Tuesday Morning, December 4, 2007

I spent much of the late afternoon and evening with Dave yesterday. His spirits are good (he told me a few jokes to include here but I restated that I work alone) and he is getting a little impatient on when the actual treatments will start.

Actually, they did start. He is receiving radiation therapy on his brain. This will continue for two weeks. They said he will probably experience hair loss (welcome to my world, Dave!) and will have some redness around his head.

I guess radiation is kind of like a mild sunburn. Without the sun. And with some healing capacity. Darn, I guess I should ask better questions next time. But the bottom line is that they want any progression of brain lesions to halt. It will make him a bit sleepy which has its benefits and its downside.

He is also being given some kind of pill, it sounds like Tarsiva (I wanted to get the spelling but I didn’t want to sound stupid). My sister Judy thought they said placebo and Dave thought they said Viagra so all I could do is laugh. It’s a chemical treatment for cancer of the lungs that works very well on some patients and not so well on others. They don’t know why it works sometimes and not others, but they think Dave is an excellent candidate for it.

As for Dave, he still wants the Viagra thing. My reply to him was a kind, brotherly, sensitive comment, the details of which I will let to your imagination.

While lying in his bed, Dave has had a lot of time to be reflective. Last night he spoke to Judy and me, and expressed his hope that, if this is his time to leave this earth, that he’s walked on this earth as an example of how one should live their life.

We told him that only God truly knows the answer to that question, but the wishes and comments of people whose lives he’s touched may be a good indication that he’s done ok. He smiled after that, closed his eyes and peacefully fell asleep.

Life is such a fragile gift. On Sunday, the mother of a friend passed away in Long Beach, CA after a struggle with cancer. The mother of an Altman’s employee is having a difficult time recovering from back surgery she underwent last Friday. And the sister and her family of a good friend had to evacuate their home last night in Centralia, WA due to flooding, and may well have lost everything. But in the end, I guess we were never promised a straight, easy path. The twists and turns and bumps help define our life, and how we handle them defines who we are.

Without doubt, the lives of Dave, and those close to him, will be forever different after this bout with cancer. What Providence has in store is unknown.

But the strength and love of those surrounding Dave, whether at his bedside or thousands of miles away through their thoughts and prayers, will prevail.

As I write this, Dave is listening to a Christmas CD, performed by the women of Regnum Christie smiling. Again, thanks for everyone who has prayed, called, sent cards or gifts, or written comments on this blog. It is Dave’s contact with the outside world and is the highlight of his days.

Until more news, God bless you all.