Truth that Hurts

You want the honest truth?

She ain't doing so well this week.

The chemo has come and wrought havoc upon my Tiffany.  We have had some not so fun weeks in the past, but this one seems to take the cake.  Oh - she will get through it, she always does.  And somehow, the rest of us will too.  And we will all be happy when it is over.

Going into this treatment the doctor was concerned about giving her this new round of chemo drugs.  She had just gone through 10 days of radiation treatment that gave her some esophageal pain and the doctor suggested that the chemo treatment we were about to start into would exacerbate that pain.  Tiffany at the time had said she could handle the pain.  

Here we are, almost two weeks from that date and I am positive she almost wishes she hadn't said that.  Her words today; 'It's like swallowing fire'.  

Swallowing has become not only a chore, but one that is feared.  Her regimen of pills - some of which are big horse pills - causes her to not only pause, but indeed, second thoughts about taking them.  Even the pills that are supposed to help give relief have been pills she struggles taking.  We have resorted to only taking the pills that she absolutely needs.  

We are three days into this heavy pain, (though five days since it started hurting). and she has not eaten a lot of food and drink.  Up until now, she has almost complained that her appetite is too big for a cancer patient, now we worry she is not getting the nutrition she needs.  

She goes back to the hospital tomorrow for a blood check and possibly another platelet transfusion (she had two if those recently - last Thursday and on Monday) and we are hoping that the nurses and docs will help find a way to give her relief, because even some of the 'good stuff' she has been taking, isn't giving her the relief she needs.

So for all those out there asking what can you do... please offer a prayer of relief for her... that she might be able to make it through this new pathway along this current journey.  That the pain will subside quickly, and she can make it back to a normal level of life before we have to start the second round of this contrarion drug...  On one side - it gives her pain... but the other side of it... hope for a better future.

Nathan