Graduation

Picture 1). My brother shaved his head to match Ed's head...but it's not quite as short as Ed's!


Ed 'graduated' from radiation yesterday. He completed six weeks of non-stop radiation.

The effects of radiation and chemo have been:

*After the second week of radiation, Ed experienced fatigue, weakness and sleeplessness.
*After the third week, his fatigue and weakness worsened. His speech become more slurred.
*The fourth week of radiation, Ed's hair begin to fall out. You could gently grasp the strands on the side of his head, and they would pull out with ease. That is when he decided to shave the rest of his hair off.
*At the beginning of the fifth week, Ed was so weak he could barely grasp a glass of water, he needed to brace himself against walls to walk, he was napping frequently, his head looked sunburned, and his speech was so bad now you could only understand a few words.

The effects of chemo and other meds:

*The steroids cause him to be hungry. He eats often. He has gained about 10 pounds and has gone up a pants size and for the first time (as far as I know) wore sweat pants in public.
* His sense of taste has changed. The only drink he enjoys now is coffee. He drinks up to 6, 7, and 8 cups of coffee a day. We talked him into switching to decaf, because we were afraid he the caffeine may be setting off the seizures.
*The steroids also make the muscles in his legs and shoulders weak.
*He takes medication to counter-react the hiccups that steroids cause.
* At times, when adjusting to different medications, or different dosages of medications, he was easily confused.
* Since the chemo pill he was taking during radiation was low-dose, and he took a nausea medication 'just in case', he did not experience nausea or vomiting, thank God!

Doctor reports:
*Each time Ed's blood was tested he got very good results. In fact, all the doctors report his blood work comes back excellent. They test for Dilantin levels, (he takes Dilantin, in combination with Lyrica to control the seizures), red blood cell level, white blood cell level, and platelet level. And probably more that I don't know about.
*His lungs have remained clear according to several chest x-rays.
*Beginning the fourth week of radiation and chemo, his oncologist expressed great concern that Ed take precautions not to fall. (Are his bones weakened by the radiation, the chemo? I know steroids weakened the muscles...also the whole concoction of meds he takes probably make him feel 'drunk'.)
*All Ed's doctors say that for what he has been through...brain surgery, chemo, radiation...that he is doing excellent.
*The final week of radiation, Ed saw the neurosurgeon who did the brain surgery, and she confirmed that Ed has a titanium plate in his head. We didn't know that before!

Ed continues to have seizures. He still gets an 'aura' before they begin, so he has been able to sit or lay down before they occur, so far. They last about three minutes at the longest, and involve burning and tingling in the face, neck, shoulder, down his right arm and side, and down the right leg. I am not sure what his 'aura' is, it may be the tingling, quivering sensation he gets in his tongue, that he has described to us.

Now that Ed has graduated from radiation and chemo, we wait for the next instructions. Originally, he was told he would start Round 2 of chemo after the initial six weeks of 'low dose chemo'. Round 2 would involve a tripled or quadrupled dosage of Temodar, the drug designed specifically for brain cancer patients. We don't know how soon Round 2 will begin.

He has several rounds of doctor's visits coming up, along with follow-up x-rays, scans and blood work. All designed to determine how well the treatment has done in the job of eliminating the cancer, and to determine if any damage was done to his blood, bones and surrounding tissues.

Ed has done extremely well with his treatments, thus far. I credit that to the several things; 1) the removal of most of the tumor, 2) the remarkable advances in drugs available today, 3) the awesome care he has received from doctors, mama, family and friends, 4) his upbeat attitude and cooperation during this whole ordeal, 5) all the prayers which have lifted him, surrounded him, and filled him, 6) and God's graciousness.

Today, my Aunt J and I went to work at our little part time job, and our customer and her husband joined hands with us to pray for Ed. They prayed for Ed to be healed. They believe, like we do, that God is able to heal, that he wants to heal, that he will heal, and that he does heal.

Please continue to pray for Ed. He is a good and gentle soul. He is so accepting of all that is happening to him. How wonderful if we could keep him here with us a while longer; cancer free, pain free, and happy.

I do believe God is listening to my prayers, and yours.

If you want to send Edward a 'graduation' card, I will give his address to those who ask for it. Email me at chapster13@yahoo.com.

Picture 2) In this picture you see how the radiation has blistered the left side of his head, where the rays are aimed, nearly coming over to the eye and face area.