Week Two Update

Well, we finished up Week Two, which also represents 1/3rd of the way through, and I had an overall excellent week. I feel really really good. All my hospital treatments, including the RT and chemo, went off without a hitch. My oral applications are also going well. My only, ahhh, difficult side affect is a bad case of constipation. I won't enlighten you with the details but suffice it to say, the dam burst on Thursday evening and I feel sort of "normal" again. I am taking more pills now to help that situation. The expected rash has still not really caught hold, the anticipated cold sensitivity may be only starting to show itself, and the fatigue that I experienced last week was MUCH reduced this week due to the lack of travel I am sure.

Annette and I were able to take a small suite at a Quality Inn about 7 minutes from Duke and we have two rooms so if I rest in the bedroom she can read or watch TV or whatever in the other room. It is working out very well. We also got out a little to explore some of downtown Durham and tried a couple of neat restaurants we will go back to again. Not having to drive 20 hours a week on top of all the treatments is huge for both of us and our dog can be with us too. We met with several of my doctors and they too were very encouraged by my progress and condition (and oh yeah - they said "I look really good" too) see I told you.

However, the overall most encouraging sign was noticed by Annette. Wednesday evening we went out for Chinese and she noticed I was eating really well and seemed to not be struggling as much to get my food down. When I thought about it I realized she may be right. We asked our Radiation Oncologist on Thursday if this could even be possible this early and he said yes. The tumor may be already reducing in size thereby giving me some welcomed relief. Keep your fingers crossed this is true.

We have the weekend off and are home catching up on administrative things. It is supposed to rain hard most of the weekend. Please keep sending your prayers our way, we can use them. Drew & Annette