Season’s Greetings
From the California Branch of
the Hamlett Family—2011
The
year started out with Lloyd off chemotherapy and undergoing pre-op testing for stomach
and throat cancer. Lloyd was referred to
a surgeon who was willing to operate. Surgery was scheduled for March 7th. Lloyd’s
last day of work and solid food was March 4th.
Lloyd’s
surgery took a little over fourteen hours. A second, emergency surgery was
performed a week later, this time for seven hours.
Lloyd
was pretty much in lala land while UCLA helped him recoup and run tests until
the middle of April when they released him.
They wanted to send him to a rehab facility that was farther away from
home, this was not acceptable to either Lloyd or Vickie so Lloyd was sent home with
home health nursing care. This lasted
less than a week when Vickie realized that although Lloyd desperately to be
home, he needed much more care than he could get at home. So through the angels
at the Palliative Care Program at the Motion Picture and Television Fund, Lloyd
was moved to the Woodland Hills MPTF Hospital. He was there for about 2 weeks.
During that time, the wonderful doctors and nurses there balanced his fluids
and even had him eating jello. After 2 weeks in Woodland Hills, his wound vac
was removed and Lloyd was moved to the Burbank Rehab Center, which was only 5
miles from home.
Throughout
Lloyd’s ordeals, Vickie was spending her time either at work or with
Lloyd. Now that Lloyd was in Burbank, it
was easier for Vickie to take him his creature comforts and clean clothes.
On
July 2nd, while exercising, Lloyd’s feeding tube broke and he was sent back to
UCLA for correction. They were able to
replace the J-tube, but because of the way the tube broke they also had to add
a wound vac to remove the excess fluids from the J-tube opening. By adding the wound vac back, Lloyd could not
return to Burbank Rehab as they have a policy against wound vacs,
so it was decided that Lloyd would come home and use home nursing care. This time Lloyd was stable enough to handle being
at home. Lloyd returned home on July 7th, exactly four months from when Lloyd
went into the hospital. Lloyd went back on chemo in August and was pronounced
Cancer-free mid-December.
While
Lloyd was at the rehab center he started having swallowing difficulties. A stent was inserted in his new esophagus to
keep it open. It took 5 or 6 procedures for the surgeon to correctly position
the stent. Lloyd was able to eat semi-solid
foods for a time but at present he cannot swallow anything without throwing it
up. The doctors have run tests and at present do not know the reason.
We
are hoping that the doctors can figure this out so Lloyd can go about the
business of getting better and living his life.
Since
July when Lloyd was put on chemotherapy he has been on a roller coaster of good
days and bad days and spends a lot of his time in bed asleep just hoping to feel
better when he wakes up. Most days he
just feels bad and then there are those days that really take a toll on
him. This is also the reason that Lloyd
has not been able to keep his website updated.
Getting
old is not for sissies!
Sorry
this is not our usual happy and cheery holiday letter that gives you good news
and leaves out the downside. We do hope
that this has given you some insight as to how we are doing and that we are
really looking forward to a better 2012.
Thank you all for your well wishes.
Lloyd
& Vickie
Lucy & Scooter