Happiest of Holidays

On behalf of Deb, Taylor, Tommy and myself, happiest of holidays! My apologies in advance for not being able to personally thank each of you during the holidays for the continued support to Deb and my family. All the holiday treats and goodies were wonderful! Please continue to know that your thoughtfulness continues to make the difference in Deb’s quality of life. T H A N K Y O U !!!!!

It has been approximately 4.5 weeks since Deb’s second chemoembolization of left liver lobe. Her post recovery has been very similar to recovery after first treatment. Deb’s appetite has been good but she was down to 100 pounds a little over a week ago. She is slowly gaining weight back but is very weak due to a lot of muscle loss. By the way, I was getting some very strange looks from employees at Kohls yesterday when I asked where to find the junior girls underwear. For the most part, she is able to sleep thru the entire night and not have to get up much like she has had to do in the past. Deb is sleeping more frequently throughout the day and is only able to stay up for 1-2 hours in between naps. Fortunately, Deb’s mental state during the post recovery has been consistently at her baseline which is comfort to us all. Her pain level has still been under control but continued daily discomfort with her whole abdomen area. For her pain, Deb is is currently taking 2 Oxycodone at night and 2 in the morning.

Deb also has not lost much hair with makes her continue to feel good about herself. Overall, Deb is still in her rebuilding stage as before with first treatment which took a solid 5 weeks. If there is any pattern to these post recovery treatments, I hope that Deb’s overall quality of life will be back to her near baseline by end of next week.

Because of her weakness, Bonnie (Deb’s Mom) and I help her up and down the stairs. It takes everything out of her on the stairs but it is much needed exercise and Deb does great putting everything into it. I have also converted the office downstairs to another bedroom so she can take naps downstairs during the day and not have to deal with the stairs. When not to cold, we try to get Deb out of the house just to keep her engaged and every little bit makes a difference in her overall state.

I was so pleased that Deb was able to participate and enjoy the Christmas holidays with all of her family at our house. There was enjoyment by all and a truly special time for everyone. We had so many wonderful treats and goodies from friends and family that added to the magic of Christmas. Thank you all again and feel bad that I couldn’t get the xmas cards out this year.

Deb’s next steps in her plan are biweekly Sandostatin shot this Wednesday and follow up brain MRI this Thursday to check status of hematoma from possible hospital bed fall back in early December. We do not yet have follow up CTScan setup to check the status of the second chemboembolization. We will not yet know next phase of Deb’s treatment plan until we meet with Dr. Yaffe in late January. At this time, we will discuss her Parathyroid gland surgery that we postponed in November due to Deb’s decreased strength.

Thank you Bonnie for staying with us during Deb’s post recovery and your endless love and caring for Deb. I am forever grateful to you and peace of mind that I can return to work during these challenging times.

Happy New Year, Love to all and KTS!

Rod

I believe in the power of love

Luther Vandross