Astrology, Spirituality & Alternative Healing

I'm so sorry I haven't been back here to update this thread for several weeks. Things have been so crazy that I've hardly had time for anything but keeping appointments and trying to keep up with my job.

Since I last posted, in addition to the tonsillectomy I already mentioned, they have done surgery to insert a PEG feeding tube in his stomach, which was much more painful for him than they had led us to believe. He will need that, they say, because after about the second week of radiation treatments, he will no longer be able to swallow anything (until he can heal after the treatments end), so I will have to administer feedings with the tube for him.

They also pulled ALL his remaining teeth, so he has no teeth at all now. This is in preparation for radiation, they said, because these teeth needed to be pulled anyway and it can't be done after radiation because the bone wouldn't heal correctly. That was pretty painful, too.

Then, today, they inserted an intravenous port in his chest that will be used for the chemo treatments. So far, he hasn't had a lot of pain with that--just some discomfort. He has had a rough few weeks already, though.

We did learn that his cancer is the type caused by the HPV virus, which is a good thing because that kind responds well to radiation and chemo, so the doctors have said they expect the treatments to be successful.

We have a week off from appointments, then he begins chemo (every 3 weeks) and radiation treatments (5 days a week) the last week of this month, which will continue for 7 weeks. I will do my best to pop in and give an update now and then, but I know it's going to be really hectic.

I appreciate all the positive energy and prayers from you folks. I know it helps. Bless you all.

Here's something interesting. Unfortunately, they've said my husband will most likely lose the function of his saliva glands due to the radiation treatments. They won't work any more. BUT they have a dentist on staff at the hospital who is trained in acupuncture and has had a lot of success using acupuncture to restore some functioning to the saliva glands in patients like my husband, so they are going to get him in to see this guy once the treatments are over. What I find MOST interesting about this is that this is a military hospital (Air Force), and they have sanctioned acupuncture treatments for patients there. I was pleasantly surprised to learn this!