Climbin' the Mountain

What a challenge this has been, much tougher than we both anticipated. However, we want all of you to know that the phone calls, emails, blog comments, cards, food, and well-wishes have gone a long way to make it somewhat tolerable!

Jayme had a weekend from hell. He couldn't eat and even drinking was a chore. Also, his salivary glands kicked into overdrive, just another annoyance to add to the thrush, throat ulcers and nausea. Even though the chemo was 2 weeks ago, we have been told the side effects continue for awhile. He will have another round, and thank goodness, his last chemo treatment next week. The radiation is daily and the side effects are cumulative, the more he has the worse he will feel. As of now the radiation has resulted in a "sunburn" in his esophagus and some fatigue. Wish I could paint a prettier picture. This is one mean cancer.

On a happier note, yesterday we met with Jayme's new best friend, Brenda, the nurse practitioner. A new battle plan was decided on and we put it into action last night. It takes both of us, but he was able to get down two high calorie/protein drinks over a two hour period. We felt quite good about that.

Also on Monday I spoke to Dr Nichols, the surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. We are scheduled for pre-operative appointments on March 25-26 and surgery will occur on April 7th. He was so gracious and informative. I had called up there to provide demographics about Jayme and was speaking to his secretary. I had a question regarding Jayme's treatment, so Dr Nichols got on the phone and answered all my questions. Now that just doesn't happen. Just confirms our confidence that we are going in the right direction when we head up I-29 to Rochester, Minnesota.

I will scale back my once hectic schedule over the next few months. All of our kids will be home at the end of the week as well as Claire, our 8 month old grandbaby. That will put a smile on all of our faces, even Jayme's!