Thank God it's Friday!

Yeah! We have finished four full weeks. Three left! I can't believe it. The days go by at a snail's pace. No word yet on the white blood cell count as of today. He was tested this morning and we are still waiting for the results. Lisa is gonna come cut his hair this weekend. It is falling out a lot and that is aggravating him. We won't get a buzz cut, just a really short haircut. We will start week five Monday with Chemo at 10am. I just hope he doesn't get as sick as he did last time. He is so anxious to get better. Really wants the feeding tube out ASAP. That is really up to him. As long as he is eating enough to maintain weight and get enough nutrition then it can come out. I'm gettin my hair done too this weekend. It has been three months since I've had color, UGH-the gray is too much. No real plans this weekend, Drew dropped off a bag of laundry at my office so guess I'll be doing laundry. No problem, Drew! It's what mom's live for. Hope y'all have a great weekend. Keep us in your prayers. Love ya! Donna & Earl

Light at the end of the tunnel

Hello Everyone,

We are rapidly approaching the end of week four and will start week five Monday. All I can say is we can see the light! Earl and I have some really strong conversations about this whole journey, last night I asked him if it has been as bad as he had expected or worse and he said it has not been as bad as he had thought. He is tired and weak but hanging in there pretty good. We watch a lot of TV and it just really feels good to sit beside him in the chair. He has lost weight and doesn't really eat, (nothing tastes good) He is using the PEG full time and is drinking and eating Popsicles, but that's about all. All in all, I am so proud of him. He doesn't complain and really tries hard to be in good spirits. I have promised him that when he gets better I will start playing golf with him on a regular basis. He really wants us to do that, so I will. I just can't wait to see him on the golf course again. His voice is coming back some now, so he can talk he just sounds funny. I try not to cook too much at home because the smell of food cooking makes him sick. He doesn't even like the smell of coffee brewing. I'm gonna have dinner tonight with two friends, and enjoy some girl talk. I just wanted y'all to know that he is doing good and getting by. The end is near. Thanks so much for your prayers. We love you all so much. Donna & Earl

Storms a comin

Hey Ya'll

Well we did not have chemo yesterday as scheduled. Earl's white cell count was too low. They postponed it for next week. However, we did get some good news, he will not need the third chemo so next Monday will be his last chemo. We are in week four of the radiation. He has completed 16 radiation treatments and has 19 left. So we are almost halfway there. He is declining somewhat, and I am trying to prepare myself for the worst. He is hoarse now and can barely talk. He is still eating pretty good and drinking good. He is just tired. He is starting to lose some of his hair, not from the chemo but from the radiation. I think I will have our hair dresser come to the house and give him a good hair cut so it doesn't annoy him. Olivia has a cold and had to take her to the DR yesterday, now I have to keep her away from Earl so he doesn't catch it. Wow, I am tired. On another note, Drew is all moved out and started college yesterday. His apartment is on St. Phillips St and he is on cloud nine. I miss him so much. All ya'll with little ones, enjoy them, they leave too soon. Thanks for your prayers, they really are working! Love you all, Donna

Week Three

Hey Ya'll,

Today is a good day! Earl had a good checkup yesterday with his chemo DR and today met with Dr. Harper (rad DR) and she said she was VERY pleased at how well the tumor is shrinking. He is having a minor sore throat but still eating and drinking pretty good. We are in our third week of radiation. By Friday we will only have four weeks left. Whew~ We had a fantastic weekend. Earl actually played golf Saturday with his friend Jeff, and shot even par. He was worn out by the evening but he was so happy. Olivia had her 13th birthday party with 10 of her closest friends and her cuz Madison. It was a nice evening. Earl's brothers and his sis-in- law, Sunny came up Sunday for a visit, we had lunch together and just spent the day visiting. Ain't nothin like family. School starts tomorrow for Olivia, it will be her last year at Summerville Catholic, she has been there 10 years (since K-4) I remember her first day she was crying and I couldn't get her out the car. Time flies! Drew starts college next week. He is looking for an apartment, I can't even talk about it without tearing up. I wish I could keep him around the house a little longer. Mom's never wanna let go. Anyway, Thank you for your prayers, they are working! Earl is doing so well and I am so thankful. Love you all! Donna

