Aussie Update #2

G'day mates from down under. Our friends the Montoyas finally arrived and we've been hanging out with them for a few days. The weather has been spotty; mostly rainy and cold. We've been walking a ton, and I have been feeling strong and healthy.

It's been a while since I talked about my GI issues. So... here goes... for the past month, the issue has mostly been figuring out how to keep things from getting stopped up. I've got a routine involving softeners, x-lax, and Miralax that seems to work, but yesterday everything came undone and the pendulum swung so far the other way that I had to, how shall we say it, wrap up a bit to keep from exploding. I won't paint a more detailed picture than that, but it was humbling and disgusting. So, needless to say, I figured you'd all want to know about it. Today, however, things were better and I've been able to run about diaper-free. Another of the little things in life that I'll bet goes under-appreciated by most.

As a testament to how free I really was, here's a picture of me trying out Gabriel's (Montoyas' 16-year old son) Powerisers. For those who don't know, these are big springs you attach to your legs that let you hop around like a kangaroo... I'm pretty sure they were invented here. It was fun. Perhaps you can see the Fentanyl bag bouncing around in the picture -- I'm telling you, the narcotics REALLY do come in handy...

After the bouncing around like this for all of 5 minutes, I was ready for something a bit calmer, so we all walked down to the Swan River (which runs through Perth) and over to "Kangaroo" Island. The island has "wild" Kangaroo's running around that are like the deer at Loft Mtn.
One of the prayers someone prayed for me before leaving was that I would return feeling stronger and healthier than I left (unlike the Prague trip where I was vomiting in the airplane bathroom on the way home... not fun...). I know it's still early, but thank you for your prayers; so far, they're being answered and it feels great. I'm having fun here, but I really do miss you all and look forward to seeing you shortly.

Hello from Down Under

Well, we made it -- 36 hrs of travel and a missed connection in Sydney, but overall it went way better than I could have imagined. We all were able to sleep on the plane, and then stay up until (an early) bedtime and then get a regular night's sleep and wake up on Perth time. YWAM (the missions organization that the Montoyas are with) has done an amazing job hosting us with guest housing, meals, and lots of international hospitality.

I forgot to mention in the last blog that last Thursday while at UVA for chemo, i mentioned that i was feeling a tiny bit of pain in my abdomen and that i was a tiny bit worried that there might be some fluid building up again. I almost hesitated to mention it because it was so small and because my pain killers do such a good job of masking everything that I'm not as self-aware as I was (one drawback of the current strategy, but pretty much the only one :). Anyway, they said, "well let's get you down to ultrasound to be sure and have peace of mind before your trip." So they made a last-minute appointment for me. I got to see all my old friends down there (they all remember me), and -- the good news -- they could not find one drop of fluid in my abdomen that wasn't supposed to be there. I am thankful for the Drs and nurses who are working hard to give me peace of mind and who helped get me to AU.

Still haven't seen the Montoya's yet... they come in tonight from Tonga. I plan on giving them all big kisses from everyone at BRCC.

Post-9/11 Securtiy Nightmare... or not...

Well, I'm in the C'ville airport, and we’re on our way to Australia… can you believe it?! Here are some conversations from the airport (Nicole can verify that these are word-for-word accurate).
At the checkout counter:

• Question: “Hey, I’m bringing a ton of narcotics on an international flight, do you have a problem with that?”
• Answer: “Fine with us; talk to TSA.”

At the security checkpoint:

• Question: “Hey, I have this bag strapped to my body that has a big bag of liquid connected to a battery-operated electronic box with a digital timer and all of that is connected to this push-button right here. Do you have a problem with that?”
• Answer: “No.”
• Question: “Yeah, but it’s attached to my body and I can’t run it through the x-ray. You sure.”
• Answer: “Yup”
• Question: “What about this box full of hypodermic needles? Problem?”
• Answer: “Nope.”

Try as hard as I could, I couldn’t get any reaction out of anybody except kindness and professionalism. What's up with that!? Maybe it’s Charlottesville; we’ll see how it goes in AU.
Here’s a picture of the inside of my carry-on (fluid, electronics, wires, push button, and – if you look closely – an hypodermic needle).

Anyone for a Fentynal-Powered Motorcycle Ride?

This pic is from the Murray's Memorial day pancake b'fast (mmmmm). Aggie needed a ride home, and... well let's just say that she was more willing than she looks. This time I didn't have to do the chicken dance to get her on the bike :).

Pray for my friend, Andrea

As many of you know, God gave me a cancer buddy, Andrea (not sure she wants to be called that, but that's what it is). I kind of knew her from a distance (friend-of-a-friend), but then one night I had a chance to pray for her w/ a group of her friends. "How wonderful to pray for someone else's cancer," I said (kind of a selfish, but true). From that point on, we've been trading stories and encouragement. It's amazing how similar our experiences and outlook are, and because she's been fighting cancer for 10 years; in most ways, she's "out in front" and can tell me what to expect.

