Chris has not been feeling all that great in the last couple of weeks and has had a harder time sleeping, etc. He gets through his day really well, as teaching and spending time with his friends at work causes the day to go by fairly quickly. There may be an adrenaline boost or some similar effect. But once he gets home, he has spent all of his energy. We've adjusted and what helps is if he can take a nap right after he gets home...he'll then have renewed energy and focus to have quality time with the family. The important thing is that we are making it work. We try to make the best of the hand dealt us and there are still so many wonderful moments even in the midst of struggles.
We went in for chemo today as well as to hear the results of his CT scan taken yesterday. We were somewhat prepared to hear something different than what we've all been praying about as he has been having more pain at night, etc. The cancer has grown again, in all existing tumor areas this time. It is slow growing but means that his current chemo is not really working. There are two options suggested for us by our oncologist at this point: to try a clinical trial if Chris can get into one or to switch to another chemo combo. The clinical trial is a suggestion now because Chris is still pretty healthy and hardy in many ways. He is a great candidate for a trial if he meets the criteria. We have a call into SCCA to see what trials are going on currently that Chris might qualify for. We can always do the other chemo combo if we don't get into a trial or afterwards.
Chris didn't get chemo today, similar to last time the CT results indicated time for a change. That is actually a good thing as you have to be four weeks out from your last chemo to participate in a trial and he is already two weeks clean. Either way, we will have some new treatment in about two weeks. I am hopeful that these extra two weeks will allow some of Chris's appetite to come back and that he feels better for a while. At least he doesn't have to carry a pump around any more for 48 hours!
Thank you as always for the cards, meals, well wishes and prayers...keep it up, Prayer Warriors! We still have hope and faith though this isn't going the way we would have chosen at this time. Chris has been a bit down lately and I just want to let everyone know that though he may not reach out and ask for it, he benefits so much from the encouragement and time with you that he gets.
With love,
Wendy
P.S. We found out this week that our friend David Jeffrey, husband of friend Susanne Jeffrey, has cancer in his pancreas and bile duct as well. We send out love and prayers to them and all of our other friends and loved ones that are struggling through difficult times as well. Many of you that read and/or comment on this blog may be undergoing struggles of your own...thank you so much for how much you give regardless.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Can't Believe it's Been Almost a Year
So we've been getting back into our school year routines. Chris is teaching again this year and grateful to be able to do that. He really enjoys what he does and his colleagues provide so much encouragement for him (thank you!). He has a nice class size this year, only 20 kindergarteners! :-)
Today is actually the 11 month anniversary of Chris's diagnosis. He was given the results of his MRI on his birthday last year...what timing. Taigen's praying specifically that Chris will be better by his birthday this year to make up for the crappy day he had last year.
He goes in for his routine CT scan tomorrow and then we see the doctor on Thursday to get the results. We'll find out then if he stays on his current chemo regiment or moves to another. Thank you to all the prayer warriors out there praying on our behalf! And thanks for the positive thoughts and well wishes.
With love,
Wendy
Today is actually the 11 month anniversary of Chris's diagnosis. He was given the results of his MRI on his birthday last year...what timing. Taigen's praying specifically that Chris will be better by his birthday this year to make up for the crappy day he had last year.
He goes in for his routine CT scan tomorrow and then we see the doctor on Thursday to get the results. We'll find out then if he stays on his current chemo regiment or moves to another. Thank you to all the prayer warriors out there praying on our behalf! And thanks for the positive thoughts and well wishes.
With love,
Wendy
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Good News/Bad News
The good news is that Chris's cancer markers have gone down for the past few weeks. The bad news is that the CT scan showed that the tumors on the lymph nodes and pancreas have grown a bit. What is unclear is when the tumors grew. We know that the tumors were growing in May when the last CT scan was taken, which is when Chris's chemo treatment was changed. There was a delay originally to get him on the new treatment and then we delayed again between the second and third cycle to go on our trip so it is possible the tumors grew a bit more at that time and that the current chemo is actually doing good now. The doctor decided to keep Chris on the current chemo treatment and compare the tumors again in a couple of months as long as he is still doing well.
Chris had chemo today for five hours at the cancer center and again has the pump infusing a chemo for the next two days. He did well, sleeping actually through the whole thing today due to the Atavan they gave him before the chemo to control any possible nausea. He has been doing great this evening, taking it easy and eating some real food for dinner.
