Checking In!
It's been a minute, so let's learn the latest
Dave’s still undergoing treatment for his cancer, but we have some updates!
First, he did start to eat again! After a couple of rounds of fluids, some tough love from his speech pathologist, and starting to do the mouth rinses he had been told he needed to do… he started eating!
One thing the speech pathologist shared was that if he did not start eating something, there was a risk of his jaw muscle getting messed up. On their way home from that appointment, Mandy and Dave got Arby’s and he has continued to eat since then.
That’s not to say that things necessarily taste good. In fact, Dave cannot taste much at all and it is really frustrating to him. He’s been dousing his foods in hot sauce (where appropriate, which is most of the time) in an attempt to taste anything.
Dave often says that he would rather have a cactus shoved up his butt than do the salt and baking soda mouth rinses… but the mucous build-up causes nausea and that will send him back down the too-nauseous-to-eat spiral.
Second, Dave is over halfway through his radiation treatments. In fact, they cut the amount of radiation he is receiving and they believe some of the appointments at the end of his treatment plan have been removed from the schedule. His last one is now scheduled for June 4. It’s a reallllllll drag to go all the way to Cleveland, be stuck in a machine for less than 5 minutes, then go all the way back to Youngstown.
“I deserve some sort of frequent customer reward,” Dave said today.
“Your reward is not having cancer at the end,” Mandy responded.
“No, I mean some sort of hat or shirt. Or a Cleveland Clinic bobble head,” Dave retorted.
They have Cleveland Clinic merch in a gift shop in the Taussig Cancer Center, but something tells me Dave doesn’t really want a branded shirt.
Third, the doctor team did agree to bypass doing the larger chemo dose on May 20. He will instead receive smaller, weekly doses starting on May 20.
To be honest, Dave is nervous. Mandy is reassuring him that they both know what they need to do this time - stay on top of an anti-nausea med schedule, do mouth rinses so that the mucous doesn’t add to the nausea, stay hydrated, eat what he can, and just prepare to just feel super, duper tired.
When they met with the nutritionist, she told Dave and Mandy that having Chemo is like putting one’s body through running a marathon. The body burns a lot of calories which is why it is so important to have food (even liquid food) in his system. Mandy and Dave have plenty of high-calorie Boost drinks on-hand, even though Dave plans on trying to eat still.
Last, Dave has been able to drive himself to radiation again this week which has been a godsend for Mandy’s sanity and stress. While leading the organizing for a statewide referendum petition campaign is indeed a good distraction from the cancer stuff, it is definitely very, very stressful. Fortunately, some really excellent volunteers have been steadily at work so it isn’t all on her shoulders. Dave has also been a lifesaver when he’s been in the Zoom chats during live training sessions for petition circulators.
By the time the Fourth of July rolls around, Dave has decided that he will want to destroy his radiation mask in some way and Mandy has decided she will sleep for at least a week straight.