Let me lead off with the health update. The good news is that the tumor appears stable since his MRI in January. As a result he will continue with his current course of treatment. He still takes Avastin and Irinotecan every two weeks and
mixes in carboplatin every fourth week. He has tolerated this treatment
ok. It is tougher than the previous treatment on the
appetite but generally he is back to eating normally by the third day
after treatment. He is also pretty tired the first three days but
bounces back by day four.
The MRI in January at Duke was, to quote the
doctor, "in a gray zone" where a conclusive assessment regarding progression was not possible.
He had another MRI yesterday, this time performed locally at Good Sam. We had a conference call with Dr. Friedman today and he said that "Unequivocally there has been no progression since January. The tumor at this time is stable." We are relieved to hear that news but realize that each MRI could bring a change that requires a new course of treatment. Dr. Friedman has done an excellent job of keeping us apprised of the state of the art in treatment. He likes to say he has "brigades of more defenders ready to move on this tumor".
We are slated to go back to Duke March 24/25 for another MRI and treatment assessment. Also we will have more BBQ and, of all things, Polish food. During the last day of our visit in January we stumbled upon a storefront serving very delicious Polish food and some splendid trinkets.
John has had a busy two weeks. He had one of his
roommates, Andy Kelly, come down from Spokane and stay with him for a
week. They ran around town, both San Jose and San Francisco, visiting another of the GU roommates, Brian Biggs, who is living in The City.
They even managed to time a visit to Lake Tahoe to snowboard when there actually was snow on the mountain.
This past week Melanie's sister Missy, John's Godmother, paid us a visit. It is always fun when Missy is in town though it was much too short of a visit.
Two other bits of big news. We have added a new puppy,
Penny, to the household. She is nine weeks old and a corgi-beagle mix.
She is very cute but we are going through the puppy training stage. She is learning to pee outside and to leave the furniture alone.
John will be going to Santa Clara's Golden Circle Theatre Party this year ( SCU Golden Circle Theatre Party). Since the Fall he has been employed part time at SCU in the University Events office. As such he thought he would be working the event; instead he will be hosting a table of his friends.
Between all the visits, treatments, staying on top of the
new puppy, the Warriors and wondering how the Giants are going to do, we have been keeping busy.
We are looking ahead to the summer in hopes that we can
again spend some time in Rhode Island and Connecticut with Melanie's family and perhaps persuade some of our California friends and family to join us.
