The Latest and Greatest

Yikes I am finally coming up for air from the last few weeks.  Life quickly passed me by as I was trying to get two kids in college and the younger two ready for school.  I have to say that life is good.  It could be better, but I am so very happy and blessed because life could be so much worse.

Well let me just give you an update on how things are going and which direction we are headed.  Let's start with the last PET scan.  The scan showed that the lesions in the liver and lungs have decreased in size and there was no metabolic activity which means that these tumors are asleep or dormant.  That is fantastic and we are so very excited.  We do need to keep in the back of our mind that these types of tumors do have a 95% chance of returning but we feel so blessed that there is not metabolic activity at this point.

The tumor in the rectum showed a large decrease in size but there was still some metabolic activity.  So you have to realize that this tumor was much larger than the liver and lungs so it's going to take time to conquer that beast.  Also the rectum is a very small and vascular area so anything that tries to grow there wants to spread quickly because there is not room to grow and tumors like lots of space.  Therefore because it is still trying to grow we don't want to stop treatments or we will back to ground zero.

So the current treatment for the next three months (trust me I live my life in three month increments) looks something like this.  We are staying on "Avastin" which we go in every three weeks for and it's only a 30 minute infusion .  We then need to stay on 5-FU but that drug comes in a oral form called "Xeloda"    So he takes Xeloda twice a day (uggghhh it's 10 pills) for two weeks and then he takes a week off. 

So far he feels great.  There will be a little fatigue associated with Xeloda but so far we are doing great.  Now on top of all the drugs we may have to start radiation here in the next few weeks.  Once we start radiation it will be a daily treatment for 6 weeks.  Dr Whisenant thinks that the combination of Avastin and radiation will really help knock the rectal activity down.

Now for the greatest news of all.  The CEA level (that's the tumor marker) is down to 75.  Remember we started with a CEA of almost 400.  So that basically tells us the chemo is working and we WILL NOT let this beat us.

I can never tell all of you enough how much I appreciate your love, support and prayers.  We would not be doing as well as we are without each of you thinking of us and praying for us each and everyday.  Everyday I wake up and think how blessed I am to have each of you in my life and pulling for us.    I am so grateful for my Savior that he is so mindful of our situation and most days is carrying me over the hurdles and giving me the strength to overcome my trials.  I also thank him because I know out there in this big crazy world there is someone that has much bigger trials than I do and I pray for you whoever you might be that you will over come them and lean of your faith for comfort and direction.  I know I do.

Well I leave you with my blessings and hope all of you are having a safe and happy weekend.  I have many more fun things to post this week so check back often.  Until then do you like my photos for this post?  This was a work party Fred had last weekend.  His work party is the most amazing thing ever with lots of food, games prizes and much, much more.  However I just want you to know that standing on that little post and trying to knock off your opponent is not so easy.  It was fun so that is all that matters.