Again, thank you to all you prayer warriors out there! We were really encouraged to see over 100 'likes' on Facebook and the comments when we put out our specific prayer request on Monday. It really means a lot and we are humbled by all of your support!
Wendy
Chris had chemo today for five hours at the cancer center and again has the pump infusing a chemo for the next two days. He did well, sleeping actually through the whole thing today due to the Atavan they gave him before the chemo to control any possible nausea. He has been doing great this evening, taking it easy and eating some real food for dinner.
Again, thank you to all you prayer warriors out there! We were really encouraged to see over 100 'likes' on Facebook and the comments when we put out our specific prayer request on Monday. It really means a lot and we are humbled by all of your support!
Wendy
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Thank You! :-)
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes, especially leading up to Chris's CT scan today. Scan and blood draw were taken and we find out the results tomorrow when we go in for chemo. One of us will update the blog tomorrow. ;)
Wendy
Wendy
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Wow, where did the time go?
So we can't believe it is almost the first of August and the summer is half over! There is a lot to fill everyone in on from the perspective of summer fun. From a cancer perspective, Chris has had four chemo treatments in the last 10 weeks under the new plan. He is getting chemo focused on fighting the cancer in his pancreas and has to deal with an IV of chemo over three days (48 hours) but it has seemed to be helping him feel better in-between treatments. He has his next CT scan next Tuesday and I'd like to ask everyone a favor...I know so many people have been praying for Chris and we are so grateful. I'm asking everyone to concentrate on praying for Chris this week to be healed from his cancer. We are hopeful as always for good CT results.
From the fun perspective, we got to take the trip we'd been planning for a year. On June 25, Chris and I left for Stockholm Sweden with my mom and stepdad. We spent three nights in a great apartment hotel not far from the city center and old town. What a beautiful city Stockholm is, I had no idea! We explored the city every day, first by Hop On, Hop Off boats and by foot. Chris did great! We weren't in a hurry as we strolled around the city taking it all in. We had Italian food twice (love real Italian food in Europe...the flavors are a bit different over there), Swedish meatballs and cooked in our apartment kitchen. Chris ate really well, better than he had been eating in weeks.
On June 29 we all got on a seven night Baltic cruise. We went to Helsinki Finland, Saint Petersburg Russia, Tallinn Estonia, Riga Latvia and back to Stockholm. We splurged on a wonderful two day excursion in Saint Petersburg with Shore Trips, recommended by my favorite travel agent Suzy Schreiner! We had our own car, driver and guide and saw everything you could in 16 hours. We set it up this way so we could go at our own pace, as slow as needed, but in fact kept up an intense pace, exploring the Hermitage, Catherine the Great's palace, Peterhof, Church on the Spilt Blood, St Isaac's Cathedral and more. Saint Petersburg was the jewel of Chris's trip.
One of my favorite stops was Tallinn, Estonia. It is a small city with an old town center that dates back almost a thousand years and is very European looking as unfortunately both Denmark and Germany were past conquerors. But it makes for a quaint old town with close to a hundred years of independence that has been part of the European Union for a decade. The people are very friendly and passionate about singing (I'd fit right in if I had a good voice!).
We got to spend another two nights in Stockholm when we got off the cruise. We got to explore some more and relax. We went back to Sky Hotel Apartments and loved our second stay as much as the first. I miss the fabulous European continental breakfast they served every day and sharing tables with people from all over the world!
Chris did really well during the whole trip. The hardest part was the jet lag once we were home. Chris had chemo about 12 hours after we got home and our sleep patterns were all messed up as the time difference spanned 9-11 hours in the different places we had been. The doctor and team were really excited to hear about the trip and saw no ill effects. Chris had a harder time with those three days of chemo. We think it was due to the jet lag. Two weeks later he had chemo again and it was a lot easier.
After we got home we had a visit from our great friends, the Sallees, from Kalispell, Montana. They were in town for the Northwest Christian Conference, which we all went to and it was very inspiring. It was so wonderful to see friends from near and far.
And it doesn't end there. Chris just went to Comic Con in San Diego with his best friend, Aaron and his son. He left last Thursday a few hours after his last three-day chemo ended. Aaron picked him up that night from the airport and they had three fun filled days at the convention. They also got to see good friends Andy and Noelle in La Jolla while down there. Taigen and I missed him but had a terrific girls' weekend. We picked them up last night at SeaTac and Chris is doing well.
