A lot of time has passed since I updated this blog. I’ve been doing so much professional writing lately that I have not had a lot of enthusiasm for blogging. My mind can only produce so many sentences per week it seems. Earlier this week, this blog received its 20,000th visit, which is a good indicator of how strongly people are pulling for Sharon.
Sharon’s health continues to be the proverbial ‘mixed bag.’ The very good news is that the cancer appears to be behaving itself at present. Last Wednesday, we visited with Dr. Wes Glisson to get his take on the MRI images from April 12. Wes was quite pleased with what he saw. The next MRI is set for August and we of course will hope for more good news at that point.
The bad news is that Sharon’s head and ear pressure remain, and no one seems to know how to deal with it. Sharon’s ENT doctor (Whatley) speculated that the cause might be radiation damage. However, Wes showed us where radiation was directed during Sharon’s treatment – the sinuses and ear canals were not hit. I guess that’s good; if radiation were the culprit, there’s not much that could be done in response.
Sharon is currently in the midst of two weeks of antibiotics. If that does not bring about improvement, the other options are for Sharon to get tubes put in her ears (in theory this would equalize the pressure inside the ears with the air pressure) and/or to take a sample from her sinus (which images show is inflamed).
The pressure detracts from Sharon’s quality of life quite a bit. Anyone that has had a head cold or a severe headache knows that it is difficult to do much under such conditions. The pressure has also made Sharon reluctant to drive. She did drive to TigerTown (a shopping center 6 miles away) with me along and around the neighborhood by herself. Sharon said these seemingly easy drives made her as nervous as driving around risky Jeep trails in search of ghost towns (such as our journey to Alta, CO in 2006 that is shown above -- the building behind Sharon looks a lot like our rental house). I think Sharon just needs time to get comfortable behind the wheel again.
We enjoyed recent visits from our friend Erin and my father. Erin came down from Birmingham for an outdoor wine event and a picnic hosted by Wes and the rest of the wonderful staff from the cancer center. The three of us also went to a new restaurant called “2300 Maestro.” We were woefully under-dressed, so the staff shuffled us off eat in the bar. Most embarrassing. At least we were not banished to a picnic table behind the building. The meal was quite good however. Erin has a blog, and its last entry was about her Christmas card. I don’t feel so guilty about a three week absence.
My father had the good fortune to visit the week that the fishing was at its best. And he avoided failing in the lake this year. A personal victory!
Phone calls really brighten Sharon’s spirits, so I encourage you to pick up the phone and give her a call.
Sharon’s health continues to be the proverbial ‘mixed bag.’ The very good news is that the cancer appears to be behaving itself at present. Last Wednesday, we visited with Dr. Wes Glisson to get his take on the MRI images from April 12. Wes was quite pleased with what he saw. The next MRI is set for August and we of course will hope for more good news at that point.
The bad news is that Sharon’s head and ear pressure remain, and no one seems to know how to deal with it. Sharon’s ENT doctor (Whatley) speculated that the cause might be radiation damage. However, Wes showed us where radiation was directed during Sharon’s treatment – the sinuses and ear canals were not hit. I guess that’s good; if radiation were the culprit, there’s not much that could be done in response.
Sharon is currently in the midst of two weeks of antibiotics. If that does not bring about improvement, the other options are for Sharon to get tubes put in her ears (in theory this would equalize the pressure inside the ears with the air pressure) and/or to take a sample from her sinus (which images show is inflamed).
The pressure detracts from Sharon’s quality of life quite a bit. Anyone that has had a head cold or a severe headache knows that it is difficult to do much under such conditions. The pressure has also made Sharon reluctant to drive. She did drive to TigerTown (a shopping center 6 miles away) with me along and around the neighborhood by herself. Sharon said these seemingly easy drives made her as nervous as driving around risky Jeep trails in search of ghost towns (such as our journey to Alta, CO in 2006 that is shown above -- the building behind Sharon looks a lot like our rental house). I think Sharon just needs time to get comfortable behind the wheel again.
We enjoyed recent visits from our friend Erin and my father. Erin came down from Birmingham for an outdoor wine event and a picnic hosted by Wes and the rest of the wonderful staff from the cancer center. The three of us also went to a new restaurant called “2300 Maestro.” We were woefully under-dressed, so the staff shuffled us off eat in the bar. Most embarrassing. At least we were not banished to a picnic table behind the building. The meal was quite good however. Erin has a blog, and its last entry was about her Christmas card. I don’t feel so guilty about a three week absence.
My father had the good fortune to visit the week that the fishing was at its best. And he avoided failing in the lake this year. A personal victory!
Phone calls really brighten Sharon’s spirits, so I encourage you to pick up the phone and give her a call.
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1 comment:
Professional writing takes priority over personal blogging? Heresy! Of course, my opinion may be influenced by the fact that I check this blog at least daily (probably accounting for around 5,000 of those hits), whereas I am unlikely ever to read (i.e., understand) one of Dave's articles and/or books. Thanks for the update; more good news always welcome!
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