Day 241

Overwhelmed, Sick, and Tired…
Those three words sum it up in a nutshell. Even though they were finally able to come up with a drug regimen that would help with the pain Sarah has been having, that doesn’t help her poor skin. Almost the entirety of the right side of Sarah’s chest has majorly blistered leaving her raw. Sometimes she will just be sitting on the couch and her chest will start to bleed. I got a panicked phone call from Sarah today. The bottom line is: she is absolutely at her wits end with radiation and told me that even though she only has five more treatments slated, she would not be physically able to continue them. She said her skin is just too raw and painful. I talked with her doctors about this and when we went to see them today they had a few suggestions. They are trying to get the total dose of radiation up to the point that their research shows it to be successful. Sarah is a mere two treatments away from that number. They would like to be able to get five more just to go the extra mile, but Sarah may not make it that far. After looking at the extent of Sarah’s skin breakdown, her doctor said that she is in the top ten of the worst cases she has seen. Yikes! The wounds are clean, but the breakdown is extensive. Because of the worsening skin and Sarah’s dwindling coping skills, the doctor suggested that Sarah take a bit of a break. She is going to call us on Friday and see how Sarah is doing. If her skin has healed some and Sarah feels up to it, she would like to continue the treatments on Monday doing at least two and more if Sarah can handle it. We are not sure what this next week will bring. Sarah wants to finish her treatments, but needs to feel like she is able to withstand the “torture.” We most likely will be staying in the hotel on SCCA’s campus to try and make the last few radiation treatments as hassle-free for Sarah as possible.

Please pray for Sarah to get some sleep. It is very difficult for her to find a comfortable position when her whole chest is raw. She has tried every position imaginable, switched sides of the bed, tried the recliner, then moved to the couch; nothing is working. I can’t even imagine having to cope with something like this, and as Sarah’s doctor pointed out today Sarah has been through one of the toughest rounds of chemo, an incredibly invasive surgery, and 99% of an extremely aggressive dose of radiation. That is a lot for anyone to handle. The doctor added that while Sarah has been an incredibly good “sport,” everyone has their breaking point. Sarah has truly either reached or is very near to reaching hers.

Thanks for supporting my sweet girl! Please Pray…
Kirk