Sunday, the end of the weekend

The weekend wasn't everything we hoped for....Roger overall - from a "flu-like" feeling felt better, however his esophagus was still messed up and his energy level was GONE. I managed to get one walk out of him Friday evening and that was about it. The balance of the weekend was spent with him in his chair or in bed. He'll chat it up when spoken to, but otherwise is pretty sedate watching tv or dozing.

We've been able to manage his pain (which is pretty intense in the esophagus) on a 72-hour basis. At the end of that 72 hours, he tends to choke more if sleeping, and if awake, tends to have more of an "edge" to him. We know that this is a matter of time for the esophagus to continue to heal from the radiation...we just had hoped that it would have been better, or at least a little, by now. So, until it heals or feels better, he'll continue to use the 72-hour pain killer. You can tell that its wearing on Roger as is the fact that he can't eat just anything. Something sounds good one day and then is horrible to the taste the next. There is absolutely no predicting what he will be ABLE to eat let alone like the taste of. So we continue to experiment and sadly waste more food than any human should. I've taken to freezing some leftovers (if not previously frozen) in hopes of cycling back to something that might sound good at a later date. It honestly seems like a game that we are trying to play with Roger's body and his taste buds in hopes of fooling them. I'd say we are losing at the game.

We did have a pleasant surprise from Roger's cousin Tom & his girlfriend. They sent a massage therapist to the house to give each of us a Swedish massage. It was very extravagant and felt downright decadent but much much appreciated. It was Roger's first "professional" massage...I wonder if that will get me off the hook for massages in the future since I'm just an amateur????

Leaves are continuing to fall (duh, its Fall...right???). Colors are even more brilliant. We have a beautiful ornamental maple in the front yard with the most brilliant red leaves. Our trees continue to hold their leaves while the neighbors' trees have begun to disrobe, shedding their leaves on our lawn! Murphy's law. So, I spent the better part of the afternoon with rake in hand, ipod playing and Earl & Yoda the cats following me around the yard raking and bagging leaves. Mr. R stayed inside and watched the Colts rack up another victory.

Many have asked about the surgery. We still don't have a date. The way things are looking from our estimations, he will be in the hospital over Thanksgiving we think. Again, we don't have an absolute date yet. As soon as I have one, we will post it. We might even, if his blood cell counts improve (this week should be the worst), have another get together here at the house. I promise there will be NO leaf raking - just a get together to rally Roger before the surgery.

Thanks for all the emails, and cards, and calls. You'd be surprised at how much positive impact those gestures have. Thank you!

G'nite. A&R