The Latest on Pilot Dad...

Here is the very latest news on Pilot Dad. We had an appointment with his radiologist today for a followup from about 10 or 12 days ago. Since then he has lost another 8 pounds. :( The infection is still ongoing. His oncologist ordered more blood work including a re-do of his calcium since that came back high. Tomorrow PD will go in to see his oncologist at 10:30 for a fungal and aerobic bacteria swab of the throat and mouth. Also the radiologist ordered blood cultures done today at the same time as the other blood work. Most of this we won't know anything for about a week.

The radiologist is beginning to think that maybe it is a deep tissue infection. She isn't sure if we should do another CT scan and compare it with the last one 3 weeks ago or would having a MRI be a better thing to do. She will be talking with the oncologist this evening and making a determination about that.

If it is a deep tissue infection then maybe iv's would be the way to go since the oral antibiotics do not seem to be touching it...at all. If they cannot figure out why he is so sick then he will be sent to an infectious disease doctor. His radiologist was kind enough to write to a note to his work explaining he cannot come back to work while he has this unidentified disease. She also didn't want him expending any more calories by working when he needs to be keeping the calories to put on weight. He seems to be losing the battle for weight gain. :( His wedding ring fell off the other day. :( He now weighs less than when we married.

As you go about your days would you lift PD before the throne grace whenever the Lord might bring him to mind? It would be greatly appreciated. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom, discernment, and attention to little details which may be of significance. Pray for PD to begin to gain weight, to stop running a fever, and begin to feel better. Pray for patience for me, that I not grow weary, and that I remain focused on the Lord's faithfulness, grace and mercy.

Update on Pilot Dad

As many of you know, Pilot Dad has not been feeling well since the end of August. We, being the medical experts that we are, thought it was thrush because of the coating on his tongue. He has had it several times throughout this ordeal known as throat cancer. He looked on his pill bottle and he still had a refill left so he got his antibiotic refilled. Normally after just a day or two of taking his antibiotic he would begin to feel much better of the thrush. But he still felt bad along with an awful taste in his mouth. In fact, he would go so far as to tell you this is the worst he has felt in all of the cancer treatment. I'm talking physically...the fatigue and general feeling of "ick" and "yucky" and to be more precise, to quote him exactly, "extremely crappy." (He is not including the pain stuff in this assessment.)

I called the radiology doctor this morning to see when we could get him in to be seen. After all, he still had the white "stuff" on his tongue and the terribly foul taste in his mouth, not to mention the extreme fatigue. How I praised the Lord because they put him in at the end of the day...but it was still today! He didn't have to wait until tomorrow!

She checks him out and tells him that she does not think he has thrush but he still needs to finish that antibiotic for the thrush. It is her thought that he has some kind of bacterial infection, hence the awful foul taste in his mouth and the general feeling of malaise. So she prescribed a different antibiotic to begin taking twice a day (amoxicillian). Hopefully this will get him back to liking the taste of food once again! And I pray he will gain some of his strength back so he can work more than his 4 hours a night. He will go back to see her two weeks from today.

We have been quite surprised because they had been telling us how fast you begin to recover once you can eat, and the radiation stops, etc. One day, all of a sudden he took a bite of something and spit it out because it tasted so awful. Once we get a few of the new antibiotics in him the food should begin to taste better again and I can go back to having a hubby who likes to eat again. I hate eating by myself!!!

I'll be blogging a little less today and tomorrow (Thursday & Friday) because we are getting new windows installed in our home! Yea!! This is the last major renovation for our home. We are done. Kaput. FINALLY!!! So, I'll be on, "lurking," and I may or may not post. I'm just pleased that our weather is going to be great for window installation. Yesterday and the day before we have had quite the storminess in our area which included flooding and trees being uprooted and, of course, the proverbial roof being torn off, and let's not forget the house struck by lightning which caused a fire! And over 50,000 homes without power! But tomorrow will be sunny and in the 70º's! You can't ask for nicer weather than that!