A Brief Reprieve

Round #6 of chemo is going to wait a week. Eric had his blood tested today and his white blood cell count was a little low, so he won't be getting chemo tomorrow. Hopefully with an extra week "off," he'll have a few good days and feel a little better. He also lost 5 lbs since the last infusion. We'll try to get a few pounds back on him by next week.

Relaxation Sunday

The decorations are done! Now we can relax and enjoy the lights.

Eric spent time recording some music on his little synthesizer. We didn't do much today. Mostly watched Christmas movies on TV and relaxed. Alex went back to school this afternoon. And we're just gearing up for a busy week and round #6 on Tuesday. 

Friends and Trees

We had some visitors over the weekend. Mike & Melissa were in town for Thanksgiving, visiting Mike's family, so we were able to get together with them.

On Friday, (Black Friday) Melissa and I did some shopping while Mike and Eric took a tour of Fulton. Mike hadn't been there in years and wanted to see his old home town. They even stopped in to see Eric's old homestead. (aka as Gary & Paula's house.)

This morning we met them for breakfast before they headed back to Ohio.

And tonight we got the tree up. Still needs decorating, but it's a start! Christmas will be here before we know it. 

Thanksgiving 2016

We had a very nice Thanksgiving yesterday. I put most of the photos on Facebook, but thought I'd do a quick post on the blog too.

We went up to Fulton for dinner at Gary & Paula's house. Paula put on a wonderful spread. We were all very happily bloated when it was all said and done. 

Eric had a good day yesterday. He brought an "Ensure" to drink, but didn't end up needing it. He tolerated all the food very well. And had dessert too. We got home around 6, and he went up to lay down for a little bit, and took a long nap. He was pretty worn out.

Looking forward to a few more days off. 

Update

Eric got some nutritional shakes today. Hoping to up his protein and calorie intake. He had one with dinner and he liked it. Hopefully these will help him feel a little better and help keep his weight up. 

Here's someone who is really looking forward to a nice long weekend. 

Snooooow

So we got a little snow today. 

Not much else to report here. We both got to work safely and back home again. Hopefully it will stop snowing soon. We got over 20" so far. I think I'm good for the year.

Eric is still hanging in there. Still having eating issues. We're going to get him some protein shakes. Hopefully he can drink those no problem, just to get some nutrition in him.

Winter Arrived

Yesterday it was 70 degrees. (Oh and the town leaf removal people never bothered to come this year... that's going to be a big mess tomorrow!)

This morning it was 32 degrees and it started snowing.

Jenny looks thrilled...

The snow is not going to stop until Tuesday. Winter is here. 

Friday Night

This is our Friday night. Relaxation night. Eric took a nap after dinner, now he's surfing on his Surface. He's having a lot of issues with food. We've got to figure out some new foods he can eat. Mashed potatoes tasted like plastic tonight. That was a go-to comfort food. Plus he just doesn't feel like eating, so that's not good. I need to do some research and find some other options for him. If you've got any ideas or experiences to share, let me know!

Jenny got a new bark box yesterday. It was Thanksgiving themed. She LOVES her turkey sandwich. She also loves the pumpkin pie (with a dollop of whipped cream) squeaky toy, but the turkey sandwich is the new favorite. 

Bob took this photo the other day after I left the Oncology place. Eric still has his sense of humor!

Ho Ho Ho

I bought a new Santa hat for Eric. He humored me by wearing it for a minute. He does need some new hats though, his head is cold and he's becoming self-conscious about his hair loss.  (Which I don't think is that bad, but he's not happy about it.)

The exhaustion set in this evening. And the usual side-effects are all there. Eric is handling them all in stride and doing well. We're looking forward to another quiet weekend. Other than getting the snow tires (ulp) put on the cars.

We had a very nice sunrise this morning. No matter what happens in the world, the sun will always come up in the morning. It might be covered with clouds, but eventually, the clouds will clear and the sun will shine.

Round #5

Round #5 is in the books. The patient is home and resting comfortably. Today he had an "extra" medication within his cocktail of usual drugs. Lorazepam was added today.  It's an anti-nausea drug, which also makes you very drowsy. It helps with anxiety too. He doesn't usually get that because he's been driving himself each time. They don't allow you to have the drug if you're going to be driving. Today I drove him there, and his friend Bob (pictured above) drove him home. So it worked out well. I also think it's good for him not to drive himself anymore. The side effects come on so quickly now, it's best that he takes it easy the whole day.

