Shrinking Tumor

Wayne had another chest x-ray on Tuesday and today we found out that the tumor is still shrinking.  Yeah!  I asked the doctor how long Wayne would have to have chemo--I was hoping for an answer that estimated time--and he said that chemo would continue until the tumor stops shrinking or is gone.  It's been three and a half months on this chemo protocol and the tumor has shrunk by way more than half, so I am hoping that in the next three months the tumors will be gone.  But with chemo, who knows!

Meanwhile, Wayne had to have all his teeth pulled Monday.  He has a raging infection and as the teeth came out, the infection came with them.  Because he went to a low income clinic, it was the basic kind of dentistry--no going out, not even and nitrous oxide.  So I went in with him and watched while they pulled 17 teeth.  Some just almost fell out and others were hard.  A number of teeth were rotten and broke when they pulled on them.  I don't think it was a fun experience at all,  They used a chisel on a number of teeth.  But the infection was affecting him, and not just in his mouth.  He's been pretty sick since they came out, but he's taking antibiotics and today the oncologist gave him some IV antibiotics.  Once that infection clears up, he should be a lot better.  He needs to wait six weeks before he gets the dentures to be sure that he is all healed, but once he gets them and gets used to them, he should be much better off.  He hasn't been able to eat anything that isn't soft for several months.  So he is really looking forward to being able to eat again, and I am looking forward to being able to cook one dinner instead of two!

Even though Wayne is going through so much, his attitude is still positive.  Even when he is crawling in bed mid day because he is so tired or feeling so bad, he is able to joke and talk about when he is cured.  He is so positive that he is going to beat this that it's infectious.  I have hope that he will.  Lung cancer statistics show that 10% of stage 4 lung cancer patients will live for longer than five years.  I think Wayne is going to be in that 10%.

Avastin Again

I don't know if anyone is reading the blog anymore since it's been so long since I wrote a new entry, but as Mandy's comment said a few days ago, Wayne was finally approved for medicaid and his avastin was finally restarted.  He enjoyed a nice break from it, and during the break he has grown stronger, which has been wonderful.  He is no longer using a walker in the house.  He has been feeling better and eating better.  But with the good comes the bad, and the avastin knocked him on his butt.  I rhink it feels even worse because he had gotten so much better.  But tonight he was feeling terrible, and he climbed in bed at nine.

He got another chest xray a week and a half ago, and even without the avastin his tumor has continued to get smaller although not a lot.  He has another chest xray again next week and I hope that the addition back of the avastin will have decreased the size again.  I'll let you know.  Sorry about the long time in between entries--my computer has been down for several weeks.