The Good Fight

Mark did not get released from the hospital on Sunday as planned. He had a temperature and was required to remain one more night. I picked him up early in the afternoon on Monday and drove him straight to Cape Cod Hospital for his first radiation treatment. Friday, he will meet with the oncologist regarding his chemo which is expected to start next week. He will have radiation five days a week for the next five weeks and chemo once a week during that period and possibly longer. All treatments will be done on the Cape. After this radiation regimen, we will return to the surgeon in Boston to decide whether the remainder of the tumor needs to be removed. There will be a PET scan and other tests at that time as well. The doctors have made it clear that we are unable to actually cure the cancer because it has gotten into the blood stream. We are attempting to contain it. So, apparently there will be repeated tests to detect where it may travel and suggested treatments to address issues as they arise.
Now both sides of Mark's body are sore due to the exploratory surgery in his lung on the right side. The tumor on his left side has caused agonizing pain in the past few days and Mark has been bedridden most of the time recuperating from the surgery and getting some much needed sleep. He is on pain medication all the time as well as a variety of post surgery medications and has been running a fever off and on.
He wants me to share his hospital nightmare with all of you so you can appreciate his relief in being home in his own bed. He came out of surgery at Brigham and Womens on Friday night and was put in a room with two women. One of them was highly medicated 60 year old woman who was hallucinating she was on some cruise and proceeded to take all her tubes out and try to escape. The staff finally noticed and eventually resorted to getting a 350 pound aide to sit with her until she passed out and stopped moving... until the following morning when she started to call everyone she had ever met in her life on her cell phone starting at 6 am. So, Mark heard the story over and over in excruciating detail with only a curtain separating them! Minutes after they got her to sleep, they wheeled in "Crazy Eddie" who was a 20 something crack addict who had been stabbed in the heart by his "friend" when he took the last hit of their coke! Crazy Eddie proceeded to scream and swear in pain as he demanded more drugs and eventually passed out after keeping Mark awake the entire night!
Throughout the weekend, every time the noise level dimmed, the nurses would come in and poke Mark with something or play with his tubes, take his B.P. or deliver a tray of unwanted food. He never slept more than a few hours from Friday evening until Monday night and was so relieved to return to his own bed in his nice quiet Cape Cod home that the only time he will leave is when he gets radiation treatments!
Mark does have much to look forward to though. This weekend, our friend of 30 years, Katie, will drive down from Maine for an overnight visit. Then, Mike is returning to the Cape September 22 for a week and Kevin will drive back from UVM so the entire family can attend Mark's oldest brother's wedding on September 23. Mark's brothers and their families will be there along with my parents so it will truly be a family reunion for everyone and we are all looking forward to it.
Tomorrow we pass papers in selling Barbara the uniform division of the business so that is one less responsibility we will have. In fact, with Gary's oversight and the incredible dedication of our hard working employees, the business has not caused us a moment of concern and we couldn't be more grateful to our entire staff for that.
As always we are enjoying the messages left at the blog, the cards Mark has received, the countless prayers you have said on Mark's behalf, and the many offers of help we have received. The blog has enabled us to reconnect with many and has meant a lot to us. Some people don't feel comfortable leaving messages on the blog. If you prefer to e-mail me directly, please do so at sheehan@cape.com. I am not a big fan of phone calls and Mark is sleeping most of the time so we do prefer e-mails.
Fortunately, this is the first time in my life that I don't have incredible demands on my time so I am free to take care of Mark full time and drive him to his appointments. My erratic driving is even distracting him from the cancer as he often feels that he is on the verge of a heart attack! I guess it was fate that this terrible disease arrived at a time we could fight it without other stresses and responsibilities distracting us. However, if the time comes that we need help, we know that there are countless people that we can count on. We know that your offers are heartfelt and you truly want to pitch in and we will take a "rain check" until the need arises.
As always, thanks for your concern. We never cease to be impressed with the number of "hits" the blog has received! With Love and appreciation, Nancy