Not a lot to report here in our blog right now. Shannon is still improving little by little. It is hard to see the improvements unless you think back to how things were just a few short weeks ago. When you look at it that way he is very much better.
Eating and talking is still his biggest problem but his system is beginning to heal up from the treatments so he’s feeling better as time goes on. It is very hard to be patient but that’s what we know we need to do.
Christmas was good but a very quiet day for us. We are waiting to celebrate until our son and his family get here later in the week. We watched a few Christmas videos and just had a quiet time together. It was really very nice. There were terrible storms through here though and our hearts go out to the hundreds of people who lost their homes in the tornadoes. So sad for that to happen at any time but even worse on Christmas day. Makes us realize that we all need to count our blessings each and every day.
Today we went into the oncologist’s office for Shannon’s checkup. There was a chemo treatment scheduled during the visit too so he and I showed up with our cooler with his meals and water for us both. We also had our bag with a book and some music to help us pass time. His chemo treatments last most of the day so we were prepared. They did his blood tests which came out great and we went in to see the doctor. These last couple of treatments were supposed to be just as a precaution to make sure Shannon didn’t have any last traces left as he already had the prescribed amount to go with the radiation.
After his exam, the doctor said he didn’t think any more chemo would be necessary and we should go home. Shannon is to rest up, heal up and get where he feels better and stronger again. There is a scan scheduled the first week of January, a visit with the radiation oncologist the following week and with the chemo oncologist after that. These two doctors are going to try and schedule a meeting with each other to include the original surgeon Shannon saw after the scans and exams are finished to see where we go from there.
The lymph nodes have shrunk and can no longer be felt at all. What the doctor could see of the throat area it looks to be healing and is looking good. There are still traces of a pesky infection which is a side effect of the chemo so we have a prescription to fill and a little more of that medicine for Shannon to take. The doctor said it should only take a few days to heal that as it is already getting better.
We are so thrilled at this news today. It is a huge relief to know that all these treatments and these past very hard weeks have helped and it looks like great progress has been made. Our prayers are being answered and maybe just maybe Santa is bringing us the gift we want most for Christmas. What a great day this is! I really feel like everything is going to be okay.
Friday marked the end of the first week of Shannon’s recovery from the radiation. I’m happy to say being done with that has made a difference. It’s a very gradual improvement but it is an improvement. His throat is still very sore and he still has a lot of trouble eating. He is still having to get his main nutrition from his Boost Plus but he is maintaining his weight with that. He is having much less problem with all the coughing and it’s easier for him to clear his throat now. As long as there is improvement we are both very happy. If he continues as he is, I think he will be much better by this time next week and hopefully able to eat some soft things by Christmas.
With the help of my hair dresser, Jo, who has become a very good friend to me over the time I’ve been going to her shop, all of our Christmas decorations are up and we are ready for the holiday quite a bit sooner than we usually are. Her help is appreciated even more than she knows. It looks so nice to see everything lit up and pretty and makes us feel so much happier and hopeful. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do that without her help.
I found one of our ornaments which is now our favorite one for the tree. It is the word “Hope” written in large golden letters. I put that near the top right in the front directly under the angel that sits at the top. That is now our tree of hope. We have a lot of hopes but the very most important one is hope that everything Shannon has been through will be successful and his cancer will be gone when they do his scans in January. His daily improvement helps us feed that hope. All the thoughts, prayers and support from our family and friends will be the thing that makes our hope come true.
Friday was the last of Shannon’s radiation treatments. Hooray. It’s still going to take him quite some time to heal up from all this but it’s good to know it’s healing time and he will be feeling better as time goes on.
We are both very happy to see an end to the radiation. They gave him his mask as a sort of graduation present. We brought it home and had a great time burying it in the bottom of the garbage can. 
For now things are good and that’s all that matters right now. We will handle things as they come now.
It is still likely he will need a little more chemo but there is nothing scheduled until December 19. We are both hoping this will be easier to handle with him feeling stronger and healing from the radiation rather than having it at the same time like he was doing. After that the next thing scheduled is the first week of January. He’ll have a CT scan at that time to give us an idea of where we are and how much the treatments helped. We’ll see the doctor the week after to discuss that and then wait for a few more weeks before they can do another PET scan that will tell us even more. Then a decision will be made about what, if anything, needs to be done next. We are praying that these radiation treatments and the chemo have shrunk the tumor and cleared up the lymph nodes and no further procedures will be needed. At the very least though we hope that the tumor is small enough to where any surgery necessary will be minimal. For right now, we are going to just worry about now and try not to worry about what will happen later. It’s better that way and we want to enjoy our time watching him get better and better.
I will continue to post updates on how Shannon is doing and feeling. We both want to thank all of you for all the support, thoughts and prayers during this very long and hard road we’ve been on together. You have no idea how much all that has helped.