Happy New Year's Eve Eve

Hi everybody, Jim here. Well, it was a great Christmas, all things considered. Tony and Beth, Andrea and Chris all arrived on Saturday the 22nd. We went to my sister Mary Anne's house on Sunday, Linda's sister Pam's house on Monday, and we spent Christmas Day lounging around the house, eating and opening presents. Unfortunately, Linda woke up that morning with a stuffy nose that has turned into a really, really bad cold. Because of her high blood pressure, she can't take any of the good decongestents, so the head cold phase was pretty miserable. The kids were great though, making sure Mom was comfortable. Tony split all the firewood in the backyard and kept the fireplace going most of the week. Andrea even let Mom win one or two games of Set. We also got a Wii console for Christmas, so Linda and Andrea got to play tennis in the Family Room. It really is exercise, as you can see.

Tony and Beth left for Madison on Thursday, and Andrea and Chris left for Wilmington yesterday morning. We wanted to thank the kids for spending so much time hereaway from their homes, but also we want to say thanks to Ron and Rosie Rohlman, and Robert and Ann Talley for letting their children spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas in Cincinnati. We're sure it was hard for them, and we want to make sure they know we appreciate it.

Fortunately(?), Linda's cold has moved from her head to her chest, so the sneezing has been replaced by coughing. It's pretty much laid her out, so the last two days have been spent sleeping on the couch, while I challenge Tiger Woods on the Wii.

Oh, I almost forgot. Before the holidays began, we went to see the Oncologist on the 21st. Linda's blood test indicated everything was ok, except her hemoglobin levels were a little low again. So between the cold, the holidays, and the blood transfusion wearing off, it's no surprise she's so tired. We go back for another blood test next Friday, so we'll see if another transfusion is in the cards. Overall, Dr. Bhandari was really encouraged by Linda's condition. He said we have a good indicator in her temperature of whether the tumors are active or not, and when she's taking Sutent daily, things seem to be under control for now. And since she's tolerating the 50mg dose so well, his recommendation is to keep taking it and forget the "two weeks off" part. We probably won't go for another CAT scan until late February or early March.

It will be a low key New year's Eve celebration this year, but we will spend the evening remembering all of our friends, relations, co-workers and students who have done so much for us and have let us know how much Linda means to all of you.

It's crunch time!

Hello, everyone!
It's like a Christmas miracle! Since I got the extra quart of blood last week, I have felt like a new woman. I certainly have more energy now than I ever expected to have. I've even been out Christmas shopping (without a scooter!) and grocery shopping by myself. It's such a wonderful feeling to be driving again! Now the problem is that I only have a few days to do everything I can before the kids get home for Christmas on Saturday. But as I said before, this year everyone will understand.
I've been on 50 mg of Sutent since last Wednesday and we visit the doctor this Friday to talk with him about that. The last time he raised it to 75 mg, which is the highest dose, but if he wants to do that this time, I'll certainly ask to have it delayed until after the holidays. I don't want to spoil this good feeling! Also, I'm taking a medication to help increase my appetite and it is really doing the trick. I'm actually hungry now and certainly enjoying all of the goodies that friends are sending my way. Thanks so much!
This may be my last update for a while because things are getting a little hectic right now. Please know that my Christmas prayer this year will be for all of you who have been with me through these trying three months. I feel like I've had an army of supporters behind me every step of the way. I couldn't be more grateful, or more humbled. Love and Christmas blessings to all of you! Linda

Apparently, I was a quart low.

Seasons Greetings!
First of all, thanks to all of you who had such wonderful responses to our latest good news. That was quite a Christmas present for us. Now we just keep praying that the Sutent continues to do its job far into the New Year.
Fortunately, I felt well enough to do most of the fun Christmas things that I had planned last weekend. I would just spend most of the day resting and then getting ready, so by the evening I had quite a bit of energy to enjoy the event. Yesterday I started the second round of 50 mg Sutent, so I'm hoping that I can keep at this pace and not be slowed down too much this time. After all, there's only a few days left for me to get ready for Christmas. This year, no matter what I get done, people will understand. (There are some advantages to being sick!!)
On Monday I did get a transfusion of 2 units of blood. It takes about 4 hours, so I made myself pretty comfortable over at Bethesda. In the middle of it I was even treated to the Healing Hands women who do a half-hour relaxation exercise. That was something I had not expected!
Thanks to Denny and Trice for the rides and goodies. What a great feeling to know there are so many wonderful people I can count on!
Hope your holiday preparations are going well.......just don't stress out too much!
All of you mean so much to me and I appreciate everything you do!
Love ya! Linda

The Results are in....