So here we are a week from the next CT scan and chemo. Thank you for your kind thoughts, prayers, meals, etc. We love you all, near and far.
Wendy
P.S. For those close to us or to our dear friends, that are also suffering and struggling through cancer and other illnesses, please know that you are always in our prayers as well.
From the fun perspective, we got to take the trip we'd been planning for a year. On June 25, Chris and I left for Stockholm Sweden with my mom and stepdad. We spent three nights in a great apartment hotel not far from the city center and old town. What a beautiful city Stockholm is, I had no idea! We explored the city every day, first by Hop On, Hop Off boats and by foot. Chris did great! We weren't in a hurry as we strolled around the city taking it all in. We had Italian food twice (love real Italian food in Europe...the flavors are a bit different over there), Swedish meatballs and cooked in our apartment kitchen. Chris ate really well, better than he had been eating in weeks.
On June 29 we all got on a seven night Baltic cruise. We went to Helsinki Finland, Saint Petersburg Russia, Tallinn Estonia, Riga Latvia and back to Stockholm. We splurged on a wonderful two day excursion in Saint Petersburg with Shore Trips, recommended by my favorite travel agent Suzy Schreiner! We had our own car, driver and guide and saw everything you could in 16 hours. We set it up this way so we could go at our own pace, as slow as needed, but in fact kept up an intense pace, exploring the Hermitage, Catherine the Great's palace, Peterhof, Church on the Spilt Blood, St Isaac's Cathedral and more. Saint Petersburg was the jewel of Chris's trip.
One of my favorite stops was Tallinn, Estonia. It is a small city with an old town center that dates back almost a thousand years and is very European looking as unfortunately both Denmark and Germany were past conquerors. But it makes for a quaint old town with close to a hundred years of independence that has been part of the European Union for a decade. The people are very friendly and passionate about singing (I'd fit right in if I had a good voice!).
We got to spend another two nights in Stockholm when we got off the cruise. We got to explore some more and relax. We went back to Sky Hotel Apartments and loved our second stay as much as the first. I miss the fabulous European continental breakfast they served every day and sharing tables with people from all over the world!
Chris did really well during the whole trip. The hardest part was the jet lag once we were home. Chris had chemo about 12 hours after we got home and our sleep patterns were all messed up as the time difference spanned 9-11 hours in the different places we had been. The doctor and team were really excited to hear about the trip and saw no ill effects. Chris had a harder time with those three days of chemo. We think it was due to the jet lag. Two weeks later he had chemo again and it was a lot easier.
After we got home we had a visit from our great friends, the Sallees, from Kalispell, Montana. They were in town for the Northwest Christian Conference, which we all went to and it was very inspiring. It was so wonderful to see friends from near and far.
And it doesn't end there. Chris just went to Comic Con in San Diego with his best friend, Aaron and his son. He left last Thursday a few hours after his last three-day chemo ended. Aaron picked him up that night from the airport and they had three fun filled days at the convention. They also got to see good friends Andy and Noelle in La Jolla while down there. Taigen and I missed him but had a terrific girls' weekend. We picked them up last night at SeaTac and Chris is doing well.
So here we are a week from the next CT scan and chemo. Thank you for your kind thoughts, prayers, meals, etc. We love you all, near and far.
Wendy
P.S. For those close to us or to our dear friends, that are also suffering and struggling through cancer and other illnesses, please know that you are always in our prayers as well.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
New Chemo
Chris had another CT scan on Monday and we found out the results yesterday when seeing our oncologist. The results weren't great, as the cancer has grown in or around his pancreas since the last scan 9 weeks ago. Our doctor/nurse team said this is probably why he is having a hard time eating. The 'good' news is that the cancer hasn't spread outside the initial areas diagnosed last fall. He is still having back pain, which they said is due to the cancer in the lymph nodes in the stomach area, not cancer in new places as I was afraid of - the nerves in the area of his cancer refer to the middle of his back. We are working on getting the right amount of pain medicine in him before he goes to bed so it will alleviate the pain for the entire night so he can get more sleep.
