Update for 2011 Heading for Mexico

All scans and blood work negative---so that is good news. I have regained most of my strength and I have been feeling great. We are heading for Mexico to get out of the cold weather for a month or so. Take care everyone and have a good new year.

Will

Here it is October! We read that for every day one spends in the Hospital it takes about 7 days to recover. By our calculations I should start getting better in August and that seems just about when I started getting back my strength. We just returned from California (where we visited our daughter and watched the grandkids play soccer and then went on up to Washington state just across the Colombia river from Portland, Oregon where we visited Kaye's brother. His daughter and family lives in the same area so we were able to have a nice visit with them. Drove over to the coast to see the beautiful shoreline and enjoyed a great seafood dinner. I survived the trip and even gained a couple of pounds. It is great to be back in one's own bed even though the weather in Washington and Kansas seem about the same---wet, cloudy and chilly. Oh, well.
I go in for more testing in the next week and we our hopeful that the big C is in remission. I will let you know. In the mean time take care and enjoy!

It has been quite a while since I posted and I suppose I have lost my huge audience, oh well. The reason I have not been bloggging is that I have not had the energy to sit at the computer. They finally removed the feeding tube in mid August and I have been gaining strength since that time. I even went to Winfield and was able to stay 2 days. We stayed at a motel. After 2 days I had to get back to my own bed. First night home I went to bed at 7:30 pm and didnt wake up until 7 a.m. Right now it is just a process of slow recovery and periodic scans to see if the cancer comes back. I weigh 154 lbs and still struggle to eat. Food is like medicine I have to take in a certain amout but I sure dont like it. Because of the reduced size of my stomach I have to eat 6 times a day---its great to drop a little weight but I dont recommend this diet to anyone. I hope everyone is doing well and let me know if you are still following the blog. My email is wcleaver40@comcast.net
Later,
Will

4th of July, 2009, from Kaye

I apologize to Will's friends for not updating his blog. Every day, I kept thinking he would have the energy to do this himself. To summarize:


After the abdomianl pain continuing long after the surgery had healed, in April the doctors recommended he do a PET scan, EGD & xray to determine why he still had pain. The good news: no sign of cancer and the esophectomy had healed nicely. The only thing they could see was a calcified gall bladder. They recommended that he have his gall bladder removed, which was done in mid-May. The need for pain pills was preventing him from the eating and walking that he needed to do to regain his strength & energy. After recovering from the gall bladder surgery, the pain is considerably less and he is eating about 1200 calories per day and walking 20-25 minutes per day.

It is a very slow process, since his stomach can only hold about 1 cup of food at a time. But they assure us it will stretch in time; just cannot tell us how much time. The return of his energy and strength is so slow that sometimes he has a hard time seeing his progress! But he takes my word for it. I can see a big difference since the gall bladder surgery.

So, we plug along every day, trying for a hundred more calories and another block to add to our walks. He's tough, he will get there, we just need patience and to keep our eye on the ball.

I cannot tell you how much your emails and cards mean to him. They sure perk him up and give him something to be grateful for.

Well, it has been a while since I shared with everyone and updated the blog. Finally dischared from intensive care at MDANDERSON late January early Feb. Stayed in Texas for 2 weeks at the Surgeons request and returned to Kansas around Valentines Kaye and I went back to Texas around March 10th for a follow up visit. MyTexas Surgeon is very positive about eventual recovery---note eventual---not necessarily speedy
I have been back to my local doctors and they are also optomistic----
As for Kaye and I it is a daily struggle dealing with the desease and the logistics of getting to the doctors and keeping track of the medications. I have been so out of it poor Kaye has had to bare the brunt of keeping track of the meds the doctors, etc.
I am trying to walk everday---but it is a struggle.
Later,
Will

Monday February 23 2009

Well, here I am again. We arrived home from Texas about 2 weeks ago but I have not felt like I have had the energy to sit down and make an entry until today. I guess I am on schedule. Dr. Smalley asked me if I felf worse today than I did yesterday. After careful considereation I said I don't feel worse today than I did yesterday. He said good if your not feeling worse you are getting better and so that is what I would say to you... I am getting better but it is damned hard to see.
This is now Tueday. I tried to post this yesterday but it wouldnt post and I got fed up and quit. I must be feeling better because I dont feel worse than I felt yesterday. In fact today I feel pretty good. I walked all the way to the mail box and and we over to the Smith's for a short vistit---wow we are getting to be social gad flys.
I will be taking this time to try to thank everyone for theire cards and letters and the incredibel support ---I hope your thoughtfulness has changed me to be a little more conscioncious about staying in contact and to keep encouraging people who are going trouh difficult times.
It truly is amazing---this last Sunday I didn't think I would ever feel good again---my poor body was so beat up all it could do was lay around and sleep. I am a long way from well but I am sure as hell getting better and that is something I can really look forward too.
And so it goes....