A few weeks ago, I stopped taking Nick\u2019s word about \u00a0his weight \u00a0and insisted on seeing him on the scale myself. That’s how I knew he had gained one pound after one week and seven more ounces after the second. Weigh-ins are on Sundays. This past Sunday, he had lost nearly a pound. We both had visions of a feeding tube. After Sunday’s weigh-in and throughout the day,\u00a0\u00a0Nick \u00a0ate scrambled eggs, \u00a0cantaloupe, \u00a0ravioli with homemade Bolognese sauce with extra cream, yogurt with 2% fat ( rather than 0% fat, not easy to find), homemade cream of shrimp soup with extra cream, and a few bites of rotisserie chicken. On Monday morning he had regained the weight. Whew!<\/p>\n
On Tuesday August 19, Nick saw Dr. H, the ENT surgeon who did his biopsy. Dr. H was very pleased with Nick\u2019s\u00a0progress and said he looked great after all he had been through! He said Nick’s tongue is symmetrical, which is important for an eventual complete recovery. Nick described various side effects that he is still experiencing, and Dr. H. said they could continue for six more weeks or longer. The doctor\u00a0may have to \u201cgo back in\u201d\u00a0because of the edges of the incision. Surgeons often do this; mine did twenty-five years ago, because as I was told then, cancers often hide in scar tissue. He won’t make his decision about doing that\u00a0for at least two months.<\/p>\n
Nick now has a second part time job! He is very pleased to be working with his friend Jim and another media instructor at Staples High School, teaching them how to use Final Cut Pro, about which he has written an app.<\/p>\n
Many of you have said \u00a0very kind things both in person and by replying to this blog about the care I\u00a0give to Nick, for which I thank you most sincerely. Many things kept me at my self-appointed task of aiding his recovery. I understand the chemo and radiation experience, having been there and done that.\u00a0Also,\u00a0 every day I focused on what the doctors told us at the beginning: his chances of complete survival \u00a0are very high. Blessed are those\u00a0 who \u00a0care for loved ones whose prognosis is not positive. I can count several among my friends and family.<\/p>\n
Dr. H. gave Nick an assignment: \u00a0he must eat and gain weight. Although eating is still not easy, Nick has his sense of smell and taste is returning. I find him wandering into the kitchen when I’m cooking, smelling the food and saying\u00a0that he is hungry. I’m using this technique to help him fulfill his assignment!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few weeks ago, I stopped taking Nick\u2019s word about \u00a0his weight \u00a0and insisted on seeing him on the scale myself. That’s how I knew he had gained one pound after one week and seven more ounces after the second. Weigh-ins are on Sundays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nicks-progress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}