Doctors say my hubby needs to stay at their hospital another week. I agree. He needs to get as much healing done before he comes home. The incision on his neck was opened up and that began the whole pandora's box of icky. Gastric juices began to gush out of the incision whenever he rolled on his side or coughed.
They put back the nose tube to 'suck' gastric juices from the 'stomach'. Then they put another chest tube back in to suck juices from the chest area. The J-tube which is the f
My husband's surgery was Tuesday, Dec 20 and it lasted 6 1/2 hours!!!!! I"m sure the surgeon was exhausted...I sure was waiting that long. It went well...he got all the cancer, didn't see any lymph node involvement. Today is Friday, Dec 23 day 3 after the surgery. Joe was up walking around the next day after surgery, with 2 chest tubes, an epidural, catheter and feeding tube, and a tube coming out his nose that sucked the stuff off his 'stomach' Today, Joe was hooked up to the feeding tube
Well, here's my new list, let's see who'll copy the concept first.
This list is in no particular order, just as my brain stumbled across the ideas....
1 pay off all debts...mortgage, car,credit cards
2 I'd like to say I'd give 10% to the church, and it'd be a tough swallow, but I 'd do it because God owns it all anyway, what I have is just on loan from Him.
3 I'd hire people to find out who's destitute in my community and pay off their debts, too.
4 Offer the balance of the money if t
Just what do you try to feed a man who is nauseous from chemo therapy? He can somewhat control the nausea through some meds, but he hesitates eating many of the foods he likes for fear that they'll taste bad and will spoil his appetite for that food once this is all over. It happened the last time he had cancer(in 1996 he had colon cancer and the chemo about killed him then)
Ok, now I should be off the dreaded page 2 of the blogs.
Yesterday, Thursday, Thanks giving, Joe's sister had a meal at her place, with her son, daughter-in-law, their 2 kids, Jesse, Jill and myself; Joe didn't feel well enough to go there. He'd gotten up at 3am with nausea and took a pill at 4am... All day long he felt lousy....(nausea and pain) and he spent the day on the sofa. The only thing he had to eat was 3/4 a bottle of Ensure Plus and a few sips of water. Around midnight, Joe agreed to go to the hospital, he called the doctor's office to g
Yesterday, I was traveling to visit my dad...he lives 30 miles away. All of a sudden I hear a thwunk, thwunk, thwunk....so I stop the car on the side of the road, get out of the car and discover the back left tire is toast. It had shredded and only the wheel rim was left with a tiny amount of rubber going around the rim. Thank God it was the back tire and not the front tire which would have thrown me around. Another praise God is that I had a cell phone with me. So, I called hubby who call
Hubby ate a big breakfast/brunch today... a large omlet and 1 1/2 pancakes.
He didn't have his chemo treatment last Thursday...just to test it out to see if it really is the chemo or the radiation that's making him nauseous.
Don't turn us in to the coppers, he's been smoking some pot to ease the nausea and increase his appetite. It seems to be working.
I'm sure when he was in his 20's he never dreamed he'd be smoking marijuana for his health. Isn't life funny some times?
He's gotten s
Don't have much to say, just wanted to make a post to get rid of the hamburger helper.
Minime,Mary, hamburger helper is a prepackaged meal that can be added to a pound of hamburger to make a meal such as macaroni,cheese and hamburger. You only need to add the browned hamburger and voila you have a meal.
Since son is busy with the photo business, and I can't cook, Jill, son's girlfriend, has been cooking for us lately. We've had hamburger helper almost every day. I'm getting tired of hamburger. Must learn to make something else. Tuna helper is an alternative...will buy some next time at the store. I make a great spam casserole that requires velveeta cheese...can't make it because Jill doesn't like cheese. She won't eat meat that's on the bone..like chicken leg..she'll eat the meat if it's
My hubby got mad this afternoon and left the house in his truck, it's been 5+ hours,
Son left with his girlfriend in th car and a guy friend of his..it's been 2 hours. I have no vehicle to go anywhere with.
So, here I sit, feeling alone and blue feeling like I am to blame for hubby's anger. I try to do my best and do what I can, but that's never enough and I do it the wrong way, according to hubby, and son.
I live in a house of anger..son and hubby. Today, I wished I had somewhere I co
My blog about blushing sure brought out a lot of parent's advice, thank you all. Maybe there should be a parents' support group where moms and dad can 'seek out advice'. My grandparents are passed on now, my mom,too.
Maybe there already is a web site, I haven't really looked for one.
Probably a dumb idea, especially when it isn't relavent to strokes.
Thank you all for your input on my blushing blog. Tom, it's reassuring to hear I'm not a hypochrite, though I sure feel like one.
What do you do when you come home and hear your son and his girlfriend having sex?
So far, I've only told his dad, dont' know what to say to either son or his girlfriend.
What can I say? Son was born 6 months after his dad an I got married. The big difference is son has no health insurance nor does the girlfriend.
