06-13-2011 Monday

Hi everyone. I have a few things to share that I think you will find interesting. To begin, let's start with news of my brain tumor. Last Wednesday morning I had another MRI, my 3rd so far. As I've said before, they are not painful in any way but this time I had to hold my head still - perfectly still - for around 75 minutes! If that wasn't bad enough, I was fighting of the tail end of a cold and swallowed so much to keep from coughing, that I almost ran out of spit! talk about cotton mouth! But God was with me and we made it through with flying colors! Later that afternoon, Dr. Ryken (my neurologist) compared my three MRIs. Even he was somewhat surprised to see that the tumor is now about 1/3 of the size it started at in January! He even said he was going to do some reading on the current studies of the effect of Avastin (one of the drugs I get during my chemo treatments) on benign brain tumors. He also noted that since I don't seem to have any permanent hearing loss or symptoms, he now believes that my tumor is not an acoustic neuroma but a meningioma. Needless to say, with these results, Catherine and I were beyond happy! We know that it is the hand of God guiding my healing, my treatments, and all of those who care for me during this ordeal! Thank you heavenly father!!! As for the cancer, I had another CT Scan this morning and we will review the results with  Dr. Masri (my onocoligist) this Thursday before chemo treatment #7. The side effects on the new chemo cocktail that I receive seem to be much less caustic (for lack of a better word) to my body than the mix used during my induction phase. My biggest complaint at this point is the perepheral neuropathy (numbness/nerve damage) in my feet caused by the treatments during the induction phase. However, as I've said before, I new there would be pain and discomfort going into this situation, and I also know that God is guiding my treatment and my recovery and we all know that God's plan is not always easy to understand. We have become creatures that want immediate satisfaction, but must remember that our ways ARE NOT God's ways nor vice versa. Thank you for your healing strength Lord. To close, I had to include a little about our newest family member... my grandson Eli. He is simply awesome! In addition to being the cutest baby ever, he is now starting to smile a lot and coo, giggle and talk back when you talk to him. Thank you Lord for blessing our family with this source of joy! He is the the boost that we all needed at this time in our lives! God Bless all of you and thank you for your continued support and prayers! Praise Jesus!!