The Good & The Bad

Let's start with the good!  We were able to get to Colorado for about ten days!!  It was wonderful to spend some time in those beautiful mountains, but being at 8,400 feet is a challenge for David -- between his significant anemia & the ascites (fluid build up in his abdomen), breathing was tough!  Luckily, we have an O2 concentrator that we could hook David up to periodically to help oxygenate all of his cells better.  Having made the decision to put our beloved log cabin on the market (it just no longer makes sense for us to have a summer home that is such a long trek from Cardiff & that taxes David so much more than being at sea level), we spent much of our time readying the cabin for sale.  We threw away two dumpsters full of stuff, took some of our sporting goods to a consignment shop, donated many things, & packed up about 15 boxes of items that we will eventually get moved to us in California.  As you can probably guess, this trip was both physically & emotionally draining.  But, we are hoping that we might be able to make it back to our cabin one more time over the summer to try to just enjoy the mountains & not work so hard.

Upon our return to California, David had a recheck abdominal CT to reassess the liver abscesses.  Unfortunately, after four more weeks of daily IV antibiotics with Ertapenem, the abscesses are slightly larger when compared to the previous study in May -- so not the results we were hoping to hear!  So, our infectious disease doctor plans to talk with the interventional radiologists to see if they feel they can reach any of the abscesses to drain, obtain cytology on, & perform a new culture & sensitivity to help better guide ongoing antibiotic treatment.  The ID doctor also plans to talk with the GI interventional doctor to see if he feels that the stent placed in David's common bile duct needs cleaning out (it appears patent on CT, but she wonders if it could be harboring bacteria that continue to infect David's biliary tree).  While we are in this holding pattern as these doctors talk among themselves & figure out our next best step, we are continuing the daily IV antibiotics with Ertapenem -- not sure that this particular antibiotic is helping, but she seems to think it is better than not treating with any antibiotic.  Needless to say, we are frustrated with this situation.  We need these abscesses to be gone before we can even consider resuming treatment for the cancer!!!

While we were in Colorado, a friend & fellow pancreatic cancer warrior, Katie, made the decision to stop her battle & go on Hospice services after receiving news that her cancer had significantly progressed.  We lost Katie on May 31st after a most gallant, two-and-a-half year battle against a foe that almost never loses.  As with all of Katie's friends, this loss has hit us hard.  David lost a friend that he could commiserate with about the ups & (mostly) downs of pancreatic cancer & treatment.  For the rest of us who have been touched by pancreatic cancer & were lucky enough to have known Katie, we lost a smiling, ray of positivity in a sea that holds so much negativity.  Obviously, we will miss Katie!

Tomorrow, David will have reached his six year mark of living with pancreatic cancer.  While we know he is luckier than most, it has not been an easy journey & the past six months have been particularly harsh.  But, with encouragement & love, he battles on with the hope that maybe something positive will be discovered to help prolong his journey & improve his current clinical status.

With love for my warrior & appreciation for all of you & the important role you play in helping make this journey a little brighter -- thank you!!  Janet