Hi Everyone,
Marty has asked me to do some blogging for him (these have already been sent via email):
April 5, 2011
After two cycles of chemotherapy, Marty has stopped doing chemo as it was not really effective and was making him tired and weak.
He has been having a lot of pain in his shoulder and scapula, and so he was admitted at Lions Gate in North Vancouver in the Palliative Ward.
He is staying there for a few days until he [and the doctors and nurses] can arrive at an effective regimen of pain medicine, ie one that allows him to be pain free and also lets him still be alert and not loopy. He is trying many different drugs which act in many different ways, including muscle relaxers, drugs that target nerves, opiates, and other things. The palliative doctor is very kind and warm and feels confidant that a pain-free solution is achievable. Marty may get radiation treatment to target the tumor which is likely causing the severe shoulder and scapula pain. He may also begin an oral drug which acts similar to the previous Sutent drug which he took for all of 2010.
If you are local, Marty is accepting visitors throughout the day. Please keep visits to under an hour. Realize that when you show up, he may be alert and pain free, but he may also be sleeping, loopy from the pain medicine, or in pain. Sometimes Marty answers his calls and texts.
That is all I have got time for right now. Hopefully more info in the near future.
April 8 2011
Marty had his first radiation treatment today and will have 9 more over the next couple weeks. His parents Anne and Don were with him, and so was Carolyn. It was a long day for him as he went from Lion's Gate in North Vancouver to BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver for his treatment, and there was a lot of waiting and running around to do. It was a beautiful spring day and he got a little time outside in the sun. He is probably going to hold off on the oral cancer treatment pill during radiation, as recommended by the radiation oncologist, but he still has to discuss this change in treatment with his regular oncologist.
I saw Marty this evening for a few hours. We ate dinner in the nice kitchen area on the ward with a few other friends who had come to visit. I think the new regimen of various medications is working out, as Marty was not complaining about pain and was chatting about this and that. Though he says the pain does come and go, so it is not clear exactly what is going on.
Marty would like everyone to call him on his cell before coming to visit, and limit visits to about an hour. Sometimes Marty answers his phone and sometimes he doesn't. Do not take it personally, just try again later. (There is not internet in his room, so he has not been checking email for some time.)
Tomorrow - Friday - Marty and I are going out for dinner, so it is probably not a good time to come visit. The weekend is better as he won't have any radiatin treatments lined up. His brother Phil is arriving from Calgary on Saturday for a couple days.
Also, of there are people whose names you want to be on this list, send them to me and I will include them on future updates. Thanks everyone for your help and support. It is very appreciated, even if it is not always acknowledged.
-Amy
