November 3

Good Afternoon.

Remember to get out and vote tomorrow if you have not already done so. Gry and I voted via Absentee Ballot and it was a piece of cake! I think I will do that every election. The only bummer part is that you don't get the sticker. The boys love for me to wear my sticker after I vote but I did show them my ballot as I mailed it so they had proof that I voted!

Today was an okay day. We had some good news and some not-so-good news.

The good news seems to be that the liver tumor is looking better and Gary's liver values are normal. Everything is draining nicely and that's a good thing. Because things are going so well Gary will have another procedure under general anesthesia this Friday at South Coast Hospital. Dr. Arata will go into the liver and give Gary an internal stint of sorts so that we can remove the exterior billiary drain coming out of his bile ducts. We have been waiting to have this done and now is the time.
If Gary's counts hold strong then we can proceed. Gary had another round of chemo today (Velban/Methotrexate) and he is not feeling all that hot. I hope this will not affect his counts this week.

Well, we turned the pain stimulator on today and for the first 1/2 hour it worked. Then, just like before, Gary felt like the inside of his body was burning up. The burning pain was down the left leg and across the lower back. It was awful and ended up hurting him for over and hour after I turned the stimulator off. We had to give him 2 IV pushes of Dilaudid to calm the pain down.

So we made some phone calls today and are waiting to hear back from the Rep to schedule a reprogramming. If the reprogramming is unsuccessful then the next step might be to go back in once again and reposition the stimulator. Remember that Gary still has 23 staples in his hip/back and those will be removed on Thursday from the procedure 10 days ago. That was news Gary did not want to hear at all.

I am hydrating Gary right now and he is resting. He looks relaxed but when I ask him what his pain level is he tells me a 6.5. I hate that he is in constant pain. I would love for him to have a good day if just for one day. He deserves it and it saddens me that he has not had that yet.

Back to the homework grind and the lunchmaking yuck and laying clothes out and doing tons of laundry. I am excited that we all have a 4-day weekend again. The kids only have 13 days of school in the month of November! L:ove that!

I am going to get more meds for Gary and then home to fix some yummy chicken casserole. I hope Gary will eat tonight. He managed to eat a glazed old fashion donut this morning and a Big Mac this afternoon. I even found a Snickers wrapper next to his bed so I guess I can't complain! He's eating and that is a HUGE accomplishment on his part.

Have a great night.

Love,
Lisa