Hopkins News

Hello friends, I have to thank you for all your prayers and well wishes for hubby. He is slowly getting better since radiation has started. He finished his 4th treatment today out of the 10.

We went to Hopkins this morning after radiation. Doc wasn't happy to see hubby using a cane to get around. I have noticed though that he isn't using it as much around the house now. Anyway, our Hopkins doctor told hubby that he has to been able to function with everyday life to be eligible for a study and of course last time he was, this time not so much. I have seen an improvement with his walking in the last 3 radiation treatments so doc is encouraged that he will be back up and functioning after he is done with radiation. If he isn't there isn't anything else that can be done except to make him as comfortable as they can. I think though that he will be good to go once this back pain is gone, which hopefully it will be once he is done with radiation. 

We go back down to Hopkins on the 14th of Sept. to see the doctor again and she will see how he is doing and make a determination of whether he is eligible for a colon cancer study. He will also do blood work for her in the same building and we will have to bring all his scans that have been done of course. Doc also told us that he will have to wait 2 to 3 weeks after radiation before starting a study. That's better than 28 days!  So next Tuesday, the 1st of Sept. he will be done with radiation and then the count down can begin. So keeping the faith that a study will be open for hubby to begin with as soon as doc says he can begin.

Thanks again for all the prayers and well wishes, we truly appreciation them all!!
Hugs, 
Brenda

CAT Scan News

Hello my sweet and wonderful crafty friends. It is with a heavy heart I come to you all today. We got the results of hubby's CAT scan and it wasn't good news. Which I was afraid was going to be the case as the fevers came back Saturday and hubby has had them everyday since. I was also worried about the pain in his back. I was and still am praying that it is just the arthritis in his back that is causing the pain. The treatments shrank some of the tumors, other tumors it did not and it let more new tumors come. I don't understand how it could shrunk some and not others or even to tell new ones come, it just doesn't make sense to me. But hubby's oncologist said he thought it would play out this way. Therefore he is stopping treatments, which of course he already did the last time we were there. That's why there wasn't a treatment yesterday. Hubby told him about his back pain he has been having and sure enough there was suspicious spots on his spine. Doc is afraid that the cancer may have moved into his spine and if that is the case he wants hubby to do radiation. So Friday hubby go for a bone scan and an MRI. We won't get the results until Tuesday as doc will be out of town until Monday. Doc wants hubby to still contact Hopkins and get in on a study there. Doc doesn't want hubby to mention the fevers, especially since he has been getting in the late afternoon/evening hours. So hubby called down to Hopkins and the one study is closed because it is full. Ok, we thought that it wasn't meant to be for that study. I am however praying hard that he can get into some kind of study. I don't think the first study was the study that the JH doctor wanted him in anyway. I just need him in something receiving some kind of treatment. I feel that we have hope if he is being treated, crazy as that sounds since most of the treatments he has receive haven't helped shrink the cancer. I'm desperate and more than prepared to beg them to take him at Hopkins. So that is where we are at right now. I don't know how often I will be posting, I don't know how much I will be commenting but you all will be in my thoughts and I will be around as my emotions let me. Not in a good place right now, but still some hope there. I know I have no right to ask, as you all have been wonderful with your prayers, but could you still keep hubby in your prayers? I'm just not ready to lose him!

Thank you for all the prayers you have been saying for hubby!! And thank you for taking the time to follow along on this journey with us. It will be two years come Oct when we started this journey and it has been a very emotional one the whole time. 
Hugs,
Brenda