Nearing the end of Round 2

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted anything, but that's good news because it means not much has happened! Carrie has completed 7 weeks of chemo this cycle and only has one more to go before she gets scanned again. Treatment #8 will be this next wednesday, January 5. She is scheduled to have her CT scan Thursday the 6th. I will be flying out to Texas for the results, which will be Wednesday January 12. That day, we will meet with her doctor and find out if the treatment is still working. If there is less than 20% growth, Carrie will continue for another 8 weeks. And since we know many of you will be anxious to hear the results, we will post them as soon as we have a chance after meeting with the doctor on the 12th. Thank you for all of the love and support, and especially the prayers, over the last several months. It has certainly gotten us through this extremely difficult time and pray that it continues.

Results are in

After waiting for 4 1/2 hours to see the doctor we finally got the results from Carrie's treatment. The doctor said that any growth of the tumor less than 20% would be a good sign. Carrie's only has a growth of 4% which is very very good. So now we start two more cycles (8 weeks) starting today. Please continue to pray for us as we spend the next 8 weeks apart and try to find time in our schedules to travel to see each other.

Nearing End of Cycle 1

Sorry it's been so long since we've given everyone an update, but that means nothing bad has happened!! No news is good news for us! But we are nearing the end of the first cycle of treatment and I know many of you are curious as to my status and what's next. I've had 7 treatments as of right now, all of them given once a week on wednesdays. They do blood work every time before they even let me begin chemotherapy and so far, my blood counts have been good. My platelets and white blood count have been lower than the average person, but for someone going through chemo, they've been relatively good. My infection fighting cells have also been good! The only thing that appears to be affected is my cholesterol. One of the chemo meds they give me is prone to raising cholesterol and it has increased mine, but not dangerously high. They have put me on Tricor to help maintain it and it appears to be working.

This wednesday (Nov. 10) will be treatment #8 and will be the last one of the first cycle. I will then go back Thursday (Nov. 11) for my CT scan. I will then return home to Auburn for the weekend. The following Tuesday, Jason will fly with me back to Houston for my doctor's appointment Wednesday, Nov. 17. That wednesday, we will meet with my doctor and find out the results of the CT scan to see if the treatment is working. They consider it to be effective if there is less than 20% growth/spreading of the cancer. If they find it to be working, I will start the second cycle of 8 week treatments that afternoon (i.e. they have already scheduled me to start up the next cycle right after we get the results as if the treatment is working - they're being optimistic!!). I will go through 8 more treatments, after which they'll scan me again and reevaluate and so forth.

Please pray for excellent results, and also for traveling grace as we travel back and forth! We will let everyone know how everything turns out next week!

From Disneyland to Disney World

Well Carrie and I couldn't be more apart. I am at Disneyland for an IT Conference and she is in Disney World having a vacation with her parents. I just wanted to give everyone a quick update. On Wednesday Carrie had her 4th treatment and everything went fine. So now we are halfway done with this cycle. So far there have been no ill side effects. Carrie gets to come home next weekend for the LSU game, so we are looking forward to that. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support.

On the road again

The title pertains more to me than Carrie. I left Auburn on Thursday and flew out to Houston to spend some time with Carrie while on the way out to California for a conference. It has been a wonderful weekend so far as Alabama lost and Auburn won (War Eagle). We have also got to spend time with her parents as well as her sister and her aunt and uncle. The next couple of weeks will busy for us as I am leaving Houston on Monday to go to Anaheim, CA and returning to Auburn late Friday night. Carrie is leaving on Thursday to fly to Orlando to spend time with her mom, return to Houston for treatment on Monday and then leave on Thursday to come to Auburn just in time for the LS Who game. Please pray for us as we collect our frequent flyer miles and I will keep everyone updated on Carrie's treatments.

Treatment #3 Tomorrow

Well, things have been going pretty well, all other things considered. I go for treatment #3 tomorrow and so far so good! They did blood work on me last week and my cholesterol and lipids were elevated, but that is one of the expected side effects of the chemotherapy so no surprise there. The doctor has put me on Tricor to help keep both cholesterol and the lipids somewhat in check. And since the elevated levels are being caused by the medicines, I don't need to change my diet or eating habits (YAY!!) They will of course check those levels every week to make sure they don't get out of control. My white blood count was slightly lower than average, but it's still in a healthy range, as well as my platelet count so that's good news. But other than that, I haven't had any bad side effects!! No fatigue, nausea, or mouth sores so I've been very blessed. And since I've been feeling so well between treatments, I was able to go home to Auburn this past weekend to spend time with Jason!! It was a much needed, last minute surprise so it has done a lot to lift my spirits. And as long as things continue the way they have been, I'll be feeling well enough to travel as often as I can without worrying about being tired or sick! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support and I will continue to keep you updated as things progress. Love you all!!

Trial Begins

After a very long and busy week, I have finally started the clinical trial here at MD Anderson. I made it to Houston Monday afternoon and had about a day to rest before testing began. Tuesday, I had to go to MDA for blood work and the CT scan. I arrived at the clinic around noon for blood work, then had about 3 hours to waste before I could check in for my scan. I finally got checked in to prepare for the CT scan, after which I had to wait close to 3 hours before they called me back for the scan. Things finally got rolling and they did the CT scan, as well as a chest x-ray and we were finally done around 7 PM. Long day #1... done...

