Today I stayed home from work and Kevin had a much better day. I know he is lonely around here while we are gone. He still slept alot, but I was able to give him the liquid food throughout the day, so I feel much less stressed out. It is a shame I can't be here with him for the next week or two until he really is feeling good enough to feed himself. I did ask the rad. onc. about the feeding pump, and his response was that he was going to talk to Kevin's psychiatrist about the antidepressant prescribed. His view is that he should be able to go 15 feet into the kitchen and feed himself while I am at work, and if he can't/won't get off the couch, that needs to be addressed. So no answer today.

I have tried telling him that he will take longer to heal without the daily amounts of food and water. He will take longer to heal if he doesn't do his oral care. He will take longer to heal if he doesn't try to eat some small bits of anything so he can swallow again. He will take longer to heal if he doesn't attempt to do his oral exercises. He hears me and agrees with me his head, but he doesn't have the will to do anything about it yet. So I am patiently encouraging him to do these things when he is awake and I am home, while still not pushing him to a point of getting frustrated with me. My latest tactic is that I made a sign that hangs right below the tv that says "remember to swish and spit every hour". Maybe it was because I was home today or maybe the sign helped, but he did swish and spit with caphasol 4x today so far. That is twice has much as he as done each day in the past week.

I also went to the chiropractor today (my reason for not going to work) to be adjusted to get rid of the headache I have had for the last 5 days. It is better, although not completely gone. I am dehydrated too, so I have to do better about my own water intake.

Thanks for all the positive and supportive comments I have received from you all. It really is great to converse with folks who know exactly what it feels like to walk in my shoes through this cancer mine field.

Blessings to you all!
Karen