I check the forum every day for news of everyone. I was saddened by the recent series of passings & posted condolances. Although I'm pretty up to date on everyone else, I've held off on reporting on Bob as it seems everytime I do/did, I jinxed his progress.
Some of you may remember that Bob had his neobladder constructed back in Oct./07 & even with the Dr.s doing their 'damndest' to kill him, he survived a 'gazillion' infections & screwups only to be told within weeks that his cancer had spread to his lungs & was inoperable. So, then we went through Chemo- months of treatment, nausea, infections. He finished Chemo last fall & started getting back to normal, getting stronger all the time. Of course there was still the issue of the incontinence & the huge hernia, but he has accepted that & diapers are now part of his life.
He had a checkup in Dec. with the oncologist that had been on maternity leave throughout his Chemo- she was pleased with his progress & said they wuld do a scan every 3 mos. to keep on top of things. He had a CT scan in Mar. & a followup visit a couple of weeks later. I was unable to be present for that visit, but he came home just beaming & said he was going out to buy a lottery ticket. She had told him that the tumors were completely gone in 1 lung & so tiny in the other that they weren't even sure what they were. Can you blame the guy for being excited? We called all the family, including his 90 yr. old mother. We laughed, we cried. Our daughter who is in the medical field even suggested that he start thinking about the sphincter surgery to correct the incontinence, Our son who is starting a new business was making plans on using his dads expertise in the 'quality' field.
Almost immediately after that last visit, Bob started experiencing some lower back pain. We tried all the usual home remedies without success & a few days later he went in to see the GP. (Can you see where I am going with this?) She said not the worry, it was just muscles, suggested a couple of things & checked for another UTI. The pain kept getting more & more acute. Last weekend he ended up at the Emerg. dept. where they admitted him, did XRays, put him on Demerol (which did nothing),& an antibiotic for the UTI that the GP said he did not have. During the night they put him on Morphine & on Monday did an MRI. They released him on Tues. & called with the results that afternoon to say that there was now quite a lot of Cancer in quite a few vertabrae. We had an appointment with the pain DR. on Wed.& he has been on Morphine ever since- the injectable kind along with pills & some other potent stuff.
So folks, that is where are at- on top of the world to total shock in a few days. I'm not sure that it's totally sunk in yet- Bob is not talking about it, just accepting it & trying to get comfortable. We got him an adjustable bed which he said is good & he gives himself the shots (because I'm such a baby). I'm going to stop now, please keep Bob in your prayers.
Regards, Lorrie
