How is he doing?

Thank you to everyone who has asked 'how is Cleve doing'. I have been a little busy and have neglected the updates, sorry about that. So, how is Cleve doing. I think the best way to answer that is to say that Cleve is actually feeling like a cancer patient now. For a long time, Cleve had this beast inside him but felt none of the side effects of his illness, i'm sorry to say that has changed now. We don't exactly know what the side effects are from though. We spoke with his oncologist here in Medford last week, Dr. Poisson...such a great man and great person to have in Cleve's corner through all of this. He said that everything Cleve is feeling is somewhat normal or a variation of normal. This drug is still very new and we are still figuring out its side effects. Cleve's symptoms in the last few weeks have been a low grade fever off and on, increased g.i. upset, loss of appetite and he is awfully tired all the time.

The reason we don't know what the side effects are from is because we've had about three different things going on. Cleve is still on his medication, he has one more dose of radiation next week, and he finally got his drainage tube taken out about a week ago. With his medication, side effects can show up the longer he is on it. The radiation could be causing some of the g.i. upset and malaise. But Cleve also had a bit of an infection at his incision and drain site that required antibiotics. He also has some swelling going on since the drain came out so we will have to continue to monitor that.

I hope this helps answer any questions you have had about Cleve. We are in somewhat of a holding pattern, taking his meds, finishing radiation and trying to get him to rest as much as possible (which if you know Cleve that is the trickiest one). At the end of the month he will have another PET scan, but we will not know the effects that the radiation has had on his sacrum for a few months. And what is a blog post without a picture. This picture was taken the day his drainage tube was taken out.