Long day #2... even LONGER!! Tuesday afternoon while I was waiting for the scan, I got a voicemail from the clinical trial supervisor to inform me that they finally scheduled my hearing test for first thing wednesday morning. So wednesday morning, I headed to MDA at 8:30 AM for the hearing test. While en route, I got another phone call saying they needed to take additional blood for research for the trial and asked if I could do that while I was there. So I got my hearing test done (and no surprise, my hearing was perfectly fine!) and gave the blood for research and headed home for the time being...
I was scheduled to be back at MDA to meet with my dr before treatment at 4PM. Around 2:30, I got another phone call from the trial supervisor informing me they needed to get an ECG before I could start treatment. So.... I got an ECG done before my dr's appt, and was late for my 4PM appt, which incidentally didn't matter since my dr was over 2 hours late seeing me. I had to be okayed by the dr before I could even begin treatment so after I finally saw the doctor and got his "blessing" to go ahead, I finally got to start treatment. By then it was around 7PM and I was told the treatment would last about 3.5 hours. LUCKILY, each patient is given their own little room with a bed and TV, and they even fed me dinner. Treatment actually lasted about 3 hours and I was done just after 10PM. It went very smoothly, it was just a vveeerrrryyyy long day. And so far, I have had no side effects from the meds. I haven't been worn out or tired and haven't feel ill at all. They will do blood work every week before treatment to monitor my counts, but they don't expect anything major to happen.

So, treatment #1 done!! Treatment #2 will be next Wednesday at 4PM and hopefully it will go more smoothly and won't be an all day event!! I'll keep everyone updated and as always, thank you so much for keeping me in your prayers this week.

Headed back to Houston

We finally heard some news from MDA regarding the trial. Carrie has been "officially" accepted to participate in the trial in Houston and it looks like she'll start next week. She has to be at MDA next Tuesday Sept. 21 for blood work and pre-trial scans (right now, that consists of a CT scan and chest xray). Then wednesday, Sept. 22, she will begin treatment and meet with her trial doctor. Carrie will leave Auburn on Sunday to head down to Houston, and arrive in TX monday sometime. That's about all the information we have right now, but the good thing is she starts next week! We'll let everyone know once we find out more information.

Home Sweet Houston

Carrie met with one of the doctors here at MD Anderson in Houston today. She is in the clinical trial woo hoo. Treatment will have to be done here in Houston. Carrie will have two drugs given at one time once a week for the next eight weeks. After every eight weeks Carrie will have a CT and/or PET scan done to see if the treatment is working. They want to do an audiology and preliminary CT/PET scan and they are checking to see if insurance will allow it. If they do the tests will not take place until the middle or end of next week. She will start treatment the week after the tests. We will be traveling back to Auburn this weekend. Carrie will be coming back to Houston sometime next week. The one down side to this is that if the treatment works Carrie will have to stay in Houston until either the treatment quits working or she decides that she doesn't want to do treatment any more. We will continue to update the blog as we get more details.

The Results are in...

After spending most of the day at UAB, we finally returned home to Auburn with a few answers... and a few more questions. Carrie's blood work came back fine for the most part - the only thing that was low was her white blood cell count. They weren't dangerously low, but that could explain why she's been so tired lately. We also got the results from the CT scan this morning... and it was good news, bad news, and left a few more questions. The good news is several of the existing spots have SHRUNK!!! Not tremendously, but enough to notice that they have indeed shrunk. The spot where they radiated showed shrinkage, as well as the large left adrenal mass, the mass in her inferior vena cava, and a spot close to her liver. Despite this great news, however, a few new spots showed up in her stomach area. They're still very small, but the fact that they are new spots isn't great news. So we got both good news and bad news, we just aren't sure which outweighs the other. Despite all this information, Carrie's doctor feels she should try to get on the clinical trial at MD Anderson. The results they've seen from the trial have been surprisingly good and she feels that Carrie needs to get in the trial while she still can. We are in the process of trying to get in contact with the dr at MD Anderson to see if he agrees and if there are any spots left. They had already made Carrie a tentative appointment for next Wednesday, Sept 8 in Texas so we may be heading out to Texas next week. We are hoping to hear from the doctor by friday so we will let everyone know as soon as we find something out. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers today-keep them coming!!

Upcoming Scan

So we haven't updated the blog lately since not a whole lot has happened. But on Wednesday Carrie goes to UAB for a CT Scan and we will have the results of the scan Wednesday afternoon. The results will tell us if we stay here continuing to take the Sutent or go to Houston for 8 weeks for a clinical trial. I have been asked about trial concerning whether Carrie would get the actual drug or just placebo. Carrie asked her doctor about this when she was out there the first part of August and they told her that this trial doesn't have placebos. Everyone in the trial gets the drug. I will update the blog and Facebook Wednesday afternoon to let everyone know what we found out.

Latest News from Houston

Since Carrie is on vacation I am stepping up and updating the blog for her. Don't worry, I have been informed that she will be proof reading my update and add any details that I miss.

So now for the latest.....

After meeting with doctors at MD Anderson, they have agreed to two plans. Plan A being that Carrie is to continue taking the Sutent chemo for now. She will finish this round on the 19th of August, and have a CT scan done on September 1st. If there are positive results from this treatment then she will continue on this course. If the scan shows that the current treatment is not working then they will go to plan B, which is the clinical trial. The trial will consist of Carrie going back to MD Anderson shortly after the scan. She will be there for 8 weeks taking two drugs through infusion therapy. I do not know the names of the drugs but I do know that one is already FDA approved and the other isn't. There are 20 spots open for this trial and 6 are already taken. Of these six, five have shown positive results from the treatment. So that is a bit of good news. Carrie is in good spirits. She is enjoying spending time with her dad and family in Houston this week and I am looking forward to having her back in Auburn on Saturday. :) Again thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Jason

Radiation DONE!!!!!!

