Grandmommy’s Notes in the Margin

Visit to doctor yesterday confirmed what we already suspected. Granddaddy is responding VERY well to all treatment. All the remaining tumors in his lungs and liver are shrinking. There is no swelling in his abdomen and his liver is greatly reduced in size. No new growths have appeared.

His hemoglobin count is 13.5. He was at 5.9 when we put him in the hospital November 30 for a blood transfusion. I think 14 -18 is desired for men. I understand that one concern during chemotherapy is anemia yet his blood counts all continue to rise. In fact, the doctor told him he could stop taking the iron supplement for now if he would like. He decided to just reduce it to half.

He will be continuing treatment for at least 4 months unless he hits a plateau or is no longer improving. According to Dr Jenkins, he could continue indefinitely as long as he continues to improve. He just expects that to be about 4 months. However, nothing in Robert’s treatment has gone as expected.

No one expected him to really get better. They only thought he would improve enough to extend life a little. One of our children wondered if he actually would be cured. Of course, the doctor hasn’t seen many cures at Robert’s stage. However, he isn’t in control of that, is he?

He is taking no pain medicine now except for Aleeve or whatever he needs for arthritis pain in his back. He is able to get out and walk a little. He is riding the exercise bike daily. He’s getting stronger everyday.

He has been to church for 3 weeks now and is so happy to be back.

Of course, continuing treatment is a mixed blessing. It means good weeks and bad weeks. But all of them are getting better. The bad weeks are not as bad as they were. The first day of treatment is exhausting and the following weekend he is pretty weak, but it’s not as bad as in the beginning. The good weeks are almost blips in the road.

We still have a long journey…one that is made lighter by walking with the Lord. That is because…It Is All About You, Jesus