The Beginning of Week 3

Hi everyone...thanks as always for all the comments - those positive vibes really help, believe me! As Dallas begins week three he's feeling pretty good. I think he continues to amaze the staff at the cancer clinic - they expect him to feel a lot worse. By all indications he should be flat out by now, but the Big Guy is showing his fighting side! His throat continues to get sorer and swallowing is becoming an issue but he's dealing with it by switching to softer (high fat!) foods. He gained another couple of pounds so everyone is very happy with him - it's like he needs to store up energy for winter. Dallas is also sporting a crooked looking sunburn as they're radiating each side of his face in a different way (they're hitting the left surgery side a lot harder). His physiotherapist is very happy with him as well, so he's scoring A's in all subjects. The staff at the clinic keep warning us that the BIG test will be the last half of his treatment but we're trying to stay positive and are hopeful that he'll surprise them again! More later...

Love, Patty

Treatment Day 10

Well we're getting closer to the half way point and Dallas is doing pretty well all things considered. He's still trying to slug down the "soul food diet" ( thanks for that term, Lawrence!) which means fat, fat and more fat stuff! But it's paying off and he's gained back 2 pounds - cause for celebration in our lives right now.

We also had a positive meeting with the radiation oncologist - we haven't had much luck with the docs since this all started so it was a nice change. He was very reassuring and told us not to worry - said "we'll make you better." Those are the kind of hopeful statements that you cling to when you have cancer. I think all the staff at the Cancer Clinic are really surprised at how well Dallas is doing. Of course, we all know how the Big Guy can be pretty stubborn when he puts his mind to it! What I'm noticing is that Dallas is more tired by late afternoon and although he doesn't complain much I know that his throat is getting more sore by the day. I think I'll get the blender ready for smoothies - Dallas is going through lots of frozen yoghurt so I think the icy drinks will feel the best.

We're looking forward to having a visit from friends Bruce and Assunta. They're going to be with us for a few days which is great - Assunta is the Director of Surgery for the Vernon hospital so we'll have some expert care on board! More later....

Love, Patty

Week 2 Begins

The weekend was a bit tough - Dallas had some stomach issues going on - we had a sleepless night and a Dallas had a bad couple of days. But now everything has settled down and Dallas has started week 2 of radiation treatments. At weigh in time Dallas got into trouble as he's down a pound and a half. Every ounce lost now is not a good thing so as I write this Dallas is out downing the most fattening lunch he could think of - Kentucky fried chicken. My arteries start to clog just thinking about it, but I'm sure the Big Guy will be able to get through it with flying colours!

Dallas is really feeling great today. After the Kentucky fried chicken extravaganza he's off to the driving range with his brother Morley. Dallas can't swing a club right now, but we all know that he's pretty good at dispensing free golf advice so today Morley is the lucky guy!

Hopefully, there will be more good days in the week ahead...I'll keep you posted.

Love, Patty

Week One is Finished!

Dallas and his shadow survived week one of cancer treatment - yippee! This means that the first of two chemotherapy cycles is finished which is great. Dallas will still have to have radiation treatments every day (Monday-Friday) but not having to go to chemo will be a nice rest for him. So far, his side effects have been minimal - he has some stomach upset and looks like he's been out in the sun a bit too long (or that he's a heavy drinker-take your pick!). The redness is caused by the radiation and it will get worse and the skin will become more irritated, but the techs tell us that it will eventually go away. I've noticed that Dallas's energy is starting to wane a bit.This is mostly caused by the chemo - his blood counts will go down over the next week or so as the drugs do their thing. His strength will increase though, and then they'll zap him with more chemo again in about 3 weeks time. Dallas's attitude is very positive - now that the fight has begun he's ready to give it his all.

Thanks so much for all of your kind words, positive thoughts and prayers - it's all helping. Sometimes when you call you may notice that our phone will go to voice mail faster than usual. This is because my patient is taking a nap and I've pushed the "Do Not Disturb" button on the phone. Please don't be offended - the Big Guy just needs his zzzzz's! Your messages are all listened to and appreciated!

Love, Patty

Day 2

Grocery shopping and life can change so quickly! Five weeks ago when I brought Dallas home from the hospital after the surgery he was on a ZERO fat diet. I spent an extra hour reading every label before an item went into my grocery basket. Today, after seeing the dietitian at the cancer clinic I had orders to fill Dallas up with every high fat/high calorie item I could find! This is because the radiation treatment have a cumulative effect. Dallas's throat will narrow and become sore again. Eating will become a challenge and smoothies will be our friend. Every day at the Cancer Clinic Dallas is weighed in - just like at weight watchers. Unfortunately, every pound he loses now gets him closer to the dreaded feeding tube which we want to avoid. Thankfully, the dietitian just mentioned it in passing as a "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" scenario.

Chemo and radiation went fine again today but we're told the weekend might not be much fun. One step at a time....

Love, Patty

Day One

Day One of treatment probably turned out as well as could be expected. Our first adventure was in the radiation department. A couple of weeks ago Dallas was fitted with a special mask which forms to his face and then clamps down to the treatment table. The mesh like mask has special markers on it and holds his head and neck in absolute stillness during treatment. The worst part of radiation is getting used to the mask - it's pretty tight - the treatment itself lasts only a a few minutes or so. I had the advantage of sitting outside with the techs and watching the Big Guy on camera to make sure that he was behaving himself (so far so good!). One radiation down - 5 more weeks to go. One of the most upsetting parts of the day for me was to gaze up from the radiation table and see a baby's mobile toy - some of their customers are so very young that it's heart breaking.

The chemo room is very pleasant. The Big Guy has his own lazy boy chair complete with IV and a chair for me - almost like home but with lots of interruptions! We have our favourite nurse already - we only had her for part of the treatment today. Dallas's chemo is in two parts - one is like a regular IV that we'll go for during the next four days - it takes about 45 minutes to run through. The other one is a take-out IV model - he will have this pump attached for the next four days. So far so good...of course they said that side effects could appear but at least we got thru the first day without any major problems. I'm sure that from now on Dallas will be tired a lot - he's trying to talk me into a fishing trip this weekend but I put the kibosh to that right away - party pooper that I am! They also have really good anti-nausea drugs at the cancer clinic - if Dallas doesn't need these perhaps we'll save for a rough water fishing trip once he's better!

More later....Love, Patty

Cousins Emily, Marcus, Jordan and Connor - "Behaving for the Camera"

Some Good News!

So after spending a big chunk of our day at the cancer clinic in "chemo training" and various other stuff we returned home exhausted. There was a message on the machine when we got home tonight which was from our family doctor...she knew that we wouldn't want to go the weekend without knowing that the CT scan Dallas had yesterday was GOOD!!! The cancer isn't spreading - yippee!! This means that when Dallas goes in on Monday to begin his treatment he can focus on fighting this and just getting better. Just thought I would share our happy tidbit!

Love, Patty

So here we go!!!

Well a bit of time has passed since my last post. The Stober household has been a busy one! Jordan's back in Calgary and getting settled into his new "digs" and we've had more visitors - Dallas's Mom and Dad just left and we had a great time with them.

I thought you'd enjoy a photo that my brother took of our family a couple of weeks ago. Notice our Heather - Marcus's girlfriend. She's become a wonderful addition to our family. As you can see, Dallas looks great after his surgery. Next Monday Dallas will begin his daily visits to the cancer clinic for radiation and chemotherapy. We're hopeful that they're going to be able to blast the heck out of this thing and we'll be able to get on with our lives soon. I'll try to keep you posted on Dallas's progress a little bit better than I have been. Sorry! We've been out having fun!

Love, Patty