2nd radioembolization done!

Craig just got back after a 4 hour procedure placing more radioactive beads in the left side of his liver. This is the 2nd of 3 planned procedures. He always comes back in pain because he has to lay straight on his back for 4 hours after the procedure. They gave him dilaudid and it makes everything feel much better!  He's snoozing now. It's a little lonelier here this time without my awesome kids. His blood sugar did drop twice today below 60 so he's had 2 infusions of extra D50 to keep it up. He hasn't had any food either but they did increase his regular glucose drip to 100 mls per hour from 70. His body doesn't know what it's doing.  Today he'll just be sleeping and staying out of pain.  I think he'll be here at least a few days.

Back in the hospital

Craig's back in the hospital for another procedure tomorrow morning. They had him check in tonight to be ready for the next Y90 treatment at 8 in the morning. He wasn't too excited to come up here but now that he's here he said it feels way too comfortable. All the nurses and aides were happy to see him and greeted him as we walked in. The white board in his room had a greeting from one of the aides "Taylor ❤s You!"  It was pretty cute.

The weekend

Well, it's Sunday night and we've made it a full 2 days at home!  The first night was a little rocky.  The patient (Craig) was not as compliant as he'd been at the hospital!  He wanted to do things his way and of course I thought we should do it the way I had set up!  When it was midnight and I wanted to go to sleep, he was ready to stay up for awhile (he'd had a few naps!)  I felt responsible for his well-being and wanted him to just go to sleep!  We were up and down all night and it was stressful.  Chase did his best to keep everyone sane!

There is lots of stuff to figure out quickly.  6 shots a day of octreotide.  I'm ok at giving the shots but I'm not the greatest at filling the syringes.  I'm getting better but keeping pressure in the syringe while adding medicine from a 2nd vial is tricky.  We had a nurse come each day at 2 pm to help change the bag of dextrose in his pack.  This requires flushing his lines to keep them clean and adding heparin to the extra line to keep clots from forming.  Lots of alcohol wipes and caps and connecting lines and keeping them sterile all the way.  Respect your nurses!  They go through A LOT of training and know a lot of things!  Our home nurse was very patient and helpful in showing us what to do and the reasons for doing everything.

On Saturday morning when we checked his blood sugar it was 78.  That was scary because in the hospital they would be giving him an extra shot of D50 if it dropped below 100.  So we had to quickly have him drink juice and eat waffles with syrup to bring it up.  His steady blood sugars of the last few days were not going to be consistent.  Who knows if anything is really helping to lower the insulin production?

The highlight of Saturday was hearing from Maddie and Mitch in London!  They arrived Saturday morning and sent pictures of their travels the first few days.  Here they are in front of Buckingham Palace.  We miss them so much but are so excited for their adventures in Europe!

Chase went back to LA tonight and we will definitely miss him around the house.  He has been a huge help and fun to have around for comedy and emotional support (for his mom)!  Chase was very devoted to us and spent most of his time at the hospital with us.  Last night all his friends came over to watch the NCAA games with Craig and it was so much fun to have all "our boys" here.  They  watched Wallace and Gromit shows too for a blast from the past.  Craig loved having them here.  Thanks Chase for taking good care of both of us.  You will be missed!

By Sunday night we've had many visitors and lots of lovely food brought over.  Thank you to everyone we know who are taking such good care of us.  We are feeling very loved and supported.

He's home (for a few days)!

On Friday we waited all day at the hospital for Craig to be released. He will be going back up next Wed. for the next radioembolization on Thurs, 3/30.  They had to arrange for the dextrose 25 to be packaged and a week's supply brought to our room. This took until about 5 o'clock when we received 4 boxes of the fluid on ice that we'll need to keep refrigerated. Each bag will last 24 hours.  We also rcceived the portable pump to take home with us.  It's in a handy backpack that he'll have to carry with him everywhere. The infusion expert changed him from the hospital pole to the portable pump so he could leave. He can't be off the infusion of glucose for more than a few minutes. We waited another hour for the octretide from the pharmacy!  The nurse kept coming in to see if we were still there. We left for home about 6:30. Chase was the work horse and got all the boxes and supplies to the car. Drove home and arrived around 7. Nice people had left us sandwich makings and even homemade chicken noodle soup and yummy rolls and salad.  Thanks everyone!  We are so blessed and thankful for everyone's efforts on our behalf.  We are so lucky to have such great family and friends. Love you all 💚💙

Thursday?