Here's a picture of me and Andrea this past weekend commiserating about our shared fight with cancer. This was the first time I removed my IV pain killers, taped everything up, and got wet (or damp shall we say). Lots of painkiller-free jolts to the gut, but totally worth it emotionally!!

Anyway, she has a great prayer network herself, but this has been a week of pretty bad news for her and I wanted to ask you if you would join me in praying her strength, joy, wisdom, and hope.

Radiology Report -- Part II

Well, I saw the oncologist on Thursday, and we went over last week's radiology report that talked about two "new" sets of tumors (the subject of the last update). Well, it turns out that one of those "new" sets of tumors are the lumps on my belly that we've all known about and I'm tracking (using a high-tech measurement approach known as "poking 'em w/ my fingertips").

By the way, and I know this is weird, but hey I'll mention it anyway (butt-hay?). Anyway, our good friends the Higgens visited recently and decided that these tumors in particular needed names. After much debate, they dubbed them "tommy and timmy tumor." I think they're working on an children's book based on these characters (you can imagine the illustrations).

Anyway, these tumors don't appear to be growing. So, that's better news than last week's radiology report would indicate. The other "new" tumors mentioned in the report are between the kidney and pancreas. We did find one of these in the Dr. office on Thursday. It's the biggest tumor I have to date -- about the size of a kiwee fruit (i'm trying to pick creative fruit). I went back and looked at the reports from the scan i had in the hospital, and it turns out that at least one of these two tumors was there back then as well. So, a lot of the "new growth" that the radiology report mentions may not be so "new." (although some of it definitely is... that's the remaining "bad news").

Since every thing else is looking good, we're going to do another 6 weeks w/ the same treatment (all the other tumors are stable; my blood counts are the best ever; my leg feels 100% better; the clot may be breaking up sooner rather than later; i'm able to walk some without the cane; etc.). One encouraging note is that the Dr. I met at NIH who was conducting the study offered to continue to track my case even though I'm no longer eligible to be treated by him under the study. I faxed him the radiology report and he called me (at 7:30 in the evening on his personal time!!) and we went over my status. He said, "I would stay the course and rescan in 6 weeks." That was sweet to get such a consistent second opinion.

In the meantime, we went ahead and planned my upcoming treatment around a trip to Australia (June 19 - July 3) to visit our good friends the Montoya's. This trip has been on the calendar for months and months, and there was a long time when it seemed all but impossible; however, as things stand right now, we hope leave next Friday for Perth. My son looked it up on Google Earth... if you were to go to the Charlottesville airport and ask, "what's the absolute furthest airport on the planet that I can fly to from here, the answer would be "Perth, AU." Oh, and another interesting tidbit... my birthday is June 20, but we have to cross the international date line to get to AU, so it looks like I'll get about 4 hrs of b'day in from Midnight until 4am or so on Saturday and then, all of a sudden, it will be the 21st. What a rip off!! I'm going to talk to the flight attendants and see what they can do to help me pack 24 hrs of birthday celebration into those measly 4 hrs.

One quick story about how connected we are without even knowing it: Yesterday, Joanne was at the grocery store. The guy who bags the groceries (I don't even know him) says, "how's your husband?" Joanne gave a quick update. Then he said, "I pray for him every day. Tell him to keep fighting. If there's anything -- and i mean it -- anything -- I can do for you please , please ask." It made me cry.

Well, that's enough for now. More to come soon... i have some fun pics of recent activities that I need to post. Hopefully they'll show up later this weekend.

Radiology Report

Looks like the "hooray" was premature :(. I just got the radiology report and it says the cancer is spreading in my kidneys, pancreas, and abdominal wall. I don't know how bad it is yet, but the report uses words like "multiple new nodules" and "extensive new implants...". These could be very small, and it may not be that serious. The lungs are stable, and the "new" nodules are all at sites where there was already an indication of cancer. I have a call in to the Oncologist (who missed all of this yesterday) to see if "stay the course" is still the plan of attack. I did say to Joanne last night, "Even though Dr. T didn't see anything, I know there's something in my abdomen... i can feel it" ... so the news isn't totally unexpected, but it's still a bit discouraging after feeling so optimistic yesterday. I'm still trusting and fighting!! Thanks for fighting with me.

Latest Scan

Well, I've been in the hospital since 7am, and am having chemo now. It all started with a scan this AM. I don't have the radiology report yet, but I looked at the images with my oncologist (who was frazzled, multitasking, and 2.5 hrs behind schedule... so we take his comments w/ a grain of salt). He (and I) couldn't find any signs of new cancer. The lung nodules are the same as before (and relatively small), same with the tumors near the surface of my belly. He didn't have the time to search around the bowels and find the stuff in there, so we wait for the radiologist, but a quick look through them, and he didn't notice anything dramatic. So, perhaps an early hooray is in order...
Thanks for all your prayers and kind thoughts. I am convinced that they are the the key to keeping the cancer from spreading -- this is what I have faith for right now... stable disease... some of you have a bigger faith ... a faith for total healing. Hooray for you guys and thank you for your big faith!!).