Second Round of Chemo is Done!

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…

We met with the surgeon on June 20 2014 that was going to put in the Port-A-Cath on the following Monday.  He explained to us that it will sit in the front of his shoulder, just under the skin.  It can stay there for as long as we need it and then removed when we are done.  He will receive his chemo through the port and have all his blood work drawn from it.  This way they don’t have to poke him each time.  Of course there are things that can complicate this but those things are rare and probably won’t happen.  We are pretty confident that getting the Port is the best way to do it. The surgery was outpatient and pretty simple and…

As a parent, the last thing we ever want to do is see our children hurt. We’ve raised our girls with so much love and protection in the hopes that they would always feel safe with us. As a family, we’ve been through a lot the past 23 months and we’ve tried to be as honest as we could with the girls, letting them know along the way how much we love them and that everything would always be “okay”. Today we had to do the hardest thing ever… today we told the girls that the chemo isn’t working and the tumors are still growing. And even though daddy was going to continue on chemo the next 6 months, ultimately it’s just to get more…

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…

Today we met with the Oncologist to get Steve’s CT Scan results and his latest CEA number.  The appointment wasn’t what we hoped for last week going into the CT Scan.  Steve and I both had different ideas of what to expect and neither of those expectations happened. First of all I’m very happy to tell you that his CEA number is 21.  Last time it was 64 so this was a nice drop and we were very happy to see it so low. That was good. Next is the size of the tumors.  They’ve decreased significantly in both his lungs and liver.  Which is great news!  But, Honestly this is where I was surprised as I assumed that one of his organs would be…

When we arrived at the infusion center today, they didn’t have the new orders for Steve’s reduction in the 5-FU chemo.  Thankfully she mentioned out loud that due to his weight loss, she needed to call the doctor to have him adjust his meds.  We told her that the Doctor said he was reducing one of them and she noticed she still had the old orders.  Glad we were paying attention. It took about an hour but he called in the right orders and he began chemo #7.   We did figure out which one the 5-FU is – it’s the one that he comes home with.  Before we leave they give him a push of it into his IV to give him a big dose…