Rehab is helping

Rehab is helping Steve. He is happier being busy. He is building his strength and learning techniques to help him retrain his brain to compensate for the loss of sensation on his left side. Another benefit is that the stronger he is for the next chemo the more quickly he will rebound from its negative effects.

On the down side, if he does over one hour of therapy he tends to be overly tired. They are breaking up his schedule into smaller units giving him time to recover between sessions.

His schedule has been something like this:
Eat breakfast
Occupational Therapy: half hour
Physical Therapy: one hour
Sleep: 3 hours
Eat lunch
Occupational Therapy: half hour
Physical Therapy: one hour
Sleep: 3 hours
Eat dinner

Steve has been transferred to Rehab

Steve will be in rehab for several weeks. We do not know how long. The therapists meet weekly to evaluate progress.

Steve did OT (occupational therapy) and PT (physical therapy) this morning and is exhausted. He did very well and they predict that he will be able to get back to his pre-steroid strength.

The oncologist has been gone for a week. We do not have the MRI/Chemo plan at this time.

We continue to hope.

Steve is Bored!!!

I am so happy that Steve is bored. This tells me he is getting stronger. He is tired, has a persistant cough, and is achy all over, but he is better than his low point a few weeks ago.

The doctors are elusive in their comments (because of no precise diagnosis), but my best guess from their best guesses is that he will be in the hospital for 2 to 5 more days, then he will go to a rehab center for an indefinite time until he is strong enough to do basic daily tasks.

The next MRI will be 4 weeks from Chemo. This type of Chemo's effect peaks at 2 weeks after administration and by 4 weeks the MRI results should show changes. The decision will then be made whether to repeat the Chemo at that time.

Do NOT eat high fat foods after chemo

Steve has tested the suggestion that he avoid high fat foods after receiving chemo. On Saturday and today he had lunches that sounded good.

KFC + bacon cheeseburgers = :(

He has concluded that the pamphlets are correct. You really should NOT eat high fat foods for a while after having chemo. Bland food does not taste as good, but works much better at this stage.

Overall, Steve must be feeling better. He is starting to have cabin fever. He was too sick to notice until the last few days. This morning we got a wheelchair and took a tour around the hospital and went outside. It felt good to be in the sun for a few minutes.