Here's to Family

The results of the CT scan my mom had a few weeks ago showed no growth in her tumors. Only the tumor in her thyroid shrunk just a little. Because of these results, the doctor decided to keep her on folfox (the current chemo she has been on) for another two months of treatments. She will have another CT scan at the end to check the progress again and decide from there if there will be any changes.

From the talks I've had with her and check in calls, she gets tired more frequently now. Her hair has started to thin again. She has even started feeling nauseous and throwing up (sorry mom, but friends should know). I will catch her working on her quilts and doing things she loves which makes me feel so grateful. I am so happy she has energy to keep going. However hard it is and however sick she feels sometimes, I know she keeps going for us, her kiddies. I wish our family was closer so that we could be more helpful and share more memories together, but I know even when we can't see the daily struggles and feelings she has, that she thinks of us and finds it in her to keep going. I know we all think of her often and are amazed. There is nothing better than family and I feel so lucky to have mine. For those who haven't heard, the youngest in our family, Jason, is leaving in August to serve a two year LDS mission in the Philippines. I know it was a hard decision for him to make, but hard as it was our family is so proud of his decision. In January, we will welcome home Ian who is serving his mission in San Diego. My mom has been holding strong especially for him. He was gone when we learned about the cancer. I know when the two of them meet again, it will be a very sweet reunion. There is something about our family being apart, but feeling close. I love knowing I have them forever.

A Failed Attempt

Valerie Here. I am at SCCA with my mom, on her computer, while she is getting her next round of chemo. No changes to her chemo treatments yet.On Friday the 19th she went in for a lung biopsy to confirm if the growing/multiplying tumors in her lungs were in fact cancer. The rest of her organs have been stable with the current chemo. The procedure was 2 hours long. Her back was numbed in the area they would be putting the needle in. She laid on her stomach and was told to breathe in and out the same amount of breath as they pushed the needle deeper. She was not sedated for this, the local anesthetic did not take away all of the pain. When the needle hit her ribs it hurt her. They had to maneuver around the ribs. When the needle was pushed though the layer that surrounds the lung, that also hurt her. They had just gotten the needle through the lung and were very close to getting the targeted tumor when the lung leaked air and began to collapse. As the lung collapsed the tumor moved farther away from the needle until the needle was no longer poking the lung. It was too risky to poke it again with the air escaping, so they pulled the needle out of her and stopped the biopsy. They did an X-ray to see how much it was shrinking. She was hooked up to oxygen for the following six hours of rest at the hospital. They monitored her to make sure she was getting better not worse. They would not let her eat until two hours before leaving in case they needed to do a chest tube to drain fluids, or anything else in an emergency to fix her lung. She turned out to be ok and was not admitted! We were glad to be home friday night. She was to get lots of rest for a couple days and not go up/down stairs or lift anything heavy. It hurt her to breathe, especially if she sat up. Her back was also sore from the needle.For those of you who don't know this, my mom rarely sleeps more than 4 hours a night (I know, how in the world is she surviving!?). The night of the lung biopsy she slept for 10.5 hours! She felt so good and well rested the next morning. I had to make sure she didn't push herself since she was still healing. Its so frustrating for her to be held back, physically. I don't blame her. I am so grateful for her energy and the times she feels "normal." I hope that continues to be a big part of her life and the moments of pain and sick feelings are kept to a minimum.As for the biopsy, we are thinking there will not be a second try. Which we are completely ok with. Her doctor is going to decide for the next round, if the chemo will change or not. Most likely it will.I have been so impressed with my Mom throughout all of this, but she gains giant boosts of confidence when she hears from all of you in a variety of ways. You are what keeps her fighting strong. Thanks for expressing your love and support. Keep it coming!

Good News and News

The good news is...Valerie followed me back to Seattle for what started out as a two week visit and has now turned into three! She came out to help with putting the house back together from the water damage. The new floor is in, and GORGEOUS! We all love it! Downstairs is all painted. The bathroom is nearly complete. It feels like a new house downstairs. Thanks to friends who came to help us in such stressful times. We appreciate the support and feel very loved!

Now for the news. After the last four rounds of chemo my numbers have dropped to 345. Today was my CT scan and we went over the results with my oncologist. The CT scan showed that the tumors in my liver and thyroid are stable...not growing, but the tumors in my lungs are growing and multiplying. He wants to be 100% sure that the new growth is cancer so I will be going in for a biopsy in the next couple of days. If it is not cancer, we will continue the treatment I am on now, folfox. If it is cancer, the chemo regimen will change, to folfiri. I qualify for a clinical trial. It will be an addition to the folfiri. Some of the side effects with the new chemo will be nausea, anorexia, acne rash and no more neuropathy (cold sensitivity and tingling in hands/feet).

It was expected that I would stop responding to the folfox at some point and would be switched to another chemo. There are four chemo regimens. All that I have done up to this point has been the first. If we switch, it will begin the second. There is a 50/50 chance that the clinical trial could be a better treatment. We have the choice to participate. I feel it is worth a shot.

