July 17th

WOW! Time flies before you even realize it. I apologize in taking so long to update you all. I don't have much new to say. Steve has been doing well - feeling pretty good, keeping himself going by working in the yard and going to the gym. This week has been tougher on him though. He is feeling very weak and run down. We are not sure why - maybe he is fighting something off. He has spent the week inside, resting and sleeping. He hates when that happens because he feels so useless. I try to encourage him to just relax and enjoy it. He doesn't like to talk about it, but I know he is concerned about the possibility of more surgery too.

We went to the speech therapist yesterday. She gave Steve another exercise to work on and told him he could try swallowing club soda also. She had hoped to be able to give him more to try, but he is still coughing quite a bit when he does try to swallow so she wants to be cautious. We scheduled a barium swallow study for the 2nd week of August. This will tell her more about how everything is working.

We met with the dentist who specializes in prothestetics last week. He seemed optomistic about being able to make Steve a piece to place in the roof of his mouth. He says it will help him speak, but is not sure if it will help with the swallowing or not.

So, we are really on hold for now. Steve will continue his swallowing exercises, then have that test in August. He has appointments the first week of September to have his CT Scan, see Dr. Grist (oncologist) and Dr. Roser (oral surgeon). We will know more then. Steve is more upset about his teeth implants being put on hold than he is about the spot(s) they found on the CT scan. He really wants to have some progress on the swallowing/eating end.

Meanwhile, we are all counting down the days we have left to spend relaxing together. Reality comes soon - schedules, homework, stress, life in general! How fortunate we are to have this time to recoup and regroup with each other. We are blessed in so many ways. Let's focus on that, huh???!!!