12th Chemo Treatment Tomorrow and some changes…

Tomorrow will be Steve’s 12th Chemo treatment and his last one for this 6 month set.  We thought 6 months actually went till January but nope, it’s done tomorrow.  But that just means it’s time to change it up a bit. Currently Steve is receiving the FOLFOX cocktail of chemotherapy which consists of 5-FU, Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin.  I am slowly learning about each of these drugs.  The 5-FU is the one that was causing the mouth sores and is also the one that he gets on a slow drip for the 48 hours at home.  You may recall that in October he reduced that one by 15% to hopefully stop the mouth sores – and it worked!  We’ve checked his CEA number once since the…

Another Round of Chemo Down….

Steve had chemo last week and once again his side effects weren’t that bad since the reduction.  He’s even been able to maintain his weight, which is exactly what the doctor wants right now.  It’s been nice outside the last few days so that’s been helpful too.  On the cold days we had a week ago he had a very hard time.  Once his hands and nose get cold, they hurt.  He’s trying to bundle up the best he can, but if he bundles up too much he sweats.  Over time he’ll find a balance.  It’s something new to get used to. He sees the Oncologist next Tuesday and he will then make an appointment for another CT Scan.  I’m very hopeful that we will…

Took a Break and CEA Update

It’s been about a month since I updated and I realize some of you are thinking something is up since I haven’t updated. I’m here to tell you NO, nothing is “UP”… all is good. Steve took a cycle off from Chemo and ultimately had a month break. It was a nice break and Steve bounced back amazingly and we took full advantage of it. We went to Disney with the girls! We surprised them with a trip. It was a trip we all needed. You see, we love going to Disney as a family. We go every other year and it’s the biggest thing we do. And the girls love it. We all love it actually. It’s our “family thing” to do that we…

Stretch For Steve Yoga Night

Our amazing community is hosting an evening of Yoga in honor of Steve this week.  I can’t even express in words what this means to our family.  Every week our friends amaze us with their love, support and generosity.   Calling ourselves Lucky doesn’t even describe what we feel.  LOVED is really more like it. Steve is a very proud man, so letting them do this for us has been very hard for him to accept.  But he’s realized that this is a way that all the people around us can help me, can take some sort of burden off of me.  It’s also a way for him to see how much love we have around us. I recently posted this on Facebook and I know…

The 5-FU Reduction worked!

Steve finished his 8th round of chemo about a week ago.  This was the 2nd round of chemo with the reduced 5-FU (along with a reduction of all meds due to his weight loss).   The first time he didn’t see much of a difference as far as side effects go, but the second time he did. The 5-FU is responsible for the mouth sores and the tingling in his hands, fingers and feet mostly.  I guess it’s also responsible for the exhaustion because this last round he wasn’t as tired either.  He thought we has getting a mouth sore but it never really turned into one.  And his taste buds finally came back this weekend.  When he woke up Friday morning and realize that we…