No more chemo. No more radiation.

Though we thought the day would never come, Roger finished his LAST treatment of radiation. No more radiation. No more chemo. It was another day of celebration. The attached photo is of a "graduation" certificate and stuffed bear that all the radiation patients receive after they complete the treatment. There was no fan fare - just this cute bear and certificate sitting on top of Roger's shirt on the chair where he left it outside the radiation room. The bear is sitting in front of all the cards and letters you've sent Roger over the weeks.

Roger had an interesting observation today about the other patients. Apparently everyone was very chatty in the radiation waiting area. Many of the same people we have seen over the past several weeks were there - the man with brain and lung cancer who wears a U of Kentucky hat and his wife; Mrs. Martinez with pancreatic cancer; several women with breast cancer, including the coach of the women's basketball team at Butler (who brought a new Butler hat for the UofK fan). Roger's observation is that everyone wants to know what your cancer is and where you are in your treatment when you are at the oncology center, "why are you here" - EVERYONE asks. Whereas when you're at your general practitioner's office you would NEVER ask anyone "why are you here"...good heavens, imagine the answers you could get...athletes foot, flu, genital warts...all sorts of things you DO NOT want to discuss. Cancer on the other hand, when everyone is experiencing some version of it, is not taboo. There's a fraternity to it. So none of you should ever feel that its a taboo subject with us.

Though the chemo isn't coursing through his veins, its still killing cells. Roger's mouth and throat are raw with open sores. Though the radiation isn't actively beaming through him it is still layering on a cumulative "burn". His skin on his back and chest now has a large radiation rash about the size of a dessert plate. His esophagus continues to swell and continues to make it more difficult to swallow. Happily though - Roger has still avoided the feeding tube. Having said that, he is actually starting to feel a little better. He can't eat with reckless abandon but he can eat a little bit more than he has in days. Its relieving. The attached picture is from last night when Roger felt strong enough to prepare his own dinner - scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes.

We both had a couple difficult days this week (thus the brief delay in writing over the past couple days). My Dad called yesterday to see how we were both doing the description I gave him was that it felt like we were a little frayed around the edges. I'm happy that we are moving into what should be a "good" week if Roger repeats the same process as he did from the first round of chemo.

His blood cell counts should start dropping next week and continue to drop the following week...so we are on high alert for avoiding germs. We know of several people with swine flu and so have become more cautious and generally more aware. Research seems to indicate that you can be contagious for 24 hours before you present any symptoms of the S-flu and then contagious for another 6-7 days after you have the first symptom. We feel a little paranoid but can't afford for Roger to get any infection as his immune system takes a beating.

Our continued love and thanks to all of you for the calls and cards. Thanks for the care packages, soup, movies, Wii games, weekly cards, and all the prayers and good thoughts. I'm confident that all of your support continues to give Roger the added boost to fight this fight.

Love, A&R