Too yucky to go to work

Dave did not feel good enough to go to work today. Here is a clip from him: "Well I've been on the anti-neuropathy medicine for 2+ weeks (they even doubled the dosage last week) w/ no affect. Started a new medicine yesterday - tossed & turned for over 4 hours last night, felt hot & sweaty alternating w/ cold chills - stomach feeling upset / nauseas.... on the positive side my feet and fingers are ... still numb." A call to Boston is coming... Just not sure which Dr to call. He is using the toilet... ah.. about as much as he did just before the diagnosis! So this stinks, a year passes and we are right where we were! great! Hey, this beats a blockage!

baby dose my _________ !

Okay, so the nurse practitioner that perscribed the neuropathy meds... evidentally started him out on a baby dose. Come on people!!! Anyone that has ever met Dave (this nurse has not!) would never put the 6'6" man on a baby dose of ANYTHING!!! And after a week on the drug, we call up to complain that it is still bothering him, she doubles the dosage. Still no relief!!! He is miserable! His hands and feet bother him all the time! He can't really do much! He sits on the couch with a microwaved warm pack on his feet! He is down, frustrated, annoyed,.... We are going to call this week.... and this time... I won't even talk to that nurse practitioner. I want the DOCTOR! The guy we know and trust! It bothers me to see him like this! We had expected to be past all this crud by now! arg!

Neuropathy

The type of Chemo that Dave when through lets you keep your hair, but the side affect is a possible Neuropathy. Some folks on deal with it a bit. For other's it gets very severe. It is a tingle sensation like your hand is asleep. But also a bit painful. And the same time numb. If it gets bad, it feels like you are wearing thin leather gloves (an example of how it might feel on the tips of your fingers). It comes as a sensitivity to cold. So as Dave progressed through his 8 doses of chemo, winter marched into our lives - thus increasing his exposure to cold. One time he went out to pick up the paper. A small bit of ice popped onto his hand and it hurt a LOT in that spot. The chemo got disconnected Jan 13th. The day he went for surgery, he was still dealing with some Neuropathy... on the pad of one thumb, and the bottom of his feet. It is now March 13th, and oddly enough, his neuropathy symptoms have been getting worse instead of better. Never mind going outside! His feet hurt on the kitchen floor, or standing inside the door holding the door open for Liam. He uses hot packs to try to warm them up and bring circulation down to his toes. He finally decided to call the DR. They were surprised to hear about this too. They per scribed a drug called GABAPENTIN. It does a number of things and has a number of uses. Its not like Tylenol - take as needed. It is "take daily" to let it build up in his system. We shall see if it works.

By Dave himself... even though he does not read the blog!

Hi. Dave here, just wanted to pass the latest news. Had my surgery Monday afternoon to "reconnect" the pipes. The surgery went very well and they let me go Wednesday night (was initially expecting to have to stay until Friday). I was recovering pretty well and they said I could go home Wed evening or wait until Thursday morning. I didn't see the advantage of spending another night in hospital (although Liam was disapointed he didn't get to stay in a hotel room) so I decided to go home. I'm feeling ok. The surgery site doesn't hurt too bad most of the time & the drugs are helping ("better living through chemistry..."). Went and walked for about 30 minutes at the Academy's indoor track this afternoon and was pretty sore most of the evening. They say walking helps speed recovery, but what do they really know???? Will probably be out of work for several more days at least...although K may have to hide my keys to keep me out as long as she thinks I need to recover. Still haven't gotten "regular" yet. They have me on Metamucil & Imodium to help things out - which seems strange as I thought they worked at cross purposes..... The doctor did say it would take some time. I'm starting to eat a little more - but not back to normal in that regards either. Basically that's the end of the treatment, after about 11 months of radiation, surgery, illeostomy bags and chemo. Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers and support since the diagnosis. I still have several years of follow up treatments - but hopefully the worst is over now.... Dave

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It feels like spring! The temperature gauge that reads 28 is certainly broken! The chemo left him tired, solom, and not fun. The chemo has worn off and the pain Meds are making up for the previously mentioned darkness.