These days really run together, they seem to go quickly then very slowly.  We've been totally confused at times what day it is.  Chase can't believe he's in his 4th week of missing work.  Luckily they have been very understanding of the situation.  Today is Mitch's Step One test for med school.  This test is the culmination of the first 2 years of class work and plays a very big part of determining what specialties will be available to him in residency.  We know he will do VERY WELL and we are so proud of his hard work.  He will be so relieved to have this over and enjoy 3 weeks in Europe with Maddie.  We miss them both but are so excited for their trip!

Today we went up early to talk with the doctors about the next treatment and if he'd have to leave the hospital.  We lucked out and had both the intervention radiology team and the oncology team in at the same time.  That's the thing about hospitals.  You never know when the doctor will come in and you spend a lot of time waiting for them to show up.  So they talked about what they'd like to do and that March 30 would be the day of the next treatment.  Craig was surprised and wanted to wait another week but after much discussion he came to the realization that next week was best.  The radiologist explained that with Y90 they like to keep going in in regular intervals to kill tumors as quickly as possible.  They get the best results that way.  The oncology team felt that the positive response he is feeling the past few days is attributed to Y90 and the octreotide.  Craig feels the octreotide is the reason because he's noticed his improved appetite and less distended abdomen just the past few days. Most likely it is both treatments.  This is such an improved procedure over 8 years ago.  The chemo embolization was brutal.  Look back to 2009 and the photos of Craig in October and you'll see how lethal that treatment was.  This Y90 is a game changer and could give Craig a few more years.  Really quite amazing!

He needs to leave the hospital now because insurance won't pay if he's not actively having treatment or is in a crisis situation on his blood sugars.  Since the sugars have been stable on the drip for the last 48 hours, he will come home on Friday with the glucose drip.  He will need 6 shots a day of octreotide, plus pain meds, and glucose tests every 2-4 hours.  I will be a full time nurse!  Luckily I have Chase's help for the weekend but he'll go back to LA on Sunday.  A home health nurse will come probably daily to check him and change the bag of glucose.  I'll have to change it too since it runs about 12 hours.  Chase helped me set up Maddie's room as his "hospital" bed so he can sleep whenever he wants and have privacy.  We also moved his favorite chair from our room to the kitchen and made a straight shot to the chair so he can wheel his pole in there with him.  I think this will work well for the next 5 days until we check him back into the hospital next Wed. for the 2nd embolization on Thursday.  Wish us luck!

Wednesday at the hospital

On Wednesday, the intervention radiologist, Dr. Cizman, came in to tell Craig that he would need to decide if he's going to do the 2nd radioembolization in the next day and a half.  We didn't think we'd have to decide about that until next week and this was quite a surprise to both of us. Craig couldn't stay at Huntsman until the next procedure (because of insurance) so he would either need to come home or go to a skilled nursing facility.  If his blood sugars are stable for a few days with just the glucose drip and no extra shots of glucose then he'll be released from the hospital with the glucose drip.

That day, my sisters and brother and his wife and a few kids all came to see Craig and have lunch at Huntsman. Wednesday is my favorite salad: strawberry, spinach, and salmon salad!  Craig was pretty sleepy today so he slept through a lot of the visit.  He has not experienced any bad side effects from the octreotide so far so we're happy for that. Today his blood sugars have been fairly steady, hanging around 120-150 which is good for him

At the end of the night, Chase and I talked with Craig about his decision to continue with the 2nd treatment. He was feeling pretty lousy most of today and slept quite a bit.  He wasn't sure he wants to do the second treatment.  Tonight he was also thinking it might be time to "call it".  He had never intended to do more treatment and this blood sugar issue has pushed into treatment he never thought he'd do.  It's weird how life takes turns you don't expect and the decisions you make at that time are unexpected as well.  We've always thought we'll make the best decision we can at the time with the information available.  Craig always tries to base his decisions on logic and not emotion but when you get to this point, it's not always easy to leave emotion out of the decision-making equation.

We have a plan

Today started out with a phone conversation between Craig and I talking about what he wants to do.  He wasn't sure and knew he was being pressured to make a decision.  During our conversation, Dr. Weis walked in his room just when we needed him.  He basically presented to Craig that he has two options: go home with a glucose drip and think about what he wants to do; or start the octreotide shots and plan to do a 2nd radioembolization in a few weeks.  He said Huntsman is not a hotel (although it would be a nice one!).  Dr. Weis knows Craig and has learned how he does not make rash decisions and has to think and talk everything through logically.  Craig right then and there said he will do the octreotide shots.  So the first shot was scheduled for 2 pm today.

