What a difference a week makes!!

Well Robert has finally made the turn for the better. He started feeling better about a week ago and now nothing is stopping him. You can see by the picture that he is up for anything. As soon as he started feeling better the only thing he could talk about was getting in the yard and getting it done. Well he did not start out with a little job, he ordered 1 load of dirt and 4 loads of rock and away he went. He has been on that tractor all day and knowing him he will be working by the headlights. I am expecting him to crash in a couple of days. I just can not believe he can do all this after being so sick for weeks. But there is no stopping him now. He is even talking about going back to driving by August the 1st. I do not think the doctors will release him that early but will see. He has a CT scan scheduled for July 23rd and then we will meet with the Dr. on the 28th and they will be able to tell us if the tumors are gone and the treatments worked. Which I just know they are and we will finally be able to go on with our lives.

We hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th. We are looking forward to seeing some fireworks here at Beavers Bend and then headed to Sandi's on Saturday. Mother is scheduled for her 2nd surgery on her neck and Morgan is having her wisdom teeth out. Don't know which I feel worse for.

I also wanted to give you the link to a high school friends website. Donna Preist Coffelt. Her husband Ken is going through the same thing Robert is, he also had re-occurring cancer and is having his CT scan July 14th. So please keep them in your thoughts and prayers also. Their website is http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=kencoffelt

Again hope everyone has a safe holiday and one last bit of good news my cousin Greg Baine who is a Lt. Colonel in the army is coming home from Iraq today. WooHoo We are very excited about that and we are also so very proud of Greg. Try to remember when you are sitting back watching your fireworks, it is because of brave soldiers like him that you are FREE to do so. Thanks Greg for your sacrifices and God Bless you and welcome home!!

Treatments are over!!

Finally!!


Well Robert has finally finished his treatments. We are so sorry we have not posted anything for so long. I have a lot of updating so it will be lengthy. Robert finished radiation Wednesday – June 11, 2008. Robert had 35 radiation treatments and 2 rounds of chemo. It was a very long road, but he made it and did not have to have a feeding tube this time. He will continue to have the side effects from the radiation for up to 2 weeks. When Robert first started treatments he weighed 211 he is now down to under 180. Needless to say he is very weak and struggling to get enough fluids and nutrients down. Wednesday after his final treatment I was so happy thinking that I was through with waiting rooms and hospitals for a while. Well I was wrong, Robert had a bad night Wed. and Thursday was not any better. He was having a lot of chest pain; he came in the office where I was trying to post an update and said I needed to take him to the hospital. Well my dishwasher has been out for about a month and the part finally came in after being routed to Broken Arrow, anyway the service man was working on it and I was about to ask him to leave so we left him by himself. He understood his wife had breast cancer and she also just finished treatments. Well when we got to the hospital Robert’s blood pressure was 70 / 40. They started pumping fluids in as soon as they could and gave him 2 pain shots; he started feeling better in a couple of hours. They released him after about 3 ½ hours, feeling like a new man. I have been watching him more closely and pestering him about fluids. Robert’s biggest challenge has been drinking and eating. When we got home from the hospital, I asked him to eat at least ½ of a banana for me. Well he started shaking and said his throat was burning. I felt really bad, and now just let him tell me what he wants to eat.

Our neighbor suggested we apply for disability. There is a social security office in Paris and since we were there everyday and I had hours on my hands I thought well I would go see about applying. Well I went in on a Wednesday and they set up a meeting on Thursday which lasted about 2 hours and they called us the following Thursday to say Robert was approved for disability. It is really going to help take the stress off of Robert being pressured to hurry and return to work.

Our wonderful friends and members of the community here in Broken Bow have set up a raffle for a fund raiser for Robert and me. My friend Angie has organized everything and has about 31 prizes donated for the drawing. The prizes include a satellite radio system, free cabin rentals, wood carvings to $100.00 gift certificates. Tickets are $2.50 each and just let me know if you would like a chance to win.

