Mid-January Update

So, it turns out that when there is nothing earth-shattering to say or life-threatening happening, I am ... not a very good blogger. ;-)

So without further ado, let me tell you what's been going on.

Nothing.

OK, so, good blog post! See you in a few weeks!

Ha ha, just kidding—but it really isn't far from the truth. We truly are just going from day to day, carrying on with our lives as they used to be—kind of boring. Which is good news, right?

The only excitement we've had the past few weeks is the second barium swallow and throat stretching. Vic had a follow-up appointment with the gastroenterologist on January 11 and told him that he wasn't doing very well in the swallowing department again. The gastroenterologist said "OK, we'll do a something-o-gram, and then we'll do another dilation." We were very happy. Until the "something-o-gram" turned out to be the barium swallow that almost choked him the last time he had one.

Vic asked the nurse, "Is this the thing with the pill?" And she said, "Yes." And Vic said, "Did you hear the part where I said 'I can't swallow pills'?" And she said, "Well, this is what the doctor wants." And Vic said, "Well, you might mention that I can't swallow pills, and the last time I did that with the barium swallow, the entire staff of the radiation department at the hospital practically had a heart attack because I almost choked."

So we went home, and I scheduled a barium swallow, and Vic lost a lot of sleep that night.

The next day, Vic had an appointment with the otolaryngologist and mentioned the barium swallow and his reluctance to, you know, want one. And the otolaryngologist said, "Just tell the doctor you don't want to do the pill. He can't make you." And we thought, "Easy for you to say; you're a doctor. We go in and say that and he's probably going to cancel the dilation, which Vic really needs." Fortunately, the otolaryngologist kept digging around and found the report from the last barium swallow—which stated in no uncertain terms that Vic was not supposed to do another barium swallow with a pill.

So Vic called the gastroenterologist's office, and they finally caved and said he didn't have to use the pill. Vic got a lot more sleep that night.

So he had the barium swallow last Monday, and they found that the stricture was very, very small. No wonder he was having trouble swallowing! The next day, he had the dilation—and as soon as it was over, he was already swallowing better, even though his dilation was smaller than the last time (11 mm—a 33 French, they said—versus 14 mm last time; normal throat size is about 20 mm). This dilation just seems better than the last one, and he has been trying all sorts of food and getting it down better. ALSO, the doctor said we could schedule another dilation in a month rather than waiting more than two months, so that should help him move forward.

The only thing that's left over from the cancer that's keeping him from having a "normal" life is that dastardly tube. And you know I had another adjective in mind to describe that tube, but this is a family blog, so "dastardly" will have to do. ;-) So we are really hoping that these dilations will help him start getting off the tube. As a reminder: he has to go two weeks 100 percent off the tube with no weight loss before they will let him get rid of the tube. He is currently tubing six cans a day and eating practically every minute in between—and he is just maintaining his weight. So it's still a long road ahead. But maybe not as long as the one he's already traveled, and certainly not as bumpy.

The only doctor visits he has coming up is the kidney doctor—just making sure the one good kidney is still in good health after the NotChemo. It should be—the NotChemo drug is not as hard on the kidney as the chemo drug would have been. That's this Thursday. Then another dilation around the middle of February, and nothing again until March.

Vic is super happy to not have to go to as many doctor's appointments as he was going to. He has much more time to lay around, watch movies and eat bon bons now.

Probably won't post for a few weeks unless something changes.

Love you all!