UPDATE ON DAVE

Many of you have asked how Dave is doing.  Depending on the day my answer would vary.  Last Monday I would have said not bad, you can tell his body is working because of his need for sleep.  Tuesday probably would have been the same.  Wednesday was a different story as he felt yucky and slept most of the day.  Fortunately Thursday was better and he enjoyed having a friend take him to Costco.  Just getting out of the house was a boost to him. 

The previous paragraph was written Monday afternoon while Dave and Todd were at an appointment with the palliative care nurse practitioner.  I think I had mentioned meeting with them early on.  For some reason we had not followed up on the meeting.  Dave had been checking in with the nurse handling the clinical trial and getting very frustrated.  Everyone commented on how yellow he was and he was always tired.  Each time he talked or emailed the nurse about back pain or his yellow color, or that his urine was darker than before the bile duct stint was put in, she would tell him to drink more water.  Drinking 64 ounces a day of water also means having to go to the bathroom lots.  How much more can anyone drink?  

Getting the palliative team involved was the best thing to do.  Besides really listening, the focus is on the person not the trial.  Coordinating care, follow-up on prescription, ordering lab work and adjusting medications are all part of the job.  Good thing Todd got the appointment because the blood tests for some of the liver functions were terrible.  Bad enough that changing the stint was moved from the 20th to the 5th.  So now we might get an idea if the fever and pain are because of the cancer or the trial or a blocked bile duct.  Moving the date for replacement of the bile duct required moving the first infusion of the modified listeria bacteria.  This is good and bad.  Dave has been told that it will make him feel like he had a terrible case of the flu.  Good that he doesn’t have to deal with it this week.  Bad that he has another week to worry about it.  In addition 2 weeks after the infusion he will get another full set of CT scans that will show if the tumor is smaller, the same or grown.  I think that will help us mentally.

Oh, and then to top everything off, our Hotmail account was hacked, and several people were told Dave was stuck in England and needed money.  Fortunately none of them sent any, at least not to our house.  So when it rains (opps – bad word to use in Oregon), it pours.

Thanks to all of you for the heartfelt continuing questions and concerns about both of us.  You cannot imagine what a help they are.