Craig's cute little sister Lisa came by and I took that opportunity to sneak off after the octreotide shot to see "Beauty and the Beast" with my very nice friend Sherrie.  It was a lovely break and I escaped into the beautiful world of Belle!  Craig didn't feel much different after the shot and napped and was ready for a 5 Guys burger when I came back up.  Chase was there with him and things seemed much more relaxed than yesterday.  We have a plan and that brings everyone's stress level down.  Chase has had many opportunities to have great talks with Craig on these long days in the hospital.  Luckily Maddie can also have talks with Craig by FaceTime and phone now that she'd back in Virginia.  These are precious times for all of us to spend time together.

Monday

Craig had a pretty good night last night.  Sleeping by virtue of another drug added to the regimen. When I spoke with him this morning, he had just had the doctors come in and ask him if he was going to do the octreotide shot or continue treatment. Craig said he didn't think so and they talked to him about the fact that he can't stay here unless he's undergoing treatment.  They talked about sending him home with the glucose bag on a pole and having a home health nurse stop by to check on him a few times a week.  He does not want to come home and put the burden on me to be the nurse.  It would be 24 hours a day, every 2 hour blood sugar checks and worries about eating and keeping levels ok.  We would be back to the same problem we had before; worrying about blood sugars, the picc line and possible infections and forced eating.  The meeting with the doctors and PAs and NPs was abrupt and unexpected.  We did not anticipate this happening today.  Huntsman really still doesn't have the blood sugars under control enough that we would feel comfortable being away from the hospital.  Today his blood sugars have dropped to 70s twice and he required a D50 shot each time.

Chase and I spent the day talking to Craig about options and what is the best thing for him right now. We talked about hospice and what that would entail.  He could go to an inpatient hospice and stay on the glucose drip until he was ready to turn it off.  We talked about continuing to the 2nd radioembolization in a few weeks.  This week Craig is worried about Mitch and Maddie and not wanting to create stress for them as Mitch takes his test.  We also talked about the octreotide shot which may be a good option right now.  It would be fairly easy to try and we would see pretty immediate results.  It affects the hormones secreted from the tumors and could possibly make a difference in the blood sugar levels.  It also could turn him into a diabetic, the opposite of his problem now.  All these things have consequences and effects which may be hard to take or unpleasant for his quality of life.  He is between a rock and a hard space and it's pretty scary for him to decide which option is best.  Hopefully, as he sleeps on it the answer will become clearer.  The stress is definitely higher when we don't have a plan.

Sunday

I slept over with Craig on Saturday night.  It was a tough night. He was awake or someone was in here every half hour. His blood sugar was in the 80s so he could drop fast and they wouldn't come back to check him for 2 hours. I would fall asleep and worry they hadn't checked him for awhile. I would call the nurse and they'd come in and wake him up and check him.  It went on like that until about 5:30 am and I decided I couldn't sleep anymore because I was just too nervous watching him.  He was asleep pretty soundly now and I went home to sleep in my bed.  Craig called me about 10 am and the first words he said is "I'm done".  He said, "Do you want to have me home and have nights like that?"  It's hard to say yes because no one wants to live like that.  He was sad and upset and felt like everything we've done to try to preserve his life has only made him feel worse.  He said he feels like he's back to the same problem we came in with added problems.  Nothing has really changed.  He's still unable to keep up his blood sugars on his own and if he doesn't have the glucose drip constantly going in him he will die.

Chase and I came up about 11 and Craig requested a Frosty from Wendy's so we brought that up and he enjoyed a few spoonfuls.  He was feeling very down and didn't want anyone visiting. We had a very tearful phone conversation with Maddie.  It is hard to have her across the country again.  The nice thing is we have the luxury of conversations like this where we can say the things we want to say.  So many families don't get this time.