He was sent home without chemo yesterday as the regiment has been changed. He will now be on a hard hitting chemo cocktail used to fight pancreatic cancer - 3 different chemo drugs given in the same day. He'll also have a pump attached to him for 48 hours after each chemo appointment, extending each chemo treatment for two days. The new chemo schedule will normally be every other week, starting next week, though we have a few variations in the schedule coming up due to previously made plans that the doctor is okay with us keeping. I am grateful Chris is almost done with the school year as we don't know if this new treatment will affect him differently than the one he's been on for the past seven months. One treatment next week and then he'll get the next one just after school gets out. He has done so well on the initial chemo therapy that we have hope he will continue to experience few of the possible side effects on the new one. We are so grateful to God for that - must be due to all of your prayers!
He also has to go in for endoscopic surgery again as his stents have slipped out of place. His liver function was tested yesterday and tests returned normal results and no jaundice indicators appeared. That is one of the risk factors with biliary tract cancers that they worry about. They are going to do the surgery next Friday to replace the stents with a new kind that won't slip as easily.
That's most of the update for now. I'll work on getting Chris to write more often. As always, thank you for your positive thoughts and prayers! We need them!
With love,
Chris and Wendy
He was sent home without chemo yesterday as the regiment has been changed. He will now be on a hard hitting chemo cocktail used to fight pancreatic cancer - 3 different chemo drugs given in the same day. He'll also have a pump attached to him for 48 hours after each chemo appointment, extending each chemo treatment for two days. The new chemo schedule will normally be every other week, starting next week, though we have a few variations in the schedule coming up due to previously made plans that the doctor is okay with us keeping. I am grateful Chris is almost done with the school year as we don't know if this new treatment will affect him differently than the one he's been on for the past seven months. One treatment next week and then he'll get the next one just after school gets out. He has done so well on the initial chemo therapy that we have hope he will continue to experience few of the possible side effects on the new one. We are so grateful to God for that - must be due to all of your prayers!
He also has to go in for endoscopic surgery again as his stents have slipped out of place. His liver function was tested yesterday and tests returned normal results and no jaundice indicators appeared. That is one of the risk factors with biliary tract cancers that they worry about. They are going to do the surgery next Friday to replace the stents with a new kind that won't slip as easily.
That's most of the update for now. I'll work on getting Chris to write more often. As always, thank you for your positive thoughts and prayers! We need them!
With love,
Chris and Wendy
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Not a great blogger!
Hey all,
I know that it has been a long time since my last entry and I am sorry about that. I wish I could say that it is because of my health but that would be a lie. I am just not a good blogger. I wish that I was more like my father-in-law Dave, he has mad blogging skills.
I can say that these past several weeks have been a roller coaster. I was put on this new medication to help my appetite and it did everything but that. I started to be very emotional, almost crying when talking about mundane subjects, commercials, or just random subjects. I though I was going crazy! On top of that I started gagging when eating. It turned out my new medication was progesterone...I was getting women's hormones. I was relieved because I wasn't going crazy and now I have empathy when my wife gets all emotional over a commercial or movie. Needless to say I am off that now.
On top of that, I have been sleeping horribly the past couple of weeks. I tell you what, not sleeping for several days really takes everything out of you. Now they have me on better pain meds at night that will hopefully solve this problem. I just started, and already feel better.
Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes. I need both of them. Through the ups and downs, I know that my friends and family are there for me. My wife and daughter have been so awesome. I know that I could not do this without them.
Until next time,
Cheers!
I know that it has been a long time since my last entry and I am sorry about that. I wish I could say that it is because of my health but that would be a lie. I am just not a good blogger. I wish that I was more like my father-in-law Dave, he has mad blogging skills.
I can say that these past several weeks have been a roller coaster. I was put on this new medication to help my appetite and it did everything but that. I started to be very emotional, almost crying when talking about mundane subjects, commercials, or just random subjects. I though I was going crazy! On top of that I started gagging when eating. It turned out my new medication was progesterone...I was getting women's hormones. I was relieved because I wasn't going crazy and now I have empathy when my wife gets all emotional over a commercial or movie. Needless to say I am off that now.
On top of that, I have been sleeping horribly the past couple of weeks. I tell you what, not sleeping for several days really takes everything out of you. Now they have me on better pain meds at night that will hopefully solve this problem. I just started, and already feel better.
Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes. I need both of them. Through the ups and downs, I know that my friends and family are there for me. My wife and daughter have been so awesome. I know that I could not do this without them.
Until next time,
Cheers!
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