One Day at a Time

Hello Everyone! Sorry I haven't kept this up to date but let me tell you it has been one crazy week. By Monday Earl was in pretty bad shape. He was so weak he could barely walk from the chair to the bed and he was eating minimal. The nurse took one look at him Monday morning and said he was malnourished and dehydrated. I had no idea because he had been eating and drinking, just not enough for the amount that the chemo had drained from his body. We started the feeding tube immediately that day and started him back on the anti-nausea medicine and wow what a difference. Today you can hardly tell he is taking radiation. He is back to eating pretty good and we are still doing the feedings around the clock. My sister came over to give us a crash course in that and now Earl is doing it all by himself. He hates it, but he knows it is making a big difference in his progress. People who don't get a feeding tube usually end up back in the hospital on IV for fluids, now I see why. He is doing fantastic. I know he will eventually decline but with the feedings and pain medicine he shouldn't get to the state he was in last weekend. I was really scared and I felt like I wasn't doing a very good job as a caretaker. That is behind us now and we are taking it one day at a time. Olivia starts school next week and Drew starts college the following week. All is well on the home front. I gotta cut grass tonight or buy a goat. Love you all! Donna

Sunday Update

Hey everyone,

It's been a long weekend. Earl is mostly tired and sleeps a lot, either in the chair or in the bed. He has not been sick, but has no appetite. The smell of everything makes him feel sick. He can't taste anything and has not eaten much over the weekend. It is so frustrating for me cause I just can't to anything to help. He barely slept at all Friday night. Saturday night was much better and he did sleep through the night. He is still very weak and tired oday. He is able to drink his ensure and gatorade and that's about all. He did eat some potato soup from ABC yesterday. I had to eat my lunch on the porch because the smell made him sick. I feel so helpless. When you hear someone going through chemo you really don't know how hard it is for them. Let me tell you IT IS HARD. I just keep telling myself that the tumor is shrinking and that he is getting better. This is just the beginning and the road is long. Six more weeks and he will be done with treatment. I love him so much, I just wish I could make it all better. Thank you for your prayers. Love you all. Donna

One week down

Hey Ya'll,

We have officially completed one week of treatment. Six to go. No sweat, yeah right. Earl is OK. Tired mostly. He had a headache yesterday and we determined it is from dehydration. Radiation dehydrates you really bad so he has to drink a lot of non-caffine drinks. We are looking forward to a weekend of no treatment. His next chemo is on the 24th. He will not have the energy to play in that golf tournament this weekend but that's okay. He needs to rest anyway. I was cutting grass last night and a man rode by on his motorcycle and it made me miss that so much. I can't wait til we can ride again. It's amazing how much you miss the simple things. If anyone wants to send him a card I know it would make his day. Our mailing address is 350 Prestwick Court, Summerville, SC 29483. Hope you all have a terrific weekend. Love you all. Donna

A little GOOD News

Hey Ya'll,

Today was day three of Radiation! Earl is feeling OK. Not good, but not bad. Well, that's okay. He's not suppose to feel good but I'll take "not bad". He went in for his radiation today and the Doc said that his tumor was responding very well and that it has already started shrinking. Yeah! He has done very well this first week. He is taking a lot of anti nausea medicine and it is working. He has been able to eat even though he says everything tastes like cardboard. Hopefully by Friday he will start to feel better and maybe he can even play in the golf tournament Saturday. I'm gonna caddy for him. Okay, here's a little something I found funny, Monday night after we finally got to sleep, Earl got a BAD case of the hiccups. Then had them almost all day Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon he called his chemo DR and he said it is a side effect that only a few people get. They actually had medicine for him for the hiccups. The medicine has helped but as soon as it starts to wear off, he starts to hiccup. God has a sense of humor. So no matter how bad things are there is always something a little funny to laugh about. Thanks for the prayers. Love you all, Donna

First Day of Treatment

Hey Everyone,

Well all I can say about yesterday is we survived it all and today is a new day! We arrived at MUSC Hollings Cancer center on time and a little anxious. We were suppose to start treatment at 10am. We actually started at 12:30pm. Everything was a mess, no one knew why we were there and they kept sending us to different departments. Finally, the DR got it all worked out and we finished our first Chemo at about 4pm, then headed over to East Cooper to get radiation. That only took about 15 minutes. Earl did so good! He is my hero. I am so proud of him. He got a little flushed once but I think that was because he was hungry. We went to On the Boarder after Radiation and he ate very well. He has a lot of anti nausea medicine so the DR said only about 5% of patients get sick. I hope we aren't part of that 5%. So we came home, took showers, and tried to unwind. Got in the bed about 10pm, then Drew called at 11:30pm. He had ran off the road trying to answer his cell phone and hit a stop sign, some bushes and a ditch. Car had to be towed, but Drew is okay. Earl and I got to spend two hours on the road waiting for the police report and tow truck to come. So we finally got to bed at 2am. WHAT A DAY! Anyway, both of my men are fine today and I still feel so blessed. Here's a little note to all you-DO NOT ANSWER YOUR PHONE OR TEXT WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING. Love you all! Donna