Steve’s Story

Steve passed away at 3:30am on Friday the 13th 2009. He died peacefully in his sleep at Friends’ House in Santa Rosa, the hospice he was moved to the previous morning. His brother, Ron, and sister-in-law, Wendy, were with him when he died.

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When my son, George got home last night it was very late (or actually very early) and he didn’t feel much
like talking about it, but I have further details today.

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Steve had a very bad night last night. In fact he has been feeling bad for the last several days. Today he was talking to his brother in Washington over the phone and he apparently just stopped responding. Ron, Steve’s brother called my son, George who ran right over to check on him. Steve was just sort of ‘out of it’, which we sort of chalked up to pain killers.

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I haven’t posted in a while, partly due to Steve doing so well and partly due to pressures in my own life, and I’m sorry for that and will try to post more often.

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Well, the news wasn’t very good on last weeks’ trip to the doctor.  The tumor in Steve’s esophagus was much better, which is very good news as is the fact that his Cumidin levels are adequate .  The radiation evidently did its’ job and Steve can eat much better now.  Unfortunately, the tumors in his liver have not responded as hoped and this explains the back pain he has been experiencing.  So he will get a three week hiatus from chemo then he will go on a much stronger regimen.  That is the bad news.  This last dosage made him sick enough.  The next one will be much more intense.  It hurts not to be able to do something to help.  About the only thing we can do is to treat him as normally as possible.  This weekend he has gone to Lake Tahoe.  I doubt if there is any snow yet but it will be beautiful anyway.  He needs the break.

Good news for Steve on two fronts. The scheduled procedure to insert a stint into Steve’s esophagus was canceled. The examination revealed that the radiation treatments have shrunk the tumor enough that the procedure isn’t needed at this time. An another piece of good news (we hope) is that he gets to take a break from the chemotherapy. This is, of course, dependent on the results of a CAT scan that is scheduled for Tuesday. He has been have some pain in his back and side and the doctors want to be sure that is due to a strain (he took a fall recently) and not the metastatic spread to his liver. If this turns out ok, Steve is going to visit his brother in Washington.

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Haven’t been writing much lately due to work load and health issues. Have also been waiting to see if there was anything more to report about the quasi-scheduled benefit “Mock 1″ tournament. Steve has been doing well. A little tired the last couple of days. He is now on daily oral chemotherapy with scheduled intravenous chemo. Yesterday was an intravenous days and generally leaves him a little ‘wiped out’. He is still on daily injections to prevent the clotting problems he has had in the past. I hope to have some more fund raising news available soon.

Steve’s next round of chemotherapy has been postponed until July, 16th, so he has been taking advantage of the respite. After enjoying a leisurely 4th of July up on the Russian River, he left for Seattle to visit his brother. We drove him over to the airport on Sunday and he seemed to be feeling pretty good. Hope he has a nice visit with Ron, his brother.

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Sorry about the lack of recent updates, I’ve been sick for a few days but I’m back now.

Steve was release from the hospital later in the evening so he didn’t have to spend the night. He was being troubled by an irregularity in his heartbeat, something that can happen when you are dehydrated, when your blood pressure is low or when your electrolytes are out of balance. In Steve’s case, all three were true. He has new medication to stabilize his heartbeat and has not experienced the problem since.

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Steve was checked into Kaiser Hospital in Santa Rosa early this morning. He is scheduled to see a cardiologist at around 1:30 today. Further details will be posted when available. Keep good thoughts