To all my Prayer Warriors…..You can start the hardcore
praying now. Justin is down to a week
and a half left of his radiation treatments.
This is a total of 7 more radiation treatments. May 1st
he will graduate from the radiation department. And boy that day can’t come soon
enough. To him it feels like a century
away!
He has done extremely well considering. Grant it he has experienced just about every
side effect as they mentioned but it’s been mild and bearable. Or at least he has put on a good front. And of course some days were easier than
other days. His hair started to come out
within about the first week. So he
shaved his whole head even though he has really only lost hair on the side of
his head where they are doing the radiation.
He experienced the sores in his mouth and the difficulty swallowing but
not because his muscles were weak but more so just because it hurt. So he has been drinking lots of smoothies and
milkshakes and soft food. He has extreme
dry mouth which is more irritating at night because it makes it hard to breathe
when your mouth is so dry. We thank Laura
though for bringing him some Biotene which has helped a little bit with the dry
mouth. He also lost his taste buds which
was a huge disappointment for him since he loves to eat. The area that they are radiating is all red
like it’s sunburnt and very dry so he keeps Aquaphor on it. And probably the biggest side effect would be
the fatigue. Extremely tired and worn
out which has caused him to spend lots of time in his recliner. But he has been such a great husband and
daddy. Up until about yesterday he has
made sure to still be a part of majority of the family functions and force
himself to help out or go out with the family to still try to make things as
normal as possible for the kids and I.
Well his radiation doctor told him that the last few weeks
would be the most difficult. And
apparently he wasn’t kidding. No sooner
had Justin been telling a friend on Friday how good he has done and then
Saturday came and it all hit him. The
radiation knocked him on his butt yesterday and he’s been down and sick
since. Hope told me this evening as we
were coming home; “Wow I can’t believe Daddy hasn’t gotten up today at all, He
must feel really sick”. He hasn’t been
able to really eat because he feels so sick and he’s just been laying low. I
know it’s wearing on him emotionally because it definitely is for me and I’m
not even the cancer patient. But I have
to say my husband is a trooper. He has
tried so hard to not complain and to still be a help when he can.
So praise God we have made it this far. And even though 7 more treatments seem so
minimal to you and I; it’s a long road still in his eyes. It’s a bitter sweet thing that he’s getting
so sick. Its bitter because of the obvious
but its sweet because we know the doctor told us it would get bad at the end so
that means he is on the home stretch!!
So I ask my prayer warrior friends to please lift him up as
I know you have been. Strength to make
it to the end! He’s almost there!
Some of you have asked how they do the radiation. I have a few pictures of Justin that will
probably describe it the best.
Thank you for the continued prayers, support, gifts, and
encouragement. It’s helped us cope
during those dark days. We love you!
And I leave you with a verse. I Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you.” I’m not going
to lie. I’ve had A LOT of anxiety
lately. Anxiety about our current
situation, anxiety about my husband and anxiety about what the future holds;
just to name a few. But God has asked
that we give those scary anxious thoughts and feelings to him because he cares
that much for us. He wants to hold our
burdens and take them away from us. Sometimes I literally picture myself lifting
a very heavy worrisome anxious burden and giving it to him and then taking a
deep breath and feeling lighter. How
awesome to know that the God of the universe wants to carry our burdens if we
would only let him.
