Week Sixteen

Greetings All,

The pond at Challenge property freezes over.  Chris and brother Mike go for a skate.

 

I’m a little tardy in getting this blog update done.  Things have been a bit hectic since I’ve been home from the hospital…Andrew/Mel, Scott/Heidi have been here off and on for the past two weeks, which is always very pleasant but does make for different dynamics around the abode.  They are all now back up in Oregon (Grant’s Pass), Scott and Heidi for their winter endeavors , and Andrew/Mel for a couple weeks.  While they’re gone we run the dishwasher every 3-4 days instead of daily!!  It was great to have them all here, and they really pitched in and helped, in prepping lots of food, and cleaning the house, and the yard, and cleaning up interminable dishes.  Now we’re on our own for a few weeks.  That should be fine.  But we will miss them.

Heidi, Scott, Drew, and Mel

 

My weight is likely to be a major issue over the next few weeks.  I gained some weight in the hospital but have lost quite a bit over the past week.  Last Friday (10/6/17) I weighed in at 142.9 lbs.  Yesterday’s weight was 133.4 lbs (10/13/17).

I have a j-tube in my small intestine as a back up for nutrition.  But my doctor would rather see me get through this ordeal with oral feeding.  I feel like I should be able to do that, but the weight keeps slipping off, a little bit every day.

I am on a liquid diet, transitioning to a soft foods diet…so I’m eating soups, cream of wheat, spaghetti, mac and cheese.  I guess my problem is I eat so slowly I feel like it’s one non-stop meal.  The doctor wants me to eat 6 small meals a day.  That’s been tough to fit in during my waking hours.

Drew and Mel fix some spaghetti

 

Master chef at work (but a few years ago on Kauai)

 

My energy level is quite low…the operation has taken its toll on me.  Before the surgery but after all the chemo and radiation, I felt fine going for a 40 minute walk in the morning, covering about 2 miles.  Two days ago I walked two blocks, and had to turn around and come home.  The doctors said the recovery from the surgery would take six weeks.  I’m fearful they might be right!

My main pain comes from the cracked rib(s) at the surgery access site on my right side.  I have been taking my pain meds so that the pain doesn’t get ahead of me.  If there’s been any slackening in that pain, it is not yet evident to me.  I take 1 and 1/2  hydrocodone pills every six hours, and am most comfortable when I am lying on my new 30 degree pillow. The return to pain meds, particularly opioid meds, has brought on a cessation of BM’s.  It’s been several days now that I’ve been taking glycol, and more recently colace, with nary a sign of relief yet.

The Gray’s and Thoma’s in New Orleans, Halloween 2004

 

The doctors were quite anxious that I get my flu shot as soon as possible…so that was taken care of last Tuesday.  I saw both my doctors this past week and they are both very happy with the results, and VERY pleased with the pathology report which showed no remaining cancer.  Nonetheless, with all that good news, I feel like I am a long ways away from jumping up and clicking my heels.

I’m not sure what these next few weeks will bring, blog-wise, or otherwise.  I’m supposing we’re on the edge of the doldrums, waiting for a little breeze to push us onward toward our next port.  I’ll try to keep you posted weekly, but if things get too dull I might just have to enliven the contents with an occasional poem…..

Speaking of that, here’s a poem from Lent 2017:

 

The bearded one he looks around….

 

The room where he attempts to write

Is cluttered with much excess stuff

With nothing there to help his plight.

 

So he will have to search within

His brain, his heart, his inner core

 

To find a topic he can plumb

And let him write at least one more

One more poem to come from him

 

He who struggles through every Lent

To force his brain and weakened will

To write something to pay the rent

 

To pay the rent for time on Earth

 

To contemplate the reason why

We’re here alone in this vast space

 

To laugh and love before we die.

 

So, cheerio everyone…see you next week.