Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The Latest Update

OK, so after visiting the oncologist today, there is both good and bad. I choose to remain positive and focus on the good.

The bad news is the main mass is back to the size we began at. The spots on my lungs that began at “innumerable,” but had shrunk to half their size and number have begun to grow again in size and number (but we’re not back to “innumerable”). On the PET scan before this one we were down to only the main mass and one spot being “active” and now many spots are again active (but certainly not all).

The type of cancer I have is quite uncommon. My doc is very up on all the literature, and there just isn’t any out there on what I have. The good news is he’s in touch (by email) with the world’s authority on this type of cancer, and that doc has given us many different chemo drugs to basically experiment with. We will go through them one by one until we (God willing) find the one that helps us shrink this beast into remission. We’ll do three to four rounds and then a scan. If it works, we’ll keep going with it. If not, we’ll try the next. I’m ready for the fight!

The good news is the drug we will start with has a low toxicity for me, so I will not lose my hair and I should not get sick like before. If I get sick, he thinks it will only be for one day per treatment. This is so important because I did not want to give up another summer of quality time with Amanda. I want to enjoy every moment of our summer break together. The drug will not require a port and will take less than an hour for infusion (it used to take four hours). I will only have to go once every three weeks (like before). The best news is that although the cancer has started growing again, it has not spread anywhere. I will focus on this!

I thank God for the support He has given me through my family, friends and students. You have all been overwhelmingly wonderful, and I can’t thank you enough. My faith is strong and with God leading me and your support, I will win this battle! It will not be easy, so please keep praying that we find the drug that will work soon! Thank you!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Well, if it can happen, it's going to happen to me

Hello everyone,
Well this morning I drove from Livermore to Walnut Creek in the morning traffic after unwillingly having to take a day off work to have a CT scan and PET scan. They hooked up my IV, started my contrast, and after 20 minutes of trying to figure out their new IV machine, my CT scan was done. They then took me upstairs for my PET scan, injected me with a radioactive glucose tracer, had me sleep for 45 minutes, and then brought me in for the PET. Not 5 minutes into the scan, the machine breaks down WITH ME IN IT!!! Yes, my worst nightmare, I'm caught in the machine. Luckily, I didn't know for sure that it had broken while I was in it. They finally got me out, but I had to jump off the table, because the table wouldn't even lower me down. YIKES!!! I waited another hour and a half while they talked with technicians on the phone trying to get it to work, when they finally came in and told me they would have to reschedule, because my $500 radioactive glucose tracer's two-hour life span was up, and the machine had still not been fixed. Oh YAY now I get to have ANOTHER IV with ANOTHER radioactive glucose tracer!! If you can believe all this, they are going to take me after hours on Thursday after school (which is what I wanted in the first place) to redo the PET, so now it will be until Friday or Monday until I have results. If my doctor is able to give me ANY results at all from just the CT, believe me I would love that, but I have a feeling I won't know anything until Monday. Wow, it's not like it's hard to wait through the weekend or anything...
Oh well, I'm sure God has his reasons for having me go through all of this. He's gotten me this far, and continues to be there for me. And so do you! Thanks for bearing with me everyone!