No more radiation for me!! Today was my last treatment of radiation and I am so relieved. The radiation itself wasn't bad at all, but the daily drive was really starting to wear me down. I successfully completed all 22 treatments and as I was leaving the clinic today, the two sweet radiation nurses Fayth and Angie gave me a Relay for Life Survivor t-shirt and an actual certificate with my name on it that said I completed my radiation treatment! It was very sweet, and although I will not miss the treatments, I will miss the nurses. I do return to Alex City at the end of August, but just for a check up. The radiation is supposed to continue to work for a while so I should still see results for a while.

I also went up to UAB today to meet with my oncologist. All they did was blood work and all my numbers were good!! My white blood cell count was slightly down, but nothing to bring alarm. I just started my second round of the Sutent so she went ahead and scheduled my next CT scan for September 1. That will allow me to have 2 full rounds of Sutent to see if it's working.

And on a final note, I leave for Houston this saturday and go to MD Anderson Monday, August 2. They'll evaluate me for the Phase I Trial and see if I qualify. If the Sutent doesn't seem to be working, my oncologist wants the next plan in place so we don't lose any time for treatment. So the trial is more or less a back-up plan. We'll just keep praying that the Sutent works!! I'll update everyone next week after I meet with the doctors at MD Anderson. Thank you all for the prayers and keep them up! We're bound to get some good news soon - we're way past due!!

Real Quick Update

Not much new to report, but my blood pressure has continued to stay low. I've been taking the Sutent and the doctor said that was more than likely the culprit. And although high blood pressure isn't necessarily a good thing, there was an article a nurse found in an oncology journal that did a study and said that patients who obtained a systolic blood pressure reading above 140 (which I had) generally received better results with the Sutent! So hopefully that's a good sign then! I only have 6 more radiation treatments - YAY!!!!! They are still going good, just wearing me out. I'm tired a lot, but that's more than likely because of the radiation. My last treatment is next wednesday, July 28, which is also when I go see my oncologist in UAB next. And then the following week I'm off to MD Anderson. But for now, that's about it. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers and please keep them coming - we've still got a long way to go!

Blood Pressure lowered

Well, my blood pressure has come down since this weekend. I checked it everyday and all weekend it ran about 130/105, if not slightly higher. Sunday I had a pretty bad headache, which could potentially be from the raised blood pressure. I returned to the doctor Tuesday for radiation treatment and my blood pressure had come down to 121/88!! We're not sure what might have caused it to lower itself, but it did! And yesterday (wednesday) it was 131/92. So its come down significantly. Its still not quite as low as usual so they said to keep monitoring it.

I returned to UAB yesterday for a quick appointment with my endocrinologist. Since they've started radiation and they're radiating the one working adrenal gland I have, they were concerned about further suppressing it and my endocrinologist just wanted to check in with me and see how things were going. He switched my steroid from Cortef to Prednisone, simply because I take the Cortef in the AM and afternoon and keep forgetting to take the afternoon dose, whereas the prednisone is once a day and much easier to remember.

One last thing... I talked to MD Anderson and I am going out to Houston in August to be evaluated for a clinical trial. They said I would be a good candidate so I'm headed out there to visit my dad and at the same time see if I can get on this trial! Please pray that I qualify!

Quick Update

Nothing really new to report, but I have some good news and some potentially not so good news... The good news is I got a letter from our insurance that they will cover the Sutent for me!! Praise the Lord!! I'm not sure how to go about getting the medicine (through my local pharmacy or a specialty pharmacy) but at least it will be covered! I'm waiting to hear from my doctor the next step. The potentially not so good news is that my blood pressure has been really high all week and we're not sure yet what's causing it to be. Monday it was 130/97, which is high in general, especially for me. I started getting a headache monday and it hasn't really gone away. So yesterday (wednesday) I went up to Walgreens and had them check it and it was still a little high at 113/91. I talked to my oncologists' nurse about it and she said to check it everyday this week twice a day and keep a log of it and if it's still up at the beginning of next week, let them know. Then today, I still had a slight headache so after my radiation treatment today, I had the nurse check it and it was up to 141/104! She then checked both arms while I was sitting, standing, and laying down and all 6 times it averaged about 135/103. She paged my radiologist and talked to him for a few minutes and he didn't think it wasn't anything to be too concerned about yet, but just to be safe he issued for me to have an MRI. So about lunchtime today, I had an MRI done at the hospital there in Alexander City. They called me about 2PM and told me there was nothing abnormal about the MRI and everything seemed fine, just to keep monitoring my BP and see where it is first of the week. I'm not really worried about this yet, but I'm just not sure what could be raising it. I've never had high BP, even during my recovery time from surgery or any of the other meds I've been on. Hopefully it will go down on its own this weekend and it will be nothing to worry about.

