celeni's Cancer Blog

July 7, 2008

The Bucket List and 4th of July

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This is the 2nd week in a row that Wes has been able to come and stay with me. The last Thursday in June he gave me a buzz and asked if I felt like company, which of course I did.

His brother in law was bringing him into Talladega on Firday and was going to bring him over. Infact he told me that he would probably be there before I got off work. WHen I drove down my driveway…lo and behold, there sat his motorcycle. He decided that he was going to ride his motorcycle over and leave it there, so in case he was visiting and I had something to do he wouldnt feel stranded. You Go Hon! That’s what I’m talkin about.

We decided to sit out on the deck and just soak in the view of the lake. Even though the preceding days had been so hot and humid…that evening felt especially nice…the humidity was taking a rest and there was a really nice constant breeze coming off the lake.

We had a good evening. My dog Red could not be torn away from his side…his friend Dave and my neighbor Rick came over and we probably laughed and talked a good couple of hours…and for those 2 hours, in my mind anyway, the cancer did not exist.

The next evening I asked him if he wanted to watch the Bucket Lsit on Pay per View. I had thought about renting it, and had made a point to ask some people who HAD seen it their opinion of me suggesting it to Wes. They said it was sad, but also funny, and very inspirational. Within 15 minutes of the movie, tears were streaming down his face. What have I done? “Baby, if this is disturbing lets not watch it”! But no, he wanted to see it. Tears would turn into laughter and back into tears again…but he did like it. He told me a couple of days later that he watched it 3 times.

Did that movie make an impact on his activity level…or was this just a coincidence? The following week he would get up early, run errands, stay up the majority of the day and have long conversations with family members. Wednesday evening he called me and wanted to spend the long 4th of July weekend with me. I was tickled and was sure to remind him of all my family being down and celebrating multiple niece and nephew birthdays. He was game and was going to “hang in there” as long as he could…which ended up being 2 out of the 4 days.
The 3rd day his shoulder was really hurting and he had to take his morphine pills. His shoulder seems to be “fused” together. Every time that he would try to use his right arm his “collarbone” would “pop”. He has lost a lot of use of his right arm due to that tumor on his shoulder. He has a lot of tingling and numbness on a good day. He actually has to lift his right arm with his left arm to get any cooperation from that arm…like when he has to “reach” for something.He will be going to his orthapedic oncologist this week to follow up on his femural nail procedure so I reminded him to please be sure to fill him in on this.
He will be having his chemo this Wednesday, so I will not be seeing him this weekend.I hope that the Zofram works as well this time around again and that he doesnt get nauseated.

Cancer sucks…