A hint of spring??? 3/2/08

A hint of spring??? Since it is finally March, maybe we can finally say good-bye to single digit temperatures? Is that too much to hope for? We actually had a balmy day today. Sunshine and temps in the 40’s… Whoa...

I had a major setback 3 weeks ago that led to a new record hospital stay for me: 7 days. I had been steadily feeling worse and worse back pain-wise, but I was also getting very sick with a flu-like illness the whole family was sharing that had me coughing like I never have coughed before. My chest ached with each fit that racked my body. On Valentine’s Day night, I was in the bad position of not being able to sit or lay upright (due to my back pain) and not able to lay down do to the coughing and congestion. Amy literally listened to me struggle with life for 20 minutes in bed and forced me to go the emergency room (many of you know how persuasive Amy can be).

Thank God my parents are here (or that we are here…). We called them as they were coming out of the evening’s Drury theatre performance and they came right over to watch the kids. We arrived at the ER around 11pm and I got admitted to the hospital around 3am. Fortunately they got things under control fairly quickly and I was able to lay down and get some sleep. The rest of the week I was in an isolation room with a MRSA Staff infection in my chest and MRI’s done Friday showed the tumors at T4 and T10 were encroaching on my spinal column, with the T10 tumor actually already pressing against my spinal cord. This was another emergency situation, where something called “cord compression” was immanent any day, where I could experience not only pain, but temporary to permanent paralysis. They called in a radiation team on Saturday and Sunday to start treatments for me right away…

So once again, we dodged a major bullet because of an emergency room visit for an seemingly in related thing. I guess the flu was a blessing, because I probably would have toughed out the pain piece a lot longer.

My right hip pain had also flared up and of course with the MRI, they also didn’t like what they saw in my right hip/femur and started radiation there too. I am actually having to walk with a cane right now. This sucks. I hope the radiation helps with this fast. I do not like walking with a cane for many reasons, least of which it is a hassle to carry stuff and walk.

Lastly, because my back pain seemed recurring at the pelvis and sacrum areas, they developed a radiation plan to hit them again as well. I did 10 days at all three areas and finished those this past Friday. Glad to be done of that. I forgot how fatiguing radiation can be. I will experience the fatigue for a few weeks more despite the fact the actual treatment is done as my body sorts out what it was subjected to.

Additionally, they ramped up my pain meds to really high doses (that I am not really comfortable taking, but need to), to deal with the pain. It was essentially a doubling.

So… The week was long and discouraging. Every day I was in the hospital I fell into kind of a deeper malaise. I really think I was becoming clinically depressed. Pessimistic discussions from my local oncologist didn’t help… Fortunately, I was able to convince them to let me out the following Thursday and things are much better.

The following week (last week), I had a follow-up CT Scan and appointment with my University of Chicago oncologist, Dr. Michael Maitland. That went very well. My parents got a chance to meet him and they were equally impressed as I had been. He compared the scan from the one done in January and told us that the cancer in not on a runaway train. That in fact it was stable and showed no change between the two scans. He also has a plan for me for my next steps. We are going to stop my second line chemo treatment of Alimpta, as it doesn’t seem to be doing good or bad. We are going to pursue an oral chemo drug called Tarceva.

From what I know, Tarceva seems like it is largely a “maintenance” drug, one that keeps the cancer at bay while people take it. But in about 10% of the people who take it, it is extremely successful at shrinking tumors. They have determined that there is a specific genetic make up for the people who fit the 10% group and the U of C is testing my DNA this week to see if I fit that population.

THIS IS THE MAJOR PRAYER REQUEST RIGHT NOW!!!!!! That I fit this genetic profile… I should know by the end of this week. If I don’t fit, we may go ahead and try it anyway. Otherwise, we go to a third line chemo treatment plan from one of U of C’s many clinical trials. Dr. Maitland already has his eye on 2-3 that I might fit into well.

Thanks to the many, many cards I have received over the last few weeks. Your thoughtful words and encouragement really lifts me up. Spiritually, I am doing much better as well.

In fact, in worship today, we heard this song which God clearly wanted me to hear… The lyrics are SO appropriate for where I am and how I am feeling.

“My Savior My God” by Aaron Shust
VERSE 1
I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me; this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

CHORUS
My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be

VERSE 2
Yes, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring;
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

CHORUS
My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be

This is a popular new song on Christian radio right now and is also a nice praise and worship song. I don’t know a lot about the artist, but this song is fantastic.

I will sign off for now but wanted to let you know that I am feeling called to be blogging more frequently than I have been. To not simply wait until there are significant things to write about in my cancer fight, but to but touch more on my thoughts and feelings generally… So since I have been really lame previously on the frequency, you may find you actually need to check the archive to read a blog that may get superseded by a new one.

Peace and Love,
Eric