Week Four

Tom now has three days off of radiation due to the weekend and holiday. He did end up with the chemo hiccups on Tuesday, but the medicine they gave him this time worked and they went away. He's had friends take him to DFCI every day this week. He lost 5 lbs since Monday, so they have asked him to start using the PEG and formula, which Alice cannot wait to see in action. He cannot taste his food, but soldiers on eating to keep his muscles working. Food tastes like paper, so Alice and I each licked a piece of paper tonight in comradery. He's tired, you can see it in his face. They had him grow his beard a week or more ago so that he face wasn't scraped by a razor and irritated. Now he has bald patches where the hair is falling out. It's also thinning on the back of his neck. He strangely looks healthy from his rosy glow from radiation. So that's one update. Next up: Alice.

Alice got a cold last Monday, 2/7. Then this past Tuesday, she came down with a cough. By Wednesday, they called me home from work since she had a fever. She had a fever Thursday but her lungs were clear. Today, no fever but very tired. Her teachers tell us she is doing a fantastic job of processing the cancer. She talks about it at school matter of factly: "Dada cannot come in my classroom cause he has cancer." The other day, she said to me, "My country is where the flying dogs go to fly." What a wonderful, uplifting image.

Tom's been trying to keep up with helping around the house. On the plus side, he did all the laundry! Next up, well . . . he did thrill Alice to no end when he put dish soap in the dishwasher by mistake. Bubbles ensued. Lots and lots of bubbles. While Alice and I helped clean up the bubbles, Tom went to put a carton of almond milk in the pantry on the top shelf and it fell back down and exploded on the floor. Alice looked at me and said, "Why is Dada making so many messes? It's cause he has cancer." True that, little one.

Last night, I had an acupuncture appointment for stress. The fire alarm went off once they had the needles in, so they took them out again and we had to vacate the building. So much for stress reduction.