June 2-Chemo

Sorry for the delay in updates. Mark had his chemo started yesterday. We went in for his usual round. He used the nausea patch again this time which he put on Saturday. It really is helping, but he is still vomiting. His CEA came back at 23. We weren't too bummed since the last one was 21.8. It seems to be staying around there for now. We talked about doing a scan and Dr. Farmer wants him to have one more cycle of this type of chemo before the scan to make it a total of 8 cycles. His 8th cycle will start June 15-17, so the scan will probably be later that week or the following week to give him some time to recover. If the CEA continues to rise, or something shows up on the scan that we don't like, she talked about changing the chemo regimen again. There is another biologic agent similar to the Avastin Mark gets called Erbitux. They have found that only certain tumors respond to this medication, so Dr. Farmer is having Mark's pathology sent off now to see if his cancer would be a responder to this medication. I don't know how long that will take to find out, but she is checking now so that we'll know.

Mark is doing a little better today than yesterday. He threw up several times yesterday, but only a few times today so far. He craved mashed potatoes and gravy from KFC again, so that's what I got him for dinner tonight and so far it has all stayed down. He looks good and just seems to have a little more energy than he usually does. He even gets out of bed now and then (not just for the vomiting).

Dr. Farmer also gave us some information about a wrist watch that uses electrical impulses to control nausea. It is FDA approved. I will check into ordering one for Mark to try for the next cycle of chemo. It may be a good addition to his patches. It somehow works centrally to "trick" the brain.

Colton is in a soft wrist splint instead of a hard cast for his fractured wrist. We are watching him closely, but by doing this he has been able to swim. We have 2 splints and can change them out and let one dry. We will have another xray this week to make sure it is healing properly or to see if they need to put him in a hard cast. Hopefully he will be healed up in another couple of weeks.

Emily is staying busy at her "school" and will have water play on Thursdays this summer. Calen is still busy with baseball and football practices will start June 22nd. We are trying to decide when to take a summer vacation since there are so many limitations on our schedule. We want to take the kids to the Dominican Republic if possible.

Again thanks to all of you who continually pray for Mark and support us with your positive words and prayers. We appreciate it so much. God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!