Today was a busy day

We have both been very lucky. Neither of us has completely lost our hair. The thickness of my hair has been thinned by about 2/3 but no bad bare areas. I looked at wigs for several weeks but decided they just weren’t for me. Bruce has lost about ½ of his hair but again no obvious bare spots & no plans for a wig. Bruce is also gaining weight…slowly but steadily. He had at least a 20 lb. weight loss as well. He was below 140 at one time & is now back up to 151 lbs. hopefully he will continue to gain at least until surgery & then maintain with his weight with J-tube feedings until he is able to eat again.

Today is Tuesday, September 02, 2014. We saw Dr. Percent at 10:45. He was running a little behind but the 45 minute wait was worth it. We got the news we were hoping for. The chemo/radiation did what it was supposed to. Bruce’s PET/CT scans were great…the CT shows that the tumor & lymph nodes as smaller. The PET scan showed no areas of hyperplasia…the tumor & lymph nodes essentially are dead & no new lesions. Friday he will see Dr. Hotchkiss, the cardiologist & hopefully surgery next week.

Now we got to make a quick trip home so I can change clothes & get my lidocaine crème placed over my port so it won’t hurt when they poke it with a large needle for the chemo. My appointment is at 1:30 & will take about 2 hours. Today we had to drive from our country home outside of Punta Gorda, to Florida Cancer Specialists in Port Charlotte (about a 40 minute drive),then back home. Next it’s off to Fort Myers to Lee Memorial Health System’s Regional Cancer Center (about a 50 minute drive). We got there right on time at 1:25pm for my 1:30 appointment and I was done by 3:30. We decided to celebrate with an early dinner at Phil’s 41 Restaurant. We both had great meals. Now it’s 10:24 pm. Bruce & Zeke (our dog) are both in bed asleep .I got the horses (3 minis & 1appaloosa) in at 8 pm .I have just taken an Ativan (Lorazapam) so hopefully I will get to sleep soon but first got to go feed our 2 sugar gliders, hopefully they are now up & ready for “breakfast”, They are nocturnal marsupials originally from Australia. Phil & Pattie were born in the USA. We are fortunate that they have never had any babies. Babies usually come 2 at a time. They are born the size of a grain of rice & crawl up to their mother’s pouch.

Tomorrow hopefully we will be able to work on getting our information in order for our wills.  We need to go in & sign our Durable Power of Attorneys & Living wills. We have those drafts completed. We also need to call the cardiologist & make sure they got Bruce’s information from Iowa. There is always something to do. I’m hoping soon to have the energy to get my gardens weeded. Unfortunately they have not been high on the priority list & it’s been too hot. Yesterday I did finally take my 3 minis on a drive. I’m hoping to be driving them 3 times a week soon as they have gotten so fat but I have a lot of other things on my list as well…riding Valee our appaloosa, giving the Zeke a bath & haircut as well as bathing all 4 horses & clipping them. I can’t wait for cooler weather.  I just tell myself I can only take it one day at a time. Soon I will also have to add returning to work to the list which means I also have certifications to get updated before I can work. Well, I am finally feeling a little sleepy so I better quit. It's now 4:35 AM in Punta Gorda, FL.