Radiation Began

I started radiation treatments yesterday, Monday June 28. I will have a total of 22 treatments, monday through friday so I will finish up on July 28, unless something come up or happens. The treatments itself aren't bad at all. Once they pull me back to the radiation room, they lay me down onto the mold they created for my head, shoulders, and arms and line me up with the machine. Initially, they used sharpie marks to mark the spots they use to line me up each day. Yesterday after my treatment, however, they used an actual tattoo needle and permanently tattooed the 3 marks on my torso. They are only the size of freckles so they are hardly noticeable, but they are permanent. The treatment only takes about 15-20 minutes and they shoot the radiation beams from 9 different angles that go most of the way around my body. I met with the radiation doctor after my first treatment just to go over a few things. He said I shouldnt have any ill side effects from radiation. After a few weeks, I may become more tired (which is nothing new) or have slight diarrhea, but nothing more severe than that. They also gave me some Utterly Smooth cream to apply to the radiation sights if the skin becomes dry or irritated. I've had 2 treatments and so far so good! Only 20 more to go...

On another note, my oncologist at UAB has been talking back and forth with the doctor I saw at MD Anderson last October. My doctor wants me to go out there again and be evaluated by MD Anderson and hopefully get another game plan in case the Sutent doesn't work. She doesnt want me to have a significant lapse in treatments so she wants something set in motion because she's running out of options. And from my understanding, they have what they're calling a "Phase I Trial" at MD Anderson for adrenal cancer that they want me to be evaluated for. I think it's a clinical trial of some sort, I'm just not sure yet. We're trying to coordinate my radiation schedule with a visit to Houston to visit my family at the end of July so hopefully I'll be able to get an appt with MD Anderson while I'm down there. But I'll let everyone know as soon as something is set in place.

Radiation Scheduled

Carrie here...

I met with my radiology oncologist yesterday in Alexander City yesterday afternoon. Nothing major came out of the visit. They had to scan me (again) to make an image to use for treatment placement and they used lasers to mark 3 spots on my torso so they know where to target the radiation. They also made a mold of my upper body that they'll use for each treatment. The mold will hold me in the same position each time. It was kind of like a glorified bean bag that inflated to fit my shoulders, head, and arms. My doctor will work on getting my treatment plan together the rest of the week. I go back this thursday - by then, he'll have the plan together and he'll just make sure everything is lined up correctly. And if nothing changes, I start treatments next Monday, June 28. He did say he wants to give me the most radiation possible since the tumor is still somewhat small and localized so he's now thinking I'll do treatments for possibly 15-20 days (monday-friday) instead of the 10-12 he originally said. But he hopes to have all of that figured out by the end of this week.

On a good note, I did get my disability extended through July 20 at work! Treatments may go longer than that, but it's a relief that I won't have to worry about that until after the 20th.

I'll let everyone know if anything changes. Otherwise, I'll let you know how it goes Monday!!

Time for Radiation

Carrie speaking again! I went to UAB today and met with the radiology oncologist today to discuss the possibililty of radiation. I talked to 3 different doctors and they all came to the conclusion that radiation is the route to go to hopefully take care of the discomfort/pain I'm having. They reviewed all my previous scans and it appears that the large tumor in my left adrenal gland is pressing against a major blood vessel (cant remember what its called) that branches off to several different areas in the abdominal area. They think the pressure on this blood vessel is what's causing my discomfort, simply because it branches off to so many different areas. They hope that by radiating the areas where the pressure is being applied, they can relieve the pain. This radiation is NOT going to be done in hopes of a cure, it will simply be done to alleviate the pressure. They said the tumor is small enough and localized enough to safely radiate it without having to worry about doing any damage to any surrounding organs. They will be giving me a mild to moderate dose of radiation over the course of about 10-12 consecutive days. Since it's not being done as a cure, they aren't going to give me a full scale radiation dosage because there is no need to put my body through that.

So here's the plan so far... UAB actually has a clinic that they operate out of to do radiation in Alexander City, which is only about 35-45 minutes away from Auburn. So I can actually get the same exact treatment there that I would get at UAB, but much closer!!! I should get a call tomorrow with an appointment time next Monday to meet with the doctor again in Alex City. They'll use their radiation machine to scan me (again) and do x-rays to pinpoint exactly the spots they'll radiate. They'll also make a mold to fit my body in the position I'll get treatment in to make sure my body is in the same position for all the treatments. Once they get all that done and figure out exactly where to radiate, I'll start treatments the week of June 28. That's about all I know right now, but I'll keep everyone updated after my appt next monday.

As for the expensive Sutent, I'm still waiting to hear from my oncologist about getting it covered, but she said not to expect anything until this friday so we're still waiting...

Please keep us in your prayers! The Lord works in mysterious ways and the power of prayer is amazing!

Latest Scan Results

FYI: This is Carrie again updating for Jason...

We went to UAB yesterday (Friday) for blood work, CT scan, and to meet with my doctor. And We actually got better news than we were expecting. After last weeks scare in the ER, we were already prepared for some of the news we received yesterday and were actually expecting much worse. My blood work came back fine - none of my numbers were in any danger at all. The CT scan showed where the main tumor, which is in my left adrenal gland grew about 1-1.5 cms since last scan, which isn't that bad considering the size of it. The scan showed the spot in my vena cava hasn't grown (Praise the Lord!!) and staying stable. They did, however, find one small new spot close to my adrenal gland that is new, but the dr said it's so small, they aren't concerned about it too much. She is concerned though that there is a new spot. Even though it's a small spot, it means the chemotherapy isn't completely working and my body is resisting it. So... she has decided to change treatment plans again. For right now, I am no longer doing chemotherapy infusions. There is a capsule called Sutent that is typically used in renal (kidney) cancer that has been shown to work in a few adrenal cancer cases. I will take it for 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off, then repeat. This medicine differs in chemotherapy in the fact that chemo tries to actually shrink the tumor, where as this medicine tries to simply keep it from growing. **My dr did say however in one of those cases, the tumor shrunk 30% so maybe it will still shrink it!!** The only issue is this medicine is VERY expensive and hard to get covered. She's pretty positive that the insurance will deny coverage, after which point she said she will go directly to the manufacturer to try and get it covered. But overall, yesterday's report was better than we had hoped so praise the Lord.

