One step forward...

… and two steps back. Cancer sucks! It really does, and I am sure that many of you are already aware of that. This is one journey that I would not wish on anyone, but luckily we have a great support system, and each one of you reading this is a very important part of that, thank you.

Since Josh went to the hospital last Thursday night he has been off of TPN (tube-feeding) and he has been eating on his own. This was a major step forward for Josh and it was wonderful to see him eating. Because the infection was in his chest “port-a-cath” that had to be removed, in order to avoid spreading the infection further. It didn’t seem that that was going to be a problem since he was eating on his own. Unfortunately this did not last as long as we would have liked. He started having some stomach pains and we checked him back in to the hospital yesterday (Saturday). This time he is at TMC.

He went to TMC because he is having a laparoscopic procedure there tomorrow morning, so it would be easier not to have to move him. The surgery is going to give the doctors a better idea of the type of cancer that we are fighting. So, we look forward to the knowledge that will be gained.

Yesterday was a rough day overall. The pain Josh was experiencing is from a partial blockage in his small bowel (similar, or maybe the same, as the reason he was placed on the TPN in the first place). He is now on pain medication and is trying to stay as positive as he can with an NG tube (up his nose and into his stomach), which as you can imagine, is quite uncomfortable. It looks like he will be getting back on TPN to keep him nourished…I’ll have to update later once I know more.

We got some test results back on Wednesday, and that is what we consider to be our step forward. It indicated that the chemo therapy IS working, and the tumors ARE responding!! We are all very encouraged by this news. Due to all of these complications, he has been off chemo for 2 weeks, and we hope that he can start up again very soon.

One thing that we have realized from all of this is that prayer really does work. We are using it as a major tool in keeping us strong and in healing Josh. Thank you all so much for your prayers. Please, take a moment right now to say a prayer. Just stop reading for a second and say thank you (to your God, in any way that you are comfortable) and put in an extra request that Josh’s body and mind stay strong and that the doctors make the correct decisions.

Speaking of doctors, Josh has a great oncologist. His name is Dr. Rosenberg, he is a wonderful man in many ways. He really helped us this weekend and he has shown how much he truly cares about Josh by reaching out (even on his day off he called Gretchen 3 times to make sure that all was well and took the time to explains some things). Kudos to Gretchen on an awesome job as the sweet, yet demanding wife! 