He's Back!

Dusty did great through the first treatment.  He ate well and had little discomfort.  When we returned to Augusta things got much worse.  I had to return to work because it was Master's Week.  The first few days Dusty was completely out of it.  He was hallucinating and had no concept of reality.  I couldn't tell if he was dying or if he was overdoing on his pain medicines.  I bought a pill organizer and things quickly turned around.  I think he was taking his pain medicines and forgetting that he took them and taking them again.  It was so bad that I had to have friends and neighbors go into my house prior to me arriving so that I wouldn't find him, in case something had happened.  But once the medicine was under control he quickly started getting better.  He started wanting to get out of the house.  His car has completely given him life again.  He wants to drive it daily and he loves to tinker with it.  Each day got better.  

We returned to MD Anderson on April 28 for the next round of chemo.  Dusty gets admitted into the hospital on day one, they start fluids and vitals, day two they insert the catheter up his femoral artery and into his liver, they pump chemo directly into his liver for two hours, then they take the catheter out and do 44 more hours of chemo through his chest port.  They give him a lot of steroids while he is on chemo, which gives him a big appetite.  He eats really well while in the hospital.  The doctor said that we have to keep his weight up this go round.  He lost 14 more lbs since his last treatment, bringing him down to just under 160.  We tossed up the idea of doing a feeding tube but Dusty wanted to give it one more round on his own.  Doing the feeding tube will alter most of our summer rituals with the children.  We are trying to keep life as normal as possible for the children and swimming is a huge part of life for us.  Dusty really wanted to try one more time.  So, I have quit working and started staying on him about his diet.  I started a daily food diary and it has helped tremendously.  Dusty is a whole different person.  His weight is stable, his color is perfect, his energy is back up, and he is eating.  His swallowing is almost completely back to normal.  He only  has trouble with breads.  We definitely think that the trial is working.  He is completely coming back to himself!  

Dusty got baptized on Tuesday, May 14!

We go back to Houston on Sunday May 19, Dusty will have a scan on Monday and we will get results on Tuesday.  Our scanxiety levels are out of this world.  We have our hopes higher than they have been this whole year so if things haven't shown improvement this time around we will be let down harder than ever.  But, ask anyone who has seen Dusty in the last month, HE'S BACK!  He's the old Dusty!!!  It's got to be working!  

If everything is working, he will be admitted into the hospital on Wednesday and undergo another 46 hour treatment and we will be home on Sunday.  Celebration time!

Please continue your prayers.

Thank you!

I will be giving updates next week as we get results.  I'm no longer giving detailed stories, just updates.  It became like I was telling a story and not living my life.  Mentally, I wasn't accepting what was going on and I wasn't doing well.  Reality sucks but it is reality, not a story.  Thank you for your understanding.