Jeffery's Journey

       I know that this blog was supposed to be about Jeffery's journey through open heart surgery but as you know that is not the only challenge our family has been going through in the last 4 months.
To update you about my Dad, he had a total of 2 rounds of chemo and 5 days of radiation. The radiation was needed to try and shrink the tumor in his esophagus because  it had started bleeding. The bleeding caused him to vomit blood  during the night and he went  by ambulance to the Victoria General Hospital. Unfortunately, the radiation hit him really hard. It left him incredibly weak. About a week later, Dad decided to stop all cancer treatments. That was about 4 weeks ago.
       He is now on palliative care and is remaining at home. He receives an IV every other day- overnight. The IV makes a huge difference in the following day. Without it, he sleeps most of the day,eats and drinks very little. With the IV he still feels weak but he gets up in the chair, sits in the sunroom, drinks better. On a good day he may even eat something! That is huge!
      He is incredibly thin, but he has NO pain for which we are very thankful for.  He is having much better quality of life on palliative. No more running  seeing doctors, having tests, waiting for treatments etc etc.
He now uses a wheelchair to go from bed to anywhere in the house.
     Have I mentioned CANCER SUCKS BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    With the overnight IV run with a pump, Hilary has been staying overnight as well. She is SO good with the medical / physical part of all this and works with the palliative nurse to get er done.  Dad is receiving wonderful care at home. Mum has been  taking care of EVERYONE. She is wearing herself out.  While we are there helping she refuses to go take a nap, or take much time for herself. So we bring meals, spend time with her when Dad sleeps, do the yard work, take care of Dad's car, bring baking etc. Everyone in the family has been helping and visiting. That is wonderful.
            Jeff is now finished the cardiac rehab program at the Wellness Institute. It is a very good program of education and exercise.  Now he will continue to go there 2-3 times a week on his own. Not sure when he will go back to work, he needs the doctor's OK on that. He still goes for weekly blood tests and changes of his Coumadin meds but now his own GP is looking after that.  He is gaining his strength back but at times he does too much and feels dizzy. His incision has healed nicely.
            I will be going back to work on June 7. I will let you know how that goes!
Finally an update on the blog! Take care everyone and thanks again for you prayer support!  Dorothy