Dear Friends & Family,
It’s been 5 months since we received Blake’s cancer diagnosis, and I thought it might be a good time to give everyone an update on what’s been going on in our lives.
On October 29, 2007, Blake was diagnosed with colon cancer. Because the cancer had spread through the colon and had metastasized into his liver, he was diagnosed as, stage IV. In November, Blake had a liver and colon resection at the new IMC hospital. Dr. Belnap was the liver surgeon. Dr. Eyring performed the colon resection. Since a large portion of the surrounding tissue was suspected to contain lymph nodes that may also be affected by the cancer, the tissue was gathered and sent to pathology. Out of the 13 lymph nodes obtained, only 1 tested positive for cancer. This was really good news as Dr. Eyring felt that all the nodes would test positive.
On December 26th, Blake began chemotherapy. The chemo regimen is called FOLFOX6 with Avastin. It’s a combination of, among other things, 3 cancer fighting drugs. The chemo is given every other week (for a total of 12 treatments) at the Utah Cancer Specialists office in the Huntsman facility at the new IMC campus. Blake has a port in his upper right chest which makes the chemo much easier to receive. One of the drugs Blake gets makes him really susceptible to the cold. It would hurt Blake to touch or drink cold things and he was really miserable in the cold weather. During chemo #6, Blake began feeling itchy & within seconds, turned the color of a tomato and was covered with hives! The chemo nurses (these ladies are great!) went into action putting Blake on oxygen, benedryl, “dex” (a steroid) and within a couple of hours he was back to normal. Dr. Whisenant, the oncologist, told us that Blake could no longer have the Oxyliplatin. The chances of anaphylactic shock are too great and this drug must be eliminated from the regimen. A slight set-back, but now the "cold" problem is gone!
Part of this regimen requires Blake to get hooked up to my new bff… the 46 hour chemo pump. The chemo pump stays with Blake (and sleeps with us) for 2 days, injecting the 5FU into Blake every 30 seconds (trust me, I’ve counted). Blake wears this pump via a very attractive fanny pack! Once the 46 hours are up, the pump is removed and the port is flushed. So far, that has always been on a Thursday. The icky chemo feeling usually hits on the following Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
Last week, Blake had a new CT scan to determine how things were going. When we saw the oncologist for chemo #7, we were advised of a suspicious lesion on the left lobe of the liver. Since it is unsure whether the lesion is old or new, it is necessary to go and see the liver surgeon this weekend. Dr. Belnap is an interesting fellow. He only has office visits during what he calls “Saturday night clinic.” Our appt. is this Saturday at 9:00 PM! He is considered one of the best in his field; otherwise, I don’t think I could get Blake to go see this unique man! Blake had a follow-up appt. with Dr. Eyring (the colon doc) yesterday; he feels the lesion is new….. We’ll see how it goes on Saturday. Either way, Dr. Eyring wants a PET scan soon.
Once the docs (we have a great team of specialists) determine “old or new” our direction will be determined. If it’s new, Blake will have surgery and the chemo will be re-evaluated because it may not be working. If it’s old we continue on the current regimen.
As you can imagine, the last 5 months have been interesting although we’re all trying to stay with whatever our “normal” is. The person who is doing this the best is Blake! I have determined that I am married to Superman! No matter what odds he is facing, he only believes in a cure. And, so far, the docs said this CAN be cured! Blake refuses to believe anything else. And, he is right! Why can’t we be on the positive side of the odds?!!!
This is where all of you come in! Please continue to throw a few prayers our way. Thank you to everyone who has been and will continue to be there for us. We truly appreciate your love and support.
Kathy (& Blake too!)
It’s been 5 months since we received Blake’s cancer diagnosis, and I thought it might be a good time to give everyone an update on what’s been going on in our lives.
On October 29, 2007, Blake was diagnosed with colon cancer. Because the cancer had spread through the colon and had metastasized into his liver, he was diagnosed as, stage IV. In November, Blake had a liver and colon resection at the new IMC hospital. Dr. Belnap was the liver surgeon. Dr. Eyring performed the colon resection. Since a large portion of the surrounding tissue was suspected to contain lymph nodes that may also be affected by the cancer, the tissue was gathered and sent to pathology. Out of the 13 lymph nodes obtained, only 1 tested positive for cancer. This was really good news as Dr. Eyring felt that all the nodes would test positive.
On December 26th, Blake began chemotherapy. The chemo regimen is called FOLFOX6 with Avastin. It’s a combination of, among other things, 3 cancer fighting drugs. The chemo is given every other week (for a total of 12 treatments) at the Utah Cancer Specialists office in the Huntsman facility at the new IMC campus. Blake has a port in his upper right chest which makes the chemo much easier to receive. One of the drugs Blake gets makes him really susceptible to the cold. It would hurt Blake to touch or drink cold things and he was really miserable in the cold weather. During chemo #6, Blake began feeling itchy & within seconds, turned the color of a tomato and was covered with hives! The chemo nurses (these ladies are great!) went into action putting Blake on oxygen, benedryl, “dex” (a steroid) and within a couple of hours he was back to normal. Dr. Whisenant, the oncologist, told us that Blake could no longer have the Oxyliplatin. The chances of anaphylactic shock are too great and this drug must be eliminated from the regimen. A slight set-back, but now the "cold" problem is gone!
Part of this regimen requires Blake to get hooked up to my new bff… the 46 hour chemo pump. The chemo pump stays with Blake (and sleeps with us) for 2 days, injecting the 5FU into Blake every 30 seconds (trust me, I’ve counted). Blake wears this pump via a very attractive fanny pack! Once the 46 hours are up, the pump is removed and the port is flushed. So far, that has always been on a Thursday. The icky chemo feeling usually hits on the following Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
Last week, Blake had a new CT scan to determine how things were going. When we saw the oncologist for chemo #7, we were advised of a suspicious lesion on the left lobe of the liver. Since it is unsure whether the lesion is old or new, it is necessary to go and see the liver surgeon this weekend. Dr. Belnap is an interesting fellow. He only has office visits during what he calls “Saturday night clinic.” Our appt. is this Saturday at 9:00 PM! He is considered one of the best in his field; otherwise, I don’t think I could get Blake to go see this unique man! Blake had a follow-up appt. with Dr. Eyring (the colon doc) yesterday; he feels the lesion is new….. We’ll see how it goes on Saturday. Either way, Dr. Eyring wants a PET scan soon.
Once the docs (we have a great team of specialists) determine “old or new” our direction will be determined. If it’s new, Blake will have surgery and the chemo will be re-evaluated because it may not be working. If it’s old we continue on the current regimen.
As you can imagine, the last 5 months have been interesting although we’re all trying to stay with whatever our “normal” is. The person who is doing this the best is Blake! I have determined that I am married to Superman! No matter what odds he is facing, he only believes in a cure. And, so far, the docs said this CAN be cured! Blake refuses to believe anything else. And, he is right! Why can’t we be on the positive side of the odds?!!!
This is where all of you come in! Please continue to throw a few prayers our way. Thank you to everyone who has been and will continue to be there for us. We truly appreciate your love and support.
Kathy (& Blake too!)
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