As you know, I had some discomfort last week leading up to my visit to the ER. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary during that visit, but I still continued to have some mild to moderate discomfort/pain since then. It has mostly been in my abdomen, but also started to migrate to my right side and around to my back. It isn't too bad in the morning, but as the day progresses and I move around and am more active, it starts to bother me in the early evening. After the scans yesterday, my dr isn't sure where the pain is coming from, since nothing showed up on the scan that would indicate the problem. So, she gave me a RX for a pain patch called duragesic to take and she referred me to an radiology oncologist in Birmingham. She's hopeful that he can possibly pinpoint the pain and radiate it to eliminate it. She said it could be just a nerve is getting hit at the right spot to cause it, but she really doesn't know. I'm going to UAB next Tuesday June 15 to see him and see what he says so we'll keep you posted.

Thank you to everyone who has kept us in your prayers. We can never thank you enough for uplifting us and keeping us in your thoughts.

Quick Update - MUCH better

FYI: This is Carrie updating Jason's blog. It just seems easier that way sometimes :) I am doing MUCH better than thursday night. I went to bed around 4 AM friday morning and took some pain meds and that seemed to knock out my horrific headache and my fever. Jason got home around 11:30 or so, which is when I finally got out of bed and I could already tell I was having a much better day. I took it easy, but never got a temperature above 98.4 all day. I still feel somewhat run down, but overall, so much better. I talked to my doctors office friday afternoon and gave them the update and they said I was good to go and still plan on going up next friday June 11 for my CT scan and appointment with my oncologist. And I am cleared to travel to Vegas as long as I'm careful so unless something drastic happens, we're leaving tomorrow morning for 4 days in the desert! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and we'll continue to keep you updated :)

Little Bit of a Scare

Carrie has had a rough last couple of days. I went out of town to Atlanta on Wednesday to present at a conference for the Vet School. When I left Carrie Wednesday morning, she was having slight stomach problems, mainly feeling bloated and her abdomen was just tender to the touch. She said it kind of reminded her of how her stomach was feeling last summer before everything was diagnosed, but we were hoping it would go away quickly. Throughout the day, she starting experiencing a little stiffness in her chest and soreness in her back. She took a couple of pain medications and went to bed early wednesday night, and when she woke up thursday, her stomach was feeling much better, but her body was aching and she was running a temperature of around 99.0. She rested all day and her friend Pat from work called to check on her and when she found out Carrie wasn't feeling spectacular, she insisted on going over to our house, cooking her homemade chicken soup, and taking care of her (Thank you Pat!!) Carrie still felt cruddy and her temp got up to 100.1 a couple of different times. Her oncologist had told her if her temp ever got about 100.5 to call her or the nurse and even though it wasn't quite that high, Carrie went ahead and called to tell them what's going on. She finally heard back from the nurse just after 5 PM and he said Carrie needed to go to the ER to get checked out because of her symptoms and just to be sure she didn't have any kind of infection or anything else wrong. I was still in ATL so Pat took Carrie to the ER about 6:30 and got her signed in and registered (they gave her a hospital mask as soon as she walked in). She got called back to a room about 8:30 and luckily she had a private room. They quickly started an IV and took some blood and had her collect a urine sample. They also came in to do a chest XRAY to see if maybe she had pneumonia. Those tests took about 2 hours to get the results back, all of which came back okay. No pneumonia!! And her counts were fairly decent. Not great, but for someone going through chemo, they were at a healthy level. After the doctor came in to see her around 9:45, he said they probably would issue a CT scan based on her history to see if the tumor had developed somewhere that was causing the problems. THEN around 10:45 PM a radiology tech came in with a 30 oz. cup of lemonade tasting contrast dye to take for the CT scan. He told her to drink the whole cup (which Carrie said tasted HORRIBLE) then it would have to sit in her system for about 1 & 1/2 hour before they could do the scan. Soooo..... they finally pulled her to get the scan around 12:15 AM. Then she had to wait about another hour to get the results. The doctor came in and said the scan didn't show anything they weren't already expecting and didn't appear to be causing any problems that could be causing Carrie's symptoms. He wanted to go ahead and call her oncologists' office and speak to the on-call doctor just to make sure they didn't need to do anything else before they let her go. So FINALLY around 2:15 AM or so, they came back and said they talked to the on-call doctor and said they didn't see any reason for her to have to stay or be admitted to the hospital so she could finally go home. The on-call doctor in Bham said he would have her oncologist call friday afternoon to check on her and see how she's doing.

I'm back from Atlanta now and Carrie seems to be having a much better day. She took some more pain medication last night before she went to bed and that seemed to take care of her headache and a lot of her other pain. Her temp was 97.3 this morning so no fever so far! Overall, she's feeling much better today. We're thinking maybe she just got a virus that was causing her symptoms, but she seems to be improving. So after spending 8 hours in the ER to find out nothing was particularly wrong, at least now we have somewhat of a peace of mind. We'll keep you updated if anything changes or if her doctor says anything different.

