May 4, 2011

    I once over heard a man say "Oh, how the Irish love to suffer."  It made me realize Sara missed that arrow because it occurred to me that through all of this, she has never complained  or asked 'why me' or taken  adverse advantage of her situation. That dutch Dalebout blood.  She has stood strong and independent as the situation would allow.  She will come up from being doubled over in pain or a nasty bout of nausea and say "do you need anything? Are you comfortable?"  Now that we all feel that the strain is not so bad because she is doing so well, I am amazed at her fortitude.
    Today is the last day of her second chemo treatment.  She is progressing well.  She still gets very tired and has to rest or 'suffer' the consequences.  We also have to be careful not to get over confident about her energy level and start making her get her own drink of water.  She has been able to cut down on her pain and nausea medication. Also, we are tapering down her TPN and she is eating more. 12 weeks without food for someone in our family is really unacceptable.  Going back through her med schedule notebook, you can see the pattern of improvement.
    She will be going to Seattle to the Big Doctor appointment this next week. At this appointment they will determine by scans just how much the treatment, the chemo and the once a month Octreatide shot {%^*&^%$} is working. Stay tuned for updates after the appointment.  Sarah Hess is taking her and they will try to do some site seeing and give Sara a change of scenery from basically being trapped in her house since February 7.  And stop at her sister's, Shanna, to get some hugs from her marvelous nieces who really want to see Auntie Sara!!!
    Thanks to everyone for everything. Love to all!!