Sorry back to Robert, he has a lot of time on his hands and would love to hear how everyone is doing. It will help him from going stir crazy in the house and will stay out of my office and let me get my things done. Ha ha. Robert will have a PET scan in about 6 weeks to see if the treatments have done their job. I am sure our patience will be tested daily. Robert wants to make sure and tell all those who have called and sent get well cards thanks so much. Hopefully our next update will be better and Robert will be eating us out of house and home!!

Hungry Hungry Hippo!!

Well Robert is finally getting his appetite back and is able to keep it all down. Last week was probably the worst he has been since all this started last year. Robert was not able to eat or drink anything and was nauseated all the time. He goes to radiation everyday and then they would give him nausea meds and fluids thru his medi port. We were having to go to the pharmacy everyday to get a new prescription filled to try a new nausea medicine. Also Robert got thrush and that has been bad for him. But today has been the best day he has had in over a week.

Mother and Benny came up today, they brought their travel trailer and will be staying a while before Mother's next surgery. They are going to help me with tamales and help me with Robert. It will be nice having some company. Mother is still recovering from her surgery, so she needs to take it easy too. This is the best place in the world to sit back and take it easy. It is so beautiful every where you look. You can go to the lake and see the mountains, or you can go to the river and watch for eagles. It doesn't get much better than that. Don't believe me, come on up, we would be more than happy to show ya. Plus I hear mother and Benny brought lots of shrimp from Port Aransas.

Completed First Round of Chemo

Robert finished his first round of chemo. Initially they said he only had to do this twice, but now since the 2 new spots showed up on the PET they are talking about a third treatment. I really hope he does not have to have the third treatment. This first round was really bad for him. He was so dehydrated by the time we got to the cancer clinic he could barely walk or even talk. After several attempts the chemo nurse finally got an iv going and his color was back in his cheeks in about an hour. The chemo Dr. has ordered hydration for Robert every Mon. Wed. and Fri. now until he can get this nausea under control. That will be really good for him. The chemo drugs can cause kidney damage so they are not taking any chances. He always feel so much better after he gets hydration. Robert not only has the nausea to deal with now he has thrush in his mouth. They have put him on so many new drugs. It is so hard keeping them straight. He is taking steroids, and sleeping pills because the steroids keep him awake. 3 types of nausea meds. One is Kytril which is $126.00 for 9 pills with our insurance. Thanks to Sandi and Mick, maybe Robert will not have to suffer as much. They are paying for his nausea meds. Do I have a great family or what? They said Robert will probably have the side effects for a couple more weeks and then the next treatment will be in 3 weeks, so it looks like he should have 1 one week without nausea, of course that's when the radiation people said the radiation will start kicking his butt. Does this sound like a nightmare? Well let me tell you it is. After all this there are still no guarantees, and like the last chemo he received there is a chance he could get cancer from the chemo drugs. Yes indeed a really bad nightmare. Are you kidding me? O'k I am rambling now so I better sign off. Thanks for reading my ramblings and will keep you posted.

Love to all,

Judy

Discouraging Update...

Hello to all! I just wanted to give all a quick update on Robert's treatments this week. He started radiation Wednesday, and we got the results back from the PET scan. Unfortunately there are 2 nodes that showed up on the scan that were cancerous. They are in the sternum area. One looked to be pretty big. The radiation dr. told us they were in an area the would not be operable, due to their location being close to the heart. We are going to get copies of the scan and send it to Roberts surgeon anyway and get his opinion. The scan showed that all Roberts organs were clear, so that is really good news and we are going to focus on that right now. We were both really blown away when we saw the scan. The winds were really knocked out of our sail, but Robert has great faith that the chemo and radiation will take care of this. So I guess thats as good as it gets right now. I admit I am scared as hell right now and angry, but Robert has such strength I look at him and think if he can have that attitude then who am I to doubt his determination.

Robert started his chemo today. The chemo nurse said Robert will lose his hair this time. My friend Lisa Garvin and I have been telling him that since his head is all swollen from the fluid that he will look like ET when his hair is gone. They said the nausea side effects should show up in about 2 to 3 days. We were hoping we could get out and do something fun Saturday, but I guess we will just have to wait til Talledega Sunday.

Please keep Robert in your prayers, he really needs them now.