Bone Scan is Clean!

We got some good news today.  Steve’s CEA (tumor marker) number is going down again.   It’s currently 18 and was 28 four weeks ago!  That’s really good news because that means that the new chemo he started 6 weeks ago is working!!!  So the plan right now is to keep doing what they are doing. Steve is also scheduled for a CT Scan the first week of April – the 2nd or 3rd and then they will check his CEA number again on the 6th when we get the results for the CT Scan. Last week was 9 months since Steve was diagnosis and the fact that he’s still doing well and the chemo is still working at this point is really good! Friday, March…

Friday (6/27) Steve completed his first round of Chemo.  He was so happy to have the visiting nurse remove the IV and he was excited to take a nice long shower.  Something he can’t do while hooked up to Chemo. He is doing well.  Just very tired.  Having the surgery in the same week as starting chemo, was very hard.  He’s sore from ‘babying’ his right side (where the port was put in) and hopes that the next round he’ll be more comfortable with the IV in. As for side effects from Chemo, they were very minor.  He didn’t get nauseous (thankfully!), he was very tired, his taste buds were off a bit, and he didn’t seem to have much of an appetite (which we…

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated you all about Steve.  I’ve been so busy between the girls being out of school, and my summer classes…. it’s been pretty crazy, to say the least! Steve had scans done about 1 month ago.  The chest CT was a little blurry because he sneezed during it and the (dumb) girl CT technician told him it came out fine, but in fact, it didn’t.  The radiologist that read the report couldn’t see everything, but from what he could see, the lungs were pretty much the same as the last scan.  His liver is good as well. There has been a spot on his liver that has grow slowly since January.   But the growth wasn’t very significant so…

I had to take Steve to the hospital today. His breathing hasn’t been very good and I just knew it needed to be addressed. I’m so glad we went because his oxygen level was VERY low. They did a CT scan to check for a new blood clot, but found nothing. There is a little fluid in his lung but the doctor thinks it’s old and doesn’t believe it is related to this. They did hear some crackling in one of his lungs so perhaps it’s a little collapsed but again, he didn’t think it would cause this much distress. There is some progression of disease in his lungs so it could be a combination of everything. They admitted him and have him on oxygen…

Yesterday Steve finished his 2nd round of chemo and he did well.  No real big side effects except he feels really tired.  But this morning he’s still feeling good. 2 down, many more to go!  Let’s hope it’s working!

Today Steve and I saw the doctor and received the results from his CT Scan on Friday, his Bone Scan on Monday and his CEA blood work.   The CEA is 17 right now… it was 12.  It is slowly rising but not a huge jump in a month.  The bone scan showed some new “Spots” on his spine but nothing big that can be measured.   The CT Scan showed his tumors for the most part are “stable”.  The doctor thinks the CEA rising is due to the new spots on his spine. What the doctor doesn’t know is if the chemo Steve is on right now is slowing down the growth or not working at all and the growth is just slow.  That’s impossible to…