Longer Chemo Intervals!

Well, it took us longer than we had anticipated to get chemo treatment #8 into David because he was bumped from treatment two weeks in a row due to neutropenia (a low white blood cell count).  But, David was finally able to have treatment #8 on July 25th, had a recheck CT yesterday, & we met with his oncologist today.  Overall, David's CT findings were pretty stable to slightly improved & his tumor markers on blood work were down -- they are still too high, but trending in the right direction! Because David's cancer appears to be responding to the current treatment along with the fact that David is experiencing some longer lasting side effects from the chemo, Dr. Fanta has recommended staying on the same chemo regimen (Folfiri), but decreasing chemo intervals from every two weeks to every three weeks.  We are extremely grateful for this latest news & will remain hopeful that David will continue to respond with less frequent treatment so that his interval between treatments could be lengthened even more in the future.

Since I last made an entry to this blog, our world was shaken up again.  On June 30th, my dearest friend of 41 years, Holly, died from complications of a routine colonoscopy.  Holly & I had been classmates in Physical Therapy School, she was the Maid of Honor at our wedding, one of my few trusted confidants, & a caring & giving friend with the purest heart of anyone in my life.  She was always very diligent about her health, so the irony of her death from complications to a preventative health care procedure is glaring!  Holly's colon was perforated during the procedure, but it took a week for this perforation to be properly diagnosed.  By the time she made it to surgery to have her abdomen cleaned out along with a partial resection of her colon and a temporary colostomy that they planned to reverse in a few months, she was very ill.  She survived the surgery, but died several hours following surgery from cardiac complications.  This is a loss that has hit us very hard & one that I will never fully recover from.

 David, Janet, Holly, & Mark on a visit they made to San Diego in February.

On August 12th, we will be in Seattle with the Hager clan for the wedding of Nelson & Sharree Hager's oldest daughter, Dorothy, on what will be our 39th wedding anniversary!  We haven't been able to travel much of late, so we are thrilled to be able to make this trip to celebrate such a joyous event!

Thanks to everyone who follows this blog for your comments, texts, calls, cards, & caring support -- they mean the world to us!  Much love, Janet