Update on EC

It is the end of week 2 and my father-in-law seems to be doing rather well.  He has developed some trouble with swallowing, which is a concern.  He needs to keep his weight up and not being able to swallow well does hinder this situation.  He has been receiving wonderful care from his doctors and the various other medical personnel at the treatment location, so these problems are addressed immediately.

Last weekend, he did have a little problem when he didn’t realize that he had been receiving anti-nausea medication in his chemo treatments.  Since he has a chemo pump he was still getting the chemo, but evidently in order to get enough medication in the pump for the weekend it did not include the anti-nausea meds.  He was to take these in pill form and he waited until he felt sick.  This was the wrong plan.  He was very, very sick.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Cancer Treatment

My wife is a nurse and she is absolutely amazed at the treatment my father-in-law is getting for esophageal cancer. I am also. During the week he has two pumps that are pumping chemotherapy treatments into him constantly. On the weekends he has the luxury of only one pump. Apparently these pumps are dosing him with two different types of chemo at lower doses, but they are given all day long. He is also receiving radiation treatment two times per day. It seems excessive, but evidently you must be super aggressive with this cancer.

In one week he has been literally sucked of all his energy. This is the price of all this treatment. The scary part is that we have 5 more weeks until the break. I am worried about what the end of week 2 will bring us. It is interesting that so much focus is given to the cancer patients and survivors, but not as much on the family members or friends who help these people through these ordeals. My wife and her sister are absolute wreaks over this ordeal. My mother-in-law is in a deep state of denial. As the newest member of the family, I sit back and watch, trying to help wherever I possibly can. Cancer adds a huge responsibility to the family members willing to take it on. There is much worrying about holidays, birthdays, this appointment and that other thing.

The Cancer is Treatable

So we have spent about 24 hours in hospitals and doctors offices the past few days.  The culmination of this process is that the esophageal cancer is treatable.  The tumor has not penetrated the wall of the esophagus into the lymph and blood systems.  It is in a bad location and needs to be treated immediately.  So on Monday he starts chemotherapy and radiation treatments for 6 weeks to try and get the tumor into an operable condition.  If all goes well, there will be surgery to remove the tumor and affected tissue.  I don’t know much past this, but I am sure I will be fully educated soon.

My wife is going crazy.  She is a nurse and her father is sick.  If she doesn’t piss off every nurse and doctor we meet in the next 6 months I will be surprised.  I’m sure they understand and have seen this before.  The family, of course, looks to her to make the decisions about treatment and this puts some strain on her.  I get to be the support for the support person.  She has had numerous breakdowns of the past few days, as I suspect anyone in this position would have.

My Absense

I feel I must explain my lack of commenting lately.  The first reason was my trip to Mexico.  The thing that happened next has taken up my time since returning.  My wife’s father has cancer, a very nasty one at that.  She is a nurse and of course the family wants her to make many decisions about the various treatments and tests.  WOW, what a cluster.  My wife and I have spent a lot of time setting up this appointment and that test and so on and so on.  I have just been very tired mentally and sometimes physically.

To make matters worse the neuropathy is in the middle of a flare up.  Every morning I get to “walk with daggers in my feet”.  My fingers and hands are also blessed with sharp pain.  Of course, the answer is to increase the medication.  Well, I’ve done this once and today will be twice.  I don’t think that it is doing much of anything, but I will be as patient as possible.