Good News!! CEA Number is going down again!!

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 6th was Dress In Blue Day for Colon Cancer and it meant so much to me that so many of our friends on Facebook wore blue in honor of Steve and a lot of them even posted selfies of themselves all decked out in blue!  You have no idea how much the support that everyone has given us means to me and my family.

For those of you that aren’t on Facebook, I posted this last week and wanted to share it with you all.

“There are days/weeks/months where I feel like the world is against me and the walls around me are tumbling down and closing in. And then I look around and I see all the amazing people that are in my life and I realize, while some days I don’t feel blessed, I truly am blessed to be married to the love of my life Steve, to have my beautiful girls and our families that love and support us… and then there are my friends who really are the bread and butter of some of my days. New friends, old friends, cyber friends, blogging friends, neighborhood (angels) friends…. I am a very lucky person and thank you all for reminding me that when I need to hear it the most.”

I’m reminded of this weekly by words of encouragement, hugs, smiles and even small gestures from those around me.  I am told on a regular basis how strong I am and how amazing I am but honestly until recently I didn’t believe that.  In my head I defined strong as someone who “could emotionally and physically handle something” and I don’t feel emotionally strong inside at all, though I may appear that way out the outside, inside my heart is breaking.  But in talking with two different friends recently, I realized how strong I am.  I have not locked myself in a room and cried my eyes out days on end (though I may think of that sometimes), I haven’t shut out the world, friends or family, I haven’t stopped doing what we do on an everyday basis, I haven’t denied what is happening nor ignored it.  I’ve found a way to make it work for us and for my family and we still go about our days (some what differently) taking them as they come.  I cry at times, of course because I’m human, but I don’t let it run my life.   When I look at it that way, I can see that I really am strong and I need to keep telling myself this so I can believe that I can do anything.

Something happened to me recently (long story – really bad customer service, huge headache on my part) and my father said something that made me think … he said you never know what’s happening in someone’s life therefore you should always treat them kindly no matter what the circumstances are because they could be going through a tough time and the situation you are in now may only make it harder for them.  I guess that goes along with the saying “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”.

Looking at Steve he looks great – healthy actually.  But inside that’s not the case.  Chemo is killing a lot in there and there is still more to go.  But if a stranger looked at him, and even talked to him, you’d never know what he was dealing with.

So if you have an opportunity to do something nice for someone, do it because what you do might make a world difference to them.  Even the smallest gesture.