Ed had a good day, yesterday, and a restful night. It’s good to see that he has an appetite and even though he says he isn’t hungry – he eats everything on his plate. Tim is taking us back to the hospital today for him to get his shot. That is to help boost his white cells and he’ll get that after every cycle of treatment. Andrew clued him in to how he may feel…
The chemo arrived at 5:15 and is on it’s way to helping Ed get better. He was a little anxious and edgy so they gave him Ativan… better known as the happy pill. It worked! It was nice to have Kim with me to share in the day and help to entertain Ed. It amazes her how he can be up talking one minute and out like a light, snoring, the next. He had his…
The nurse was here and explained in detail what they will be doing as far as his treatments. Today he will get one drug Ifosfamide for 90 minutes and they've already started him on the anti-nausea med. Tomorrow is another drug Carboplatin for 30 minutes and the third day will be Etoposide for 24 hours. He'll remain in the hospital while they monitor him and we're not sure how long that will be. After those…
Dr. Siegel was in to see Ed this morning and said the chemo will be given over the next three days and not all at once today. He wants to monitor the effect it may have on Ed's blood and his heart. It's good that he is being very cautious and taking it slowly. He had a good night and said he feels okay except for the pain in his stomach which they are…
Yesterday was a rough one for Ed. After having a good morning he started with the fever and no matter what they gave him, it kept going up. Then he had chills where the bed was actually shaking and making noise. This all lasted about an hour and then he was back to feeling okay. Whatever destroyer missiles he has inside are trying to attack the cancer, but it needs help and that is coming…
Dr. Siegel will start the chemo treatments on Monday and, so far, none of the blood tests have shown any infection. He feels all of this is due to the cancer. There are enlarged lymph nodes in his stomach and that is the reason for all the pain he's been having. The fever is still hanging around but not anywhere near the 103 or 104. The Tylenol is helping as well as the Dilaudid for…
He had a few high temps of 104 but with cool rags and ice packs it did come down. Once it came down he felt okay and was even dancing around the kitchen yesterday. But, it would go back up. He didn't want me calling anyone or taking him to the ER, but yesterday without him knowing I did call the doctor to say I was very concerned and wanted to know what to do.…
Finally, after five long months, there is a diagnosis for Ed. As hard as it is to believe, it is Hodgkins Lymphoma. We are in shock because we put that diagnosis behind us and were focusing more on the auto immune disease, sarcoidosis. Even after the biopsy the surgeon, Dr. Underhill, was still leaning toward sarcoidosis and never even hinted at cancer. One evening the oncologist, Dr. Siegel, came in and said 'well, I guess…
Ed is not coming home today (Wednesday) and he’s not a happy guy. His blood level is still too low and they won’t discharge him until it’s at a safe level. Dr. Siegel, the oncologist, saw him yesterday and said he didn’t think he would need to see him again so it’s probably safe to say there isn’t any type of cancer going on and for that we are truly grateful.
Dr. Underhill said Ed did a good job and the surgery went well. The lymph nodes were firm and it was hard for him to get a piece for the biopsy because they kept moving. He had to use two instruments – one to hold the lymph node and the other to take the piece. They were also, as he said, 'bloody.' It's nothing that he hasn't seen before. The results should be in…