Surgery Date Approaches

Pete has been feeling better little by little since the last post. He's able to eat regularly most days; his white blood cell count is back to normal; and he's been able to get back to walking 3 miles a day to prepare for the surgery. His chemotherapy doctor has cleared him for surgery. A recent CAT scan was a bit inconclusive as to whether or not the radiation shrunk the tumor because the tissues in the area were still inflamed, but it definitely showed that cancer had not spread anywhere else in his body.

Pete & Leigh met with the surgeon today and he confirmed the date of the surgery to be July 9, so please keep Pete in your thoughts that day. It is a 4-5 hour procedure and he will be in the hospital a minimum of 7 days.

Continuing Side Effects

Pete ended up in the hospital again for a few days last week, unable to keep food down. The radiation has made his esophagus sore and irritated and he required a feeding tube for a few days. This problem still persists, but is getting incrementally better. Also, his white blood cell count is way down because of the chemo, another common side effect. This will get better with time, but unfortunately right now it means his immunity is way down and he needs to avoid crowds and "germy" situations. He has been disappointed to miss out on some of the grandkids' events, but it's all in this big effort to get clear of cancer.