Thu, 02 Sep 2004

No Growth

Hey there. It's Thurs night and Garrett is in bed and Jade is gone to the U of U vs Texas A&M game. He is really trying to have a fun week off of chemo. He was gone camping a few days over the wknd (sidebar - - the leaves are already starting to change!) and loved being away from it all.

Garrett was here with me at home with his lovely head cold which he passed on to me late the other day. (Always better to be sick at home rather than in a tent while camping.) It's one of those lovely head colds with the constant runny nose and amazing head/sinus pressure. You walk around thinking your head will explode from all the pressure, but then when you have to bend over and grab something off the floor the pressure is so amazing you're actually surprised your head DIDN'T explode. After I finish this email update, I'm off to bed with some NyQuill (sic?).

Anyway, we got preliminary results from the CT scan and the existing tumors did not grow and there were no new tumors detected. The chemo didn't shrink the tumors, but the fact that there wasn't any growth is great news. Truth be told, Jade was much more positive at first than I was. I was really hoping for shrinkage and was a little bummed out when it just stopped the growth. After we talked, I agreed that no new growth of any kind was fabulous news in its own right. Later in the day I remember one of the oncologists we consulted with early this year was sure Jade wouldn't last through the summer and I'd probably be burying him by Labor Day. I smiled to myself today when I thought, "Here we are at Labor Day wknd and tonite he's at a sold out football game and we'll probably just BBQ this wknd and get some rest. Much better than burying your spouse." I realized again that it can always gets worse.

That was actually the theme of today for me. God wanted to make sure I understood that it can always get worse. Garrett and I were going to my parents home tonite and doing a couple errands on the way. We were just a mile after leaving from our home when I noticed someone was "racing" me and matching my speed and waving. I was on the cell phone and got off to notice the other driver pointing to the back of my car. (My first thought was actually, "Please don't tell me I know this wacko.") I waved "thanks" and pulled over thinking I must have forgot to shut the trunk or something, but no, flat tire. (Hate to admit I thought it was the wind from the storm that was making my car seem to drive weird. How embarassing to be this stupid!) We drove a half a mile down the road to a shop that got it fixed. (It took an hour though! Ug. Garrett was impressed at how "high" the car was while they fixed the tire. "The white car is SO high!") Later when I was back on my merry way I realized being a mile from our home and getting to a tire store so easily was much better than being stuck on the Interstate which was were I was headed. Things can always get worse.

So, back to the CT scan, we are planning on having Jade do two more rounds of this chemo and then another CT scan about the middle of October to see where we're at. Surgery isn't planned for now since the larger tumors are touching multiple spots on his intestines and they would have to remove those parts and possibly make him "short gut" or unable to digest/process food. Surgery is more of an option as the tumors shrink or if it becomes necessary from a tumor creating a blockage.

Well, that's most of the news from the day/week. All in all we are doing ok, except for a head cold which will pass. So, the moral of the story is, it can always get worse. When days like this happen, it certainly doesn't take long to see how lucky we are. Pretty fortunate for the life that is ours. Flat tire and all. I think if a head cold and a flat tire are the worst things that happen to me this week..........well, ok then. I can deal with that.

Have a wonderful holiday wknd! We are going to try - - - after some more DayQuill or NyQuill of TheraFlu or something like that. Thanks for all the kindness, love, encouragement and hope! We are so lucky to have you as friends/family/co-workers/neighbors!

Take care...........................

Love ya'.................................Tanya and co. (with a box Kleenex)