Treatment #4 OVER

Carrie is home in Auburn now and doing really well. She was really tired last night after she got in, but she's had a busy week. Still never had any nausea and her appetite has been pretty good. Now we just wait to have blood work done next week and wait for the CT scan on the 11th! Please keep the prayers coming for an EXCELLENT scan in two weeks!

The Latest

Carrie is doing just fine. She is so well in fact that she is fussing at me about not updating the blog. Having said that here is the latest as of 9pm tonight. Treatment is still going well. She has not had any ill side effects this week. She sounded pretty strong on the phone when I talked to her. The doctor wants her to get some blood work here in Auburn next Wednesday to keep an eye on her levels. We have also scheduled her next CT Scan for the June 11th, which is the Friday after she and I return from our Vegas trip. Please continue to pray for us as the next couple of weeks will be pretty busy. (Carrie is in BHam now, I will be in Atlanta next week and we both will be in Las Vegas the week after that)

Treatment has Begun

Carrie started her 4th round of treatment this Monday (it's her second round on the streptosocin) and so far so good. My mom came down to Auburn Sunday night and took her up to Birmingham Monday morning. She had to have blood work drawn before they could proceed with treatment so Monday was a llloonnnnggg day - she had to wait over 2 hours just to get started. But her blood work came back fine. Her platelets were slightly low at 117 (they have to be above 100 to receive treatment) and her Red and white blood cell counts were ok. But she did treatment monday and yesterday without any problems. And so far, no ill side effects. Carrie is wearing the nausea patch all week to help ward off any nausea and so far so good! She's a little tired, but nothing more than usual. Her doctor stopped by briefly yesterday and told Carrie she would talk to her today (Wednesday) since she would actually be in the office for clinics and they would possibly discuss when her next CT scan will be. Other than that, so far so good!! Carrie's spirits are high and she is making the most out of her "vacation" in Birmingham! She's resting up and preparing for the REAL vacation to Las Vegas in a few week :) We'll keep you updated.

Next Treatment Scheduled

Not much to report this time. Carrie had blood work done in UAB this past Wednesday, May 12. Her doctor called her thursday to tell her that her counts looked good, but not good enough to start the next round this Monday. So they have scheduled that round to start Monday, May 24. It will be the exact same regimen as last time so we know what to expect. It will go 5 days, monday through friday. After that round is complete, they will schedule another CT scan to see if this new chemo medicine is working. We will keep everyone updated and as always, thank you for your unending prayers.

Doctor Checkup

Carrie went back to UAB today to have blood work done and meet with her doctor. And all of her counts were great! Praise the Lord!! Her red and white blood cells were "wonderful" according to the doctor and her platelets were at 149 (normal level is 150 so she was only 1 point below normal which is GREAT for anyone undergoing chemotherapy!). Her doctor told her to get blood work done here in Auburn next wednesday or thursday and depending on how they look, they will then determine when the next round of treatment will start. As of right now, they are thinking about starting on May 17 or 24, but we will know for sure after next weeks blood work.

As far as everything else goes, Carrie is doing really well. She's still at home from work on disability, which her doctor said was probably the best thing for her because it decreases the possibilities of getting sick or catching infections from everyone else. She's enjoying spending time at home and taking the opportunity to spend time with family. She just started her second cycle of the new chemo tablet, Xeloda, which she takes for a week on, then a week off. It doesnt really affect her too much, but it does tend to make her a little queasy after she takes the medicine. But other than that, she's doing great! We'll keep everyone posted after she gets the results of her blood work next week. And as always, thanks for all the prayers. God is good and He is definitely answering them!!

Treatment Starts

Carrie heard from her oncologist 3 times this past friday and after much discussion, Carrie starts her next round of treatment THIS monday (tomorrow) April 19. She will be in Birmingham monday-friday, receiving this new chemotherapy drug everyday. They are worried about this medication making her more nauseous and sick than the previous ones so they will be prescribing her Sancuso, which is a patch she'll wear for nausea for the 5 days of treatment, and she'll also be taking another oral chemo drug called Xeloda. Her doctor will not be in the office Monday or Tuesday, but Carrie hopes to see her Wednesday when she will be seeing other patients and ask her any remaining questions. Her oncologist said this regiment is typically given every 42 days, but they'll monitor her counts and go from there as to how often she'll actually do treatment. They are still looking into the possibility of clinical trials so they are still working on that. We will let you know first part of the week how she is doing and any other information we find out.

New Treatment

Carrie heard from her oncologist today and she finally got in touch with the doctor at MD Anderson. After they discussed Carrie's situation, it was concluded that the tumor is indeed growing. They didn't specify whether the necrotic centers were good or bad, but regardless, the tumor is getting larger. They both agreed to try a different chemotherapy regiment called Streptozocin (sp?). Carrie's oncologist at UAB is fighting with our insurance to get this medicine approved - they tried last week and was denied approval, but she's still fighting it. This new treatment is usually given as a 5 days schedule so she'll have it monday-friday on the weeks she has it. We don't know yet how often treatments will be or for how long. We hope to know after it gets approved through our insurance. Carrie's doctor thinks it will start the week of April 26 because she doesnt know if she'll be able to get it approved and scheduled in time for next week. Until then, Carrie has decided to go ahead and take out her disability leave through work. She's put in the request for the disability claim to be started so she will not return to work for the time being. This will give her time to focus on herself and start treatment whenever her doctor has a plan set in stone. We will of course update everyone as soon as we find anything more out.

