via Peggy Two and then laid down for a nap. I took my computer to the dinning room and started catching up on all of the work that came poring in from my students over the Holiday.
I decided to wake Ran again a little after 2:00. We left around 3:00 to do some antiquing. It's inside and warm, it allows us to be up and moving, and it saves us money (everything is too expensive or big to buy!). Exhaustion started to set back in so we headed back to HL around 5:30. He curled up in our warm little room, had the 4th Can of Power for the day and called it a night.
So overall, not sick - just a little queezy (which I rub his hand to fix) - and very very tired. I'm glad we're here. I'm glad he is away from all of the temptations that would keep him from resting when that is what his body tells him to do.
Woke up and did a light workout. Randy on the treadmill so that he could read and walk - I on the bike (padded shorts and all!). Ran fell asleep as I got my shower. Hated to wake him but we had to go to SHR and our second Tens Unit meeting. We were back at the HL by 10:30, Ran had another Can of Power via Peggy Two and then laid down for a nap. I took my computer to the dinning room and started catching up on all of the work that came poring in from my students over the Holiday.
I decided to wake Ran again a little after 2:00. We left around 3:00 to do some antiquing. It's inside and warm, it allows us to be up and moving, and it saves us money (everything is too expensive or big to buy!). Exhaustion started to set back in so we headed back to HL around 5:30. He curled up in our warm little room, had the 4th Can of Power for the day and called it a night.
So overall, not sick - just a little queezy (which I rub his hand to fix) - and very very tired. I'm glad we're here. I'm glad he is away from all of the temptations that would keep him from resting when that is what his body tells him to do.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
November 29th, 2011
Back at the Hope Lodge. Ran is doing great. Not nearly as "out of it" as he was after the first Chemo. Brushing teeth and washing off a night in the hospital. Closing the blinds and hoping for sleep. Officially over halfway done. . . 2/3 Chemo and 19/35 Super Hero Radiation treatments OVER!
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28th, 2011
We are back in Iowa after a wonderful four day hiatus in Neosho. We left as soon as we could last Wednesday. SHR #17 and a quick check-up by Nurse Peggy and Dr. Sun. Everything looks great - everyone is very complementary of both the inside and outside of Ran's neck. If they're not careful they might have the additional problem of figuring out how to cure cancer and deflate his head at the same time! Ran participated in the first of three Tens unit treatments which went very well. We all began to officially poke a little fun at Ran's new "Radiation Haircut." The radiation caused his hair to fall out about halfway down the back of his head. It's like a reverse receding hairline! Kinda looks like he's got "the mange!" Oh, stop it! I can hear all of you sweethearts out there. That's funny stuff! We've got to laugh. . .and do often!
We took a nice slow drive home - the trip being much more interesting with company. We sat in "our" living room in front of "our" fireplace and continued to visit for about thirty minutes or so before we decided to call it a night in "our" bed. There is truly no place like home.
As our Thanksgiving was planned for Saturday in AR we decided to take care of some chores on Thursday and get a little exercise in - something neither of us have done very much of as of late. We took my car to Wally World and had the oil changed and the tires rotated. You have to take extra special care of these old cars and our Pearl Girl (97 White Toyota Camery from Adrian & Billy) has had over 6000 additional miles added in the last month. We dropped off the car (saw Kirk Roelfsema for just a moment - quick update about IA - what a great smile he has to motivate the rest of our day!) then we walked to Crowder. Ran got caught up on work while I walked back to get the car and do a little grocery shopping. He pretty much lives on Honey Nut Cheerios (as it's one thing that doesn't taste horrible . . .yet) so we had to stock up! Matt, Nancy, Logan and Kels all came over to visit for a few hours that evening. So good to see familiar faces!
Friday friends came over to watch college and high school ball and hang out for the day. It was a wonderfully normal day - we both loved every minute of it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Saturday we brought a little lunch out to Jim and Kate Rhoades and got to visit for a about 30 minutes (not nearly long enough) before heading to AR. Kate looks wonderful! Her recovery from knee replacement surgery is going very well. Apparently, she follows her Dr.'s instructions to a T because her range of motion shocked both of us. Dinner in AR at my Grandmother and Uncle John's house was such a treat. Everyone seemed to have brought something although our Carl went above and beyond the call of duty - as always! It was such a great gathering of wonderful people that we too rarely have in the same room. Unfortunately, Ran was not able to eat much. Nothing tasted "good" to him. Each day is different - sometimes food tastes great - or at least normal - and on others everything is awful. Things started out tasting like they had been soaked in salt - now they taste soapy. We had our fingers crossed but this just ended up being a not so great food day. The camaraderie more than made up for the disappointment and of course I'm always willing to do my part by eating for two. Keeping the world in balance - one yam (ok, geesh, three) at a time!
