Just when I think that everything is back 'under control' and I can 'relax' a bit........along comes another issue to deal with.
We've been reducing Greg's 'dex' medication over a period of time with the aim being to get him off it altogether, it is causing him to lose muscle strength, a lot of bloating/stomach distention/fluid build up and is probably mostly responsible for Greg's high blood sugar level.
So, we're down to 1/2 a dex every second day, 3 days into that regime he gets a headache. One of the downsides of reducing the dex is that we might have swelling on the brain occur again (the dex is to control the swelling). I am warned to look out for the signs he was experiencing before we found the tumour, headache/vagueness/fatigue/confusion.
His fatigue has increased over the 10 days, he hadn't been having any rests/sleeps during the day for weeks but last week started needing to lie down a few times a day. So that is one thing on the list.
The day before he told me about the headache starting we had been at our neighbours in the afternoon for the kids to have a swim. Greg was very 'subdued' didn't contribute much to the conversation at all, didn't eat, didn't drink, basically just sat there. I was concerned as that was more like he was just before the tumour was found, but I also thought 'everyone is entitled to an off day and maybe this is his'.
When he tells me about the headache, it feels like there is a pattern developing. I ring our GP and he agrees we should take a step back on the dex regime and increase it back to the step before of 1/2 tablet daily. This was on Monday and we were to have our weekly appt with him on Thursday, if I needed to call him before Thursday do so, otherwise we would see him then.
Wednesday night as I get into bed I can feel that Greg is very hot. I take his temp and of course it is up. Thursday morning it is still up, when we see our GP he immediately organizes full blood tests, urine test for culturing and a chest x-ray.
I'm feeling like we're heading down the same path as early December.
I didn't get a phone call from the GP yesterday afternoon about the report from the chest x-ray, so am hoping that that is OK. The other results won't be through until sometime today but they are going to our oncologist.
Greg spent the day sleeping yesterday with the exception of when he went for his 5km walk before breakfast and the 2hr period that we were out to go to the Dr and have the x-ray done. He got up about 5ish yesterday afternoon, had very little dinner and then was in bed by 9pm.
I slept in the spare room so that my body heat didn't make him worse (and to try and get some decent sleep myself). I checked on him during the night, his temp was a little lower at 3.15am, I heard him heading out the door for his walk at 6am and asked if he had checked his temp. He hadn't, I did, it was 38.4C.
BUT HE STILL WENT ON HIS WALK!!
So now I sit here wondering what it all means, where it is all heading and what kind of day is he going to have today?
My Dad is taking Greg to have his port flushed and then they are supposed to be heading to Greg's old work to meet a colleague for lunch. The boys have cricket tonight and I don't want him to be totally knackered for that......time will tell.
Aaaaaggghhhhhh
