A New Year

As much as I enjoyed the holidays with the family, I am really glad that December is over. No, it is not because of all the hustle and bustle of the season. Rob really had a rough month.

As you read in the previous post, he had pneumonia at the beginning of the month. He sort of got better, but not really. The coughing (which is ever present anyway) seemed to lessen a bit after being on his antibiotic, but then about 13 days after his last dose, he started right back up again. The cracked/broken rib didn't help much. The pain was pretty intolerable.

The 27th, I called his oncologist and explained what was going on. More antibiotics, cough medicine, and pain medicine was called in. It took several days before he felt better.

So: to sum up December...

Coughing

Pain

Coughing

Pain

and

more

Coughing.

Monday, January 3, Rob had another scan. We met with Dr. Litton on Thursday last week.

Cancer: growing (surprised, right?) - the largest tumor (according to the report) is 9 cm long by 4.5 cm wide - wahoo! So cute. The little tyke just trying to grow up.

Anyway, I digress.

Basically, he said that at this point in time, if we are going to do something, we really need to it now. He gave us three options.

1. Do nothing


2. Start chemotherapy - the kind that he would have Rob take is Carboplatin/Alimpta. Supposedly, he will not lose his hair (what hair anyway?), but there will be some side effects like fatigue, possible neuropathy (where your extremities hurt and tingle like someone is poking you with pins, and every step hurts), and we read about some other possible side effects like nausea and weight loss.


3. Join a Phase One Study (that means that they just finished testing on animals and are ready for the human guinea pigs) at Huntsman at the University of Utah. We don't know any of the side effects or whether he would be a candidate.

He said that if we go with the chemotherapy route, we needed to start within the month. The reasoning behind this, is that, they need some sort of baseline (his January scan) to see how the tumors react with the chemo. If we wait too long, it will be difficult to see what effects, if any, the chemo makes.

Sunday, we had the whole family fasting and praying on our behalf. Poor Noah (he is eight). He thought that he was going to pass out from not eating. It was a big deal for him.

I feel like this whole week has been like I am sitting on a giant pendulum. At first, I was indifferent to the chemo option. Next, I worry how it will effect Rob and whether it is going to decrease his quality of life. We know that this will not cure him. Then, I think, well, it may just assist in making those pesky tumors stop growing. ARGH!

Rob has decided to try the chemo route once more. I think that it is safe to say that the study is out of the picture at this point.

This Friday, he will go in to visit the lovely nurses at Utah Cancer Specialists, and get a script for folic acid and receive a B-12 shot (both of which are to help stave off neuropathy).

The following Friday, January 21, we will go and get the poison pumped into his body, in hopes that it will make the cancer not grow as quickly. After two to three treatments (each three weeks apart) we will re-evaluate. He will have another scan and we will decide whether to continue with the chemotheraphy.

With this breaking news, I will probably be updating the blog a bit more - to keep you apprised of his health. I know you are all waiting with bated breath...

Slowness in Updating

I am a little slow in the uptake. Rob had his scan two weeks ago. I know. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth - I have just been abnormally tired. I am sure that you have been waiting with bated breath....

As you are well aware (or not), every scan Rob has had over the last year - his tumors have doubled in size as well as new tumors developing.

You may not know that Rob and I ran a little experiment during the three-month hiatus. We swore off refined sugar. No, this was not something that the doctor recommended. I was doing a little thinking about those pesky tumors. When he would go in for his PET scans, Rob had to drink glucose prior to the scan. The glucose would then head straight to the tumors - they love it. So, it made sense to me that tumors like sugar.

It was not sensible to exclude all types of sugar, so we just kept it to refined.

We got the scan results back from Rob's doctor. The cancer grew, but didn't double - it was more like 60% instead of 100% (that is good, right?). Additionally, there were no new growths. He still has all the previously grown tumors, but nothing new (that is good, right?).

So, since nothing earth-shattering happened with the cancer growth (or lack thereof), Rob decided he wanted to go back on the sugar wagon. He has been dying (no pun intended) for a chocolate bar for some time now. Needless to say, we have been getting a few sugar-related headaches. I think that I felt better when there was no refined sugar in my body. It is not fun to come back down from a sugar-high.

We are thinking about the possibility of chemo in the future. However, we have to think about the statistical possibility of it doing nothing and weigh it against the side-effects. (It will not cure him, but it could slow things down.) We have a whole-lot-of-thinking to do in the next while. If you have any extra Thinking Caps, send them our way! : )