Finished Fifth Round of Chemo

Its been a long time since posting, sorry! We returned from the CTCA Wednesday night late. No travel mishaps. We flew to Denver with a 45-50 mile tail wind and some bumps, but we survived!

Brian had his usual assessments prior to his fifth round of chemo. His oncologist said he will have one more chemo session three weeks from now, then the next time we go back (3 weeks or so) he will have his scans and another EGD scope. If those remain clear he will NOT need any more chemo. She told Brian he will have to continue to have follow ups with scans and scopes every few months after to make sure cancer does not return. We continue to pray and are very optimistic that this cancer is completely GONE!

Our next scheduled trip will be February 15Th through the 17TH. This time we will fly to Midway at Chicago and back. I guess it is the cheapest rate. We have never been at that airport, so we will have a new adventure. I will miss the great Italian restaurant at Milwaukee.

Brian is recovering from chemo and I will be traveling after work to celebrate Paqui's 35Th birthday. It is hard to believe she is that old, since that makes me that much older!!!

Bye for now!

Biopsy Report

Yesterday, Brian heard that the biopsies that where done with the scopes came back negative. Again we are very thankful that he continues to be cancer free at this time and all the nasty chemo is worth while! The next chemo trip will occur on Jan. 25Th through the 27Th. We will fly in to CTCA on Monday. He will have blood work, see oncologist and have chemo on Tuesday; then we fly back home Wednesday. It will be a whirlwind trip. This time if I have a sinus infection I am NOT going! I had a real BAD sinus infection when I returned home last time, but on the mend now. At least I went back to work yesterday.

Brian is at Jessamyn's house watching our grandsons while Jessamyn and Jay are vacationing in Costa Rica for six days. They gave each other the trip for Christmas (nice) and since Brian is recouping from chemo anyway, he can sleep there as well as at home while the boys are in school. Rico our dog went with Brian too, so only have the cats to keep me company.

Take care all and thanks again for all your support!

Mary

Good and Bad News

Brian is currently receiving chemo while I update you all on the blog. We arrived here at Zion Sunday with no mishaps. Brian had a CT scan, blood work and pre-appointment for scopes today. Today he had both a EGD and colonoscopy. The doc found 1 small polyp in rectum along with a hemorrhoid. They of course took biopsy of polyp. He also found a small ulcer near stomach/esophageal junction. He took more biopsies of last know cancer areas.

The CT scan showed some inflammation at lower lobes of both lungs and slight amount of fluid around his heart, but right lung nodule was gone. The oncologist believes it is residue from radiation treatment that can show up 6 months later since he is not having any respiratory distress. The good news is that he has no recurrence so far of cancer, pending biopsy reports. The bad news is the oncologist wants to do 3 more cycles of same chemo three weeks apart and then retest with scans and another scope of esophagus just to make sure everything is healed and no signs and symptoms of cancer. Boy, was Brian's mood deflated. He thought he was done with treatment. I told him they just want to make sure it is good and gone! The doc states it is better to be more aggressive than not in this situation.

We fly back to Scottsbluff tomorrow, so hope the weather holds. I am battling another respiratory infection, the third one since October. It must be too much stress, will have to go to doctor myself when I get home. I will keep you posted on biopsy reports.

Mary