13 Radiation Treatments Done and Chemo in the new building!

Robert has completed 13 radiation treatments as of today and he had his first chemo treatment in the new Texas Oncology building at Baylor. The new building was opened Monday, wow is it really nice, it will have a lot to offer. A small cafe and what looked like a nice sit down restaurant, which will be opening sometime in March. I think just about everyone of Robert's Doctors at Baylor will all be in the new building. We will not be using the new parking lot though, 4 hours of parking is $12.00. My question is "isn't treatments expensive enough"? $12.00 for 4 hours, and we are never there for less than 4 hours. Anyway, Robert is doing good on radiation so far. His chest is turning red a little, but he is still able to eat and drink on his own. We pray that he will continue to do so. He lost a little more weight this week, so his nutritionist has put him on Ensure. He hates the taste so he is using his tube for that and Gatorade. He will be halfway through radiation treatments this Friday, and we pray that the last half go as good as well as the first half and it will kill the cancer once and for all.

Has it really been 2 months since our last post?

I can not believe it has been 2 months since the last post. I guess we have been hibernating, well Robert has anyway. I have been running around the house in shorts. Robert's last PET scan in January showed the tumors were the same, maybe a little smaller. Robert is still receiving weekly chemo treatments and has not started daily radiation treatments. He is to have 30 or 35 and he had his 7th treatment today. When we met with Kerley, (Robert's) radiation doctor he talked Robert into getting a feeding tube. Robert has told Dr. Nadler this whole time that he would never get another one. Well Kerley is the only one that could convince him to get one. We have a great respect for all Robert's doctors and have a really good personal relationship with all of them, in fact Dr. Nadler called us from his personal cell phone last Friday to discuss a matter that came up with his staff (we'll just leave it at that) from the airport waiting to catch a flight to San Antonio and now I have Nadler's cell # and I really don't think he would mind me saving it in my contact list. Where was I going with all that? Oh yeah, well Robert has a special bond with Kerley, and has since the first day we walked in his office scared too death in January 2007. He took Robert under his wing and has kept him there every since. We see so many doctors specialists of every kind, but Kerley knows what Robert needs without Robert telling him. I feel better knowing Robert sees Kerley everyday.

The surgery Robert had to stretch his esophagus worked a little but he did not get the results he was hoping for. He is having to use the feeding tube for medicines now, my good friend Lisa was up weekend before last and we were out sight seeing and Robert was home alone and took one of his pills, it got lodged in his throat then the capsule burst and he aspirated it in his lungs. It was a very scary moment for him, being alone, but Thank God it dislodged and he caught his breath.

Nadler's plan is for Robert to do the daily radiation and weekly chemo treatments, follow up with a few more chemo treatments and kill this Cancer once and for ALL. We trust that this will be the end result. I feel like I am rambling. I am home alone tonight. Robert is at Cassie's spending the night with her, he has to be at Baylor first thing in the morning to see Nadler, then chemo and then rush off to Paris for radiation, so I have a clean house now, had banana's that got too ripe to eat, so made Banana Nut bread, did laundry and took Oscar outside for a walk, now I am blogging and realize I am rambling. So I will end this but before I do ...

I want to say I love my family! They are the best anyone could ever ask for. Each one has such a special place in my heart. I know we would not be where we are today without each and every one of them. All the support each one offers is more than I deserve and I hope that someday I will be able to pay back a portion of what they have given me. This includes our friends also, which are like family to us! Hope everyone has a great week, and I promise I will do better on the updates. Thanks for all the prayers, cards and letters. We are so blessed to have each and everyone of you in our lives.

Love,
Robert and Judy