Recent Recheck CT

Time to catch up again!  Since I last posted to this blog, David has had a couple of more rounds of chemo & we made a trip to Florida to visit Mom Hager, all of Janet's siblings, & many of our nieces & nephews as well as spend a few glorious days at the beautiful beaches of the St. Petersburg area.  Unfortunately, we both picked up a nasty sinusitis & bronchitis on our trip to Florida that lasted for a couple of weeks & kept David from getting one of his scheduled chemo treatments.  Not sure that cross country air travel is something we can manage anymore.  But, we are well again & back on track with chemo.

David had a recheck CT scan on May 1st & overall things are looking stable when compared to his most recent previous CT done at the end of January.  He continues to have increased soft tissue density & fullness in the area of his pancreatic surgical bed (which represents tumor recurrence), compression to the blood vessels in that region that supply blood to his intestines (fortunately, he has developed some collateral blood vessels that are helping with that workload), a fatty appearing liver (which may be secondary to the chemo), & has stable appearing compression of his common bile duct.  Thankfully, there is no evidence of metastases to the liver or new lymph node enlargement -- both good things!  And, on David's most recent recheck of his tumor markers, they had decreased a little bit more since the previous check.  So, as best we can tell, his cancer does not appear to be progressing.

Today, David is having his 6th treatment with Abraxane & Gemcitabine.  This chemo combo is continuing to be very tough on David.  The skin rash is no longer a big issue, but he continues to have about four days of fever, body aches, headache, extreme fatigue, & decreased appetite / nausea.  He has also developed hair loss.  We never thought that this potential side effect would be a big deal since he has been bald for years, but he now has very little facial & body hair!  Having no eye lashes has proved to be the most problematic -- now tiny grains of dust blow right into his eyes & sweat drips into his eyes without anything to slow it down!  And, without eyebrows, it's harder to read his expressions -- is he surprised, worried, calm -- who knows?!  Anyway, he continues to endure it all & on those days that he is feeling pretty good, he enjoys his life immensely!

We will see David's oncologist (Dr. Fanta) next week & as long as he continues to give his blessing (he has been onboard with the idea when we have talked to him about it recently), we will be heading to Colorado for the majority of the summer (we hope).  We have arranged to continue David's chemo treatments in Gunnison (about 30 minutes from our cabin in Almont) & have an appointment to see their oncologist (she currently flies into Gunnison every couple of weeks from New Orleans, but will be moving to Gunnison in October to open a full-time practice) who will be overseeing Dr. Fanta's treatment plan for David.  The prospect of being in Colorado for the summer is truly exciting to us, but getting chemo treatments in a small, unfamiliar infusion center is a bit scary!  Hopefully, it will all go very smoothly!

That brings you up to speed with us.  Wishing you all a safe & fun filled summer!!  Much love, Janet