So many months have passed

Where does one begin when we've allowed so much time to pass. Anyway, I will start with Jason. Tomorrow marks Jason's 23rd of 24 treatments for his 12 month treatment plan--he is ready to be finished to say the least. January 6th will be his last treatment. January 18th, he will have a PET scan to see if there are any active cancer cells. Depending on the results of the scan, the Dr. will help us determine the next steps. Jason has been having a MRI every 8 weeks and they continue to remain stable. Our hope and prayer is that the PET scan will show no active cancer cells and that Jason will be able to start a maintenance phase of treatment consisting of just Avastin. He would not have any chemo drugs--this would be such a blessing as those are the drugs that make you feel utterly exhausted. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't worried about what the 18th of January will bring. January has not been such a great month for us the last few years--originally diagnosed on Jan. 19, 2008 and then reoccurance on Jan. 19, 2011. It's quite mind-boggling to think it's been almost 4 years now since his original diagnosis. Praise God!

As for me, I just finished up my first semester of my nursing program. I get a little break for Christmas and will start my 2nd semester on Jan. 9th. It has been very nice having some time off right now and will be difficult to get back in the groove. Time management is essential when working, going to school, taking care of the family! I believe I have mastered my time management skills :) I truly am blessed to walking the path that I am and am humbled by God's grace & peace that He so generously gives me!

Taylor is doing great in 3rd grade. She continues to be active in the arts--she's in the youth honors chorus program at the Midland Center for the Arts, ballet & tap at Gina Beebe Dance Studio, and she just finished up being in the "Gospel According to Scrooge" musical at our church, Messiah Lutheran. She loves to perform and has such an energy about her. She truly amazes me and she loves deeply. I'm so proud to be her mother!

Easton is doing fantastic in 1st grade. It is so neat to listen to him learning to read and seeing his excitement for learning in general. He is the definition of energy I think. He is constantly going. He's in his 3rd year of hockey and I have to say--he's pretty darn good. It's amazing to see him on the ice. Not only is he fast, but he is very intuitive as well. He understands the game and he anticipates his next moves. I'm so proud to be his mother as well!

Merry Christmas to you! May God give you peace this Christmas season. Take time to slow down and truly enjoy & cherish your time with family and friends! Blessings, Joslyn

Jason had his Dr. appt at Duke and his MRI looks even better than last time! The treatment is kicking some major booty right now and we are loving it!

This time of year always seems to fly by. Here we are in the middle of May already. We've been busy. Easton celebrated his 6th birthday at the end of April. He's getting to be such a big boy--he'll be in first grade in the fall. Taylor and Easton are both playing ball this spring. Taylor is much more excited about softball this year--she likes being on a team of all girls and having the coaches pitch rather than hitting off a tee. Easton is playing coach-pitch baseball and he's doing good. He loves to catch and works really hard behind the plate trying to stop each pitch. Even though they call it coach-pitch, the boys actually pitch most of the time--so you can imagine the balls flying all over the place:)

Jason's varsity team is in full swing as well. They are doing alright--they are a rather young team so hopefully the years to come will make for a great team. Jason's feeling pretty good right this moment but tomorrow is his 3 drug treatment day so the next few days will be "not so great" for him. I have to tell you though--he handles the treatments really well. I'm amazed by all he does even when he's loaded up with a bunch of drugs that make you feel really yucky.

So, if you'd like to see us in the next few weeks, you can find us at one of the ball fields! Have a great week.

Significant shrinkage!

Just saw Jason's Dr. at Duke and he said that the tumors have significantly shrunk. The plan is to continue on with the same treatment. Praise God!

Back from Florida

We spent spring break in Florida, and it was lovely (except for the couple of days full of rain)! Jason had his 4th round of treatment today. He's at baseball practice right now but I'm pretty sure he'd rather be in bed:) He seems to be handling the treatments alright just really tired. We travel to Duke for his Dr. appt on Tuesday, Apr 12. Praying the MRI shows some positive changes!

I've wanted to write but haven't really known what to write--does that make sense? I have so many thoughts and feelings right now that I don't know how to put any of into words. Many of you ask, "how are you doing?" I'm doing ok. I'm aware of the different emotions that are running through me and I'm trying to manage them in a way that works for me. Sometimes it means I feel like talking, sometimes it means I don't feel like talking, sometimes it means I want to laugh and joke, and yet sometimes, it means I want to cry, and on the list goes. So don't be surprised if you witness all of this in a day, or heck, even in an hour. I believe this is normal and acceptable and it means that I'm processing--that I'm not holding it all in and that is a good thing.

One of Jason's coworkers arranged a prayer service for our family last Sunday. I'll be honest--I didn't want to go at all, but I did anyway and I was blessed. There's something about having people put their hands on you and praying over you. And, it's even more powerful when it's people you don't expect to be there--to know that there are people praying all over this world for our family whether they know us intimately or just through this blog or a friend. Very humbling. It was really good for the kids too. At first, we weren't going to have the kids in the prayer service but at the last minute we went and got them. I believe we made the right choice. They got to see and feel the prayers of several others. I was worried that the kids would realize the seriousness of daddy's illness. That's an area that I try to be very conscious of--I want to be sure that our kids know about their dad's cancer and what that all entails, but I also don't want to scare them. Many people have asked us, "how are the kids doing?" The kids are doing really well. We haven't seen any changes in them that would indicate that they are not coping well. The kids know that Dad's cancer is back, that he is taking lots of medicine to try and get rid of it, and that he is going to be tired and need to rest more. They don't like it when he sleeps during the day but I try to remind them that he needs to in order to stay healthy. Taylor asked, "is he going to be on this medicine for the rest of his life?" I told her no but that he would be on it for a year. Her response, "well at least it's not the rest of his life." A year is a really long time for a 5 and 7 year old--please pray for them to understand that Dad wants to be playing with them but sometimes he just doesn't have the energy.