Dr Whisenant came in and we discussed our options.  The doctor says he's surprised we haven't had an obvious effect from the Y90. It's been 4-5 days and we should have seen something by now.  He suggested trying octreotide (an injection that lasts 8 hours).  Craig had taken this drug at the very first of his cancer battle and it caused bad side effects like flushing, diarrhea and high blood sugars. We don't know how it would react in his body now but Craig wasn't sure he wanted to try it.  Everything they suggest is just a bandaid.  Craig likes the metaphor: "It's like throwing an ice cube at a raging fire".  We told the doctor we'd think about it.  We also asked him what would happen if Craig chose to not take any more dextrose.  He said he would within hours experience the effects of low blood sugar and go to sleep as his brain is deprived of sugar.  They would keep him out of pain with morphine and he would gently slip away.  It would most likely take no more than a few hours or perhaps a day or so.  Craig likes to feel he has some control by knowing he has this option.  He would be able to stay here at Huntsman and it would be a peaceful event.

The blood sugars are still being held up by the dextrose drip and the extra D50.  Craig hasn't felt like eating at all today. His pain was higher and the nurse gave him more oxy than he usually has and that made him pretty sleepy for a few hours.  He feels like his nights are turning into his days.  Just trying to endure to get through the hours.  When he awoke we went for a walk outside and sat and looked at the mountains.  The evening was mellow and we kept it quiet.  I am so thankful to have Chase here right now to keep me sane.

Saturday

Chase slept over on Friday night and they had a pretty good night. Chase said he was pretty restful throughout the night and only awoke when he had to use the bathroom. Craig ate half an omelet in the morning and that was a good thing. His mood is definitely better when he eats something with fats and proteins.  Living off the glucose is possible but not recommended.  He was in a pretty good mood and I came up in the early afternoon and his brother Dave and sister-in-law Marie were here visiting with him.  We went outside and it was a lovely day.  He didn't feel like eating anything for lunch and was in pain in his gut. We came back to the room and he got more drugs and he fell asleep on the couch. Jason and Sherrie visited and he slept through that visit and Heidi and Doug came and he slept through most of their visit too. It's a nice break to have friends stop by but Craig feels bad about sleeping and not "being there" to see them.  He doesn't like that he'd rather sleep than talk to friends and family.  His pain seemed more today. His gut just feels so distended and tight,

Friday

Today was another rough day for the Craiger.  He has no appetite and it's hard to keep up blood sugars with no food going in.  We finally convinced the doctors to just let him get the extra D50 dextrose to keep up his blood sugars so he doesn't have to worry about eating.  They want him to take in food obviously for the nutrients but today he really doesn't care.  He feels lousy, his whole abdomen is bloated and is under a lot of pressure.  He has pain on the right side of his liver where the procedure took place, his neck is hurting from laying in bed, and he is really sick of being in the hospital.  I got up there about 8:30 am and I didn't have much luck in cheering him up.  I just said "I'm sorry" a lot.  I feel so responsible for his well-being and feel protective of him.  I don't want him to suffer and feel like I'm betraying him if we do more than we agreed to do.  I know we just need to be patient and let the beads do their thing but we're not too patient after almost 3 weeks in the hospital.  We were hoping we'd see some results today with the blood sugars going up but he hovered around 100 or down to 60 most of the day even with 4 different boosts of glucose in addition to the constant D25 drip.  His uric acid is up as well as his potassium.  Both signs of tumors dying but both enzymes can cause problems.  Uric acid causes gout and kidney stones; both of which he's had and doesn't want to have again.  Potassium can be toxic in high levels and cause a heart attack.  His levels are not as high as they were last year so we think it will be ok but the doctors here are being cautious and limiting his potassium intake which limits foods available to him.  Chase has been up here most of the day too and is staying with him tonight so he can make sure he has a better night and keep him happier.  So thankful for our great kids.  Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Maddie and Mitch head back to Virginia

Sad day.  Maddie and Mitch flew back to Virginia today on a buddy pass, thanks to our good friend Cheryl.  They have a lot going on right now.  Mitch takes his Step One test next Thursday which is the culmination of the first two years of medical school.  It's a big test that determines what specialties will be available to you in residency.

The day after the test, they will fly to London for a 3 week Europe trip!  A great reward for their hard work in getting to this point.  We can't wait to hear about their travels through England, Belgium, France, and Spain.  Maddie will then need to decide between her acceptances at U of U, University of Maryland or VCU medical schools.

Chase is here with me until this weekend.  He is an awesome son and is great help with Craig.  They've been playing chess in the hospital room together.  We will miss having Maddie and Mitch around right now.  Love you kids so very much.  We are so proud of you all!

He's radioactive!

