7th Round of Chemo Done and more...
Steve finished his 7th round of Chemo last Friday and it went well. He started eating more as his mouth sores healed and had a generally good weekend.[...]
Posted 2014-09-22T14:32:02Z
Steve Wilmes - Journal
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Posted 2014-09-18T02:01:46Z
7th Round of Chemo and a Reduction in 5-FU
When we arrived at the infusion center today, they didn't have the new orders for Steve's reduction in the 5-FU chemo. Thankfully she mentioned out loud that due to his weight loss, she needed to call the doctor to have him adjust his meds. We told her that the Doctor said he was reducing one of them and she noticed she still had the old orders. Glad we were paying attention.[...]
Posted 2014-09-17T01:50:37Z
CT Scan Results and more!
Today we met with the Oncologist to get Steve's CT Scan results and his latest CEA number. The appointment wasn't what we hoped for last week going into the CT Scan. Steve and I both had different ideas of what to expect and neither of those expectations happened.[...]
Posted 2014-09-12T13:07:10Z
Today is Steve's First CT Scan
Steve is going this morning for his first CT Scan. We are pretty hopeful that it will look good because of how good his CEA number has been. But seeing it will be good to reassure us that the Chemo is working.[...]
Posted 2014-09-04T01:40:56Z
6th Round of Chemo has begun....
Today began round 6 of chemo. It was the fastest and smoothest one yet. We had one of our favorite nurses Erin (she was actually our first so that maybe why we like her so much). The port worked great and Erin got the IV in right away with a perfect blood return! So we were off to a great start.[...]
Posted 2014-08-24T01:50:46Z
Round 5 of Chemo is DONE
This week Steve completed his 5th round of chemo and he's still doing really well.
The tingling in his fingers started almost immediately when he touched anything cold. Even when he washes his hands, if the water is a little cold, they start to tingle. Or when he got up at the infusion center to use the men's room, he has to push the IV to the bathroom. The handle on it is metal and it's so cold inside the infusion center, that the handle gets cold. So even that bothered him. It's extremely irritating and he gets very frustrated with it. Even though he knows in the whole scheme of things, it's not the worst thing, it's still pretty irritating.[...]
Posted 2014-08-19T16:57:14Z
CEA Number Update
Today we saw the Oncologist again with an update on Steve's CEA Number. And we got some really good news!
Steve's CEA (tumor marker number) is down to 64!!! On June 4th it was 536. Then a few weeks later it was up to 834.8. Four weeks ago it was down to 263.1. And today it's 64!!![...]
Posted 2014-08-09T01:28:11Z
4th Round of Chemo AND a hair cut
Steve finished his 4th round of chemo today. He feels this one went the best so far. However, the tingling in his fingers from the cold came much faster this time. Almost immediately when he got home on Wednesday. [...]
Posted 2014-07-30T14:09:26Z
3rd Round of Chemo Done.
Steve completed his 3rd round of Chemo on Friday and it went well again. We are very thankful that he's not getting very sick with these treatments and I hope that continues to be the case. He only had a few minor side effects once again...[...]
Posted 2014-07-23T22:47:11Z
A late start to Steve's 3rd Chemo Treatment
Today was Steve's 3rd Chemo Treatment. It's crazy how fast the last 6 weeks have gone by since we first found out he had cancer.
Last time there was no issue with the port and the IV went right in with no problems. This week we had a problem again. Not getting the IV in, but getting the blood to flow out of the IV. You see, when they put a port in, sometimes your body realizes this foreign object is in there and doesn't like it. So it sort of forms like a blood clot so nothing will flow. I'm not sure of the exact terms they use but basically it blocks it. When this happens you can get stuff into the IV, like saline but not out. If they can't get a blood return out of the IV, then they can't put the chemo through because it won't go anywhere.[...]