March 30th, 2011

I talked to Dad tonight. He said that the Cat scan showed that the tumor in his neck had shrunk by 50%. The other tumors (in the esophagus, across the chest, and arm pit) had also shrunk. They did note a suspicious spot on his Liver, but said they weren't concerned about it. They said that the Cat scans show false positives often. They'll keep an eye on it, but didn't feel like Dad should worry about it. The Doctor was happy about the results, but wanted to get a little more aggressive with a new Platinum based Chemo. This will bring new side effects. The most noted side effect is diarrhea. Nothing like crapping the disease out! Hey, what ever it takes, right? The doctor didn't do any Chemo today. He wanted to get as much of the previous Chemo out of his body as possible. He'll have his first round of the new Chemo on April 13th (in 2 weeks).

Please continue to keep Dad in your prayers.

Much Love,

Shanon

March 20th, 2011

Overdue update...

There really isn't anything new to report. Dad is doing about the same with his chemo treatments. He's still doing the Taxotere chemotherapy once every (3) weeks. He always takes it with Dexamethasone and anti-nausea meds. He also continues to take shots to increase his white cell count. The side effects have been things like extreme fatigue, bone pain, diarrhea, swelling in the feet/legs, loss of taste or foods like hamburger tasting very badly. He's also having some pain in his fingers like someone smashed his fingers. He says that the pain moves around from one group of fingers to another group. His fingernails are also getting discolored with white spots. Dad has been able to continue working except the week following a chemo treatment. This seems to make Dad happy. He's talked about working in his garden, so obviously he's not letting this get the best of him. Mom and Dad are very happy that they didn't get rid of their Aflac Cancer insurance policy. Mom and Dad considered getting rid of the insurance when money was tight. They are very thankful that they decided to keep it. The insurance has come in very handy and has helped relieve a great deal of stress.

The tumors haven't spread, but they're shrinking a bit too slow according to the doctor. Dad will have another Cat scan on Wednesday. The doctor will review the results and determine where they go from there. He has mentioned moving onto a more aggressive chemo, but the decision hasn't been made at this point. It's great that the tumors haven't spread, but we really need to shrink the existing tumors in order to kick this Cancer's butt and put it into remission. Dad may have to switch to a new chemo treatment with worse side effects in order to get the process kicked into high gear. Slow and steady is not going to win this race.

Thank you for all of the prayers. Please continue to pray for Mom, Dad, the doctors, and everyone effected by this terrible disease.

Much love,

Shanon