The latest oncologist update

Yesterday Bob had an appointment with Dr. Posada, the oncologist, for his monthly check up. First Bob has lost more weight. He lost 10 pounds in the past month. That's a total of almost 50 pounds since this started. He weighs 156 right now. It's hard to maintain your weight when you're fighting cancer, but the doctors stress how important it is.

When we talked to the doctor we told him that Bob has been more tired this past month than the one before. Before he heard that and considered the additional weight loss, he was going to schedule another round of chemo. He feels that now we should go ahead and get a cat scan to see what's going on. He is afraid that because of the fatigue and weight loss that the chemo drugs may have stopped working.

So, we have an appointment to get a cat scan tomorrow at 11am, and then we will go see Dr. Posada for the results of that next Wednesday at 4pm. If the tumor hasn't decreased or has grown, the doctor will change the chemo drugs he has been using. He warned us that sometimes when you have to change them, the effectiveness gets progressivly less each time. So, naturally, feel free to send us good cat scan thoughts.

I'm going to try to get them to let me stay with him during the cat scan tomorrow. The small spaces freak him out. Plus, the last time I sent him back for a test alone, somebody almost jammed a needle straight through his vein. They might not let me, but they'll hear about it if so.

I'm also going to try extra hard to make sure Bob has a good meal for every meal. He's been trying too, but there have been times when he's just had yogurt for lunch. So, I'm going to see if I can make sure he has something decent to eat all the time.

For those of you following my Walter saga, he's not doing too well I'm afraid. He's not tinkling on the bed right now, and the tinkling situation is down to a managable level, but he's not doing well otherwise. He's weak; sometimes he has trouble standing or walking. His back legs seem stiff and weak. He follows us around the house and just stares at us. It's like he doesn't know what else to do. We had a scare with him last week. He was lying on his bed in the floor and was not moving and didn't move when I touched him. He felt stiff even. I was afraid that was it that night. But a little while later he followed me into the kitchen to eat. Now I'm wondering if it's possible if he had a little stroke or something. Well anyway, in spite of all that he is still eating good and enjoying being petted, so we're taking it one day at a time. We're doing a lot of that around our house right now.

Carol