Happy Birthday to Sam

Sam is 58 today. We are enthusiaticly celebrating this birthday because of all we have been through in the past year and are thankful that we can celebrate this birthday with his cancer in remission. It is awesome that he can celebrate this day free of a feeding tube and looking as though he had not been through a tremendous battle.

In other news:

About a week ago, our daughter Deanna moved back to Pittsburgh and is living with us again – along with her cat “Rue”. It is wonderful that she is back in the area again and it has been interesting to watch the two cats “Rue and Nico” adjust to one another. They seem to be keeping their respectful distances and only occasionally challenge one another. More stories to come.

We are looking forward to summer and the thoughts of planting a garden again… this time we are hopeful that Sam will be able to enjoy the harvest – unlike last year. That’s a new goal for us.

Please keep us in your prayers and hopefully we will continue to receive encouraging reports from Sam’s physicians.

Daily Life - A New Normal

Hi All – haven’t updated for a while – mostly because things are somewhat back to “normal”. Sam is adjusting to his new routines. Most changes focus around eating.

The main challenge for Sam is consuming enough daily calories to keep his weight up. He is holding around 150 pounds. His daily routine includes a high calorie shake using the formula that he was taking by tube, ice cream, a Reese’s PB cup and anything else that comes to mind. In general he is still having some difficulty getting certain foods down, but he is managing. He could stand to gain another ten pounds or so, but he isn’t really “skinny” any more – neither am I, but that’s another sad story… ha ha ha

Now that summer is around the corner, I have been trying to learn more about what precautions Sam will need to take regarding sun exposure. I think I read somewhere that people who have received radiation treatments should limit their sun exposure and always wear sun screen. That seems pretty reasonable… and something most of us should do anyway to avoid skin cancers.

One thing that Sam is experiencing now is more hip/leg/foot pain from his back injury and sciatic nerve damage. While he was under chemo/radiation treatments he spent the majority of his time reclined and therefore not as active. Now that he’s feeling better and being a little more active his pain levels have increased and are chronic. It’s just something he has had to learn to live with and most people wouldn’t recognize when his pain levels are elevated – he hides it pretty well.

The next doctor visit scheduled is not until the first week of June and it’s nice to have a break from doctor appointments and it’s another indication of a return to some normalcy.

Thanks for checking in on our blog and please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or a question. Just keep in mind that if you post anonymously I will not have a way to respond.

I’ll post again in a week or two unless there is something to report.

If you think of us please keep us in your prayers.

Blessings,
Maddy