Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Last Night's Sleep
6 hr 33 min
6 hr 33 min
Today's Forecast
Today: Sunny. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 early this afternoon. High 21. UV index 5 or moderate.
Tonight: Partly cloudy. 70 percent chance of showers changing to 30 percent chance of showers near midnight. Risk of a thunderstorm this evening. Wind southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light near midnight. Low 7°C.
Air Quality: 3 - Low Risk
Air Quality: 3 - Low Risk
Today's Journal
We were hoping for better news. Dennis is in stage 3+ lung cancer, and at this point it is not curable. He's basically going to be starting palliative care this Friday. That means the treatments that he's going to receive will not cure the cancer but will hopefully treat the symptoms and extend his life for months or a year or two, depending on how his body reacts to the immunotherapy.
He's going to be on a strict regime of blood tests, scans, oncology visits and intravenous immunotherapy treatments every 3 weeks, for as long as they continue to help. There are a lot of potential side effects, very serious life-threatening side effects that have to be monitored. He will be getting his thyroid and liver and kidneys checked on a routine basis.
This Friday he has his first immunotherapy treatment at the cancer center. It lasts just a little over an hour.
Every 3 weeks he's going to have blood work done on Wednesdays at one of our local labs, then a visit with the oncologist at the Cancer Center on Thursdays for a checkup and to monitor his side effects, and then the intravenous immunotherapy treatment on Fridays.
Normally in his case he they would be starting him on chemotherapy with supplemental radiation. But there is a maximum amount of radiation you are allowed to have on any one body part and he nearly reached that maximum last year and without the adjunctive radiation they can't give him the chemo.
The oncologist seemed a little concerned that there is just the two of us, no kids or grandkids to lend hand or do things for us. And she's concerned that we have a two-story house because at some point stairs are going to be too difficult for Dennis. Right now he's allowed to go for a walks if he's feeling strong enough, they will encourage him to get a little bit of exercise but he can't overdo it because it just makes him cough so badly.
He will be able to do some outdoor work but no bending or stooping, like to pull weeds or anything. And he has to try to eat more even when his appetite is low because they don't want him to lose any more weight. He needs to keep up his strength physically and nutritionally.
He's going to be on a strict regime of blood tests, scans, oncology visits and intravenous immunotherapy treatments every 3 weeks, for as long as they continue to help. There are a lot of potential side effects, very serious life-threatening side effects that have to be monitored. He will be getting his thyroid and liver and kidneys checked on a routine basis.
This Friday he has his first immunotherapy treatment at the cancer center. It lasts just a little over an hour.
Every 3 weeks he's going to have blood work done on Wednesdays at one of our local labs, then a visit with the oncologist at the Cancer Center on Thursdays for a checkup and to monitor his side effects, and then the intravenous immunotherapy treatment on Fridays.
Normally in his case he they would be starting him on chemotherapy with supplemental radiation. But there is a maximum amount of radiation you are allowed to have on any one body part and he nearly reached that maximum last year and without the adjunctive radiation they can't give him the chemo.
The oncologist seemed a little concerned that there is just the two of us, no kids or grandkids to lend hand or do things for us. And she's concerned that we have a two-story house because at some point stairs are going to be too difficult for Dennis. Right now he's allowed to go for a walks if he's feeling strong enough, they will encourage him to get a little bit of exercise but he can't overdo it because it just makes him cough so badly.
He will be able to do some outdoor work but no bending or stooping, like to pull weeds or anything. And he has to try to eat more even when his appetite is low because they don't want him to lose any more weight. He needs to keep up his strength physically and nutritionally.
I don't know what we're going to do when it gets to the point where he needs to stay on one floor because we don't have a bathroom down here, and there really isn't any place to put one. Hopefully that's not something we have to worry about for quite a while but we do have to start considering what our life is going to be like in the near future.
This is a hard blow and we're both shaken although not completely surprised. We both need time to process all this. We need to try to find the positives and find reasons to smile everyday if we can. 🫣
Today's Daily Affirmations
* I will stay on my spiritual journey, no matter what happens.
* I am walking on my true path.
* I am glad I get to experience the fullness of life every day.
* I live powerfully.
* I am making peace with my unique path.
* I fully embrace the life I have now.
* My work is very rewarding.
* I am intentionally creating a life I love.
Today's Exercise
minutes / steps
Today's Total Steps:
5380