CT Scan Results

Monday was my mom's first CT Scan that I did not go to. I was bummed and it seemed like I heard about 50 cancer commercials at work. She is sick with a cold and not feeling too well, but it did not effect anything and the appointment went on as usual.

Great news!! Her cancer markers are down, way down, to 209! Remember, that's all the way from 16,000!

The tumors are shrinking a little bit, not anything significant, but they are at least still responding to the treatments and a little smaller is better than nothing. She is still on the pill version of chemo which has been more convenient to do. And so far so good since the last dosage adjustment. She has felt more herself these days, which is amazing!!!

She is now enjoying a week with one of her brothers, and his family. Wish I was there!

Coming Up

My mom is currently at a girls camp, for our church, as a guest speaker. She was feeling well enough to go! I can not believe the progress she has been making since January, it has been incredible to witness.

In July I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina and it has been hard being so far away from her. I have been home since the beginning of it all and not being able to see the day to day has been...an adjustment. It is comforting to know she is feeling good!

I would still prefer to be closer to her.

Her next big appointment is another CT Scan on August 6th,

three days from now.

Let's pray those tumors have shrunk lots more!

I am still in shock how widespread the cancer is. It is hard to believe. But as along as she is still responding to treatment, it is good news and things are continuing to look up...right?

Still Coming Down!

Yes, they reduced my dosage. Let's hope this does it. Although I enjoyed adding a few extra days to my week "off" it is important to keep going and kill those tumors.
More good news...my cancer markers are now down to 254! Yay! I am feeling really good. Like my old self.
I need to get some excercise though. I started going to the Y for water aerobics. I'm in the advanced class. Don't get all excited and think I'm such a trooper, they're all advanced... in age. ;)
I may be starting out slow but it does feel good to work those muscles and I fully intend to work up to more and more. I would LOVE to be able to run again.

Prayer. When life gets too hard to stand...kneel.

Pains

On Tuesday the 17th...
(which also happens to be my wedding anniversary)
Mom was having pains in her shoulder and side.
She laid down and had trouble breathing.
By this time Garrett and I were in Seattle celebrating
and had no idea what Mom was going through.
My dad checked in with her.
After calling the nurses and checking with the doctors,
they told her to go to the emergency room.
My dad drove her.
Everything turned out to be alright.
No blood clots, infection or anything they were worried about.
The doctor there said it is probably just
pains from a dying tumor.

When we got home from Seattle,
Jason updated us on where our parents were and
how Mom had been feeling all day.
They did not come home until around 1:00am.
This, to me, was a little taste of what it will be like
to be living far away.
I won't know right away how Mom is,
I won't be able to help her.
I will feel helpless.
How awful.
Even though everything turned out to be more than ok,
I couldn't help but think about "what ifs" and "whens."
Like, what if Mom needs help when I'm in Charlotte.

I'm so glad it was pains from a dying tumor.
and not a new one.

Results

We just finished meeting with the doctor here at SCCA. He went over the results of the CT scan. We have two months of chemo down and two more to go. Her tumors have shrunk an average of about a third of the size, or less, of the original. The large tumors in her liver have only lost only about 2-4mm, which is not nearly as significant as we had hoped. They are still fairly large, but they are at least responding! The doctor was pleased with the results. He also said surgery is not likely after the treatments. It would not help because of how wide spread the cancer is. After two more months of chemo she will switch to a pill form that is more a targeted therapy than a chemotherapy, that will cut off the blood supply to all of the tumors. The pill would still help shrink the tumors. It's looking like the tumors will never completely dissapear, but there is always hope! It is good news that the cancer is responding to the treatments. Just because the tumors did not shrink in half does not mean there isn't hope for there to be more progress. Only time will tell and we pray continually we will pull through this.
Her cancer counters went from 16,000 to 3,600.
We are currently in the waiting room for her next chemotherapy....

Colonoscopy

January 31st

Dad brought Mom to the scheduled colonoscopy.

They were done much sooner than expected because they

immediately found what they were looking for.

A 5-inch malignant tumor

35 cm from the start, partially obstructing.

This tumor is the primary cancer site so it is Colon Cancer.
It has caused the pain she had been feeling the last year

and the harsh prepping for the colonoscopy.

She was scheduled for surgery consultation on friday

to talk about removing the tumor.

Today doctors called in the morning saying

they did not want to wait until friday.

Mom and Dad immediately went in to consult with the surgeon
who did not think surgery was necessary but highly recommended
starting chemo ASAP to shrink the tumor.

We also found out today that she has Stage 4 Colon Cancer.

After considering and praying about our options,

we decided to cancel the oncologist
appointment that was scheduled for today.

We chose the

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

and our appointment with the oncologist is scheduled for Monday February 6th.

As soon as we spoke with someone from the SCCA

we felt we were in good hands and felt very good about going there.

Even though it puts off the oncology visit by a few days,

we still feel it was the right decision.