INTRO

This blog is something that I have been trying to get set up for some time and have finally gotten it done. A huge THANK YOU to family friend Randy Porter for his assistance in accomplishing this.

I will try to update this regularly so that everyone who wants to can check on dad’s progress as they are able.

Thank you also to those who have helped us through this time in so many immeasurable ways. I don’t know how we would have gotten through this past year without all of you.

As a reminder and for those who may not know, Dad has a Prayer Pager with him at all times. The concept is that you say a prayer for him, dial the number and leave your zip code. This has been a wonderful blessing for Dad and all of us. The number is 806-721-0107.

David Rains - dmrains02@aol.com or 806-891-4774

HISTORY

For those of you who may just now be hearing about Dad's condition and need a little history of the situation, this post is for you.

April, 2006
After suffering from increasingly painful lower back pain for the better part of a year and finding no treatment that would help it, the cause was finally identified as Pancreatic Cancer, with the main tumor in and around the pancreas (already too large to operate on) with additional cancerous tumors in Dad's liver.

Dad immediately enrolled in a trial study for a new chemotherapy drug that was being tested that our oncologist Dr. David Close (Joe Arrington Cancer Center, Lubbock) recommended. While the initial results were promising, the drug did seem to slowly taper off and eventually stop working after a few months. Also, new cancer was found in Dad's back bone, and Dr. Close knew the test drug would not have any effect on it.

Dad was transferred to traditional chemotherapy, meaning to the drug that is commonly used for Pancreatic Cancer. He also went through several radiation therapy treatments for the spot in the spine, which seemed to work fairly well at clearing up that one spot.

The traditional chemo did seem to keep the growth at bay for a little while, but it also stopped working, and Dad discontinued all treatment, save pain management, around the middle of February. The last bone scan and MRI show that the main pancreatic tumor is growing rapidly, the spots in the liver are larger and more numerous, the cancer in the spine has spread to several places throughout his spine and down into his pelvis.

When the doctor discontinued treatment, he recommended the Cancer Therapy Research Center in San Antonio, which does a lot of experimental treatments. We made a trip down there, and they had a program that Dad decided to try. Unfortunately, complications from Dad's cancer have kept him from being able to begin that program.

April 12

Saturday March 31^st, Robert fell coming into the house from the front porch. While he did not seem to have hurt himself, it was decided to take him on to the hospital because one of the tips on his central line (the intravenous line in his chest that is feeding him nutrition) had broken, and we wanted to make sure nothing had pulled loose inside.

About the time Robert got to the hospital, he started running a fever, spiking as high as 102.6 before the night was over, so they decided to keep him overnight to run some tests and figure out what was going on.

As it turned out, the central line had become infected and caused a blood clot from about its point of entry in his chest down his left arm almost to his elbow. A blood clot of this magnitude basically restricts your blood from flowing as it should through your whole body. When your blood cannot flow properly, your body does not absorb fluids/nutrients/etc. like it should. This caused Robert to begin retaining a great deal of fluid in his body. Because of this, he has had to be taken off the TPN (the nutritional supplement that was being given intravenously).

Another issue in all of this is that his liver, due to the cancerous growths within, is not filtering the blood well.

He is also having some trouble with his kidneys not functioning at 100%, though they are actually doing a little bit better now than they were for a few days.

On to better news…

The infection from the original central line seems to be completely cleared up. Robert’s white blood cell counts and temperature have been within acceptable norms since a couple of days after he went into the hospital.

Robert is also more alert than he was the first week he was in the hospital. The doctor took him off of one of his medications when it was deemed no longer necessary, and it seems to have been a major cause of his sleepiness. As that medication has slowly worked its way out of Robert’s system, he has become more and more alert, now, once again, able to actually carry on a conversation.

April 17

Dad has shown a little more improvement the past few days. He is actually eating fairly well now, and, as noted before, is quite alert and conversational.

While Dad does seem to be eating well, according to the doctor's report today, his liver is just barely functioning, and his body is actually absorbing very little of the nutrition that he is taking in.

To put it simply, we don't have time to be gentle about this anymore. If you are someone who has put off coming to see Dad but you want to do it while you can still actually have a conversation with him, you need to do it now.

April 26

Dad is still eating well and quite alert and conversational, but he is growing weaker every day. As of yesterday, Thursday, April 25th, the doctor says Dad has 5-7 days. But both the doctor and the Hospice nurse have noted that because of Dad's young age and the good condition of his heart, he may push past that time frame. I think everyone understands, it's just a best guess at this point.