Today we tried something a little bit different, and I thank Bob for being willing and able to help. I got Eric to his appointment this morning, but only stayed for a couple of hours. I went back to work and Bob stayed with Eric the rest of the time and then drove him home. It was so nice to have someone to help ease the load a little bit. 

We're hoping for a restful evening and a good next few days for him. Each dosage gets a little bit harder as the drugs build up and works to make sure the cancer doesn't return.

Birthday Celebration

Yesterday we went up to Gary & Paula's house to help celebrate Laura's birthday! Paula made a fantastic dinner too.

And there was cake and ice cream.

And a sweet birthday girl. Happy birthday, Laura!

 

Tomorrow is chemo infusion #5 for Eric. He's feeling ok right now... but not looking forward to what's ahead. But with Thanksgiving and Christmas ahead as nice distractions and extra days off, hopefully the next 7 will go by quickly.

Update

We've had a quiet week this week. Eric's been very tired and not feeling up to doing much. He's still going to work every day, but once he gets home, he's pretty beat. So we just hang out and relax in the evenings. 

Some side effects that are getting to him this week are the mouth sores, exhaustion, upset stomach, and not tasting food (and therefore not really wanting any).He's most likely lost a couple of pounds this time around, since all of those things combined, means he's not really eating a lot.

I have been trying to keep him interested in food. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which goes really well with hot cocoa. He did manage to have a bunch of those. He also seems to be craving carbs. Pizza, pasta and mac n cheese. Whenever he says he's in the mood for a certain food, I'm all over it. I made a baked Mac n Cheese with bacon last night, he had 2 helpings of that plus leftovers for lunch today. I'm determined to do whatever I can to help him keep his weight up! 

Election Day 2016

We voted tonight. For all the hype of the last year (seemed like so much longer), the actual voting process took us less than 5 minutes. We went around 7pm. There were no lines and no waiting. I had ballot number 1316, Eric had 1317. We filled in our little circles as we saw fit. And that was it. We were done. 

Quiet Weekend

We had a very quiet weekend. Eric slept a lot on Saturday. We both enjoyed the extra hour overnight into Sunday.

The weather this weekend was very nice for this time of year. Yesterday was warmer, but today Eric had enough energy to go for a walk. So we did the 1.1 mile loop around the neighborhood. It was around 48 degrees out, but the sun warmed things up a little bit. And Eric bundled up pretty well.

It wore him out though, he came back home and took a nap. 

I've been doing a lot of cleaning this weekend, it's been a good weekend for it. I've had to tear apart the inside of the kitchen cupboards. We've had a mouse family (of 3) living under the dishwasher again. We had the hardest time getting rid of them, but we finally figured out the best way. (Glue houses work great!) Their lease was "terminated" this week, so I've been cleaning up the mess they left behind. Which included taking every single item out and washing it. Fun times.

After Effects (Not the Adobe kind)

Eric's holding his own this week. He said he had a little bit of unexpected energy yesterday, which was nice. Although he is still having issues swallowing liquids (it really hurts his throat) plus he's pretty queasy. Today he's very tired. He also had some tingling in his fingers and he said his tongue feels funky, almost like he's slurring his words when he talks. (Even though he's not.) 

He hasn't slept well the last couple of nights, he keeps waking up around 3am and not getting back to sleep. Part of that is the fault of the pump that was attached to him. He had that removed today, so hopefully he will sleep better tonight. 

That's about it from here. We're both thrilled that it's Friday tomorrow. It'll be a quiet weekend, hopefully one that's full of rest and relaxation. 

#4

Today was the 4th out of 12 infusions. He's 1/3 of the way done! The side effects hit pretty hard and pretty quick today. He actually fell asleep quickly after he started getting the chemo drugs. He said he could feel the effects right away this time.

This was the view for today. A new section and new nurses. We could see out the window, it was a gorgeous day for November 1.

We had a visitor today! Eric's former co-worker and friend Bob stopped by. Eric perked right up. We're hoping Bob can come to the next one too.

Today was the quickest day so far. We were done by 12:30. It helped that Eric had his blood work done yesterday, so when he got there today, they got him right in and started the infusion. Usually we have to wait for results of the blood work to make sure his numbers are ok. It was nice to get it done early so he could get home to rest. It also means the dreaded pump will come off 2 hours earlier on Thursday. That's very good news.

This is one of the drugs Eric gets before the chemo drugs start. It's a steroid that helps with the side effects and nausea.