Done with Week 3 - On to Week 4

Well, here it is Sunday, and I noticed that Dave hasn't updated this in a couple of days. He is finally through the third week - 15 fractals down, 20 left. I think he is doing fairly well, actually better than we expected. Here are a couple of pictures:

As you can tell, his hair is starting to grow back. It is baby fine - peach fuzz, both on the top of his head and his chin.



Hi neck is looking good as well. He has been very good at putting the X-Clair cream on three times a day. We've got the Juven drinks down to a routine now - Orange in the AM, Grape in the PM. The hardest part of his meds is remembering to take the Salagen 4 times a day...we've been good at three times, but if I don't remind him, he doesn't take them.

The remaining hurdle is getting him to eat enough. Although on the outside he looks really good, he is hurting on the inside. The combination of the sore throat (which actually subsided a little on Friday and Saturday) and the loss of his sense of taste, makes eating difficult. So we are on the constant battle of consuming enough. My goal is for him to get at least 1500 calories a day - preferably more. Dave and I have come to the agreement that if he doesn't get at least 500 calories at a meal, then he need to drink an Ensure, or other meal- replacement drink. He is not exactly thrilled with the taste of Ensure, and thus the battle ensues. I have been on the pursuit of a nutritious, good tasting milkshake (one that I can pack the calories in that he will not turn his nose up at, since he has been reluctant to use the feeding tube for anything other than water. Yesterday we hit a milestone. After Dave was not able to eat much of a very good steak dinner last night, our good friend from WA, Tami Branch helped me convince Dave to try the feeding tube with the Ensure. Tami was in town going to school for the week and came over and spent the day with us. It was really nice to catching up on all the news in Port Orchard and having Dave hear another perspective on nutrition - other than mine. So he downed a bottle of room temperature Ensure Plus (350 cals) using the tube with really no difficulty. Hooray!

Well tomorrow starts week 4 with fractal 16 - Wednesday we will be at the half-way point. Although I am just here on the sidelines, helping Dave get through this, I will be glad when we are done, and I have my hard charging husband back. It is hard watching someone you love be in pain, and not be able to fix it - He is doing really well at staying positive and busy - reloading, spending time at the gun range with David, helping me paint the inside of the house, and our latest project - replacing the tile around the fireplace. He also just got a new digital camera (CANON Rebel XT), and ordered me a GPS for my car...some good gadgets to keep him occupied while I am at work. Speaking of work - my Humanitarian transfer did go through and I am now on shore duty, and the command is giving me all the time off I need to take care of Dave. It is what I need, but I will say that going from a very high stress - fast pace job focused on schedules and operations, to the calm and almost 100% focus at home is an adjustment for me. Lucky for me, my command knows where my focus has to be (Dave), and although I feel somewhat guilty not contributing to the command, my focus is at home for the next couple of months until he is through this, then I can go back to the working world, and then to back to sea duty again.

So I think I have written enough...Dave is doing well, and the support that all of you have been given us is nothing short of outstanding. Thank you for all the comments, emails, cards, wishes, and prayers. We are taking this one day at a time...and soon enough this will be all over and we will be back out there enjoying life.

Just notes ~
Side effects: sore throat, thick spit, everything taste horrible, mouth hurts
Meds: Salagen (dry mouth), X-Clair (skin), Prilosec (tummy), Prochlorperazine (anti-nausea), Multi-vitamin, Clack's VOA (for sore throat and mouth - not that I can get him to use it).
Chemo: Carboplatin
Products: Juven (Therapeutic Nutritional Drink), Biotene Mouthwash(non-alcohol mouthwash - really good), Home made mouth rinse (1qt water+1t baking soda + 1t salt), Ensure.
Weight: 163.

Take care and thanks again for all the love and support - Marjie