Go Steve - Steve's Updates

Updates from Steve’s cancer-free life

July 5, 2005

(lib)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , , — By steve @ 8:08 pm

Steve was readmitted to the hospital early Friday afternoon. He had a fever of 100.7, which is higher than the borderline of 100.5, at which the doctors said Steve would have to readmit himself for fear of infection. He had been going steadily down hill the few days before: getting a sore throat and coughing a lot and not eating since Wednesday.

He was hooked up to iv again and given fluids for dehydration and anti-nausea meds. His throat began to hurt very badly, on a scale of one to ten it was a 7. He slept as best he could with nurses and blood-draw people coming in at all hours of the night.

On Monday (4th of July) he is feeling a little better with a hefty dose of morphine. Still not eating or drinking, it was even hard to keep water or Tylenol down. For now, we’ll be in the hospital for at least a few more days.

Steve’s birthday is Saturday, July 9th. He will be 22. Happy Birthday, Steve!

May 28, 2005

(from Ben Crockett)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , , , , — By steve @ 4:02 pm

Wednesday, May 25th – Saturday, May 28th:

When I got there Wednesday Steve was feeling pretty much normal, aside from being stuck in his bed that is. On Thursday, Steve’s mom had to go back home. That night he started chemo again. He was warned about the posibility of developing mouth and throat sores with this batch. He has to take good care of his mouth and brush his teeth often. They also have him drink some not so tasty medicines to coat his throat every four hours. He felt a little queazy when they initially started the chemo but didn’t have much trouble sleeping. On Friday, he still felt really good. He felt very little mouth or throat irritation, and hasn’t thrown up for several days. They are starting to cut back on his IV and he is regaining his appetite. He had some pizza and chicken yesterday. When I left today (Saturday), he was still feeling good. So, things are looking up for now. He will have chemo again next Thursday and that will complete his first “round”.

May 18, 2005

(from Josh Malnourie)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , , , , , — By steve @ 3:54 pm

The endoscopy showed what appears to be some fungal growth right above his stomach in the lower part of his throat. This seems to explain the constant vomiting and soreness that Steve has been experiencing. This also means that the Chemo treatment has been delayed at least one week. Steve is on anti-fungal medication right now for this, and it will be monitored to ensure it goes away.

Sounds like Steve will be moving rooms soon, as they are remodeling the section of rooms that Steve is in now. More info to come in the next week.

Timberwolves cheerleaders were visiting folks in the hospital today. However, they were not able to stop in and visit Steve in his room. This didn’t really bother Steve at all, but Glenn and I were pretty disappointed as Glenn had his camera ready

Today for the first time certain food smells were pretty bothersome to Steve. So if you can help it, don’t bring in a juicy steak to eat in front of him, as that smell (or others) could make him feel ill. (not to mention it’s mean as Steve has not been able to eat anything for over 2 weeks!

no vomiting today (so far – yesterday he vomited right around midnight)

4 weeks down ~30 to go!

May 16, 2005

(from Mike Rybak)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , , , — By steve @ 3:50 pm

Steve has his first day in since his first round of chemo where he didn’t throw up.

He still didn’t eat any food for fear that he wouldn’t be able to keep it down and it would irriatate his throat further.

Right now his has an endoscopy planned for 10:30AM on Wednesday to take a look to see if there’s anything wrong with his throat beyond just irriatation and his next round of chemo is scheduled to start later that day.

A couple friends came down from Fargo to visit Steve and Libby today and with them they brought some gifts including some gift certificates.

If you’re planning on visiting Steve this summer he usually goes to bed around 8 or 9 at night so try not to show up then. Also Libby started an internship 2 miles away from the hospital and is gone from about 8am to 6pm so if you’re around the cities then stop by to keep Steve company and fetch him stuff around the room.

May 11, 2005

(from Josh Malnourie)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , — By steve @ 3:46 pm

Good news! Steve is feeling tremendously better today!

He actually hadn’t slept all day until about 7pm, and had done many things he hasn’t been able to for quite awhile including:

  1. taking advil (with a bit of ice cream)
  2. Eating a couple swallows of broth/chicken soup
  3. Talking much more
  4. Noting how his throat is hurting much less than before!