Because I was able to work my magic and move Ran's Monday appointments to later in the day we had the entire day Sunday to just do. . . whatever! So, we decided to sleep ridiculously late, sip coffee for an extra-long time, go to to the Y and walk on the treadmill (instead of run), then watched the Eagles game with Matt (uggg, really Jackson, COME ON!) When we returned home Ran was able to get all caught up with Hazim as they watched KC fight a good fight. To bed a little later than expected and neither of us could sleep. Alarm was set for a little before four a.m. but I don't think either of us needed it - already awake.
MONDAY:
DING, DING! Round Two (if only we had a hot ring girl to walk through the room - all would be right in Randy's world!)
As I type, Ran has already had SHR #18, met with Dr. Wehbe to review blood work, and is almost through the first bag of fluids. One more to go, then 192 minutes of Cisplatin, and more kidney flushing fluids. If we don't sleep tonight we'll tuck ourselves into our cave in the morning after radiation and sleep away the day.
We took a nice slow drive home - the trip being much more interesting with company. We sat in "our" living room in front of "our" fireplace and continued to visit for about thirty minutes or so before we decided to call it a night in "our" bed. There is truly no place like home.
As our Thanksgiving was planned for Saturday in AR we decided to take care of some chores on Thursday and get a little exercise in - something neither of us have done very much of as of late. We took my car to Wally World and had the oil changed and the tires rotated. You have to take extra special care of these old cars and our Pearl Girl (97 White Toyota Camery from Adrian & Billy) has had over 6000 additional miles added in the last month. We dropped off the car (saw Kirk Roelfsema for just a moment - quick update about IA - what a great smile he has to motivate the rest of our day!) then we walked to Crowder. Ran got caught up on work while I walked back to get the car and do a little grocery shopping. He pretty much lives on Honey Nut Cheerios (as it's one thing that doesn't taste horrible . . .yet) so we had to stock up! Matt, Nancy, Logan and Kels all came over to visit for a few hours that evening. So good to see familiar faces!
Friday friends came over to watch college and high school ball and hang out for the day. It was a wonderfully normal day - we both loved every minute of it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Saturday we brought a little lunch out to Jim and Kate Rhoades and got to visit for a about 30 minutes (not nearly long enough) before heading to AR. Kate looks wonderful! Her recovery from knee replacement surgery is going very well. Apparently, she follows her Dr.'s instructions to a T because her range of motion shocked both of us. Dinner in AR at my Grandmother and Uncle John's house was such a treat. Everyone seemed to have brought something although our Carl went above and beyond the call of duty - as always! It was such a great gathering of wonderful people that we too rarely have in the same room. Unfortunately, Ran was not able to eat much. Nothing tasted "good" to him. Each day is different - sometimes food tastes great - or at least normal - and on others everything is awful. Things started out tasting like they had been soaked in salt - now they taste soapy. We had our fingers crossed but this just ended up being a not so great food day. The camaraderie more than made up for the disappointment and of course I'm always willing to do my part by eating for two. Keeping the world in balance - one yam (ok, geesh, three) at a time!
Because I was able to work my magic and move Ran's Monday appointments to later in the day we had the entire day Sunday to just do. . . whatever! So, we decided to sleep ridiculously late, sip coffee for an extra-long time, go to to the Y and walk on the treadmill (instead of run), then watched the Eagles game with Matt (uggg, really Jackson, COME ON!) When we returned home Ran was able to get all caught up with Hazim as they watched KC fight a good fight. To bed a little later than expected and neither of us could sleep. Alarm was set for a little before four a.m. but I don't think either of us needed it - already awake.
MONDAY:
DING, DING! Round Two (if only we had a hot ring girl to walk through the room - all would be right in Randy's world!)
As I type, Ran has already had SHR #18, met with Dr. Wehbe to review blood work, and is almost through the first bag of fluids. One more to go, then 192 minutes of Cisplatin, and more kidney flushing fluids. If we don't sleep tonight we'll tuck ourselves into our cave in the morning after radiation and sleep away the day.
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