Wednesday, Feb. 25

Papa had a really good week last week (must of been the cute cousins!) but this week has been kind of rough. His lips are really really swollen and the blisters are bad. Please pray for his comfort as this radiation therapy peaks and comes to an end! The doctors have told us that the discomfort will ultimately peak and then slowly go away. Just pray for his comfort and that he be lifted up and KNOW that this almost over. He only has 6 more radiation treatments left. He was supposed to be finished a week from Thursday, but Dr. Hardacre looked at his lips/face this morning and decided he needed a long break. They are going to skip treatment on Friday so that he can have a 3 day relief from treatments. Therefore, he will do one tomorrow and the remaining 5 next week ending on Friday. Lets pray together that he can tolerate these last 6 and that his pain not get any worse. He is definitely a trooper and an inspiration to so many. Praise God.

Precious Cousins Waiting to see Papa!

You Can Do It Papa!

Some of you may have heard that Papa went to the hospital on Saturday. He was sick at his stomach once on Friday and then again Saturday morning and mom and I thought we should call the doctor because he really cant' afford to be sick. They decided to send him to the hospital to get some fluids. It took all day, but he did feel much better.

Today we met with the nurse practicioner at the Cancer Institure where he gets his chemo treatments. She checked him out and said that he seems to be tolerating everything well. The rash which occurs as a side effect of this type of chemo was actually mild and we were glad to hear that. We did learn that we were mistaken about today being his last treatment. It was just the last one they had scheduled him for!! He actually will continue the chemo each Monday as long as he is getting radiation treatments. He has 12 more treatments, which means he will go the rest of this week, all of next week and three days the following week. That means he will have two more chemo treatments if I understand it correctly.

We also discovered that the reason for his upset stomach is easily treated. He has been taking an antibiotic for the rash which comes along with the chemo. None of us even noticed that he was taking his meds in the morning after breakfast and the pill should not be taken with dairy products!!! He has been taking it the past week or so right on top of eggs and milk!!! Poor guy. Hopefully we can fix that starting tomorrow. Keep praying. He really needs some "cheering" as it seems it will never end to him. We will be down to single digits in radiation treatments by Friday...Prasie God!!

Today we surprised Papa with our "You can do it Papa!" tshirts. Cheryl had them made for us by a friend of hers and we dressed up all the "little kids" and took them to the Cancer Instistitute to surprise Papa while he was in treatment this morning. What a precious sight!

1 and 16!

We have one chemo treatment left and 16 radiation treatments to go. I know for Dad it seems as if it will never end, but the end of the treatments are in sight. We are so thankful that everything we have encountered so far has been treatable. Praise God! Please pray for these next few weeks that they go as planned and the results at the end are positive. We want the side effects to ease up and that they heal quickly. We are praying hard that he will start eating again. He really has a hard time eating and it is very important that he do so to be able to heal quickly. We all (and I mean ALL) went over to their house Monday night to celebrate their anniversary. We took all kinds of food...dumplings, sweet potatoes, shrimp, spaghetti, bread, pie, banana splits, jello...you name it and I am pretty sure we had it! We figured surely we could find something he would eat. He did manage to eat a pretty good meal (although I think Penny ate more than him) so we were all pleased. The day after a chemo treatment is always his hardest as far as "energy" is concerned, but he did go to work today for a while. Pray for Mom too. She has a lot to deal with as they go through all this together. God is awesome and we know He is with them (and us) through every bit of this journey. I leave you with this verse I came across today and sent to Mom and Dad to wake up to in the morning.

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."Lamentations 3:22-23

Thursday, Feb. 5

Well, 2 of the 4 treatments are done! I went to sit with him some on Monday and hoped it would help to pass the time away. Sitting in a room full of people getting "treatments" is not such a "sunny" way to spend your day, so I am sure it is nice to have the company. The nurses are really nice and people talk to each other. He did NOT get another one of those bad headaches this time so we know that it must of been something else instead of the chemo...thank God. I think maybe some sinus issues or stress or a combination of both. They went ahead and gave him some Tylenol along with his other premeds just in case and it seemed to work. We finished the radiation on side 1! Yeah! I do believe that they were to the point of UNBEARABLE and he just about couldn't take any more to that side. The blisters in his mouth have gotten very uncomfortable and although he has an appetite, they make eating almost impossible. He manages to get something down each meal time, so we are hanging on there. Hopefully, with the radiation now on the other side, it will give the burns and blisters a little time to heal before the side effects of the new radiation that started today on the other side. Whew...it is a lot. Let's pray that the next 4-5 weeks go as expected. No more surprises. We hope for a CLEAR scan when all is done and rapid healing. After that we can move on to NEW TEETH! I pray that this is God's plan. Pray for his strength each day. He still goes to work every day and continues things as normal as possible. Again, we are so thankful for all of you.