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Jim has asked me to take over writing the blog for a while, so here is the latest.

Jim was having a lot of problems with the radiation, so we decided that it was probably harming him more than helping him. We stopped after seven treatments. His ability to swallow has been getting better, along with his appetite. He is not so sleepy, and is able to get around a little better, although he has fallen twice in the last week here at home.

Tuesday we went in for the second round of chemo. While there, they did a blood test (PT/INR) to check the thickness of his blood. He has been on a medication to thin the blood since last Oct, when he got blood clots in his arm. This medication is tricky to dose, and they do blood thickness tests once a week. We are constantly changing the dose of the medication, depending on how his blood looks for that week. Normal blood is about 1, and with the medication they like his to be between 2 and 2.5. When they did the test on Tuesday, his blood was 7.9, which is very very thin. They called the Dr, had us stop the medication, and scheduled another PT/INR for today. We went in this morning, and his blood is still very thin, 5.9 today. They scheduled another test for Sunday morning.

While we were at the hospital, Jim got up to use the restroom. He got very dizzy and almost fell, but the nurse caught him. They sat him down and looked at his eyes, and found that one pupil was significantly more dilated than the other. They checked his speech and reflexes, and then called the Dr again. We went straight over to the Dr office, and met with the on call Dr. Our regular oncologist has been out of town for a few weeks. She called to talk to Dr Richards (radiation Dr) about Jim. She originally wanted to do an MRI, because they feel that cancer growth in the brain is causing these additional symptoms. However, after consulting with Dr Richards, they feel that Jim is too weak to undergo any type of treatment for cancer in the brain, and so decided not to do an MRI. It would only confirm what we already suspect, and we would not treat anyway. They feel that maybe the best course of action at this point is to go on Hospice. The chemo does not seem to be slowing the growth of the cancer, and is hard on Jims body. We have not decided what we are going to do, we are considering all the options.

Easter was a beautiful day here in St George, a little windy but sunny and warm. After Church, we took the kids to the park and had a picnic. After we ate, Jim and I lay on a blanket in the grass, and the kids played soccer and hit a tennis ball around. It was really nice.

Jims brother Kelly came to visit for several days last week. It was nice to see him, and he and Jim had a good visit. Grandma Cook and Becky drove down from SLC last Thursday. They came over to see Jim, stayed for about an hour, then drove back to SLC on Friday. Grandma is still looking good, 95 years young and still full of energy! It was really nice to see her.

It is rainy and cold today. Jim is snuggled up on the couch in the living room, watching movies. Please continue to pray for us. We know that the Lord will give us strength equal to the task.