Steve’s Story

Big thanks to Steve’s former co-workers at North Bay Landscape. They took up a collection and sent him a box of bucks! <–more–>I know he hated leaving that job. It’s hard to leave when you like the people you work with. So thank you guys!

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Today is Steve’s re-evaluation. They will evaluate the results from the previous radiation and chemotherapy rounds and decide what to do from here. Presently, tomorrow, Wednesday, is scheduled to be the last of the current round of radiation. He should have a period of rest now. He seems to be feeling ok, none of the horrendous side effects he had with the first chemotherapy attempt. He is tired, understandably, from the radiation, but he seems to be eating a bit better. Still some problems sleeping at night thought. He has to use the Morphine Sulphate at night for the discomfort. We will see what they say at today’s re-evaluation.

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Steve’s brother has been visiting which perked his spirits up a bit. They went to a Shark’s game over the weekend and this was also the World’s Greatest Disc Golf weekend so they dropped by Stafford Lake. Pleased to say, the weekend made cash. We also received a promise of some hard-to-find and/or collector’s discs to auction off to help Steve. The auction is scheduled to take place at the KOA Pro/Am Jam tournament held on June 7th and 8th in Willits. The auction will be held on the evening of Saturday, June 7th. The drawing and trophies will be awarded on Sunday evening, the 8th. We already have quite a bit of material, some of it dating from the early days of disc golf. We just have to determine minimum bids and get the stuff sorted and marked.

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Today was the third radiation treatment and Steve hasn’t had any side effects, so far. In fact, he’s been able to eat a little better which is just what we were hoping for. I turned off the lights for a minute, and he hasn’t started to glow in the dark yet. We were hoping to save a little on the electric bill but no luck yet. Maybe he’ll glow a little bit better next week. He has another radiation treatment on Monday, then it is chemotherapy time on the 29th. I’m not sure if he will have a radiation treatment that day or not.

Last week was a fairly good week for Steve in terms of how he feels. He had been dehydrated from the treatments and that made him feel worse. He had a couple of hydration treatments last week and he felt good enough that he actually got out to the course to play. And he felt well enough to hang out at the river for one day. Of course, the back side of that was that there were no treatments last week, which, in terms of the disease, was a bad thing.

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Well, what we hoped wouldn’t happen…has happened. Yesterday, Steve’s blood pressure was so low and he was so dehydrated from the nausea, that his treatment plan had to be altered. Radiation has been postponed for at least one week, possibly two. (more…)

Yesterday wasn’t a good day. Steve went Sunday afternoon to have his chemo pump removed for this round of treatments. (more…)

Steve got his chemo pump. He wears the pump four days a week then he will get a radiation treatment. He had a radiation ‘test run’ where they did his body mold and markings. They make a silicon mold that leaves only the area to be irradiated exposed and they ‘tatoo’ a target for the radiation. I believe he has another ‘pre-treatment’ visit on Tueday. Then it will be the real thing. They have already given him a whole array of anti-nausea medication that will hopefully alieviate the worst of the symptoms.

Yesterday, Steve spent most of the afternoon having the pic line put in. This was to facilitate the Chemotherapy treatments which start today. I think this was a good decision. In my mother’s case they waited until they couldn’t find any good veins to use. With the strong drugs that are used in Chemotherapy, the veins become irritated and inflamed. Eventually, they more or less ‘go on strike’ and begin to spasm so much that they can’t find one they can put a needle into. By starting off with a line, they avoid this difficulty later one and there is less chance he will have to miss a treatment. It is easier on the patient. A lot of people say they don’t like Kaiser Permanente, but I’ve always received excellent care. I think, because they are a teaching hospital, you receive the newest treatments and they have the newest equipment.

Yesterday was a kind of ‘throw away day’. I was trying to stay away from the guys because I think I am coming down with a cold (or it might just be allergies) and I know if Steve catches it they won’t give him Chemotherapy. I just don’t want anything to prevent him from getting treatment.