July 23rd at 8:00 am, Sam began his cancer treatments. After drawing blood and about a two hour wait, the results showed that his blood counts were adequate to receive chemotherapy. I had to leave for work, but Sam reported that he received radiation and then the chemo drugs. By the time I got home at 6:00 pm, he was feeling very nauseated and continued to feel sick from the drugs, even after taking additional anti-nausea medication. I only hoped he didn’t feel as bad as he looked.
This morning, July 24th, and tomorrow morning, he will go to the hospital for IV fluids and radiation treatment on each day. The nausea is intense, but they are trying to manage that with medications. Sam has lost 10 pounds since his first visit two weeks ago, but still had not lost too much to receive treatments. The weight loss is not so much from the nausea, but from the pain in his face and inner ear from chewing his food. The medications dampen it some, but not enough that he wants to endure the pain, so the appetite is gone.
The gastrostomy is scheduled for Monday morning, July28th. A feeding tube will be inserted in Sam’s stomach, so at least he will be getting proper nourishment, but will still be able to swallow food, if desired, for as long as possible before the radiation makes swallowing food painful. We pray that God will give him strength to endure.
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