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!!