Update

June 3
Dear Family and Friends. I know it has been quite a while since I have updated you. We have been home now two weeks and they have not been easy. The drain (Forrest Gump) has been very painful and miserable. It was causing him to need more pain medicine than he probably would have other wise. He just could not sit so he either had to walk or lay down. We went back to Huntsman for his post op last Friday and they said the output was still too high to take it out so it has stayed for another week. They also told us that there was more activity in the liver than they had seen on the PET CT which was not good news. They sent his tumor off to a lab in Phoenix to test it to see if there is some other chemo that will work better on it. Memorial weekend was not too good because he just was not feeling too well. I have been packing and irrigating his incision regularly since he got out of the hospital and at his post op check they said to stop irrigating and just pack enough to keep the holes open. So after a couple of days of that on Monday it started to look infected so I started irrigating again. He started not feeling too well on Tuesday and was running a low fever. We called Huntsman and they said unless his fever was 101 or higher not to worry. On Wed I made an appointment with Glen to have him look at his incision. Chuck quit taking hydrocodone & ibuprophen and his fever was 103 when we got to Glen's office. His incision was really red around it and full of infection. I was amazed at how much worse it was than when I had changed the dressing in the morning. Glen took cultures and gave him a couple of shots to try to clear it up. He is much better today but we had to go back to see him today again to see if it has spread. He said he believes it is cellulitis or strep but will know for sure in the morning. He got 2 more shots and then he finally got his drain taken out. That made him feel better too. We have to go back tomorrow to get more shots and see what to do next. I hope we have really turned the corner. It seems there have been so many corners to turn. We love you all and appreciate your prayers and concern. I will try to keep in touch. Love, Jolene

June 15
Dear Family and Friends. Not much new yet. Huntsman did call in a prescription for antibiotics. They had not received the copy of the CT scan by Friday and Cassia said they sent it. Had to follow up on Monday and today and Cassia had the signature of the person who received it so hopefully it is a puzzle solved. Now maybe they can see if things are improving or just the same or at least let us know what to expect. Chuck went to work yesterday for 1/2 day and then slept about 2 1/2 hours when he got home. I really don't think he felt like going but he says he has just been off long enough. It is not in his work ethic to just stay in bed. He will push himself probably too much. He is working today and had taken several pain killers to get through. I think he would have to take them at home too but I don't know for sure. We did take off for the weekend. Adam and Karalynn planned a fishing trip to CJ Strike for the weekend. Adam and Kelly came the night before and got everything cleaned and ready and Chuck moved from the couch in the house to the couch in the motor home and I drove. Kind of scary. Karalynn brought a cot that she got for Nick and he moved from the motor home to the cot outside. He did pretty well but had quite a bit of pain a couple of times. I think the change of scene was good for him. He does pretty well emotionally most of the time but does get discouraged occasionally. He starts to think about the fact he should have started his second round of chemo a couple of weeks ago and that bothers him. He will see the oncologist here this week again to assess his status to start. I will let you know when we know anything. Continue to pray. We need all the blessings we can get. We appreciate you all and love you. Love, Jolene

Just in case you were wondering, we have been doing other things besides talking about Dad's bum. I will post some pictures tomorrow.