Warp drive off-line... impulse power only

Here we are at the end of the long weekend and it's been a balance of being really tired but wanting to do lots of things. Tim is feeling the effect of the chemo now more deeply than before. He has been very very tired all weekend. Luckily it was a four day weekend so he's had an extra day to recover somewhat before school starts up again on Tuesday.

We were able to take in the women's soccer match on Sunday morning after church. A friend of ours with many connections through school, soccer and music was in town for a tournament. It was fun to watch her and her team play and to do really well even if it was against the Idaho Vandals. She is an extraordinary player and started and played all 90 minutes as a freshman. Tim did OK being able to sit in some umbrella shade. It was a lot of fun to be there.

The stomach came back to normal very quickly and by Sunday morning, Tim decided not to take the last dose of Zofran (anti-nausea). He did fine with that and has been eating well although in smaller portions. He also states that his taste is different now and another curious effect is that he has an enhanced sense of smell for iodine of all things. His voice has also changed, he has what sounds like a sore throat but claims it does not hurt. Perhaps some other side effect. And the tingling that was in his toes is now also in his finger tips.

So now, tired is the name of the game. This is likely the last weekend where the energy can be used for non productive things like "hanging out" and playing xbox. When some effort can be applied it will have to be applied to school work to make sure Tim doesn't fall too far behind. As parents know, this is tricky business even without the added issues around chemo treatment. The discipline will have to built up to get the schoolwork done first and then be able to move on from there.

Some things have already been eliminated well before the energy level dropped. Tim was supposed to be the tuba section leader in marching band but is now not going to carry a tuba around on the field. He'll likely play sitting in a chair to lend the musical part without the march. There aren't many tubas in this marching band anyway - now there are only two who will march. He had a pretty busy school schedule that would have required "zero" hour. Come in one period before everyone else for an additional course. We were able to get that dropped, it wasn't needed to graduate.

Also, soccer in the spring just won't be possible. With the port-a-cath device in his chest, he would not be able to take a direct hit to the spot either by the ball or a player without causing injury. He'll see how else he can support the team by being at games. This team he was going to be on was with a number of players he has played with for many years. At U17, many players drop out and this would have been his last year anyway. So he'll just have to move on to playing soccer for fun in college.

So it'll likely be a long time before we can get back into warp drive, for the moment it'll be impulse power only.

--bob