Son has often complained that he thinks he should bave been aborted....not his dad or my feeling, but son's because of teenage self doubts. The old "I wish I'd never b
We ran out of candy, but had over 300 trick or treaters last night. We live in an addition of town, where people who live rurally, bring their kids in to town to trick or treat. Previous years we've had 200+ kids... so we'll have to plan better for next year. We shop at Sam's Club for the treats. My neighbor lady went out today(when all candy is on sale) and bought a 'boat load' of candy for next year, she freezes it.
Good thing we ran out of candy,or else I'd be tempted to eat some
Today, has been a beautiful day, weather-wise. There is peace in the Stern household.
Son, Jesse is holding on and trying not to panic about his dad, Joe and Joe's cancer. Both are scared about the possibilities.
Both guys got up early and took pictures of a 5K run and posted them on the internet for possible orders. If you'd like to see them....go to www.partypics.com and use password of stern .
Joe is feeling the effects of the chemotherapy...feels crummy, gut hurts,low-gra
Today, my hubby began his radiation and chemo treatments for his esophageal cancer. This will last 5 weeks, then he has surgery to remove the tumor, then a few months of recovery.
Hubby is taking time off his work to get healthy. That means hubby and son are both home all the time together....the fights have begun. Lord, keep this family together and learn to love each other in all our faults. Problem is, they're both alike....bullheaded.
Yesterday, Joe and I spent the day traveling around SW Wisconsin going to apple orchards. Lotsa fun and good food. Am plenty tired today, though. Last night slept in my own bed...ahhhhhh, the night before we stayed at a bed and breakfast...beautiful place, just not my bed. Today, after going to church, we've spent the afternoon getting caught up on things around the house...misc stuff, plus helping with photo business office stuff.
I'm ready for a nap.
Well, this has been a busy, good day. Joe had his barium swallow...no problems, then had appoingment with surgeon who'll do the surgery. He's from Michigan orginally...studied under the guy who invented the surgery Joe'll have. So, he should know what he's doing. Said he's done 80+ of these surgeries...one of only a few surgeons who've done this type of surgery.
Surgeon agreed with doing the chemo and radiation before the surgery, so, now we see the onocologist in Waterloo tomorrow, then
Well, I'm sitting in the waiting room for Joe to swallow his glop. They provided a computer for me to use. So, thought I'd make use. However, as a MAC person, this Dell is Greek to me., But I found strokenet, so, guess I have a few braincells working yet. Emphasis on 'few'.
I really didn't have anything to say, but thought I couldn't pass up a chance to surf the net and report what I found.
I tried to check my home email account but can' t figure it out. Yes, I'm spoiled. The TV has P
Thursday at 8am Joe is to have a Barium swallow test...I thought it was called an upper GI. The doctors want him to do this to "map" his esophagus. Then at 9am he sees the surgeon who'll be doing his surgery to remove the tumor.
It's a 1 1/2 hour drive to Iowa City, so, we'll be getting up real early tomorrow.
Joe's never had this barium swallow test before, if you have, you'll know it's nasty thick glop they have to drink, then watch this junk flow through your digestive system via xray.
My husband, who has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, had CT scans done and we took those films with us to Iowa City to show that doctor, now, we're trying to chase those films down, as the films weren't given with us when we left Iowa City. Ah , the lost is found....Hubby went to hospital where scans were done to pick up the PET scan results yesterday and just an hour ago realized the 'lost' films were in with scan results he'd picked up yesterday. Evidently the films were mailed back
Today, I had a temper tantram, as my mother would call it.
I was having fits with my computer, I couldn't get it to reboot. I had put a CD in the drive to have it boot up from a disc, but I couldn't even get the disc out of the drive. I had tried repeatedly for over 30 minutes. My husband and son asked me what my problem was, after sounding like a 2 yr old who just had her toy taken away, I went to another room, my son fiddled with the 'puter and got it to work.
I'm not sure what to bla
We've been having beautiful weather lateley....
After a hard frost when the weather gets warm again, it's called Indian summer. Least that's what we call it in Iowa.
Mid 70's in the day and downright cold at night...in 30's. Lovely blue sky.
Yes, it is heaven.
We've had a busy week since learning of my husband's cancer of esophagus. Just found out the tumor is operable...doc gave it a T2N1 rating...meaning tumor is through the esophagus wall but not into other organs. One lymph node is either a part of the tumor or is right beside it, otherwise no other lymph nodes are affected.
So, now we need to schedule surgery.
FYI my husband had colon cancer in 1996 and came through after surgery and chemo-therapy. The cancer docs in local town are/wer
It is my opinion, that a friend is someone who'll share your burdens and joys whatever that may be.
Some friendships are forged because of something similar...an interest, an event. Other friendships are brought about by being forced together. as in school. But then again, that leads back to the sharing of something similar.
The character of people is shown when the squeeze is on...like an adversity in one another's lives. The trick is to find the one's of pure gold and avoid the tin one
You know, you don't really want to have to find out who your friends are by going throuh tough times like a new cancer. But it is very heart warming the outpouring of prayers and well wishes we've received since we let it be known about Joe's cancer.
When you are still in shock about finding out, and your friends start calling and emailling it's like getting a big hug.
Thank you!