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We are all home.

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He looks fantastic. They have him on pain injections still but will be moving him to pill form later today. He gets to eat jello and juices. They deliver chicken broth... But who eats that? They are talking about him going home tonight or in the morning. It is sort of up to him. Although i just asked him and he said the thinks that "staying here another night would be stinky"

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Dave is doing well. He has been up walking. He cath is out. He is sitting up in bed reading the paper. Diet wise he is so far just had sips of water. Sounds like going home thursday morning.

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I got to his bed side just after 730. He is tired. The docs were in. The wound is closed with steri strips. Which is awesome! We were told back in sept by a visiting nurse that it would be a gaping hole that would need to heal from the inside out. We were told it would be packed with gauze and we would need to learn how to take it out and re-pack it. Understand that she told us this when we were still gagging about the stoma care. So... It is a HUGE relief that we are NOT dealing with that. He has some gas pain. Some nausea. But nothing that is unexpectedly off the wall. Once they get the nausea and pain controlled... They will have him walking the hall ways to get his system moving. I will keep ya all posted.

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Oh my God! He is done! 4:42 pm and the surgery is complete! All went as planned. All is well! What a huge sigh of relief! We now wait for him to wake up and then they move him to a room. Oh.... Wow.... .... Dave had said he was just wanting this over with and was looking forward to NEXT monday.... When the worst of the recovery was behind him.

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Dave went in just about on time. He could only have clear fluids sunday. And nothing today. So i did not eat in front of him. The moment they wheeled him away we dashed off to eat. They have a special waiting room for families. We are there now. I teased him before they took him... Told him to wake up faster this time than he did in september. After the surgery the dr will call me. Once he wakes up they move him to a room. Then they let us see him. That is all there is to report. For now.... Check back later ok?

The plan

Liam is going to his RI grandparents Sunday. Dave checks into the Hospital at 1 pm on Monday. Monday night Liam goes home with his MA grandparents after a Boston handoff. I am staying at a place the hospital has for families of patients at a very reasonable rate.. He will be in the hospital for 2 to 3 days. But the confusing part is "how do they count?" I mean, is Monday day one? Or is it Tuesday that is day one? So I am not sure what day he will be "released." He will return directly home after he gets out.... last time we went to his folk's place for a few days. Which just complicated setting up the visiting nurses and such. I will be blogging from my cell phone so you can check back frequently for updates. Do you have my cell phone number? I will have it with me. If you don't have it, I will gladly give it to you. But I won't post it here! So email me (dkgodfrey@gmail.com) and I will give it to you. If you call at a bad time... its okay. You will just get the voice mail. Not a problem. -Kerri PS, Liam has an ear infection. Yeah. I know. Great timing eh?

involuntary quarrentine?

I am trying to convince Dave not to go to work next week. "stay home, stay healthy." So far it is not working. Maybe I will bring a huge supply of "Lysol Wipes" and "hand sanitizer" in for the entire office section if the quarrentine does not hold.

Good News - Feb 25th is the day

Okay, so we were taking it kind of hard. Not the getting sick part. Not so much that it had to be cancelled. But it was like a punch in the gut that the surgeon's assistant had mentioned trying to do the reversal in April or May. I had called her again on Tuesday and she said she still had not had a chance to look at it. They had some new patients to schedule too. I told her that I wanted a date before March 1st. She said she would get back to me... and she kind of said it like "I WILL CALL YOU, you don't need to be calling me." (and I wondered if I had made her mad... thus resulting in a possible November date) Yesturday Dave got an email that he must attend a 2 week training in Virginia in May. I called to tell her that we needed to black out those dates as not possible surgery dates. While I had her on the line she told me Dave is scheduled for February 25th. I got off the phone with her and wept with relief. I was still all choked up when I called Dave. He took it in stride.... like I had said that we would be having pizza for dinner. Oh well, at least I feel a huge sigh of relief!!

