Neuropothy Update

Well, I started an update last week as things were getting a little worrisome for us - but am only now getting back to this blog tonight. Where did the week go? Happily news on the Matt-front is better than we thought it might be. On the other hand, its been another one of "those" weeks: I had a friend fall and fracture and dislocate her thumb (requiring surgery) AND Madalyn fell rollerblading on Sunday night and broke her wrist! (See her, Matt and friend/emergency-room-driver, Kaityln, above.) I have been in three hospitals in four days - including home-sweet-home Methodist. But Matt actually has me beat with at least one if not two dr. appointments plus the hyperbaric chamber EVERY DAY last week. Yikes. Check out Madalyn in the emergency room with her splint.

On the Matt-front: We had been getting a little anxious as while the oxygen treatments are easy, we hadn't really known if they are working and if they weren't, it spelled trouble for Matt. However Matt did see Dr. Ha yesterday and good news: the infection seems to be waning (and Matt is off antibiotics at long last!) and the hole seems to be closing up a bit.

Matt still has a-ways to go and the hyperbaric dr. is still predicting he may need a bone graft - but we are going to stay positive. Two more weeks and we'll know a little bit more about next steps. Treatment will be for at least 4 to 8 more weeks....It is definitely putting a crimp in his work day however, to say the least.

The one other chemo side effect I haven't really written about has been the growing impact neuropothy is having on Matt's activity. You will have to look up the definition yourself but it is essentially a nervous system effect, and Matt's feet and hands tingle and feel numb, on and off, all day. Kind of like having frostbite. There are some days and moments when it is actually pretty painful - almost like razor blades to the bottom of your feet or fingertips. He saw a neurologist the other day who didn't seemed to be terribly concerned but it is slowing Matt down quite a bit. It is very likely due to the Cisplatin but is predicted to wear off eventually. The frustrating piece is not knowing when it will peak (ergo how bad it is going to get) and thus when it will go away - it could be days, weeks or months. Yucko.

Matt is doing a couple different things to try to help control it, including acupuncture, vitamins, hot baths, etc. Hard to tell what works best - stay tuned! Also he has photos from the acupuncturist - we will post those this weekend....

Expert Breather @ Oxygen!

Had the consult yesterday with a dr. and team at the HCMC Hyberbaric Chamber clinic (see funny nurses - they understood Matt and his sense of humor within MINUTES of our arrival). Took a lot longer than we thought but its all good - Matt got a thorough check up, check CT looks good and in general he is in good shape, except for the darn mouth and the pesky infection.

Matt will start treatment on Thursday: every day, for an hour and a half each day, Mon - Friday, for at least 4 weeks and possibly 2 more after that. If the socket does not heal/close up Matt might still have to get a bone graft to his jaw but while the hyperbaric dr. is dubious our oral surgeon (Dr. Ha - we LUV him) is thinking positive. Keep your fingers crossed.

(Photo right: Matt contemplating the entrance to THE CHAMBER!)

More Photo Opps in our Future - Unfortunately

As a bunch of you know already: Matt continues to have trouble in toothy paradise. The darn wisdom tooth socket is not healing - which is ironic as it is the very reason he had the teeth taken out, prior to radiation. As you may or may not remember, one of the big issues with radiation is it permanently effects certain things like blood flow - which is directly linked to healing. Well, we are living that now - dang it!

As I had posted earlier, Matt had to have emergency oral surgery April 1 (whoops! wrong date posted earlier) for a deep, impacted infection in his lower jaw (site of the lower tooth extraction), and he has been going into the oral surgeons about twice a week for them to swap out the antibiotic dressing they use to keep infection at bay. (This as well as taking mega antibiotics.) When he had the teeth out back in January, he only had to have the dressings swapped out twice; unfortunately we are week six now and still the hole is not healing....He tried to go without the dressing last week from Monday to Wednesday, and in even that short amount of time without the dressing, the infection started back up. So he is back on antibiotics again and they are contemplating next steps.

