Mixed emotions

In Leah's facebook post last Friday she stated I would write on the blog that evening.  Here it is the following Tuesday and I'm just sitting down to write.  I had an CT of my abdomen a week ago last Friday as my first 6 month long checkup.  The results showed no cancer.  Other than a thickening of the Bronchial tube nothing was really noted in the report.  The PA at the Oncologist office didn't seem at all concerned with the Bronchial tube activity.  Since I still have to make a trip out there every 6-8 weeks for a port flush, I politely inquired about getting that taken out.  The PA asked when I last had treatment.  I told her it had been a year in May.  She stated they usually take them out around a year.  Since I was nearly at a year and a half it was definitely time.  She did confirm that if I needed treatment in the future they would be reinstalling one again.  I understood this and stated I would rather have it reinstalled later than hang onto it and visit every 6 weeks whether I had to or not.  I had the blood test taken for this procedure.  In the next couple of weeks they will call and schedule my port removal.

Sunday Leah had her 40th birthday.  Before leaving for church Leah received a call from her mom wishing her a happy birthday.  While she was on the phone her mom also told her that her Grandpa passed away that morning.  Leah's birthday wasn't exactly what either of us expected, regardless we were surrounded by family and friends.

Many of you know my Dad has Alzheimers.  In recent weeks he has had difficulty swallowing so he had been placed on a diet of Pureed food.  Saturday evening Leah and I went to visit him and he was sitting in his chair but had very labored breathing.  I talked with my Mom tonight (tuesday) again after many of the times this weekend.  She told me she was asked by Dad's facility to either put Dad on Hospice or they would send him to the hospital.  Since my Mom had Cataract surgery today she asked to push off the decision for one day.  Neither of us feel sending him to the hospital will be beneficial for his quality of life at this point.  So more than likely he will be put on Hospice care soon.  He was diagnosed with this disease 7 years ago and although I slowly prepared for this moment I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for the final goodbye.  

--Kent

No Activity

When you look at this title, you may think it refers to what is happening on this blog.  Unfortunately this blog gets very little activity when Life resumes a busy and normal schedule.  While many of us live a normal life most of take it for granted.  When your schedule includes Chemo every other week for the better part of 2 years and you have many side effect that come along with it, you really appreciate living a normal life when you don't have to see Doctors and Nurses every other week.

My last scan and Doctor's appointment was early October and at that point he scheduled me to have another one in January.  Last week Wednesday I had a PET-CT scan and today we met with the Oncologist to go over the results.

He walked in the room and said "your scans look great".  The report form the scan said there was "No Activity"  This means any of the Lesions left in the liver were not active Cancer.  I had been wondering if the remaining lesions were active and just not growing for several months or if they were not active.  This scan answered the question for us.  The report also said the lesions were shrinking.  My doctor said this is due to scar tissue shrinking after time.  On other thing we talked about was my Port.  He said at some point in the not so distance future he will want my port removed.  He obviously wants to wait for a few scans to pass to make sure there is no more activity.

Until then my future looks like the following.  In 6 weeks I need to have my port flushed. this should happen every 6 - 8 weeks.  In early April I will have another PET-CT scan and then meet with my oncologist yet again to go over the results.

Thanks so much to everyone for your prayers and support.

--Kent