Ever Hopeful

Well, on Wednesday I went in for my second set of scans since 10/26/09 when my baseline was established. This time the results were certainly not as encouraging as the results we got 8 weeks ago. The scans taken on 12/23/09 indicated the size of the tumors had shrunk by 30%. This time there was an overall 34% reduction, so only a 4% gain. Unfortunately, one of the tumors on my left lung is growing again. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. At first I was really bummed out, but I have now sucked it up and I’m re-dedicating myself 110% to my recovery. I had gotten a little lax about a few things, falling back into regular life. I’m chugging down my wheatgrass again. Once I’ve started the chemo therapy, lots of things that I used to like are now on my “Yuk” list. Wheatgrass is one of them, but it’s mind over matter, so I swill it down. Yum.

I’m not discouraged (much) and trust God and my doctors. The good news is that if this treatment isn’t working, we are definitely not out of options. The doc is doing a test to see if have the mutated B-RAF gene that would qualify me for a highly successful trial that’s going on right now. Anyway, we are going to stay on this trial for 2 more cycles (I start the next one this coming Wednesday, Mar 3), do another scan in 8 weeks and see how it’s going.

So that’s it for now. Still, if you look at the overall picture, my tumors have shrunk by 1/3 and I’m in partial remission. Definitely not dying today. Lots of love to you all.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all had a great Valentine’s day over the long weekend. We went up to the cabin for a couple days of R & R – very relaxing.

My last chemo treatment week had its ups and downs. Started out pretty good - not too sick, appetite healthy. Then I took a downward spiral at the very end. I threw up my PARP Inhibitors on Saturday morning, but managed to keep everything else down for the rest of the time. My sister, Candace, came down from Oregon again to help me out. I just love it when she visits. Makes the whole thing more bearable. And the drama in her household takes my mind off things here (hey Sis, just kidding – don’t let this keep you from coming down again, although we have to quit meeting this way).

My "Dr. Day" has changed from Tuesdays to Wednesdays. This week was just a routine check up. My blood work all came back good. We scheduled my second set of scans for Wednesday, Feb 24th so I’ll be sure and update you all as soon as we get the results.

Thanks to all of you who help out on a regular basis to keep my life and the ranch running smoothly – Deb & Dan, Donna, Ray & Maxine, Sherry & Tim, Dan M, Dory, Renee, Tiffanie & Justin to name a few. And thanks to everyone who has offered and I have yet to take them up on it – that list is WAY too long to mention, but you know who you are and I appreciate you all and all of your loving thoughts and prayers. Thanks for taking this journey with me.