I'll try to be a bit better about updating but won't make any promises:) 

Round 1 done

Jason had his first round of treatment on Friday. He did alright with it. Seemed to be pretty tired and his stomach bothered him more this time. Treatments will be every two weeks from here on out. 

Jason's first round of treatment is this Friday at 11:00. Duke and Dr. H"s office did a fantastic job of getting everything coordinated. That was a blessing because we all know how hectic trying to coordinate medical care between doctors can be:)

There's not a whole lot of new information. Just waiting to get everything coordinated between Duke and our local oncologist. Hoping that Jason's first treatment will be this week. In the meantime, life is going on as usual!

Info about Dr. appt today and treatment plan

Here is the info about Jason's dr. appt today.

We met with Dr. V today and discussed treatment options according to how the pathology came back from the biopsy. The cancer has reoccurred and has transformed from a grade II oligoastrocytoma to a grade III anaplastic astrocytoma. This means that the cancer has become more aggressive and grows more quickly. There was new growth in the left frontal lobe. There was also growth around the existing tumor area in the left occipital/parietal lobe extending into the left temporal lobe.

We have chosen to enter into a clinical trial that is utilizing 3 different drugs (Avastin, CPT-11, & Carboplatin) to knock out the cancer. Jason will begin treatment sometime next week. He will be receiving treatment every two weeks for a year. He has been on two of the drugs before. He will receive the Avastin and CPT-11 every two weeks and the carboplatin will be every 4 weeks. CPT-11 and Carboplatin are chemotherapy drugs. CPT-11 interferes with the growth of cancer cells. Carboplatin kills cancer cells. Avastin is an anti-angiogenesis drug – essentially it inhibits blood vessel formation which starves the tumor. Tumors need their own blood supply in order to grow.

Jason will receive his treatments in Midland. He will see his Duke Dr. every 8 weeks with a new MRI. I know some of you probably have questions so I’m going to try and answer some of them right now.

The trial is completely voluntary and Jason can get out of the trial at anytime. We felt no pressure to enter into the trial. If the cancer begins to progress while on this treatment, they will switch him to a different treatment plan. Jason will receive the treatment described above. There is no placebo in this study. It is a phase II study and the purpose is to determine the safety and activity of the 3 drugs against recurrent malignant gliomas, describe the activity of the 3 drugs as measured by response rate and progression-free survival, and determine the toxicity (side effects) of the combination therapy. There are, of course, side effects to treatment; however, we anticipate Jason to have similar responses as the last time he was getting treated. We anticipate fatigue, low blood counts, some nausea, high blood pressure, and possibly diarrhea. Hope this info answers your questions. If not, feel free to ask.

We are back at the hotel. Jason is feeling good. I'm doing good. I got a whole book read today--lots of time on our hands now. No luck on tickets for the Duke basketball game on Saturday--we even asked all the doctors that we saw.

Biopsy is done and it went well. Jason is back in his room right now. He feels good and is ready to get out of here. We will be leaving sometime this afternoon and heading to the hotel for some relaxation and probably some sleep. Thanks for the prayers!

Biopsy

I'm sitting in the surgical waiting area. Jason is getting prepped. I will get to see him one more time before the biopsy. It is scheduled for 7:30 and shouldn't take more than an hour. He will most likely be discharged later today.It will take 3-5 business days for the final pathology to come back. Once it is back, we will meet with Dr. to discuss treatment options and finalize a plan. Hoping to be back home next Wednesday.

We are getting ready to head on over to Duke for Jason's pre-op fun. We're supposed to be there at 10:00. Not sure what is all going to happen today, but do know that we will meet the surgeon. Jason will be checked into the hospital sometime today and the biopsy will be tomorrow. Finally, feel like things are starting to move! Blessings to all, Joslyn

Jason's biopsy is scheduled for this Thursday. We leave tomorrow morning to fly down there. His pre-op appt is on Wednesday at 10:00.

Still no news. We've been waiting all week and it's starting to get really old. Surprisingly today, I have been able to not think about it every moment of the day. I can't promise tomorrow will be the same; however, I hope that it is.

Will you join us in prayer tonight and tomorrow and ask the Lord to have the surgeon call us to schedule his biopsy? We need this! 

Thanks and blessings to you all! Joslyn

Nothing to report as of right now. Still waiting to hear when Jason's biopsy will be.

We do know that we'll be down at Duke for at least a week. 3 days for the biopsy and then 3-5 business days to get the final pathology back. Doctor will review final pathology with us, discuss treatment options, and finalize the plan prior to us returning home.

Please pray that we will have a date for the biopsy very soon.

A post that I don't want to write

No easy way to say it--Jason's cancer is back. We got word yesterday from Jason's doctor at Duke that it is bad and he is worried that it has transformed into a higher grade. He wants Jason to have biopsy done. He will be having that done at Duke. We are just waiting to hear as to when this will occur. We anticipate it happening by the end of this week or next week.

This news came to us as a surprise because Jason has been feeling very good and we have not noticed any changes in him. We ask for you to lift each of us up in prayer for strength and peace the coming days, weeks, and months. Please be bold in your prayers and ask for complete healing for Jason as well! Our God is in the business of miracles as we have witnessed in the past.