The End of Week #5

All the personnel at the clinic were in full costume this morning, and me without my camera. This crew is just terrific; they are always cheerful, kind, encouraging. I don't know how they keep their spirits up when everyone they see is sick and their job is basically to make them feel worse.

Today marks the end of the fifth week of treatment. When Jim started this I thought that seemed like a painfully long time, but here we are. The next two weeks are going to be the really nasty ones during which all sorts of things are going to go wrong, quit working, be manifested. I had a long discussion with the oncological nutritionist this morning. She warned me that this is the beginning of a rapid downward spiral; weight loss, trouble keeping even liquids down, more severe fatigue, increased pain, plus other side effects that are even less pleasant. But she was also heartened by his seeming "good health" at this point in the game. He has lost 13 pounds so far; she said patients lose between 20 and 50 pounds! His caloric intake has been upped to 2500 per day ( from 2100) to stave off any further weight loss, or at least minimize it. And she encourages using other liquids for nourishment, poured right through the feeding tube; Gatorade, chocolate milk, milk shakes (what's the point if you can't taste them!!), just to add calories. So when we got home he tanked up on a Gatorade. Yum.

On the bright side she said that after about three months he should begin getting back his appetite and may be able to start on soft foods. Once that happens and he gains a bit of weight he will have the feeding tube removed and will be (almost) good as new! Most importantly, YES! He will be able to travel and we can probably head down to the beach by mid-February. That was a big spirit booster.

This being Halloween I received a photo of my grand niece, Ruby, in her Duck suit. Here she is in all her feathered glory!

Our neighborhood has been very quite for the last few years with very few little (or big) candy beggars ringing the bell. This year I am completely unprepared so there will probably be a mob. I think I'll just hunker down and sit in front of the fire and count our blessings. Even with all this terribleness going on, it could be much, much worse. And it's almost over. Jim has already retired for the evening, saying that he was very, very tired. And it's only 6:30 PM. I think I have just had a foretaste of the weeks to come.

By the way, while in the clinic today another woman asked me where I got my Bulls Eye shoes. Check them out!