The light at the end of the tunnel has been temporarily shut off.

The light at the end of the tunnel has been temporarily shut off. Last night at 10 pm Dave starting getting diarrhea. Vomiting started at 2 am. I had the same thing last week. Some folks at Dave' office also have had it. But for Dave, because of the bag, he is at a high risk of rapid and dangerous dehydration. By 430am I was wondering who i could call at such an hour to watch Liam while i took Dave to get an IV. I decided to hold off until run rise. The preferred place to go evidentally does not open until 7 am... so it worked out fine. The ER doctors called the surgeon. The surgery is to be postponed. Cant have him operated on when he has been hit so hard. I have to call monday to try to reschedule. Will this change the cruise date? The moving date? Sigh.... ODAAT=one day at a time I picked Liam up and took him the pool for some swim time so Dave could get some quiet rest time at home. Our pool time was almost over but came to an abrupt end.... Liam got diarrhea now too! Well... AT LEAST I HAVE ALREADY HAD IT! Well, I am off to do Laundry. Its just a "high level of laundry" weekend it looks like!

Finally getting excited

Dave's surgery is Monday!!! Now I am excited. Today I made hotel reservations so we can stay near the hospital Sunday night, (he has a 5:30 am check in) and I can be near by for the days he is in the hospital. The light is on a the end of the tunnel and I can smell the fresh air!!!!

Scan results

Long Boston Day.Ended up taking Liam with us to the appointment.He is doing great by the way. The pneumonia/Brochitis is clearing up faster than it came on. The good news from Boston is that the Dr says we have nothing to worry about.The scans showed a small spot of "whatever" on the lung. Dave has had brochitis and Pneumonia so often it could be scarring from that.Or the scan caught him on an in-hale and it is a mucus bubble. Dave thought he heard the Dr say it was 5 millimeters in size.I thought he said .5 millimeters in size.I am going to work on getting a clarification on that point.All they are going to do is rescan in 3 months to compare. Thats all! Next up,Surgery to reconnect the pipes on Monday!

The Count Down

7.25 Days........ also 3 bag changes..... and Dave will have his "reconnection Surgery" on Monday Feb 11. He will be in the hospital for a few days. We so far think he will be the first surgery of the day, so he has to be checked in at 5:30 am. I think we are going to stay at a hotel in Boston the night prior. If anyone actually reads the blog anymore, you can contact us on the cell phone while those hospital days are going on. And I will be blogging progress reports from the internet cafe type spot and the cell phone. It just does not seem real that it is so soon. I guess it took turning the page on the calendar for it to sink in. I am holding off on feeling "excited" yet. Well,... I had to blog something... since talking about the Patriots is a sore spot this evening.

So,... about that Jan 24th Blog

Dave was at the Doctors on Jan 11th. The Doctor found out we were waiting for orders. He asked, "where do you want to go?" and Dave and I both said, in stereo, "Don't Care!" And that about sums it up. Milwaukee was 3rd on our request list. When we moved from VA to FL we got our 15th. So, all in all, its not bad! We kind of did not want to go to SanFran CA because it is just so dang expensive! And Atlantic Beach NC would have been nice but there are no airports for me to work at. Or even do my observations at to keep current! It is a job he wants. Now, for the Coasties that read this, I can say it is a "Sector Logistics" position. For the non-coasties all I can say is "It is a desk job that he wanted and is happy to get".... I don't know much more. I have gotten some really funny reactions when I tell folks. The most common is "Why is the Coast Guard sending you to someplace where there is no ocean?" Answer: "The Great Lakes are HUGE." And other folks say something like "Oh really? How do you feel about that? (as if they are not sure if they should say "that's great" or "oh, dear me!") Well, to be honest, I have lived there before. It was awhile ago. After College I felt called to give a year as a full time volunteer. I was working for an after-school program for inner-city kids in the heart of the Ghetto of Milwaukee. I don't really remember much. Lots of gun shots in the neighborhood we lived and worked in. I doubt that we had much of an impact on anyone with our program! I was driving a 1973 VW rabbit that was more rust than anything. You had to bounce in the seat while turning the key to get it started. And when you parked it you had to disconnect the battery. I recall Kops Kustard which, at the time, I could eat daily and not gain a pound. In the winter it got so cold that for over a week schools were closed because it was too cold to have kids waiting for buses. I suspect it will still be cold, but I won't be able to eat the frozen custard without packing on the pounds. So, you might be wondering how I took the news of going to Milwaukee. I guess I wonder if I left some work unfinished there. But it will sort itself out. And I went and bought some winter clothes on sale at Kohls. 60% to 80% off their winter stock! Hey, since we are not moving to FL, I need more winter cloths! I know I want to be here in CT for Graduation on May 21st. And Dave will probably need to report in to the new office in June or July. We don't know if we will buy or rent yet.

