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A late start to Steve’s 3rd Chemo Treatment
Today was Steve’s 3rd Chemo Treatment. It’s crazy how fast the last 6 weeks have gone by since we first found out he had cancer. Last time there was no issue with the port and the IV went right in with no problems. This week we had a problem again. Not getting the IV in, but getting the blood to flow out of the IV. You see, when they put a port in, sometimes your body realizes this foreign object is in there and doesn’t like it. So it sort of forms like a blood clot so nothing will flow. I’m not sure of the exact terms they use but basically it blocks it. When this happens you can get stuff into the IV, like…
The Biopsy Results are in: Colon Cancer
On Tuesday, June 10, 2014, we saw the oncologist from the hospital to get the final results from the biopsy. We knew Steve had cancer but we didn’t know what kind so we weren’t sure what we were dealing with, yet. That was when we found out it was Colon Cancer. And since it’s spread to 2 other organs (liver and lung), it’s Stage 4. Colon cancer is not curable once it’s spread to other organs. Therefore, Steve will never be cancer free. 🙁 The doctor said there really is no reason to operate since there was no large obstruction in the colon (since they didn’t see anything on the CT Scan) nor is there a lot of bleeding (since Steve has never noticed any)…
Dana Faber Visit Update
Today Steve and I went to Dana Faber to meet with a research doctor in Gastrointestinal Cancers to talk about possible clinical trials. We did our research and talked with Steve’s Oncologist in Warwick beforehand and we were pretty sure there wasn’t anything that Steve qualified for so we weren’t expecting much. But figured a ride there wouldn’t hurt. And it didn’t hurt, nor did it help. We were correct. There is nothing right now for Steve’s specific cancer and mutation of his cancer. However, the doctor did offer to test Steve’s original biopsy sample to see if it has a specific mutation that it wasn’t tested for back in June 2014. While the doctor doesn’t think Steve’s cancer has this mutation according to other…
CEA Number Update
Today we saw the Oncologist again with an update on Steve’s CEA Number. And we got some really good news! Steve’s CEA (tumor marker number) is down to 64!!! On June 4th it was 536. Then a few weeks later it was up to 834.8. Four weeks ago it was down to 263.1. And today it’s 64!!! The doctor said not all cancers can measure the tumors with this marker, but Colon Cancer is one of them so this does tell us that the tumors are shrinking. But we can tell as well because of some little differences that we see that I’ve mentioned before. (His dry cough is gone and his night sweats are gone for the most part and his bowels are better. …
6th Round of Chemo has begun….
Today began round 6 of chemo. It was the fastest and smoothest one yet. We had one of our favorite nurses Erin (she was actually our first so that maybe why we like her so much). The port worked great and Erin got the IV in right away with a perfect blood return! So we were off to a great start. Steve feels good today, his appetite is up and he’s just in a good mood. He’s been unhappy the past week due to another sore on his tongue. When he gets these sores he can’t eat much or even drink much. So think about it, would you be miserable? I know I would!! So it was a tough week but yesterday he started feeling…