As I mentioned in the last update, we were scheduled for a CT scan on May 14 – which occurred as planned. We didn't receive the results until yesterday, and they are relatively positive. As we expected, the CT scan shows a significant decrease in the size of the tumors throughout the liver. The two largest tumors show approximately a 70% decrease in volume – so we are pleased with the results of the chemo. My blood levels are about the same as they have been – red blood cell count is low and white blood cell count is high (thanks to the Neulasta shot I get at the end of every chemo session which promotes the growth of white blood cells). I will get the liver function result today or tomorrow, and I'll send out a quick note as soon as we know how those match up.
Since I started another round shortly after discussing the CT scan with my doctor yesterday, having a positive report was a great incentive to be willing to move to the chemo session and actually go through with it. My hat is off to everyone who is on chemo and willingly goes forward with it.
Speaking of hats – I went ahead and buzzed off most of my hair about a week and a half ago. Crystal doesn't approve of my new look, and I'm not really sure I do either. I just couldn't stand the hair being so thin, but I'm not sure that "effectively bald" is really an improvement. On the bright side, as Crystal remarked, my new haircut looks great with a hat. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find my hats in the things we've unpacked so far, so my selection is limited to a new camouflage hat that my dad was able to donate to the cause. I'm looking forward to finally uncovering all the other hats I've kept over the years – but mostly never worn because I don't much care for hats. A variety of head gear will be good to have.
Unpacking will move forward with greater speed at this point because we had the final inspection on the basement this morning. Other than two minor items which should be relatively easy to fix, we passed the inspection, which means that my family can now move into the basement apartment my parents have put together for us. With a place for everything, we can now begin to unload our stuff. We moved everything from the storage unit to the garage on Saturday in preparation, and Crystal and I (mostly Crystal, I'm afraid, given that I just started another round of chemo) will be unpacking over the next few weeks and moving us in. As part of moving in, we also now have a working washer and dryer – so we won't be crowding my mom out of her laundry room any longer. Both my mom and Crystal are thrilled with this development.
We've also managed a few positive family outings over the last week or so, including going to the library and a couple of school activities for our children as well as their cousin's dance recital. Probably the most memorable was taking the kids to Highland Glen Park to go fishing. We had six lines (Crystal plus 5 children) and we could not keep the lines in the water because of the amount of fish we were catching. At one point I managed to get all six lines in the water at the same time, but that was only because I refused to take the fish off Crystal's and Rachel's lines until I finally got Hannah's line back in the water. Obviously, we all had a great time. We kept a number of the fish, but tried to return as many of the small ones as we could. Everyone caught at least two fish, and some of the kids caught three. This was with only about two hours of fishing – since I wasn't up to much more. As you can see from the pictures I've included, it was a productive day of fishing. You can also see my fabulous new haircut (with hat) in the pictures. For a good view of my new haircut without the hat – just check out Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies (except my head is not quite so shiny). Back to the fish – they also tasted pretty good once we got them home, filleted and fried.
Bekah shows offer her largest catch
Our final catch
Since I started another round shortly after discussing the CT scan with my doctor yesterday, having a positive report was a great incentive to be willing to move to the chemo session and actually go through with it. My hat is off to everyone who is on chemo and willingly goes forward with it.
Speaking of hats – I went ahead and buzzed off most of my hair about a week and a half ago. Crystal doesn't approve of my new look, and I'm not really sure I do either. I just couldn't stand the hair being so thin, but I'm not sure that "effectively bald" is really an improvement. On the bright side, as Crystal remarked, my new haircut looks great with a hat. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find my hats in the things we've unpacked so far, so my selection is limited to a new camouflage hat that my dad was able to donate to the cause. I'm looking forward to finally uncovering all the other hats I've kept over the years – but mostly never worn because I don't much care for hats. A variety of head gear will be good to have.
Unpacking will move forward with greater speed at this point because we had the final inspection on the basement this morning. Other than two minor items which should be relatively easy to fix, we passed the inspection, which means that my family can now move into the basement apartment my parents have put together for us. With a place for everything, we can now begin to unload our stuff. We moved everything from the storage unit to the garage on Saturday in preparation, and Crystal and I (mostly Crystal, I'm afraid, given that I just started another round of chemo) will be unpacking over the next few weeks and moving us in. As part of moving in, we also now have a working washer and dryer – so we won't be crowding my mom out of her laundry room any longer. Both my mom and Crystal are thrilled with this development.
We've also managed a few positive family outings over the last week or so, including going to the library and a couple of school activities for our children as well as their cousin's dance recital. Probably the most memorable was taking the kids to Highland Glen Park to go fishing. We had six lines (Crystal plus 5 children) and we could not keep the lines in the water because of the amount of fish we were catching. At one point I managed to get all six lines in the water at the same time, but that was only because I refused to take the fish off Crystal's and Rachel's lines until I finally got Hannah's line back in the water. Obviously, we all had a great time. We kept a number of the fish, but tried to return as many of the small ones as we could. Everyone caught at least two fish, and some of the kids caught three. This was with only about two hours of fishing – since I wasn't up to much more. As you can see from the pictures I've included, it was a productive day of fishing. You can also see my fabulous new haircut (with hat) in the pictures. For a good view of my new haircut without the hat – just check out Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies (except my head is not quite so shiny). Back to the fish – they also tasted pretty good once we got them home, filleted and fried.
Bekah shows offer her largest catch
Hannah and Daddy bringing in a "fighter"
Caleb was a little suspicious of our catch
Our final catch