A Johns Hopkins Update

Hello my crafty friends, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We sure did. We went to VA and enjoyed no tv, internet or phones-well we had our cell phones along but didn't bother with them. lol We rode around 300 acres just admiring the beauty of God, the warm weather and friends who are more like family to us. We ate, oh my did we eat! Being outdoors makes you eat more and I can't afford to do that! But it was so good and very relaxing getting away. Took our minds off the cancer for a little while. We came home on Easter Sunday evening after a wonderful meal at lunch time. We got the dishes in the dishwasher and the car packed up and off we went 6 hours to home. Bret got his gear out the car and into his only to have to drive another 2 1/2 hours up the road back to school. Glad it was him than me, it doesn't seem to bother the younger ones. 

Monday was our appointment at Johns Hopkins with the new oncologist. We really liked her. At first we were getting a little nervous because she told us that hubby has done everything available to him as they wrote it out on paper in front of us. But then she turned the paper over and continued to write and then we knew she had a plan. There is a study that hubby qualifies for. I don't know if any of you saw on 60 Minutes where they were taking live viruses and injecting them into the tumors so the body recolonizes the tumor so it can fight them. Well her plan is similar to that only she won't be injecting the tumors with live viruses, instead they will be boosting hubby's auto immune system and then giving him a chemo with it that he hasn't had before. Why hasn't he had it yet you ask? Well it is because this cancer has a mutation that causes that chemo not to work on it. Why is she using it then you ask?? Well because they have found that when they boost the auto immune system and then add this chemo that it is working! So as soon as she can get some info regarding hubby's tumor from our local hospital she will do some more testing for other mutations and then he will begin treatments. It will be every week. It should take her 2 to 4 weeks to get ready for us as long as the hospital sends her what she needs. We are very excited and hopeful that they will work for hubby. If it doesn't she has another plan too. And that is to go back to the first chemo treatment that worked but because of the bad side effects hubby had to be pulled off of it. She will come in with a much lower dose and with some kinds of depression meds that they have found to work to lower some of the side effects with this type of chemo. We are praying he doesn't have to go back on it, but if he has to then he will. He still has some neuropathy from this chemo treatment and it has been over a year now since he has had it. But regardless, there is a plan(s) in effect now and we can soon start treatments. 

I would like to thank you all again for the wonderful support you have given us. We have been so very blessed with all the support of family, friends and blogging buddies. The prayers are so awesome and I truly believe that is why hubby is in such good shape and is other wise healthy to do this study. If he had been losing weight and sickly he wouldn't have been a candidate for the study. But his "numbers" have stayed up, his weight has stay up and he has done fairly good for a person who is stage 4 colon cancer. And we owe it all to the good Lord and the people who keep praying for him all over the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!  Thank you for blessing our lives with knowing a piece of you, thank you for being you! 

Until next time crafty hugs, Brenda