More Good News

The doctor's office called today and scheduled him for more blood work and his biopsy on Thursday, this will probably take all day.  It was the Clinical Study Coordinator who called and she said he would probably start his treatment next week, said he wouldn't have to wait the 3-4 week we originally thought.  That is awesome.  Again, thanks for all your support.

I have been able to spend some time in my "woman cave" doing some scrapbooking, that has also been awesome.  So glad we brought some of my "stuff".

Good News

Dr. Weber finally called at 8 p.m. from the Austin, Texas airport.  He had a conference there.  The MRI of the brain showed nothing (hehehe), seriously, no growths there.  The CT scan  showed that there was growth on the others but not so much that he needs treatment "right now".  They are going to schedule him to have a biopsy then he will start treatment as soon as there is an opening, 3 weeks or so.  That is the clinical trial we were hoping he could get into, the one I described in my last post.  All is good, and thanks for all your support.

Our First Meeting With Dr.Weber

Four and a half years ago when Don was first diagnosed with melanoma and we were told that it was deep and they were concerned that it might travel somewhere else through the blood system, I did some research on line.  I found that when melanoma travels it usually goes to the lungs, its called Metastatic Melanoma.  It pretty much said that there really was no treatment for it.  It scared the dickens out of me.  As a matter of fact, I never showed him the article.  When the oncologist told him he had spots on his lung and that it might be melanoma, his surgeon said that 2 years ago they would have told him to enjoy the time he had because not much could be done about it but a lot had been done in the past year with wonderful results.  As a matter of fact one drug had just gotten approved by FDA. 

Well Metastatic Melanoma is exactly what he has.  He will be in a clinical trial but there won't be an opening for 3-4 weeks.  Since this tumor on his liver seemed to have grown quite fast, the first thing they're doing is doing a CT scan on Wednesday to see how much it has grown since his last scan.  If it's growing too rapidly he can't wait 3-4 weeks, therefore he will have to go into another study until the tumor shrinks.

The study we're hoping for will be treating the immune system.  There is no placebo used.  What they are studying is the results of using a combination of 2 drugs.  One group will get an infusion of drug A every 2 weeks for 6 doses then an infusion of drug B every 3 weeks for 4 doses.  The other group will get drugs A & B in reverse order.  This will take 6 months.  The side effects are minimal and they will watch him like a hawk.  He will have to go through testing at several intervals to see how his body is reacting.  One is taking white blood cells to see how his immune system is reacting.  They will even do a genetic test to see if he is likely to respond well or not.

I'll let you know how the CT scan goes, he has to call Dr.Weber on Thursday for the results.

Our New Temporary Home

This is love bug season, check out the windshield on the coach and the front of the jeep.  They are all over the place.

 

 

On Monday we moved into our new home.  It's a nice community, very quiet right now, but I'm sure it will liven up in the next few months.  It's a nice corner lot so we have lots of space, big lawn next to us.  There is also the storage shed with a toilet, sink, shower & place for a washer & dryer.  We won't need to get a washer/dryer since we have one in the coach.

 

There was a trash bag next to a water faucet on the edge of the lawn to the left.  When Don backed up the trailer, being the good tractor trailer driver that he is, he never touched the faucet but went over the trash bag.  No big deal, right?  Wrong, it was marking an underground valve, water started flowing all over the place.  We had to call the owners in PA who then called a friend here and he had to dig down and shut the thing off (also removed the faucet, already had 2 others on the other side).

 

We finally did get settled in.

 

Look at all the space. 

 

And I have my space and "stuff" in the trailer for my crafting.  Those cupboards are full also.  I can now quilt AND do scrapbooking.  Ready for what could be a long winter.  But at least we'll be warm.

 

 

 

 

Temporarily Sidetracked

Our plan this year was to leave after my family reunion in September, head west for the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, CA., stay til spring and visit the northwest.  Unfortunately our plans were changed.  In July of 2009 Don had some malignant melanoma removed from his back.  He was treated at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  Since the growth was so deep, they watched him carefully, getting CT and PET scans every 6 months.  Last December they found 2 small spots on his lung which were too small to biopsy.  Three months later, one had doubled in size.  On June 24th they went in to remove the bigger spot (the smaller one was still too small to even put a needle in it).  Unfortunately the spot they removed was melanoma.  On July 28, after fully healing from the surgery, they did another CT scan and found 2 more spots on his lung and one on his liver.  His first question was what would happen if he chose not to go for treatment.  The doctor said he would probably have a year.  Consequently, he has decided to go to the Muffitt Cancer Institute in Tampa, Florida to be part of a clinical trial.  When talking with the doctor in Tampa he asked when he should go to Tampa.  The doctor's reply was "If I had that type of cancer, I'd be down here as soon as possible."  It took us 3 days to pack up and head to Tampa.

They are making lots of headway with treatment for melanoma.  No radiation or chemo.  They now treat the immune system.  After MANY phone calls, he finally got his medical records transferred to Tampa.  His first appointment will be Friday the 20th.

We are at a campground in Polk City that someone recommended to us.  I was looking for a workcamper job (where you work 20 hrs. in exchange for a campsite).  I found one but when we checked out the campground we decided we really didn't want to live there.  We did some exploring and ended up subletting an RV pad at a very nice RV community, Mount Olive Shores, we move there on Monday, will send pictures but in the meantime, you can check the link.  We've already made the trip from there to the hospital.  It takes an hour but is very easy traveling.