Thanks to everyone who has emailed us with their good wishes it is greatly appreciated.
It is so devastating to receive this type of news, we keep wondering if we had missed any symptoms that would have made us seek help earlier but alas we don't think we did.
It is a very aggressive form that has already spread to his Liver and Lymph nodes in his neck but after his examination last week we have been assured that is it not affecting any other areas so that is a positive sign. However the Liver tumours have increased by a third since June.
He finally started his Chemo last Friday, 7 weeks after the initial diagnosis. All sorts of things kept going wrong and delaying the start.
He has been fortunate that the Chemo drugs have not caused him any adverse side effects as yet, the only one to have done so is the Steroid Dexamethazone which he needs to take to help him eat and swallow and also as an Anti Sickness drug. It has caused his ankles to swell terribly due to Fluid Retention and also he is not able to sleep as another side effect is Insomnia. He did have a swollen ankle on the leg that they took the vein from for his Heart Bypass last year but it is now twice the size and his other ankle is also very swollen.
The Doctor has put him on a sleeping tablet each night and also prescribed Compression Socks for both legs.
Now! that in itself is a joke as trying to get them on over the swelling in the ankles it almost impossible but I have persevered and succeeded in a fashion, hopefully after he has had a lay down that ankle may have settled down a bit and I will be able to get the sock on a little better.
I checked up with the MacMillan nurse about how he was feeling and she confirmed that it is solely the Dexamethazone that is causing the problems and has suggested that we don't take them after 12noon each day to allow for them to work through his system before he goes to bed. He has also has some more blood tests today to check his sodium levels, if these are OK they may start him on a Diuretic to help the fluid retention problem. He says that it is like trying to walk with Lead weights fastened to his feet.
Well that is all for now.
Hugs Hazel
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