{Our Second Home...}

It seems our second home these days is the

Hospital.

They have unlimited Diet Coke and a blanket warmer...

so it's not all bad.

Last post I wrote about how nice it was to have him 

home and how we were trying to get back in the swing of things.

Well, he was able to work for a week (maybe 2?  It's all a blur.)

And he was getting stronger daily,

and feeling fairly decent on his chemo.

Then the chemo side effects just started getting worse.

The Nausea.

Man, it's bad.

And the usual stomach issues that come along with it.

But then he started getting stomach cramps.

Not your normal cramps..

but it felt like someone had their hand inside his stomach and

was twisting his guts around.

For a solid week he was experiencing this pain off and on,

on top of all the other side effects,

some days he didn't even feel well enough to shower.

We met with the Dr. on a Friday and got some meds that 

we were hoping would help the cramping and pain,

but that evening the pain got worse,

and worse...

and we found ourselves in the ER again.

(Thank goodness, no ambulance was needed.)

The drug he is on has some pretty serious, 

albeit rare,

but serious side effects.

Fistulas being one,

and perforated bowel being another.

Those are hard enough for healthy people.

but for someone who has been through what Trav has been through,

they are pretty scary.

I was positive that this was the case,

so we were very relieved,

after a CT scan,

to find that these bad options were not the case for Travis.

Instead he had a swollen intestine (Enteritis),

that was causing all the pain.

For normal people,

they will send you home knowing that this will go away,

but for Trav,

(Who-I've decided, isn't quite normal:),

they admitted him in the hospital.

 Undergoing chemo, and with the cancer,

he is more apt to catch some ugly diseases and bacteria,

and they needed to rule those out,

and help him manage the pain.

I'm not being sarcastic when I say that I was beyond happy to have him there.

It was such a horrible week at home.

He was in constant pain,

not eating,

not sleeping,

and I was beside myself with how to help him.

It was lovely to have people there to know what to do to help him survive the week!

After running all the tests,

the answer came to this:

It's probably caused because of the chemo.

This is a bit of a blow.

We wish it was caused by something else,

so we could take some antibiotics, get rid of it,

and fight with this chemo.

 We don't necessarily love this chemo,

in fact, we loathe it.  It is the hardest drug Trav's tried,

and I'd wager, one of the hardest chemo drugs available for RCC.

BUT..it seems his kidney can handle it.

And,

after meeting with the Dr. yesterday and reviewing scans,

it seems to be working for him.

He had no new growth in his kidney or liver.

And while the scans didn't show his ribs...

we both know it is working for his bone mets.

That new pain I wrote about in my last post,

is gone.

And while he has been on the CABO,

his normal rib pain has been much better...

and now that he's taken a 2 week break,

he can feel it again.

So-here is where we are at.

He can try the CABO again, 

and risk the enteritis and pain again.

Or he can move on.

Keeping in mind that moving on means we've exhausted

another drug, and there aren't many left.

 Not near enough.

And also keeping in mind that the next drug may not work.

 And also keeping in mind, that the next drug-will probably put him on dialysis

as the one we are thinking of is pretty hard on your kidneys.

(I should mention that the kidney is functioning slightly better..

still not near where it should be, but his createnine was at 3.4 yesterday.)

We are in a tight spot here.

So here's what we've decided.

We are gonna give the CABO another go.

I'm dreading it.

Not gonna lie.

The past few days have been so lovely.

Having Travis seem semi himself has just been heaven.

The other day we went to lunch!  And to Lowes!

I know, for some of you this seems a silly thing to be excited about,

but we haven't been out together in a very long time.

 If errands get ran, I do them very quickly and worry about him the whole time.

I literally teared up on the way into town.

But we aren't stupid.

We know that our options are low,

and none of them are great...

so here we go again.

Thank you for your continued prayers,

and for taking such great care of our family.

We are so blessed.