This seems to be due to some of the following,

  1. The orthopedic doctor came in and helped to straighten out the bolt that is running through his shin bone (it had started to move a bit and was off center)
  2. A change in pain medication
  3. Possibly an anti-fungal drug Steve started taking (Don’t ask me on this one)
  4. The severe ass-whipping that Steve is handing out to this wussy cancer

This means that a endoscopy will likely not be needed, and Steve is in better spirits and looking MUCH better than before!

3 Weeks down ~31 to go

May 9, 2005

(from Josh Malnourie)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , — By steve @ 3:40 pm

Because the pain in Steve’s throat has not yet subsided (He hasn’t eaten anything and kept it down for a little over a week and a half), Steve *may* be having an endoscopy (WebMD.com definition) tomorrow to see what his upper stomach and lower throat looks like. If/when this will happen will depend on how he is doing tomorrow. It’s not normal to still have a “sore” (read: hurt-so-bad-you-can’t-swallow) throat this long, so we will be taking a look to see what is going on.

Steve isn’t able to talk much now because of the sore throat, so don’t take it personal if he doesn’t talk to you on the phone.

A good thing is that Steve had not thrown up today, which is a first for awhile. He is still spitting up some stuff, but it is much more under control than previously.

May 4, 2005

(from Josh Malnourie)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , , — By steve @ 3:28 pm

Due to the constant vomiting and generally not feeling well, there have been some changes to Steve’s meds, and today he only threw up once in the morning today, so that is good news!

Overall, Steve IS continuing to feel better, and his throat is getting somewhat better. Guest are completely ok at this time. (However, if you are sick or feel something coming on, make sure to stop at the nurses station and get a “Michael Jackson” mask to prevent any germ spreading. Steve’s defenses to colds and whatnot is going down as the medicine kills cells in his body.)

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Steve’s first batch of Blockbuster video rentals that are being delivered to the hospital

Steve got a big tin of popcorn from his hometown optometrist, sweet!

ATO nationals also sent a card to Steve which was a nice gesture. However, it’s kind of funny because the writing on the envelope looks like it was written by a 6 year old I think Steve was a bit surprised and thought that it might be something a bit more formal.

Libby is working on her homework from the room, so that is great that she is able to finish out the year and still be with Steve.

I understand that Steve isn’t always able to return phone calls right away, but keep the good thoughts coming, we really need to help him keep a positive attitude!

2 weeks down, ~ 32 to go

May 3, 2005

(from Josh Malnourie)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , — By steve @ 3:27 pm

Steve was doing pretty good today, but there are a couple of notes:

Nausea continues to be a problem, and Steve’s throat isn’t feeling any better due to the amount of throwing up that he is experiencing. A doctor came in and suggested to keep the food consumption to a slower “grazing” pace throughout the day. Also, he suggested starting off with more broth-like food first to get the stomach back into the habit of digesting stuff.

Today Steve found out that one of the anti-nausea drugs that he is taking is actually a medicinal-use type of marijuana. Interesting.

Other than that, pretty much the same as yesterday, Steve is just passing the time away sleeping and hanging out. If anyone can think of even the littlest thing to send to him (email) that can brighten his day, that would be great! Keep up the positive attitudes and contact with Steve, it makes a BIG difference!

May 2, 2005

(from Josh Malnourie)

Filed under: chemotherapy — Tags: , , , , — By steve @ 3:25 pm

Steve looks tremendously better, and his electrolytes are looking good which means he can eat pretty much whatever he wants again! However, his throat is so sore from all the throwing up that he isn’t able to eat a whole lot. I brought him a laminated printout of the ATO Creed to hang on the closet door next to him so that he has some words of inspiration near him at all times. He is also actively browsing his new Blockbuster movie club collection (Good job men of ATO!!) and is able to visit MUCH MORE than in the past few days. Also, Libby was able to get the job she recently applied for in the Twin Cities, so she was planning on how to get to her job from the hospital. Steve’s parents have went home for a few days, so any visitors in the next few days would be much appreciated! Steve should continue to do pretty well for the next week or two because he is not scheduled to have more “bad” chemo for a couple weeks.

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