Jim here, and for those of you who can't wait another second, it's good news. For those of you who would like more details, read on--

The Radiologist's report states that none of the tumor sites have grown over the past month, and the dimensions he gives for the ones he measured are somewhat smaller than a month ago.
(The largest lung tumor was 3.8 x 3.3 cm, now it's 3.3 x 2.6 cm. The renal cavity tumor was 7.0 x 7.0 cm, now it's 6.7 x 6.2 cm.) He refers to this condition as "stable", but by my calculations, the volumes of the tumors cited above decreased anywhere from 25 to 40%. If that's "stable", we'll take it.

What's more, the tumors have a central "necrotic mass". Because the tumors grow so quickly, the center portion dies from lack of blood supply, and only the outside is active. In the new scans, there is much more "necrosis" (dead cancer cells), and a much smaller active rim around the outside. Actually, a picture would do wonders here, but Linda keeps vetoing my ideas for photos on the Posts. :(

Finally, there are no new tumor sites, just the old ones that are somewhat smaller. So the drug that Linda started taking on November 1st is working as advertised--cutting off the blood supply to the tumors and preventing them from growing. It will never be a cure, but hopefully we can fight to a draw for the near future. So we're celebrating, and we hope you do too.

That's all the good news. The rest isn't really bad, just irritating...

The recommended treatment for the cancer drug (Sutent) is four weeks on, two weeks off. We were really looking forward to two weeks of getting her strength back and doing lots more. But Linda took the last pill Nov 28th, and as suddenly as the fever stopped when she started taking it, it just as suddenly started up again, within just a few days of the last pill. The fever is a strong indicator that the tumors are active. So the oncologist recommended we start taking the Sutent right away again after only a week off. Better to deal with the fatigue than the fever and what it means. Of course, there was the visit to the ER last week, and while her platelet count is back up, her hemoglobin level is low again, so Monday she goes in for a transfusion.

I've made it sound worse than it is. Last night, we went to the Playhouse in the Park. Tomorrow night we go to my Company Christmas Dance, Sunday is Christmas dinner out with the neighbors, and Monday night is Linda's sister Pam's Birthday dinner. She may be tired but she's also stubborn, and all of these events are important to her.

We really appreciate all the expressions of care and concern from all of you, and are so glad we can pass along our good news. Life is so much more fun when you can share the good parts with your friends.

Love ya,

Jim & Linda

p.s. I've got a great story about the Radiologist that I'll tell to anyone who asks me...

Date Night in the ER

Hi everybody, Jim here. First of all, Linda is fine. In fact everybody is fine, but we did spend 5 hours last night at Christ Hospital's Emergency Room. Ironically, the day itself went really well for Linda. After being off Sutent for 2 days, we were looking forward to her feeling stronger and better, and it seemed to be the case. That morning we went to a different doctor (Internal Medicine) to have her blood pressure looked at and make a recommendation on her BP medication. While we were out, she stopped at a mall to do some Christmas shopping and we even stayed out for lunch after the doctor's appointment.

But by 10 pm Friday night, she had a nose bleed. Now last weekend she was getting a little pink discharge whenever she had to blow her nose (which because of the meds was quite often). This was not unexpected, because one of the many side effects of Sutent we were warned about was bleeding from the nose. No big deal, this was tolerable we thought. Certainly not as bad as high blood pressure. Well, the bleeding got progressively worse as the week went on, but after finishing the first four-week round of Sutent on Wednesday, we figured we were home free and the symptoms would start to subside. Wrong!

To make a long story a little shorter, about 1am the bloodgates opened up, and we had a major mess on our hands. We called the on call Oncologist, and he told us to get down to Christ Hosp and he would let them know we were coming. Then it stopped. We had actually decided not to go, but by 3 am it was really bad again, so off we went. They tried several things to stop the bleeding, and after they checked with the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, Linda ended up with a 3 in long piece of gauze that had an inflatable tube down the center in her right nostril, which doesn't come out till Monday morning. (Needless to say, Linda vetoed my idea of including a picture with this post.) This was all caused by low platelets in her blood (40,000 instead of a normal 100,000) that prevented her from clotting properly, as we understood it. Again, a direct result of the Sutent. We have to get that checked again on Monday as well, to make sure it's going back up and not down.

As Linda mentioned earlier, on Tuesday we get the CT scan, and the results on Friday, and we'll find out if this was all worth it.

Catch you later. Love,

Jim and Linda

PS-- Cindy, Dale, Joe, Tom, Craig, Larry, Mike---If you read this, Monday's Staff meeting is cancelled.