Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
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!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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:)
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:)
Monday, February 21, 2011
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.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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 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.
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