Craig made it through the first night and slept ok.  They kept him comfortable from pain with meds.  Today he is feeling ok but frustrated with mixed messages from the medical staff.  Yesterday the intervention radiologist who did the procedure said not to worry too much about his radiation.  Now today a PA said to stay away from his room but then our doctors, Dr Weis and Dr Whisenant (the attending doc), said it's not that big of deal.  The half-life of the radiation is 22 hours after the procedure which is this morning.  That means it's the most potent time right now and after that it diminishes by half every day and then runs out in 12 days.

His potassium is higher today so they have him on an EKG to monitor his heart.  He needs to be more restrictive of eating foods high in potassium (potatoes, bananas, beans, most vegetables...). Basically anything healthy is high in potassium and is hard on his heart.  Makes no sense!  We've dealt with that for awhile but now with the stress of the radiation they want to be extra careful.  To top this off he's getting a cold.  He doesn't need that right now.  I'm going up this afternoon to take him out in the sun for awhile.  It's a beautiful day.

Y-90 Radioembolization

It's Wednesday, March 15th and the procedure is over! It went well and the doctor was able to get the radioactive beads into the places he wanted to in about 1/3rd of his liver.  Now we wait to see how Craig's liver responds and if the tumors stop producing too much insulin.  They had to give him extra glucose again during the procedure. Last night in the night he required extra glucose too.  I think his anxiety about today added to his problems.  Last night, Maddie, Chase and I sat with him and tried to keep things calm as he was worrying about doing it and saying he wasn't sure he wanted to.  We watched "St.Vincent" the movie which was very good and provided a nice distraction.  The nurse and aide took good care of him in the night and we went home to sleep for a few hours.

We got here this morning about 7:30 am and they were ready to take him to radiology.  We followed him as they wheeled his bed through the maze to the U of U hospital.  It takes about 15 minutes to get there from Huntsman. We wished him well and they took him into the radiology suite.

We saw him after the procedure and he was not a happy camper.  The urinary catheter they had placed had leaked and he was sitting in pee.  He had to stay flat for a few hours after so we could do nothing to help him.  They scanned him to look at the beads and finally brought him to the room where his back was in pain again from laying flat.  The nurse worked hard to get the pain meds in him but he was very unhappy and using words I won't repeat here. He told me "never again" would he do this!  The pain meds kicked in and after about half an hour he was ready to get up and go to the bathroom and clean up.  We got him back in a clean bed and he fell asleep and is still pretty sleepy a few hours later. His blood sugar dropped below 60 again and they had to give him more 50% dextrose to get it up.  He's not eating anything much and is supposed to be on a clear diet although he enjoyed a few bites of an oatmeal cookie from Cowboy Grub!  I just ordered him some beef broth and hopefully he'll wake up enough to slurp some down.  Not too worried about the blood sugar right now as we have spiked it to 172 between glucose and prednisone!  They upped the drip on the glucose from 60ccs per hour to 75ccs. Chase helped him with the beef broth and a roll we snuck in and Maddie and I ate lunch on the patio.  Lovely day here in SLC!

Two weeks in the hospital is a lengthy amount of time.  Craig is handling it well but tires of the food and the scenery.  Although, if you're going to be in a hospital, Huntsman is the place to be!  If you haven't been here it is a very nice place. Thank you Jon Huntsman Sr.!  Very warm and inviting, nice furniture and finishes.  Not your sterile hospital at all. We enjoy visiting and the food is not bad.  The Bistro has some great paninis, salads, and sweet potato fries are a big favorite!  Afternoon Diet Coke and sweet potato fries make my day!  We love having visitors and now that the weather is improving the patio in the back is a fun place to take Craig on a little walk.

Maddie, Suzy and the Craiger

Todd (our nephew), Chase, Craig and Kathy (my sister)

Chase, Craig, Maddie, Mitch, Todd and Scout

Maddie cutting Craig's hair

Finished product!  Looking good Craiger!

 Maddie remodeled a t-shirt for Craig to wear in the hospital!  He has a PICC line on his right arm so he can't pull a t-shirt over his head.  She unpicked the whole side seam and put in Velcro buttons to attach it down the side.  Very ingenious Maddie!  Craig loves his yellow t-shirts!

These two handsome boys showed up yesterday.  Craig, Chase, Mason Brewer and Spencer Cannon.  Love these boys like our own!  Craig is wearing his yellow color ensemble: shirt, jacket and sunglasses!  Lookin' good!

Today our wonderful friend Jason (and Sherrie) visited and took Craig for a stroll outside.