Well that did not go as planned.

The last blog was typed from the Cancer Resource Room / Internet Access place while between scans. The first one went fine. But they messed up. You can't have the first one then go for the others within a week of each other! So soon after I wrote that we had to go home! This week we go up on Tuesday and Thursday. and one day the following week. Its time to get those new tires....

up next...

Dave is having some scans today. Just the "new base line" type stuff. No worries. They don't expect any surprises. Then on Feb 11th he has surgery to re-connect the pipes and ditch the bag. At that point he will be in the hospital for 2 to 3 days.

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Its official... This summer we move to milwaukee wisconsin!

He looks fine.

Wanted to attach some really recent photos of Dave. He basically just looks like.. well,... Dave. Making a ginger bread light house, Sax lessons, and standing in front of a snow man at his folks' place.

Another phase is over

All;As of yesterday, I completed my last Chemo treatment, which is the last of the three phases of my cancer treatment as laid out last May….(2 months of chemo/radiation; surgery; 2 months of chemo).There are still several weeks of tests, more surgery and several years of follow-ups… but I wanted everyone to know I’ve reached another milestone in my treatment.Kerri & I would like to pass along our thanks and appreciation for all the support & prayers we’ve received from everyone since the diagnosis.Thanks. Dave

home, 7 down, 1 to go

We were home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Then we headed up to Dave's folk's place. We just got home. The original plan was that Dave's family were going to take Liam while I went with Dave to chemo (#7) on Friday. But Liam was ill, so I stayed home (at Dave's folk's place) and Ed went with Dave. Liam is much better now and Dave is trudging through. You would think at this point that saying "just one more after this! hooray!" would be welcome. But it probably feels like "we are going to do one more root canal" or "we are going to wax your bikini line one more time, ....sir."

The 2008 plan begins to develop

Dave has 2 more rounds of chemo. - Dec 28th, and then the last one on Jan 11th. He has to go up to Boston on Jan 25th for some scans, tests, and other un-fun stuff. He will have his surgery on February 11th to reconnect the pipes. It will take about 8 weeks for them (the pipes) to decide that they remember how this is supposed to work. We hope that in those 8 weeks they (the detailers at the Coast Guard) will tell us which city we shall next call home. Then he will have a colonoscopy again one year after the original diagnosis (that was on April 18th). Then.... (drum roll please....) we are going on vacation! We wanted something that would be a special treat for all 3 of us. Liam has had an unusual year too. Someplace that really caters to the family. Now,... who knows how to do that? And, we didn't want to feel like we had to "do it" - no sight seeing or huge agenda. Someplace where you don't have to worry about what is for dinner, your biggest questions is "when does which buffet open?" Have you guessed yet??!? WE HAVE BOOKED A DISNEY CRUISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It departs April 27th from Port Canaveral FL!! 4 nights of just kicking back and haven fun!

