Jack Sprat should eat more fat, his wife should eat more lean!

We met with a nutritionist today.  Like all of us, she is concerned with Jim's weight loss and wanting to keep him strong for the battle!  She gave us some great suggestions, all completely counter to what I need to do to lose weight. Basically, he needs more fat in his diet! She said that fat is helpful in fighting lung cancer, seriously! So more cheese, ice cream, peanut butter, guacamole and basically add butter, oil or whey protein powder to anything we can!  So Pat and Mary, when you are here you'll need to teach me to cook with cheese and butter!

He's had a bad time with nausea so after our hour with the nutritionist we are at the infusion center.  Jim is getting an IV with anti-nausea drugs and then just fluids as he is dehydrated from the last few days.  

To top it off we are grieving the loss of our dear friend, John.  He died yesterday after fighting off an infection related to an aortic aneurysm.  He was a kind, gentle, compassionate man and we will miss his friendship.  

Fear is Useless

"Fear's useless. Either something bad happens or it doesn't: If it doesn't, you've wasted time being afraid, and if it does, you've wasted time that you could have spent sharpening your weapons." -Sarah Rees Brennan

Thank you, Mary, for today's inspiration!

Big boy chemo day one - done

We had a good informational meeting today with the onco nurse then had the first big boy chemo.  Jim did great!  He also had a B-12 shot and I think he worried more about that than the chemo.  He's doing really well today. Of course we know the harder days are to come.  But today, a good day.

It will be at least two weeks before he goes back to work, and I'm hoping he starts part time, to ease into it. In the meantime, we will determine what his pattern is, as far as recovering from each infusion.

Your love and prayers carried us through the day and we are continually grateful for all of your support.

                                                    

    

Let's rock

Chemo starts tomorrow (Friday) at 8:30.  Let's go!  

Picture by Brennan

Let the Healing Begin!

We met with Dr. Wong, our oncologist, today.  It was mostly good news and we left feeling very relieved and energized.  The tumors in his lungs (including on the lymph nodes) responded well to radiation and shrunk noticeably.  The tumors in each of his adrenal glands were not included in the radiation so, as we had expected, they grew a little bit.

Jim's pain management is going much better. He will be weaning off the morphine and just taking vidodin as needed.  His weight seems to be holding, so I just need to keep making his milkshakes!

The good news is we will be starting chemo ASAP. We are expecting a call from the onco nurse setting up our first dose for Friday!  He will be on a mixture of Carboplatin and Alimta once every three weeks, for about 6 cycles. Then he will be on a maintenance regime of Alimta.  We will try to have his treatment on Fridays or Thursdays so I can be with him (once I go back to school) on the few days after each treatment, and he will have the weekends to recuperate.

After a week goes by, doc and Jim will decide if/when he can go back to work. We are thinking he will go back part time.  If he can start back as early as Aug. 1 we can avoid shifting benefits to COBRA, which would be great.  We'll be negotiating with his HR person tomorrow and she has been great through all of this.  Jim is really looking forward to being back at work! Though his honey do list still has some items on it...

All in all, emotions are high and expectations are good.  Jim is in a good place and we can finally start moving forward with treatment again.

Thank you to my big-hearted sister Sharon for the bracelets! We are in this together and we so appreciate everyone's love, prayers and support!

The Waiting

The waiting is the hardest part

Every day you get one more yard

You take it on faith, you take it to the heart

The waiting is the hardest part

~ Tom Petty

A time to rest

Sorry we haven't posted lately, just not much going on.  We are in that healing time between radiation and chemo.  Jim still has pain when eating, so he is continuing to lose weight. However, the pain is much less than it was and he seems to be getting some of his appetite back. His energy is pretty low, though he does have moment of great bursts of energy.

We plan to drive down to southern CA for a Honda S2000/CR rally this weekend.  He is very excited about it.  Then he has his CT scan on Monday and we meet with the oncology doc next Wednesday.

Not much to report.  I know we got our Cancer Sux shirts so if you got yours, please take a picture and send it on!

Operation: Chow Down

So our newest challenge is getting some pounds back on him (and preferably off me in the process, if only it worked that way). Marie gave us some great advice. James is being a really good sport and trying things I never thought he would. We are adding protient powder to anything we can, and he is even addiing aloe vera gel to his Patron!  Today he had a yummy (I taste tested, hence, no loss for me) smoothie/milk shake, complete with Boost and vanilla bean ice cream.  Thank goodness such a wide variety of fruit is available right now!

I am hoping when the sibs come out to visit next month they will make him some snicker salad!

Different day, same story

We just met with Dr. Wong, our oncologist. He said the pain Jim has when eating is not unexpected and gave us a few things to try. We're happy that he won't have to go into the hospital for testing, he'll just go in for a CT scan in two weeks then we'll meet with Doc on 24th to decide when to move forward with chemo. 

So James just now said,  "if we have another 2 weeks we gotta find something for me to do!"  Fortunately I have quite a list of honey-do activities in mind. 

The Battle Continues

You, the evil and unmerciful one, my initial battles with you and your worthless hoard of cells are not making any ground. I have shown you, we will not go down without a fight.


With the love of my life, Sandra, at my side there is nothing in this world that I would not fight to the ends of the earth to continue my destined journey with her. This will not and cannot change, because she with her strength and love; is what I spent my whole life searching for.


 My simple and manageable wounds are only making me more determined in my fight against you. So many are losing the strength needed to defeat you; however, I fight with a dedication and strength for them as well. Their passion and hope for a life without your senseless suffering requires a steady and clear determination that defeat is not an option. I carry with me their love, pride, passion and hope that we will not be defeated.

We, with great sadness, call out to those who have already lost that special someone in this battle and our support for their loved ones must endure. Within this support of our lost warriors, we will continue to move forward with a single mission; that is, your complete destruction. Each new light you see joining our fight is yet another light bright with hope and the dedication to fight you. Each light is yet another warrior beginning their battle with you.

 
As one, we continue and each time you knock me down, we will get up, smile, and very politely say "is that the best you’ve got?" My team of warriors has applied technology beyond your comprehension with a precision and certain destruction of your world, And what a beautiful world it will be without you.

You will never see a world without us waiting for you, stalking you for the guaranteed battle to destroy you! You will then clearly understand what we are willing to do to preserve that which we have focused every part of our being to correct. This is only but a small taste of what will continue to come with no remorse or compassion. The only logical and certain result is the total annihilation of your world and peace forever in ours.

Our warriors are so looking forward to the glorious celebration of a world without you. You will never be what you were and with great assurance, this will never occur again. Our warriors are watching and coming to our defense to assure that you never gain this hold on us again. You will be defeated and we will be the victors.

JBM

We will get through this!

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