Here's both of them!  Sherrie wore her yellow shirt to make Craig's day.  We so appreciate everyone's love and support.  The Thomases are truly like family.  We love you both!

Siblings are the best

Here's the three Doutre boys. David, Scott and Craig. Do you see the family resemblance?

Not to forget Craig's little sister Lisa!

Craig's brothers and sister are amazing!  We love them and appreciate all they do for us.  Their visits and support mean so much to Craig and I.

Hypoglycemia is an insatiable monster

Craig has been struggling to keep up his blood sugars for the last 5 months. We have met with many doctors and tried different medicines to try to help him. Everyone just keeps saying, "Eat more complex carbs!" So the poor guy has just been eating as often as possible but it's become hard to eat which seems impossible to say but it has become a chore.  Pop Tarts have been one of the things he's eaten a little of throughout the day and for some reason, they stay with him better than other things.  He's been eating pasta and bread and hamburgers and Lucky Charms.  They are a favorite!

We went to St. George last week to the home show and Craig made his way to the homes and snacked  on Pop Tarts and candy in between.  He did ok but always felt low or high.  Finally by Saturday, he was frustrated and done.  He couldn't eat enough to keep up his blood sugars and stuffing one more thing in his mouth was impossible.  We decided to get back to SLC and find help.  Luckily our friends Doug and Heidi Brewer were with us in St George and helped us clean the condo and kept track of us on the drive home.  We got home and talked to my doctor brother and decided to go to the ER.  We were just too worried about making it through the night.  You can go to sleep and never wake up.  The pressure was too much.

We went to the U of U hospital ER about 8 pm. When we checked in his blood sugar didn't register so it was under 60. Normal blood sugar is 80-120.  They gave him a slug of D50 dextrose and it would go up for about a half hour then drop again.  He ended up getting 4 slugs of dextrose in the 4 hours he was in the ER.  The doctor there said you'd have to eat about 50 candy bars a day to keep your blood sugars up. His tumors are secreting large amounts of insulin.  He's the opposite of a diabetic which is ironic since both of his sisters are diabetic.

They transferred him to Huntsman where he was admitted.  They put him in ICU because they would need to watch his blood sugars closely.  It was about 1 in the morning by the time he was in the room and we were able to settle down.  The put him on a constant drip of 20% dextrose. They pricked his finger every hour to make sure his blood sugar was around 100.  It would drop every once in awhile throughout the night and they would have to give him a slug of 50% dextrose again.  We were going to have to keep on top of this constantly.

On Monday, we called the kids to say they should find a flight to get here ASAP.  We didn't know if he would be able to sustain his blood sugar and if other complications would come up.  Chase got in about 6:30 that night from LA and Maddie and Mitch got here about 11:30 pm from Virginia. So nice to have them all here.

On Tuesday, the doctors came in and started talking about options.  The endocrinologist team wanted to increase the diazoxide to help with his blood sugar but we didn't feel like this would be enough.  The best way to stop the insulin production is to shut down the tumors.  There are a few ways to kill the tumors:  CAP-TEM a combination chemo pill that could take awhile to work, regular intravenous chemo, or Y90: radioactive beads they place in the liver.  After many up and down days last week, he decided that the Y90 is the best course of action.  He has struggled with the benefits of treatment and whether this will make enough difference in the insulin secretion.  He will be tethered to the glucose drip no matter what happens and this will require him to stay in the hospital while he undergoes treatment.

On Friday they took him to radiology for the "mapping" of his liver.  They placed a urinary catheter and it caused Craig a lot of pain because of his enlarged prostate.  The pain got so bad that he decided  to forego the procedure and wait til next week.  It was a tough day for him and we all felt unsure what was the best way to proceed.  There were too many issues today to make it feel like a good decision.

Over the weekend Craig, the kids and I spent a lot of time talking and weighing the options.  He continued to receive the life-saving glucose but even when he went off of it to take a shower for 10 minutes his blood sugar dropped below 60 and he crashed.  They then have to give him a slug of 50% dextrose to bring it back up.  So the idea of him going home is very unlikely for quire awhile.

He decided to go ahead and try the liver mapping again today and it went much more smoothly and we are now waiting to hear if everything looks good to proceed with the radiation. We should hear about that tomorrow.  The soonest we could do the procedure is next week.  They have to bring the radioactive beads in from Boston and they cost about $18,000 per treatment.