winter priorities

We got some snow on Thursday. We parked in an obscure corner of the parking lot so the spots we normally park in could get plowed nice. Dave's car did not get cleaned off. I guess I thought taking Liam sledding to be more interesting.Then we got a really messy pile of precipitation on Saturday night,,,.... which froze over. Today, at 6 am, I was getting ready for work and realized that because of Dave's sensitivity to cold he cannot clean off his car. (I heard him tell a friend on the phone that he went out to get the paper that was in a bag, and a tiny bit of ice was on the bag and it landed on his hand causing great pain)So I turned it on, managed to finally back it out of the space it was in (snow banks all around it), and spent over half an hour chipping away at the 6 inches of frozen tundra that was on top of his car. Cold, windy, dark, 6 am, chipping ice ... not fun.I think I might have managed to bother some neighbors too. I had to leave. I never did manage to free his windshield wipers. But at least he will find his car pulled around and MOSTLY cleaned off. In the past 4 years we would park in the garages on bad weather days so we never had to deal with this. I can tell ya I learned my lesson though! I won't let it sit even if he is not up to driving. I will, now, always clean it off before I go sledding!!!

photos and a few words

We have had as many as 27 Turkeys in our yard. This is a photo of them just outside our kitchen window. Seeing Santa, at the little place we get our Chirstmas tree. A "song and candle light" service at the Academy Chapel. Round 6 of Chemo is tomorrow.

doted and dancing

We had parent-teacher conferance at Liam's school yesturday. I think the only thing she said that keeps coming back to me is that she said that "Liam is very doted upon." I looked doted up in the dictionary. It says stuff like "very loved, given lots of attention" but I still cringe to think if it. It rings in my ears like she said "spoiled." She says she can tell that we do a lot at home with him activity wise. Anyways... he is a good kid, he plays well, he participates in more stuff than he ever lets on to us, he asks and answers questions at circle time. She recommended that when we move, we look for a pre-K program that will meet his needs. Perhaps even a private school. In the mean time,... I have been looking at the parks and rec flier. A few years ago I took a sign language class through them. Now I think I am going to take another class. Not sign language this time. It is a dance class of sorts that runs on Monday nights for a month. Oh, I might as well tell you! It is a Belly Dance class! I think it would be fun!

Transfer Season is happening again

To explain this to the non-coastie readers, there is a process. It begins in September or so. The Detailers (folks who decide which bodies will fill which jobs) put out a list of all of the jobs that are available. Dave submits a request based on the type of job, the location, and what is appropriate for his rank. It is stated as "first choice, Second choice..." you get the idea. Evidently the highest ranked people get looked at first. In December, Jan, and February is when they will be looking to fill Commander positions. (Dave has been selected to be promoted to Commander so that is the job rank they will put him in). Now, Dave is not on "medical leave" but a temporary light duty assignment. But he has a "medical board" which is a stack of papers saying "he is sick." It would appear, if I understand this correctly, that if we did nothing, the fact that he has this medical board would mean they would not look at his name as a potential to fill an open slot. They would wait until the medical board is cleared then decide what to do with him. What we are trying to do is generate an interim medical board that will say something like "He is currently sick, yeah, but will be all fixed up and good to go by May 2008." We hope that this is enough to allow the powers that be (some committee or board or something... I think that is what they said) to allow the detailer to consider Dave for the positions they are filling. If it does not work, he will get the "all clear" in May, and then they will see what orders they can come up with for him. These would be unexpected last minute openings (like when Dave's Staten Island job suddenly became available this summer since he was no longer going to it) , jobs they were unable to fill (which could translate to "jobs folks would rather not have") or something like that. I guess either way it will work out. I learned years ago that this whole transfer process is a "Let Go, Let God" exercise. It would be nice, after the year we have had, for him to get a job he wants and is excited about. But also, after the year we have had, we are grateful to have an opportunity to have good health restored, a steady income, a roof over our heads, and money to spend on some fun. It is all a matter of perspective isn't it?