Travis update

So many are asking about how Travis is doing these days. He has completed almost 2 weeks of the 6 weeks of radiation. He goes in 5 days a week to St. Joseph Hospital and the appointments last less than 30 minutes. The drive to and from is what makes it so time consuming. I go with Travis to keep him company a couple of times a week. Travis goes with his dad a couple days a week and then Travis goes with a great friend, Shaun Jeffs, once a week. He was doing morning appointments, but we found that he felt pretty cruddy the rest of the day. So now he goes in the afternoon so at least he can work the first 1/2 of the day. His main symptoms are nausea, fatigue and basically just the yuckies. (Is that a word?) He is managing the nausea with Zofran and it seems to be helping. He is very sensitive to the radiation and has come to actually feel it enter his body. He feels kind of weird for a while after it is done. He wears a custom mesh face mask that is bolted to the table and he must hold perfectly still for 15 minutes. He has gotten very good at meditating and finding his "happy place" so as to make it bearable. His sense of smell is very heightened. He cannot even tolerate sitting in the waiting room so he checks in and waits outside the building. It doesn't smell bad to me but has a very distinct smell that Travis is adverse to. Very interesting. All in all, he is doing very well with it. We are making a graduation trip (from radiation) to Utah as soon as the 6 weeks are up. That gives us something fun to look forward to. Go Cougars!!!

On top of that, there has been a tremendous amount of drama in my family. Besides my sister having her first baby, my mom had foot surgery 12 days ago and cannot walk on it for 6 weeks. At this very moment my dad is having open heart surgery to correct a regurgitating valve in his heart.  He had a horrible experience on a hunt in Colorado a few weeks ago and nearly died of pulmonary edema. (fluid in the lungs from high altitude) The doctors recommended a cardiology consult. That's when they found the problem with his heart. He has been having difficulty recovering from the pulmonary edema, but on top of that a regurgitating valve causes difficulty breathing. Double whammy. 

I am beginning to feel like a rubber band being stretched as far as it can go. I am trying to hold it together so I don't snap. Thank goodness for support of friends, family and church.