Day to Day

"How's Joe doing?"

I am asked this question all the time and it is such a tough question to answer, because it really changes from day to day. To those who haven't seen him lately, and happen to catch him on a bad day, it can be a bit scary. I try to reassure them that not every day is bad, but it is hard to believe unless you see it with your own eyes.

Last week wasn't one of Joe's best. He had his second infusion of Erbitux on Tuesday, and was sick ALL day Wednesday. As a result, he was a bit dehydrated and had to spend a few hours on Thursday in the infusion center getting an IV of fluids. It is really important for Joe to maintain his weight right now, and the side effects from the drugs make it nearly impossible to do so (he has lost close to 50 pounds in the last 3 months -  YIKES!).

On the flip side - over the weekend, Joe started feeling much better, was eating more and taking daily walks. We have found this awesome frozen yogurt place by our house, and have been making nightly trips there (oh the sacrifices I have to make to fatten Joe up!).

More good news....
As we have mentioned before, the fluid that builds up on Joe's stomach has been his biggest problem all along. It stretches out his muscles, makes it difficult to breath, and constantly has him feeling full so he has no appetite. Lately he averages .75 liters of fluid build up per day. When Joe had his first infusion of Folfiri+Erbitux 2 weeks ago, the doctor mentioned that we might notice some improvement in the fluid build up in 2 weeks. Well over the past weekend, Joe did notice that less fluid seemed to be building up. This morning was his paracentesis, and they only drained off only 1.1 liters (average of .25 liters/day since he was drained last Friday)!!!!

Joe relaxing to some Pearl Jam during his infusion;
He is pretty tight with the nurses now and they have started bring him their special band-aids :) 

That was huge news!!! It means that the chemo is doing SOMETHING!! The timing of this news was great too, as today was Joe's long day at the infusion center. He definitely doesn't look forward to infusion days (they are LONG BORING days), and dreads the few days following even more (when the side effects kick in), but knowing that the chemo is working makes the long days and the side effects totally worth it! Hopefully the fluid will continue to decrease and he can starting getting the paracentesis' only once a week instead of twice (and eventually maybe not at all!).

Woohoo for more good news!!!

- Jess