Rounding the corner

Kevin is feeling better everyday, although this morning he did get nauseous while working with the physical therapists. The Radiation Therapy is focused on the T11 & T12 area of the spine since these tumors were the most threatening to his bodily functions – walking and bowels. The others in the spinal area are being left alone for now until they become more painful. The oncologists explained the presentation of tumors in the spine indicate the melanoma has spread to his central nervous system and will now be much more difficult to control. Because there are so many, surgery is not an option and radiation is all that’s possible. Everyone is talking about Kev being released but no one has any specific dates. Kev says he thinks he’ll be ready next Wed. – but we’ll see. Palliative care bumped up his methadone again the other day – now at 15 mg, 3 x day and they’ll probably bump it again tomorrow to 20 mg. One problem is, he is losing weight probably due to poor appetite even though he is getting all his nourishments via IV. He is down to 140 lbs and checked in at 150 lbs 12 days ago. Tonight they started him on steroids – the super drug – it will help with the nausea, pain and appetite. His spirits are very good and we usually take a couple of walks each day - it's amazing how he puts up with so much and just keeps going. He especially likes to go down stairs to listen to the piano player. And he wanted to make sure I made it known that he achieved a “personal best” today - urinating 800 cc in one go!

At the house, we are back on the grid. The plumbing is all connected and functioning. The inspector came out today and the back-fill was complete. A BIG thank you to everyone that brought dinners for the kids this week!! As Kelden said “that is soooo sweeet”. And Nick wants to know when Dan is going to come back and play – I heard stories of them using the propane torch to burn the dead fish that washed up and something about rotten oranges…