We\u2019ve been back from\u00a0Florida for a week. Nick gained two pounds in Florida, but lost a pound since we returned. I\u2019m concerned about his weight because at six feet tall, 136 pounds is a\u00a0low weight. Eating still presents Nick with many challenges. As a simple comparison, when those of us with normal saliva and taste buds eat food, \u00a0it tastes\u00a0\u00a0to us \u00a0somewhere along a continuum, the worst being that it tastes awful\u00a0, then\u00a0fair, good, very good, and \u00a0perhaps excellent.\u00a0\u00a0Nick\u2019s saliva and taste buds are not where they need to be.\u00a0Nick’s continuum starts with\u00a0food tasting awful (which encompasses many foods and drinks because they are\u00a0too bitter, too spicy, too acidic or too dry), fair (he can swallow it without issues), good (it doesn’t taste as it should but it\u2019s not bad and he can swallow it easily), and normal-tasting. So far the only things that taste normal to him are milk, cottage cheese, \u00a0mac and cheese, and ice cream. He is able to \u00a0chew and swallow pork chops and lamb chops but not steak. Everything he eats must be moist, or it must have lots of\u00a0sauce or gravy to make up for his lack of saliva. He can eat pasta, but not tomato sauce because it is too acidic for him. Ditto tomatoes and most fruits. Vegetables must be well cooked or they are too hard for him to chew and swallow. Typically he finds the process of\u00a0eating exhausting. He has two doctor’s appointments next week. I\u2019ll go along and ask lots of\u00a0questions.<\/p>\n
And now the good news. Nick had a CAT scan yesterday and his oncologist reported that the findings were NORMAL, meaning no cancer!!!!! We thank all of you who helped us to get to this point with prayers and positive \u00a0thoughts and vibes. Nick still has a long road ahead of him until he reaches a complete recovery, and we ask for your continued prayers until he gets there.<\/p>\n
And from my oncology surgeon, with whom I had my annual appointment today: \u201cSee you next year!\u201d As my oncologist told me in April, I am a 25 year breast cancer survivor!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We\u2019ve been back from\u00a0Florida for a week. Nick gained two pounds in Florida, but lost a pound since we returned. I\u2019m concerned about his weight because at six feet tall, 136 pounds is a\u00a0low weight. Eating still presents Nick with many challenges.<\/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-263","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\/263","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=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}