Friday, September 30, 2022
Fast Forward
Here we are at the end of
September, and summer is over.
Beach camp was a huge success,
bunking with the older cabin was the perfect set up and all worries were for
nothing. Lucy is excited to go back next year. The crew were
plotting how to ensure they could all be together next year, but that won't
happen. Luckily, some of the cabinmates will still be eligible for that age
group and ideally they can coordinate their weeks.
Our trip to Las Vegas was fun,
lots of sun, lots of pool time and lots and lots of walking. I
suppose it was even worth the second bout of covid that Jason & I
experienced upon return home. Lucy avoided us and didn't get sick
this round.
We did have to cancel our trip to the lake (again) which was disappointing, but
we used that time to get things done around the house, so it wasn't a total
loss.
The real thing we are dealing
with is that Jason's dad hadn't been feeling well and ended up getting a CT
amongst the other tests and they found melanomas on his lung and something on
the lower intestine that they can't remove without doing major surgery.
So technically, this is stage 4 cancer, but if it doesn't move to the brain
there are options. They removed the item in the lung and discussed
options about the path forward.
At 83, John doesn't want to do
anything that is going to make him feel sick all the time. I believe he
has seen too many friends and family that have done chemotherapy and felt worse
than they did before, but for the rest of their time. It's a fair and
reasonable desire to want to simply enjoy life.
His oncologist wanted to try immunotherapy, which is supposed to strip the
cancer of the shell, if you will, that makes the body think that it's supposed
to be there. The theory is, that once the body recognizes the cancer as a
threat it will start to try to heal itself, like it does when you're sick with
the flu. This therapy was supposed to have fewer side effects than
a traditional chemotherapy, but that's not what happened.
The immunotherapy threw is body
into a medical freefall with everything hurting, zero energy, no desire to eat,
his heart rate was wacky and the oncologist told him to get himself to the ER.
They drew blood for a myriad of tests, did another CT and finally sent him
home. That was a Friday, and on Monday the Oncologist called once she had
the blood results and told him to come to the hospital (in downtown Seattle) to
check himself in. That was 10 days ago.
There are better days and bad
days, but so far, never two good days in a row. They've tried a couple things
to get his systems back on track, but in discouraging news they stopped the latest
and last best plan that the oncologist and the neurologist had
proposed.
John has moved from one room to
another in the hospital, first it was the cardiac floor, then the regular
hospital, then the neuro wing, and now he's currently in the critical care
unit. We don't know if this is different than the ICU, but we do know
that the care he's getting is top notch. He certainly likes the nurses in
the CCU better than the "regular" hospital floor.
Jason and I are taking turns
taking Susie to the hospital every day, and on Jason's days he goes and stays
and tries to work while waiting for the doctor's rounds. On the days that I
take her, Jason goes later in the afternoon to visit and then pick her
up. They are both going to be experts in getting around the
hospital.
We are all weary and worried
and hopeful. We are also extremely thankful that John & Susie live here
now, as we would still be supporting them on this journey if they were in
Denver, but we wouldn't be able to do it as a team. Jason would be
basically living in Denver while I would be here with Lucy. As it stands, we
can split up the things that need to be done based on our schedules, and still
have dinner as a team. Sometimes Susie stays, sometimes she heads back to Merrill
Gardens and dines with their friends. It's good that she has that outlet.
We knew that we wanted them
here to help in the event that someone got sick, but we were honestly thinking
it would be Susie and her memory issues - and in years of their
arrival.
The family is standing by ready to help, but John wants no visitors and there
isn't really much they can do at this point. Sometimes, the daily text about
John's status is almost too much for Jason, but he finally put me on the text
thread so that I could help with that.
The crazy thing is that the recovery from the immunotherapy has been so all
encompassing that we aren't even talking about the cancer anymore. I have
my doubts that John will be interested in trying something new after all this
craziness is over. So, for now it is one day at a time.
We are researching skilled
nursing/rehab places for John for when he's released. He's going to have to
work back up to walking and to get his strength back before he can return to
their apartment. Hopefully, we can get him into one that has good
food. He hates the hospital food worse than he hates the food at Merrill
Gardens - and that is really saying something.
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