Sorry for the huge delay!

In the lull between med appointments I totally lost track of updating you all.

James is well. All is good :^)

We met with the surgeon on Monday morning. He said James has healed nicely. He pulled a couple stray stitches. He gave us a bunch of different trach/stoma devices including the small HME cartridges which don't really work for James as his throat is currently producing too much stuff which clogs the wee cartridge and then he can't breathe which isn't the best thing, yikes. The fit is also tricky to get a good seal to speak. Dr. V. said his skin/incisions will soften and relax as it continues to heal. There are some skin folds which may need to be addressed surgically at a later date. His throat and skin will also be pretty irritated during the 7 weeks of radiation so perhaps best to wait no matter what. We'll have all the gear when he's ready. No hurry. Next surgical follow-up will be in April unless we feel like we need to see Dr. V. earlier.

James goes for the first radiation treatment on Monday March 5 at 10 a.m. and will continue on daily (5 days per week M-F) for 7 weeks. He'll choose a time that day for the following treatments which will need to be pretty early in the morning because....

We met with the medical oncologist (chemo doc) on Tuesday morning and decided on the plan of 2 full dose chemo treatments. The first chemo will be Tuesday March 6. James is scheduled to arrive at 9 a.m. (radiation will need to be around 8 or earlier because he'll still have rad on chemo day). For chemo he'll meet with the doctor at 9 and treatment will begin around 10. It's a 6 hour session (not sure if that includes the time to meet with the doctor) so a full day in hospital. He needs to be well hydrated before during and after chemo to flush the toxins through the body as quickly as possible. The second chemo will be 3 weeks later on March 27. They want us to check temp daily to as a fever 2° higher than normal could be a sign of infection and low WBC count.

With combined chemo/rad and potential nausea which can be controlled with anti-nausea meds and irritation to throat which may make eating/drinking difficult causing dehydration (they may give him periodic IV fluids) and excessive weight loss (they may put him back on the feeding tube). Hoping not w/feeding tube but if it happens it happens and we still have these cases of delicious liquid diet in the living room. Mmm hmm....

The visiting nurse stopped by again today and as always said she's amazed at how strong/healthy he looks. All is good. We'll see her again next week.

So the countdown is on til Monday rad. I'm joining the fun with a mammogram, same hospital, different building. Good times will be had by all. I'll update then if not before. Have a nice weekend!

xxoo from us both