Not so good news

Carrie got a call yesterday (Monday) from UAB saying that she had an appointment today to meet with Dr. Arnoletti (the surgeon that performed her surgery last August). We thought that this consult was to discuss the possibility of removing the two masses that are located on her left adrenal gland or to actually remove the gland. However, we found out that the two masses were actually one, eight centimeter mass and that they found two more masses on her right side where the original mass was located. They do not want to do surgery to remove the mass on the left side because recovery from the surgery would take anywhere from six to twelve weeks. Carrie would not be able to take any treatments while she is recovering and they are afraid that the new masses will start to grow while she is not taking treatment. So for now, UAB is looking for clinical trials that Carrie can participate in. We hope to hear something in the next couple of days.

No New News

Just a quick update to let everybody know that we do not have any news from Carrie's doctor. They gave her a call late Friday afternoon to let her know they hadn't forgotten about her, but they have not heard back from MD Anderson yet and first thing Monday morning, they will try more agressively to get in touch with her doctor out there. For now, treatments are still postponed until further notice. We'll let everybody know as soon as we have information!!

Carrie's CT Scan Results

After the scan and meeting with her doctor, here is what we know. The mass that is located on the IVC vein has not grown any but it also has not gotten any smaller. The two masses located on her left adrenal gland have grown some but they have necrotic(dead) centers. Since this is the first time our doctor has dealt with this treatment she doesn't know if the dead centers are a good sign or not. She is consulting with the doctor at MD Anderson about this. If the dead centers are not good news we will then be looking at the possibility of doing a different type of chemo, or radiation or the chance of a minor surgery to remove the two masses. As for good news, Carrie's blood counts are up from the last time that she had a blood test. For now we are waiting to hear back from our doctor and her chemo treatments are postponed/cancelled until further notice. We hope to hear something by the weekend. Stay tuned for more updates.

Extra Update

Just a quick update to let everyone know what's been going on. First a real quick correction. Carrie's CT scan is Wednesday the 7th and she starts the next treatment on Thursday the 8th. Second to let everyone know what's going on outside of treatment. On Friday March 26th, Carrie and I bought our first home. So we have been here for a week now and loving it. We would like to thank the small army that helped move us from the trailer to the house. Pictures of the house are on facebook under Carrie's profile. So for now we are being kept busy unpacking all of the boxes. Please continue to pray for us and I will have an update on Wednesday to let everyone know what we hear from the doctor.

Next Scan and Round 3 Scheduled

Now that Round #2 is completed, it's time for Carrie to get another CT scan and see if the chemo is working. She will have the scan next wednesday, April 8 and we'll meet with her doctor that afternoon to get the results. She also had blood work done here in Auburn this past Monday and her counts were good enough to continue with treatment as scheduled so she'll start round 3 next Thursday, April 8.

Chemo Round 2 - DONE!!

Well, Carrie was able to complete Round 2 of infusion therapy. She returned to Birmingham monday afternoon for her delayed treatment from Thursday. They did blood work and her white blood count had come up just slightly, but since it was on its way up, they were able to go ahead with the remainder of her treatment as planned. She had her last treatment for this round today and everything went fairly well. From her blood work Monday, however, her RED blood count was really low. They talked to Carrie's oncologist and it wasn't low enough to require a blood transfusion. Instead, they gave her a shot after she finished today that will help rebuild some of the red blood cells. They usually give that shot every two weeks, but she will go to her local doctor here in Auburn next week to check her blood work and see if she needs another. For now, she's a little tired and worn out, but she's home resting and otherwise doing great! And as always, thanks to everyone for the continued thoughts and prayers.

Chemo Round 2 Delayed

Carrie returned to Birmingham Monday for the week to complete her second round of chemo. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (today) went really well. These days had the easier of the 3 chemo drugs she is on, so luckily, she didn't have any bad side effects from the medicines. She's been a little tired, but not nauseous and other than the fatigue, she has felt pretty good. She had blood work done today, and after she received her treatment, she met with her oncologist and found out that her white blood count is slightly lower than what the doctor wants. The count wasn't in the critically low or worrisome area, but low enough to concern her doctor. As a result, Carrie's treatments that were originally scheduled for tomorrow and friday have been post-poned until next monday and tuesday. Her doctor says Carrie could probably handle the treatments, but hates to take that chance since the meds for the last 2 days of treatments are the ones that hit the body harder and are more likely to lower her counts even more. So Carrie will return home tomorrow and stay the weekend and return to Birmingham Monday for the last 2 treatments. She'll have lab work done again Monday to check her counts again, but her oncologist said if need be, she can reduce the dosage to make sure she gets the treatment.

Chemo Round 2

Carrie came to Birmingham yesterday and had a port put in. The procedure went fine took about 2 hours to it. She is doing fine from that. Just really sore from it. She is getting the first dose of chemo right now. And they are giving her some morphine for the pain from the port so she is REALLY relaxed right now. She should be finishing up today in a couple of hours and then we are going back to Auburn and get ready for the treatments next week.

Chemo Round One - Done

Carrie made it through her first round of chemo. Thursday was a fairly short day and only took about an hour. She had one of the harder medications that can cause the most side effects, but luckily no nausea. She seems to go back and forth between sweats and chills at night, but nothing serious. They've given her a lot of nausea medicine so that seems to be helping. Friday was a longer day, close to 4 hours. They had to give her 2 full bags of fluid with the chemo because that one has a high risk of kidney toxicity so the fluids help flush the kidneys.

