Nan is holding her own

Dear Friends and Family,
We are at the end of the first day with the new drug, Nexavar, taken at the full 800 mg level. So far no negative side effects. Nan woke about an hour ago with stomach pains but that is something that happens from time to time. Amazingly when the wound care nurse came today she did NOT replace the iliostomy so as of this moment we still do not know for sure where the bleeding came from yesterday. I was so shocked that she did nothing about the bag but the girls did not seem so surprised and thought that it might not even have been in her experience level to replace. She did replace the nephrostomy PerkUStays, devices that hold the tubes in place where they come through the body from the kidneys. That is always painful and Nan complained to me that she seemed to take forever.
I left at 9 something this morning for a Hayward appointment and drove through dense fog, traffic construction but little traffic. That went well and then the doctors office, Alice, called to say they had a prescription that I needed to pick up in person in Concord so I altered my trip home to include that stop, there they told me that Nan only needed to come in to see the doctor when there was a a reason and Terry, our home health nurse could say if such a visit was needed. That saves Nan the terrible ride to and from Concord. After the doctors office I drove to CostCo and replaced two very bald tires on the bug and tried to get the new pain patches there but they were out of 100 mg ones. So the next stop was Longs in Brentwood and tomorrow I'll pick up the patches. Then home to catch up with events at the house and to see my baby who was sleeping. I sat down and promptly fell asleep, too many short nights and long days are catching up with me. Nan goes to bed around 11 or so but wakes and wants to come down from 6 am on and after 7 she is getting pretty adament that she wants to come down. Well considering we have one up time around 3:30 when she needs to sit up and change positions for awhile and other events that require waking up the night are pretty short. This morning we were able to combine forces of Dana who rises early and me and let Marilyn sleep in. She has been battling a cold for a few days and the short nights were not helping. Nan stepped carefully into the walker, then to the stair chair and then to the wheelchair and then to the recliner, all on her own power with me very close to her to lend support if she needed it. We were relieved when she settled into the recliner without any evidence of a new blood break.
The girls have Nan on a 8 and 8 schedule for her Nexavar and so far it goes down easily.
Mary was just here for awhile and Nan was awake when she came in and then woke just after she left. We enjoyed talking to Mary and she brought some yummy soup again, thanks mary for doing that. With Dana leaving this Saturday we will need all the food we can find to survive, when we lose our cook. Dana has been experimenting with vegetarian meatballs, oat patties, new chicken breasts that come frozen and taste great when heated up. We had eggs and english muffins this morning for breakfast. No one ever starved if Dana was anywhere nearby. She is amazing. This afternoon she was vacuming Keanna's room and the landing, she is a whirlwind of activity and help. We will miss her terribly when she goes.
This evening our thoughts turn to what is taking place inside Nan's body, is the Nexavar hitting the right spots? will the tumors be halted in their terrible growth? will nan catch a break? We have done our part and we ask God to take it as He sees fit.

Please keep praying for our beautiful, brave and courageous girl!

love

tim and nan and marilyn and dana