Digging Deep.

The last few weeks have been a rough ride to say the least.  Kevin had 13 days of radiation for some tumors in his lungs.  The radiation was rough on him.  He finished that on October 10th. 

 

At the very beginning of this journey, the girls and I put ribbons on this tree in honor of Kevin.  I often say that I am going to hunt for those ribbons one of these days.

He had been experiencing a lot of pain and shortness of breath during and after the radiation treatment.  Last Wednesday I flew to Galveston, Texas to speak at the annual Texas Forestry Association convention.  When I left for the trip, I had a bad feeling.  However, in the interest of trying not to overreact and be dramatic, I left for the trip.  At about midnight, I got a call from Kevin.  He was hurting bad.  He had a fever of 103, and he could not get comfortable.  He asked if I could find someone to take him to the ER.  I made a number of calls, and finally roused the Eason's from sleep.  They hopped in their car and drove to our house.  Rick drove Kevin to the ER while Teresa stayed at the house while the girls slept.

Needless to say, I did not get any sleep in Texas.  I gave my speech at 9:30am to 300 foresters and hopped in an Uber to try and find my way back to Boise.  Kevin had since been admitted into the ICU with a collapsed lung and infection.  I finally arrived in Boise on Thursday at 7pm.  Terrell picked me up at the airport.  I took the girls down to the hospital to see their Dad.  They were all very happy and relieved to see each other.  We visited for a while, then I took the girls home.  The next day, I stayed with Kevin at the hospital.  In my attempt to bring levity to the situation I took this picture.  I have been wanting a standing desk.  I suppose I will go to great lengths to get it. 

Kevin was transferred to a regular room on Friday.  To our good fortune his oncologist, Dr. Schulteiss, was the on call doctor.  He saw Kevin several times over the weekend and released him to go home on Sunday.  He did tell Kevin that it appears the immunotherapy is no longer working.  We scheduled a follow up with Dr. Schulteiss for Friday.  It was a long and anxious week for me.  Kevin continued to be in a lot of pain and was having a hard time breathing.  He could not seem to get comfortable, yet the pain medicine (3 different types) made him very sick and miserable in other ways.  By the time we received a fourth medication to try, he was done with pain medicine.  Instead, he kept moving from place to place to try and get comfortable.  The bath and shower gave his body some comfort.

When Friday came, we went in to see the oncologist.  He wanted to put Kevin back on chemotherapy.  Kevin was adamant that chemo was not an option.  He was beat up pretty bad with chemotherapy during the first two years of his diagnosis.  He was in better shape then.  He did not feel that his body could take it and worried about an even worsening quality of life.  Dr. Schulteiss agreed to put Kevin back on Keytruda (the first immunotherapy) to see if we could get different results than where we last left off. 

Kevin feels as if he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.  His options are limited at this point.  He has an incredibly strong character, and I will support him no matter what happens.  Right now, it is time for us to dig deep.