Over the last couple of days, Kevin has been struggling from what appears to be the result of tapering off the steroids. He has had increased difficulty swallowing, maintaining his saliva and speaking, and he has been extremely tired. This morning, Kevin is pretty freaked out because he is not able to move his left side as well as he could yesterday. Kevin went a couple of days without any steroids whatsoever, and we’re guessing that these increased symptoms are due to this absence of oral steroids. Getting off the steroids could cause a bit of initial swelling around his tumor, since the steroids had been keeping that swelling down. Furthermore, since he’s been on steroids for nine months, his adrenal glands that produce his natural steroids may be significantly atrophied. It is fairly common for people who have been on oral steroids for a long period of time to have decreased natural steroids when they finally get off the pills. This decreased amount of natural steroid production can cause severe exhaustion, weakness and many other symptoms that Kevin is displaying at the moment.
Along with the overall regression in progress that we’ve seen over the past couple of days, the symptom that is most concerning is his decreased ability to swallow. His cough has also become less productive in clearing his throat, so we are worried about his chances of aspirating something. This was a concern for a very long time in the hospital, because aspiration can lead to pneumonia. Since Kevin has been home, his cough has been so productive and he regained significant control of his swallow, that aspiration hadn’t been much of a concern. Last night, however, his symptoms were combining to increase the risk of aspiration, so that’s what ultimately led us to restart him on a low level of oral steroids.
We gave Kevin a low dosage of steroids last night and again this morning. We’ll keep you all posted on how he progresses over the next few days. We hope this road block is temporary and will be cleared away soon, but we never know with this very tricky disease and situation.
Kevin in the tube
Santa Cruz Chocolate Milkshake Rankings
- 1. Marianne's Ice Cream (Mexican Chocolate shake)
- 2. Marianne's Ice Cream (Chocolate Brownie shake)
- 3. Cold Stone (Dark chocolate ice cream, normal chocolate ice cream, and brownies)
- Marianne's Ice Cream (Chocolate Chocolate-chip Swirl)
- 4. Saturn Cafe (Chocolate ice cream and peanut butter)
- 5. Jack's Burgers
- 6. Betty's Burgers
- 7. Carpo's
- 8. Burger King
- 8. Sno-White Drive In
- 10. Chill Out Cafe (Chocolate, banana and peanut butter—I guess too many flavors for Kevin's taste!)
Shake Stars
- ★★★★1/2 Butterscotch Swirl from Marianne's
- ★★★★1/2 Butter Pecan from Marianne's
- ★★★★☆ Bananas Foster Shake (homemade)
- ★★★★☆ Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Shake from Marianne's
- ★★★★☆ 3AM Truffle from Marrianne's
Palo Alto Chocolate Milkshake Rankings
- 1. "Old Fashioned" Chocolate Shake from Peninsula Creamery
- 2. Chocolate Shake from Häagen-Dazs
- 3. Chocolate Shake from In-N-Out
- 3. Chocolate Shake from Jeffrey's Hamburgers
- 3. Chocolate Shake from Rick's Rather Rich
- 4. Chocolate Shake from Palo Alto Creamery
1 comment:
Hey Kevin!
It's Sofie. I just wanted to let you know that we are back in Sweden and we were hoping to Skype you one day! When is a good time? I know your schedule is pretty full most week days so maybe a week end?
I was so happy that we got to spend some time together while I was visiting in California. After me and Tyler left the house last time we both said in the car back that we have no doubt that you will come out of this as a stronger person. I think we all can see in your eyes that you are stronger than the cancer and that gives me and all of us hope.
Sweden feels so far away but with this blog, Skype and emails I think we should be able to keep in touch more...We have been all over Sweden visiting my family and now we finally settled down in Malmo where we live. Hope to talk to you soon!
Love and hope,
Sofie
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