Overall, the first round went really well. They took blood friday to check her levels and liver and kidney functions and so far, everything has been great. She will go back to Birmingham next Friday, February 26 to have blood work done again - her doctor said her levels will be lowest 7-10 days after treatment so they want to monitor them. She will also have an echo cardiogram done that friday as well to make sure her heart is handling the medicines okay - one of them can really affect the heart so they want to make sure they stay on top of that. And she'll meet with her doctor after the blood work and echo and if everything appears to be okay, they'll keep on schedule to start the next round of chemo on March 11.

Until then, Carrie is going to talk to her doctor here in Auburn to see about getting a port put in at our local hospital so we won't have to travel to Birmingham. She is going to TRY to work a few days a week depending on how she feels. She wants to try and work as much as she can for now, and it will probably be good for her to keep her mind somewhat busy and hopefully keep her strength up as much as possible. She's home from Birmingham and will be resting all weekend and the first part of the week. She is doing pretty well considering the long week she had. She's not nauseous or sick (praise the Lord!!), she's just worn out and feeling somewhat sluggish, but her spirits are high and we hope she handles the chemo like the champ she is! We will keep everyone updated on how she's doing, and as always, thanks to everyone for their prayers and support.

Chemo Treatment Day 6

Well so far so good. Carrie made it through the weekend without any ill side effects from the chemo. She has had three treatments this week and everything has went well. She is hanging out with her mom in Birmingham while I am here working. Tomorrow and Friday will be tougher days in the fact that she will be getting the tougher drugs those days. They will be longer days since she will have to get nausea medicine and fluids with these treatments. She comes back to Auburn Friday evening. We are looking into getting Carrie a port put in so that she doesn't have to get poked for an IV every time she goes for treatment. That will be an out patient procedure and has been recommended by all of her nurses this week. Please continue to pray for us and I will keep everyone updated on Carrie's progress.

Chemo Day 1

Well we made it through day one. It was a long day of blood work, doctor's appointment, and three hours of chemo treatment. Two hours were actually Carrie getting fluids to help counter act the chemo. The next three days of treatment will only last about an hour. I think that she handled it pretty well. We did find out that she will have at least four cycles of treatment (1 cycle per month). Any treatments after that will depend on how effective the chemo worked. I will try to keep the blog updated every other day or so. The next treatment is Monday so no updates over the weekend. For everyone in the south enjoy the snow and stay warm.

Carrie's Treatment Version 2.0

Carrie talked to her Oncologist this morning and instead of having a treatment on Friday, they have moved it to this Thursday. Carrie's doctor appointment has also been moved to Thursday as well. Also, we found out this morning that Carrie will be having treatments everyday next week. I actually talked to her Oncologist this afternoon and the treatments will be every four weeks. Carrie will get a CT scan after every 2 treatments. Other than that we don't have any information right now but hope to have some more info after Thursday.

Carrie's Treatment

On Friday Carrie talked to her Oncologist here in Birmingham and on next Friday Carrie takes her first treatment of infusion chemotherapy. We do not know the strength of the dosage or how long Carrie will have to have treatments. We plan on getting more information once we get to Birmingham on Friday. I will try to keep everyone updated as much as possible. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

National Lampoon's Cruise Vacation

Okay, by now most of you have heard the news that Carrie and I got last Friday (1/29). Well that was just the beginning of a long weekend. Backup one week, our plans were to go to B'ham and get good news from the doctor on Friday and then leave for a cruise to Jamaica on Saturday. On the Tuesday before the doctor's appointment, we got word that something was wrong with our cruise ship and that it would not be able to make to Jamaica and back in 5 days. So they decided to move the cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya Mexico. Now fast forward to Friday afternoon after the doctors appointment. We were planning on driving to Nashville and fly out with Carrie's parents on Saturday morning to Miami. Problem was that Nashville got hit with a very nasty ice storm Friday night we drove into. We slid off the road at one point due to the ice and spent 20 minutes getting the car out of the ditch. So if that wasn't enough Southwest started cancelling flights Friday night. At 9pm Friday night we decided to drive to Miami to catch this boat. The latest time we could check in to get on the cruise was 2:30pm on Saturday. We arrived at the cruise terminal at 2:15pm. So after a Friday to forget and a 16hr drive we made it on the boat and were able to spend a week in 80+ degree temps and catch some sun. As Jeff Foxworthy says, "You can't make this stuff up."

3 Month Check-Up

We returned to UAB today for Carrie's 3 month check-up. She had a PET scan done last thursday, and today, she had a CT scan done as well. We then met with her oncologist and was informed that the cancer has returned. There is a 2 cm spot next to her vena cava, exactly where they original tumor entered the vena cava and was repaired during the surgery in August. In addition, they found a few spots on her LEFT adrenal gland that they assume are traces of the tumor as well. One of the spots on the adrenal gland is about 3 cm, the others are smaller. As of right now, the doctors are unsure what they are going to do. They cant risk another surgery right now since the tumor is in the same place in the vena cava as it was before - to do surgery would bring too many complications and be even more life threatening than the first one. The only option they are considering as of right now is radiation. The oncologist is waiting to get in touch with a few other doctors to decide for sure the next step, but they should have an idea sometime next week. We will keep everyone up to date as soon as we know more details.