New Chemo To Start This Week

Usual disclaimer - no spell check - Ugh!

On Tuesd., 4/19 Ed had a CT Scan on his entire mid-section; on Thursday 4/21 (our 5 yr. anniversary by the way) we met with the Oncologist for the results. It is quite funny how Ed and I hear the same words come out of the Doctor's mouth, but do not hear the same "meaning"; So folks, what you have all been waiting for... Ed's Pancreatic tumor has remained the same size, no change there, which the Doc felt was positive; there are new lesions on his lungs (I think he said about 4), small, but there none-the-less; there is one 1/2" lesion on his spleen; and there are "several" new small bone lesions - what the word "several" means, well, your guess is as good as mine. His liver is still clean, which is awesome, seeing that his liver is processing the gagillion medications he has to take & will be processing the new chemo med. Ed heard all this and thought it was pretty good news, I heard all this and was fairly devastated. We forgot to ask if the scans identified if his bone fracture had healed at all... Ed is meeting with a Pain Management specialist today (4/26) and he should find out what happened with the fracture. The bone cancer pain is just incredibly debilitating and we are hoping that the pain doc can find a way to decrease that pain without upping the already crazy amount of pain-med's he takes.

Also, either today or tomorrow, he will being a new chemo pill called Xeloda (capecitabine: http://www.xeloda.com/xeloda-side-effects.aspx)
This is a two-week on, one week off treatment. He will take it in the morning and in the evening. We had received a message from a woman who's husband has had great success on this medication (22 months & still going) and we are desperately hoping/praying Ed can tolerate this medication and it will give us some more time. One never knows, if he hangs in there long enough, maybe another medical-break-through could happen and he could stay with us a bit longer than what the doctor had originally guess-timated. Seeing that in November he was given 6-9 months, and we are sitting at that 6 month mark RIGHT now - I am not ready to give up and neither is Ed.

His fishing trip really took a toll on him; he came back completely exhausted with two very swollen calves/feet - he was rockin' the c'ankles. Well, he rested all last week with his feet up and he is pretty much back to his old self. We had a lovely & relaxing Easter weekend. Drinks outside on Sat. night with the Furda's & Cigas' - that was an unexpected, but completely fun night. Easter was very chill, Ed had a nice big Easter Brunch and then napped quite a bit, which was just what he needed.

We leave in 18 days for our cruise out of San Juan and we couldn't be more excited! It will be 8 days of relaxation - no pressure to do anything but sit on deck and relax... We are only planning on doing one shore excursion in Barbados - which is snorkeling with sea turtles; if Ed doesn't feel up to it, he can just sit on the sail-boat & chill; All Good. I need this break more than anything... So Excited!

Ed continues to play with Newport on Tuesday evenings and they are working on recording so I am anticipating a full CD sometime soon - I am fairly excited to hear the finished product!

Thank you for continuing to keep us in your prayers - it is much appreciated.

Peace - Mk & Ed xo