Back Surgery is Scheduled for Today

Steve finished his 4th round of chemo today.  He feels this one went the best so far.  However, the tingling in his fingers from the cold came much faster this time.  Almost immediately when he got home on Wednesday. But other than that it went well.  He still feels fine, he even had more of an appetite than he has the last few times so that’s good! Four down, many more to go! Next time the doctor will check his CEA number again – the tumor marker number.  We are hoping it’s lower again.  He said mid September he’ll send him for a scan to actually see where the tumors are now or more importantly where they are not!  We are looking forward to that. …

We received the results of the CT Scan today.  The doctor says that after looking at the ct scan himself, there has been a small reduction in the tumors.  It’s not as big as the last time but he feels they are all slightly smaller.  He did point out that they are measuring them in mm and not cm so we are looking at something very small in size. Tomorrow is Steve’s first treatment in the next chemo regimen and it will be less the Oxaliplatin.  The doctor is going to monitor his CEA number closely and if he sees any change then he’ll likely change up his entire chemo prescription and use some different drugs. At this point the doctor is looking at it…

My daughter’s and their friends spent their day off from school today selling lemonade to raise money for Colon Cancer. I’ve never been more proud of them. Not once did they ask if they could keep any of the money. Instead they went inside and got their money they have in a donation jar of their own, and poured it into the bucket. We’ve raised $245.21 so far and still have some donations coming in. Being a parent is hard, but seeing these kids do things like this reminds me it’s all worth it and I am doing a good job. And so are my friends who’s kids joined my girls today to help out. It was a great day and my heart feels good.

Steve had his 8th round of chemo this week and he’s pretty happy it’s over because he has a break and won’t be back to the infusion center for 4 weeks. Why the break?  He needed it for so many reasons and without it, going forward would have been way too hard. First of all, his CEA number is down to 11.  So that’s GREAT!  So if he’s going to take a break, now is a good time to do it since the number is still going down and the chemo is still working. But the real reason for the break is because he needs it physically and mentally.  Even with the reduction in the 5-FU, he’s still getting the mouth sores, but not as…

We saw our 2nd opinion doctor today who is the best in RI and came HIGHLY recommended by many.  He agreed with our current Oncologist and thinks this chemo regimen is really the best way to start.  And then see what happens in 2-3 months when they do the first scan.  At that point he said if it isn’t working, we should think about something else.  He’d be more than happy to talk with us then but sees no reason to do anything else right now. Knowing he feels the same way makes us even more confident that this is the best thing for Steve.  And we really like our current Oncologist so we’ll be staying with him.  However, our 2nd opinion doctor also said…

Steve is going this morning for his first CT Scan.  We are pretty hopeful that it will look good because of how good his CEA number has been.  But seeing it will be good to reassure us that the Chemo is working. He will also have is CEA number checked on Monday.  We will have the results of both of those tests on Tuesday when we meet with his Oncologist. Steve has been getting mouth sores the last 3 cycles and they are unbearable for him.  We’ve been trying all sorts of ways to make them better and possibly avoid them but after talking to the doctor yesterday, we are thinking of pulling back on one of the Chemotherapy drugs a little bit.  There is…