He learns more later this week but it appears the first thing to do is get Matt into a hyperbaric chamber treatment program. (Something like this I think: http://mnhyperbaric.org/?gclid=CPeVusXYu6ECFQcMDQod9E5nAw). Sounds like he will do this for about 4 weeks, then there is a check-up or something, and he finishes with two more weeks in the chamber. He goes every day for about 90 minutes. The chamber helps push oxygen into the blood and in general should assist in the healing. More about that after Thursday.....If this doesn't work, its going to be about more surgery: he may then have to have a bone graft or something from his hip into his jaw - ouch! So cross your fingers for the chamber!

More later this week -

First ENT Check Up

Matt had his first follow-up with Dr. Doogie (ENT and our quarterback for all this) and everything is looking good. It was funny, when we walked in, he was blown away by how good Matt looked, and couldn't believe he hadn't lost most weight. Another affirmation of how lucky Matt ended up being with treatment.

Anyway, he did get out the dreaded scope but Matt had taken one of his happy pills so was able to get through it okay. But Matt then said he thought it was only fair that he, Matt, get to scope Doogie - ha! What a great sport - check him out as he is "about to get scoped..."

There are now 3 more follow-ups scheduled: a June one with Dr. Oa (med-oncologist, and that should be the last with her...really just making sure the chemo is done in Matt's body and his blood counts are back to normal), then a July PET scan as well as July f/up (3 months out again) with Doogie.

The mouth surgery healing still kind of sucks - the infection was pretty deep, but the check-ups with Dr. Ha have been okay and the antibiotics seem to be working so far. We definitely can tell that Matt's body/mouth is not healing as fast as pre-radiation. But slowly and surely...

So that's the update for the moment....

Scooping Out Successful

A quick update on the oral surgery: while it REALLY sucked yesterday (cutting into your jaw/gums REALLY HURTS) today is a little better says Matt. He is able to cut back a little on the painkillers and the swelling is already coming down. More next week - he has two follow-up with Dr. Ha to change the dressings and also the biopsy results should be back. No real reason to worry we think, but good to know...Check out loopy Matt (with phone/MP3 player close by) from yesterday. :-)

Toothy Trouble in Paradise

Oh man, wouldn't you know it: just when we thought we were over the hump, Matt has developed an impacted infection in his lower right jaw, basically the site of where the wisdom teeth came out 3 months ago! - and has to have another (small , but still...) surgery of the mouth to "scoop" and clean it all out. OUCH.

We are not sure exactly how it all happened but oh well. He has been working to get into the doctor because his jaw had been getting increasingly painful - and there was obvious swelling too - over the last week or so. We were actually worried it was a tumor or possibly a fractured jaw (which they warn could happen due to radiations effects on bone). Happily the xrays taken today (see photo) show something going on down by the roots of his molars that Dr. Ha thinks is just a nasty infection...But with that being said he does want Matt in and us to deal with it all right away before it gets worse. One of the good things is that Matt is far enough along post-chemo that his white blood cell count should be good and thus antibiotics will be able to be used. We find out tomorrow via a check up with our medical oncologist about blood, etc. so the timing is actually pretty good. We go straight from labs and that dr. appointment to the oral surgeon - oh jiminy.

More to follow I am sure.

Just a March Update

For anyone checking in -

You would not believe how quickly Matt is bouncing back! Ye gads! While his right chin/cheek is still smooth as a baby's butt (the radiation took out the beard hair there), his bronzing/tan is peeling and his energy levels are bounding back up (I actually hope you aren't reading this Rob!). The taste buds are still out of whack (which is, frankly, more of a pain for Cathy at this point than Matt...I just want a NORMAL grocery list again!) but with that said, he is able to drink Fresca again (his favorite) and in general is branching out food-wise in a number of small ways. He is also back at work, at least 4 if not more hours a day...And we took a super long walk with the dogs on Sunday and he was good the whole time - the fatigue is rapidly fading. Yeah!

More next week after the oncologist check-up and then again after April 7 when we see 'Doogie' and find out when he wants Matt to have his next PET scan. Tah -